Garrett REALLY liked Angkor Wat

As I told you before, every missionary gets to go to Angkor Wat once during their mission. This time it was my turn. I went and met with Elder Stokes at the mission home so our companions could go with each other, and we made our way over to a market to catch a shuttle taxi up to Siem Reap.  It was really fun being with him.  The ride up to SR was long. We left at 9:00 ish and got there at 3:00 or so.  It was actually faster than usual because we went in a small shuttle taxi thing and not the bus.  Either way we had a good time talking and enjoying the Cambodian countryside.  

When we got up to SR, we met with the other elders at their apartment for a little while and then we went to go buy a few things for the next day - including our tickets to go to the different temples.  We were also told that after 5:00 everyone was able to get in for free for the sunset.  Well, we bought the tickets and then made our way to a mountain/hill which, but for some reason they did not let us go up.  So we went over the famous walkway that goes over the mote to the Angkor temple.  We took some pictures over there and watched the sunset.  It was really pretty.  Super awesome.  Then we eventually made our way back to the other elders’ house.  The next day we were up and out early so that we could see everything that we wanted.  

 Our tuk tuk driver met us out the elders house. His name was Dara, and he was a member.   

 We started the day at a temple/building called Beantey Kdei. (I am going to butcher all of these spellings). It was cool and awesome because it was the first thing we saw, but the day just got better. 

 Then we went to Angkor Wat, which obviously was amazing.  It was so big.  When you get inside you can go up into to one the buildings and look out over everything.  I do not know how they built it all.  The walls, ceilings, etc are carved and look amazing.  The mote is also perfect.  They made it themselves, and it runs in straight lines to a 90 degree angle.  Awesome.  It was really awesome. Then that day in the afternoon we got the shuttle back to PP.  Wednesday was back to normal.  

Down the road was Bayon, which is where all the pillars with a face carved on each side is.  That was crowded but also really cool.  How did they carve all of those heads?  I do not know, but it was awesome.   We took tons of pictures, and after Bayon we were feeling tired. So we had lunch.  

Down the road was Bayon, which is where all the pillars with a face carved on each side is.  That was crowded but also really cool.  How did they carve all of those heads?  I do not know, but it was awesome.   We took tons of pictures, and after Bayon we were feeling tired. So we had lunch.  

We then went to a place called the elephant terrace, which is a cool place where they said that back in the day they would prepare all of their war elephants for battle.  The carvings along the way were cool.  

 

 Then we went to a temple that was really tall and seemed like a Aztec style temple.  It was called Ta Kaev - also very cool and steep in climbing up the steps to the top.  

 We then went over to Ta Prum which was probably my favorite.  It is the one where they filmed Tomb Raider, and it has huge trees growing all over the temples and buildings.  IT WAS AWESOME.  The roots on the trees were going everywhere, and it was cool.  

 We met an Israeli couple who was impressed that we had long-sleeve shirts on. They took a picture with us calling us their "long sleeved heroes".  

 Across the road was a big lake called Srah Srong, which is where the say that the King used to bathe back during the Angkor time.  

 Seim Reap and the sunset

Sunset

Garrett and the Terrifying Monkeys

All these pictures are of a placed called Phnom Sompeu.  I am not even going to try to sound it out because there is just no possible way it will work.  Either way it is in my area.  We rode a tuk tuk for about 45 minutes or so.  There is a temple on the top of the mountain, with really awesome views, monkeys, natural nature stuff (vines) and skulls.  Like I said last week, during the Pol Pot era, some of the workers and people would be marched up the mountain and then hit on the head with a rock or club and then they would be thrown into the cave from the very top.  Now they collected all of the bones and they still have some of the clothes on site from the people that were killed.  A lot of little kids were killed as well.  Then as you continue up the mountain you see monkeys.  They are all wild, but some of the people who live on the mountain (mostly monks) have them on leashes.  The baby one crawled on me, and we were messing around with a big one that was not on a leash until one of the old monks yelled at us that that one will bite us.  It was really fun, but quite honestly...I am terrified of monkeys.  They are just so crazy.  The view from the top and the temple was really cool.  Just rice fields, trees and other mountains as far as you can see.  So pretty.  I love it there.  We missed one of the coolest parts which is when tens of thousands of bats come out of the cave every night at 5:30ish to go and feed.  It was too late and we had to start proselyting, but I have heard that it is really cool.  It was a sweet P-day.   

 Monkeys - wild and chained. Really they are all wild though. Also, monkeys are really scary. 

Viraneath was baptized, which was awesome.  The highlight of the week was seeing Elder Chan baptize our investigator Viraneath. Viraneath has showed great faith. He already stopped working on Sunday from the day that we taught him about it and this past week we focused really hard on ways that the Holy Ghost will tell him that Joseph Smith is true. We talked about the feelings that he would have and reminded him that he would need to focus and try to feel the spirit while and after he prayed. Well, when we met him on Wednesday he told us that he knew that it all was true, because when he prayed he felt different than he ever had before and that it was "like something told me it was true." I was so grateful for the Holy Ghost at that moment and for the time that we had to teach him. Both of his parents are members and he has great support. It was so nice to go and see him last night after his confirmation and give him a tie as a gift. I was grateful for his faith as before he would have not been home because he would have been at work. I know that Lord will bless him. It is a lot easier to promise blessings to him and his family as I realized that the Lord has already promised them to us.

 Garrett describes the view as ridiculously beautiful. 

We had our investigator with the crazy husband call us on Friday night and tell us that her husband freaked out, took the moto, and threatened the family if she didn’t stop learning.  It was pretty crazy stuff.  So we went the next day and conveniently he was home, but would only yell at us and his wife from the house.  We told him we were done teaching her and told them both we would not come back again.  It was pretty sad as the woman has such strong faith.  Well, we were more than surprised to see her at church that next week. Come to find out her husband drove her there.  Well, she said that she laid down the law and told him that he would have to leave if she couldn’t learn.  Well, our branch presidency went to go see him and talk to him, and they worked a miracle.  Before coming here today I talked to our second counselor on the phone and was met with laughter and an apology from the crazy husband and a declaration that he wanted to learn.  I am not really sure what has happened, but we are going to tomorrow to figure everything out.  Either way, things are much better than before.  Pretty crazy turn of events.  

We came home from church yesterday and spotted a snake in our coconut tree. I moved the branch to get a better look, causing it to fall out and hit the ground.  It was a big snake.  Really weird coloring.  It had a small rat halfway down its throat, which it spit out and then was up the tree almost immediately.  It was pretty scary.  I really do not like snakes.  

The Funeral of a King

I do not know if this has received international coverage, but the King of Cambodia died. Things have been a little crazy here for the week.  All of the places that "make you happy" have been closed by the government.  So all the clubs and big restaurants and things like that are not allowed to be open.  Each building that is run or owned by the government has a picture of the King with flowers and a place for incense and other things.  Some places are bigger and grander than others.  We even have one in front of our church.  It was interesting as before both morning sessions all the members gathered around it and prayed for him.  I was just happy no one lighted any incense.  The people really love him though.  One member told us he had not even read the scriptures for 2 or 3 days because of how sad he was.  I shared Jacob 2:8.  Even last night apparently you could see the King’s face in the sky as you looked to the moon.  I looked and saw nothing, but as we road home there were many, many people looking up at the stars talking on their phones and taking pictures and such.  Pretty much every TV in Cambodia has coverage of the events in the city and other stuff that relates to his death.   

Phnom Sompeu

We had General Conference this week, and it was awesome!  I loved it so much.  I felt so much peace and happiness as we listened to conference and learned about the teachings from the prophet.  I really liked Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ talk about children.  I thought it was really powerful and was a great example of what we need to do to help children.  I also really like President Uchdorf’s talk on being happy in the moment and just being happy with what you have right now.  I thought the music was really good too.  I gotta give it to the Tabernacle Choir.  I never liked them before my mission.  Either they got dramatically better or my taste has just improved.  All the talks were very good, and I cannot wait to get the Liahona magazine so I can read them again.

 In the Pol Pot times they would kill the people and then throw them down into the caves.

Viraneath should be baptized this next week.  He is doing great.  He talked to his boss and told him he was done working on Sunday.  His boss was okay with it, but it will still be hard as their family does not have that much money.  I feel a lot of hope for him because his mom and dad are members, and he knows several of the members in the branch.  I am really impressed with his willingness to just pick up on the importance of commandments and then actively keep them. 

Mealea is also doing well.  I can see that she is happier, and she came to both sessions of General Conference on Sunday.  She is really growing in her testimony. Out at the market one day she was told that only poor people become Christians.  She quickly responded that it doesn’t matter if you are poor; it just matters if you have faith.  She told us she thinks the Holy Ghost helped her a lot.  Technically she could become a missionary soon because she is 19!

So, for the scorpion.  I went outside at night with Elder Chan to get his laundry and I noticed that guy sitting right outside our door.  We obviously tried to kill it.  We sprayed it with a can of Raid and it was having the desired effect.  Well, Elder Chan thought we should just let it go.  When we left he started dumping water on the scorpion to save it.  Well, the scorpion received its strength and ran away.  I was a little peeved but did not show it.  He kept saying it was meek and that it does not hurt anybody.  Cambodians are like that.  They do not like you to just kill animals and insects even if they have the potential to kill you.  

A member asked for us to go and cut grass and plants in order to clear the land for vegetables.  I was armed with a sword and went to work hacking up plants.  It was fun, but it was really tiring as well.  We then aerated the ground with what I think is called a hoe but It might have been a rake.  Either way, this is much harder than just sitting on the lawn mower and going for a ride.  

Cutting the Grass and Shopping for a Cemetery

Our investigator told us this past week that the reason his wife could not come to church is because they need someone to stay home and take care of the cows.  Well, Elder Chan had a great idea to cut grass and give it to them the day before so that they would have no excuse.  Well, Saturday we cut grass.  Not regular grass, but really tall grass that we filled in two 50 kg rice sacks.  It was a lot of grass.  Then we strapped them to our bikes and got it to the church and then afterwards got it up to their house.  (Notice the picture above.) Guess what!  They both came to church! I was really excited about that and the wife seemed really happy at church.  Hopefully, we can get them to progress a little bit faster now.  

 Car Stuck in the mud. We tried to help push it out. 

I spent a lot of time working with Elder and Sister Yates, the senior couple up here.  He really has no one to translate for him now that one of the counselors in the district presidency moved to Phnom Penh.  So I had to do some translating and help him.  They are trying to purchase land to start a cemetery up here.  It is a concern among a lot of the members that when they die they have nowhere for their body to go because the Buddhists just go to the Wat and are cremated.  Well, Elder Yates, the District President, and I got in his car and went to go look at some land for sale.  We saw some amazing views!  We were in the middle of rice fields and driving up close to some hills.  It was really pretty. 

Internet shop with all the kids playing games.

I will start by telling you that today and the past week or so has been a national holiday called Pchun Bun.  Pajum Bun is how it sounds.  Really only 3 days are the important ones.  A lot of people are out of town because most people go to their birthplaces or homelands.  Today was very hard to find an email place.  Everything is closed!  It will be difficult to find a place open for lunch.  Most of the hard core Buddhists go to the Wats and give food to their deceased ancestors.  It seems really quiet here.  

We actually had a good day at church despite the holiday which was not expected.  We will listen to General Conference (the biannual event when the Prophet and Apostles teach and council the church) next week which is something I cannot wait for.  I am super excited.  

The following pictures are of a typical treat for the festival they just had. They take rice, but they do not cook it. They just get the raw rice and wrap it up and put banana or pork or other stuff inside. then the wrap it in banana leaves and boil it. Then they eat it. It tastes pretty good. 

 We have done a lot of work to help a recent convert named Naradipo’s parents have a desire to learn about Jesus Christ.  They came to her baptism. We had a great lesson in which we committed her to fast for her family.  Well, she committed. Right now her parents are still not interested, but her older sister is now learning with us.  According to our Branch Mission leader who is also their brother-in-law, if both of the daughters become members, their parents will see their good examples and decide to learn as well.   

 Manually aerating the ground for a member. 

Crazy story.  So, I contacted a lady and committed her to learn. She is now the sister missionaries’ investigator.  Well, she was eating in her house at 9 PM, and a robber was running from the cops in front of her house. Because he had nowhere to go, he tried to get into her house.  Well, the police and the robber started shooting at each other, and he was killed. It left her door pretty much ruined with bullet holes.  Also, the blood came into her house, which she had to clean up herself.  It was impressive that she that still came to church.  I tried to go to her house to give her a priesthood blessing, but she was away yesterday.  Her house is in a very populated main road area too.  We are always safe though; we are always home by 8 at night.

Viraneath is still doing well.  When I was studying one day, I felt that we really needed to teach him about the Sabbath day even though we were not even finished with lesson 2.  Well, we had a really good lesson with him - full of promised blessings and such.  He committed to talking to his boss.  He is showing a lot of promise as well.   

A scorpion outside of our house.

Landmine Warnings and Baptisms in Battambang

Last P-day we went to Phnom Banon.  It is a 12th century temple at the top of a hill.  The stairs were huge and never ending.  It was really cool though and it was fun to ride out there.  There was a “danger, land mine” sign right off the path.  No worries, I was smart. 

   

Elder Chan, the new missionary I am training, is great.  He is super funny, and I seriously love to be with him.  He has been through a lot in his life.  I mean it.  He was feeling a little homesick, but now he says he is better because he is starting to know the members better.  I really love him and serving with him is great. 

The whole Zone of missionaries at Phnom Banon - except the senior couple (elderly missionaries) 

The highlight of the past week was that two of our investigators were baptized.  I will tell you about one of them. After much prayer, fasting, trying to teach by the spirit, etc, Boramy committed to baptism and was baptized on Saturday. She was then confirmed on Sunday.  She told us that initially she was very nervous, even when she went into the font she was scared, but that after she had been baptized, she was very happy and felt so much peace in her heart.  I especially liked hearing her testimony after she was baptized.  She talked about how she is grateful for the gospel and that she knows she will be happy as she follows the commandments.  I am very excited that now she and her husband are both members.  I have told both of them several times that the gospel will help their future family tremendously.  I am very excited for them and I am grateful for the opportunity to teach her.  It taught me a lot about patience.  You cannot force someone to be baptized, but I feel like we definitely followed the spirit in helping her make the right decision. 

I want to tell you the story of the man in the picture of the baptism. Well, when I first got the BB (Battambang),  I went to our Branch Mission (BM) leader’s house to introduce myself and to do some service.  While I was at his house, I met Borei.  I contacted him and committed him to learn with us and attend church.  He is actually a very good friend of our BM leader.  I do not know why our BM leader had never invited him to learn before. Maybe he was nervous or maybe he just did not think it was time.  Well, I was very excited when he came to church the next day, but less than excited when I found out he actually lives in branch 2's area and that he would need to learn with another set of elders.  Well, over the last month or so he really progressed and made it to the waters of baptism.  I interviewed him for baptism, and I was so overjoyed to see him ready to be baptized.  I felt the spirit very strong, and I feel like I was truly needed in this situation to invite Borei to come to Christ.

We had one sad moment when a potential new family that we found met with us and afterwards the mother gave us a note that we read later that told us the her husband was not happy she was learning.  He is still allowing her to learn, but he was not happy about it. He threw their only phone into the pond next to their house.  Smart move.  I had been trying to call her that whole day with no answer.  She actually came to church with her daughter though, so we will see where that goes.  

You probably think we are lame, but we think these pictures are funny. 

Thanksgiving in Taiwan

Thanksgiving was great.  There were a ton of Thanksgiving festivities this year.  Last year my companion and I treated ourselves to a dinner of turkey rice and a McDonald’s apple pie, which we thought was quite clever.  The ward also had a Thanksgiving party that Sunday, so it was festive but not a huge deal.  This year on Wednesday after English they had a Thanksgiving dinner.  Our ward correlator who is from the U.S. on Saturday treated us/investigators/recent converts/ward missionaries to a catered thanksgiving dinner.  He is like an ambassador to Taiwan and lives in a huge apartment where he regularly hosts government parties.  It was super nice.  We went home with leftovers, so Thanksgiving has spanned many days.  On Thursday my companion and I had turkey rice to stick to tradition.  This next Saturday our other ward has this huge Thanksgiving party that we are actually in charge of, so we will be making a ton of Thanksgiving food for it.  Thanksgiving just keeps continuing.  It has been fun.  

We actually had a baptism this week.  She is a really sweet sister named Ma Jiemie.  Sister Busath told me she was a little nervous about her getting baptized because she hadn't been to church a ton, but the baptism was already planned, and she met all of the requirements.   After meeting with her I felt much more confident about it.  She really does have a strong testimony.  I think everything will be fine with the ward too because she is getting to know more people, and the ward leaders hearing about the conversion process inspired more confidence in her.  She is a really sweet, sweet girl.  I love her so much even though I have just met her.  Sister Liang and Sister Jarvis got permission to come down for the baptism, and it was great to see them.  

 So a couple of weeks ago sister Jarvis and I had to come home to finish up some of our studies because we had had to leave earlier than normal because of a lesson.  While there we noticed a huge cockroach in our room.  This is the 2nd huge cockroach we have found in our room.  The last one was in my bed so this one wasn't as bad, but it was still huge - about 3 x 1 inches.  We didn't want to deal with it then so we just figured we would kill it when we got home.   

That night we decided to tackle the project and our roommates, Sister Bryce and Sister Walbrecht agreed to help.  Oh I wish we had it on tape.  Imagine 4 grown women completely freaking out as this cockroach runs back and forth.  It kept running under our beds making it super hard to get at it.  Finally we scared it out and Sister Bryce who had some kitchen cleaner (our cockroach killer spray bottle wouldn't spray anything out) starts spraying it continuously but to no avail.  It then runs in between Sister Jarvis's legs as she jumps up and down screaming hysterically.  After this I was like, "sister's we have got to calm down, or our neighbors are going to think that one of us is dying."   

We all tried to calm down and finally caught it in a corner.  I was armed with the dustpan and Sister Bryce with the broom as we successfully smashed it.  These cockroaches are super hard to kill.  One hit doesn't do it; it takes multiple hits.  It was pretty funny.   

I love my new companion Sister Busath.  She is so dedicated and funny.  We have just been loving diving into the work together.  We have been working on ward relations as they were a little in need of help before.  Maybe it is just in my head, but I think things are improving.  We met with both of the Relief Society presidents, and I called both of the Bishops and wrote out really detailed progress records to give them and talked with them both after church.  We just want them to feel confident in our abilities to get things done, and we want to actually get things done at the same time.   

Anti-Smoking Puppet Shows and Hospital Floors

Last week we also participated in a puppet show about smoking.  This is something the stake had asked us to do about a month ago for a blood drive.  Sadly, the zone leaders forgot to tell us about it until the week of and put my roommate Sister Bryce in charge.  It actually turned out ok.  Our puppet show stage consisted of a bed sheet held up by the two tallest elders in our zone while the rest of us stood behind it.  I was "addiction" and attacked the "lung" until it died.  These were actually pretty morbid play. We did not write or have to do voices for the plays.  They were already prerecorded, and we just had to move the puppets’ mouths.   

So Saturday roles around and Sister Jarvis and I are eating lunch with someone after her baptism.  She jokingly said, "Well Sister Gibson, I got baptized so you can go back to America now."  Literally 5 minutes later I get a call from President Bishop telling me that for my last 4 weeks I am being transferred to another area. Sister Jarvis started crying.  The person who just got baptized actually took it quite well.  I am not moving that far away, and she said she will just come visit me.  So yeah, I am in Gaoxiong and Lingya/Shizhong – back to two wards. I am not sure how I am feeling about this.  I was super sad to leave.  I was just so happy and excited where I was and everything was going so well.  I was so excited to finish my mission out strong, and I was so motivated to help some of the really cool people we are working with get baptized.  But I did pray the other day for Heavenly Father to chasten me and to help me learn as much as I can for the rest of my mission.  I guess this is one way of doing that. I am trying to have a good attitude, but I am a little sad.  However, I am also excited to get to work and to have a new challenge.

Sister Jarvis and McKenzie who got their hair done at a salon on a P-day

Sister Jarvis and I went to visit someone at the hospital on Wednesday.  Little did I know that Sister Jarvis is known to get very woozy in hospitals.  We arrive and meet this woman who we have never met before.  All of a sudden Sister Jarvis grabs a chair, which is not that weird, but then she sits on the ground.  I asked her if she was ok, and she said she was.  We started to sing a hymn and all of a sudden she starts to eat a granola bar and lies down completely flat on the floor of the hospital room.  Again, I asked her if she was ok.  She said, yes, just to keep singing.  I finished singing the song after which we quickly prayed and shared a short spiritual thought all while my companion is laying on the ground.  Don’t worry, she didn't actually pass out; she was just on the verge of it.  It was pretty funny after the fact.   

Sister Jarvis and McKenzie at lunch on a P-day

We had some wonderful progression with the Wen family this week.  Sadly, the mom still isn't super interested, but we are trying not to give up on her.  The dad brought his sons to English class.  When he learned that as missionaries we don't receive a salary and pay for our missions out of our own pockets, he was so touched.  He said he really feels how this message is so focused on the family.  The mom just feels like she already knows it all.  She knows a little bit about Christianity and feels like she doesn't needed to study it.  She was excited about her husband having something that he and their sons were studying as a way to have son and father bonding time together.  Plus, it allowed her some time at home to be alone.   

We taught the plan of salvation to them on Friday and tried to help her see how this is about an eternal blessing for the family and that it can unify their family relationships as a whole.  She seemed to understand but then still seemed really skeptical.  We really feel like their whole family can be baptized, so we are not giving up hope on the mom.