Garrett and Elder Kong

This week has been pretty good.  Actually it seemed like every single one of our investigators had a problem.  But it seems to be fixing itself.  First off, right now we do not have that many investigators.  We have dropped a lot, and some have just dropped off the face of the earth.  

Rado and Rada are getting baptized on 2/5/12 for sure.  They both came to church yesterday.  Their interview is set.  We waited a week because we wanted them to better understand that they should not be baptized if they were not going to keep the Sabbath day holy.  (Last week they didn’t come because they were helping prepare a Vietnamese New Year celebration.) So, both of them are good.  But we are meeting with them every day this week to review and prepare them for their baptismal interview.  They are doing well, and their parents are still strong.  Their dad will do the baptism.  He is very excited, and the kids are good kids.  Rado is pretty much like Tanner.  He loves to play computer games.  Even though they are pretty poor, they have a computer, which is kind of weird.  He loves to play video games, but he is a good kid.  

The Som family, Devin, and her husband, Heng, are progressing well but could not go to church yesterday because Heng had surgery on either a hemorrhage or hemorrhoid.  He had surgery and was in the hospital.  We went to visit him before church and gave him a blessing.  He is doing well and they are progressing, and he should be allowed to go home sometime tonight. I can only imagine how you are pronouncing their names.  They are awesome.  Every time I ask how church was they always say that they are so happy, filled with joy, that they understand a lot, etc.  They are really awesome.  They read the Book of Mormon, pray, etc.  One of the new goals for our mission is to make daily contacts with our investigators.  We have been trying to do that with them.  Even when we do not teach, we just stop by and say hi, ask if they read and prayed, she usually gives us a little food, etc.  Being with them is so awesome.  And Emma, they have three dogs.  Crazy.  Every time we ride up they are just barking and crazy.  Their names are Robin, Lucky, and Sky.  So, yesterday they were great at church and they came even though many members did not come.  We are about half way through the plan of salvation with them.  

Heng sleeping on a bench in his house with the Book of Mormon on his chest. 

 We have another investigator named Botum.  She was doing well, and she was the one who told us she did not want to learn when we first got here about 5 months ago, but then decided she was ready and came to church on her own.  Either way we have been teaching her, and she is doing well and understands a lot.  Then we got a call while we were planning Tuesday night telling us that she had a problem where she sells fruit and other things.  Quite honestly I do not understand it all because Elder Kong and the other members do not really know how to translate it all, and sometimes they say words I do not understand, but I understand most of it.  She had a problem with someone over in the market.  She told the other lady that that was her spot, or something like that, and then went away.  The other lady attacked her and hit her and she fell on the ground.  Then another random lady came and helped our investigator.  The attacking lady kicked Botum, which is a problem because she is 7 months pregnant.  After this happened, the Police arrested Botum and the lady who helped her.  They arrested them because after Botum got attacked, she scratched the other lady's face and made her bleed.  When the police came, that was the only evidence they saw.  At first, Botum and the lady were not in jail, but kind of in a holding area jail.  At first, the police would not let her go to the doctor even though her stomach was hurting, but finally they let her.  Two days later both ladies, Botum and the lady who helped her, got out of jail, but they had to pay $200 to for legal fees, etc.  Botum and the baby are fine.  She is feeling better.  The sad thing is that the other lady who just tried to help had to pay money too, and she was not even involved. She has 4 little kids at home.  Sad, but Botum is okay.

While all of our investigators have some problems, the work is good.  We are still working with members. We have also been really working with members.  Not just inactive or less active, but active members.  I had the idea that I wanted to do that while I was doing weekly planning by myself as Elder Sok packed.  Then Elder Kong came in and had the same idea, and we just started doing it without really even telling each other.  Initially, the reaction has been, "hy do you want to meet me?"  That is something we are trying to change.  We do not only want to meet investigators and members that are struggling, but meet members who are strong, and help them to be stronger.  Hopefully, six months from now the branch will get much stronger and then our recent converts will be more active because the branch and members are stronger.  So that is what we have been doing.  Overall, the mission is kind of changing things.  They have changed the goals to have 20 discussions with members present and 20 with members/recently concerted/less actives every week.  So, more of an emphasis on working with all members.  

I mentioned we are lacking investigators, so we have been doing a lot of service.  Well, trying.  They sell these huge sticks of sugar cane, probably 8 feet tall.  In order to sell it, they need to scrape off or "shuck" the bark from the sugar cane.  They sell it two ways.  One is in the form of small bite sized circles and people buy them to chew on them, and the other way is they crush them and sell the juice for people to drink.  One of our members sells them, so we went and "shucked" sugar cane for about an hour and a half.  At first, I did not know how to do it, but now I can do it pretty well.  You just hold a scraper, like a big cheese grater but with only one big blade thing to scrap it.  Then you scrap all the bark off.  And we helped her neighbor do hers.  I love to do service, and hopefully, it can plant some seeds.