Kidnappers Thwarted by Rain - and Garrett's Genius Plan

P-day Jungle Walk

I want to tell you guys something that I do not know if I have really said before.  I know I have told you that I love the country and the people here.  But really, I love the people here.  It is a very strange but amazing thing to be riding your bike and see an old man or woman and just to be filled with an incredibly deep love for them.  You feel like: I have never even seen you! Who are you?  But I love you. I literally feel like that all the time.  I love the Cambodian people so much, and at times, I feel it even more as I feel how Heavenly Father feels about certain ones of them.  It is something that I cannot describe, but it is amazing.  I really do love this county and its people.  

Robbers.  Well, we pay a member come and clean our house every Thursday when we do weekly planning.  We told him about the things that had been happening at our house: banging on the walls, noises, people on the tin roof that is over the washing machine.  He talked to his uncle who is apparently a policeman and told us that straight up the people just want us to come outside.  It all makes sense now.  It was so weird that they would just make enough noise to wake us up then seemingly disappear in the shadows but never make a huge attempt to get inside.  Well, the member told us that this is their game.  They want us to just get fed up with it and go outside.  He said they either want an easier way into the house or they literally want to kidnap us and ransom us.  So, that was crazy.  It all makes sense exactly what was happening now.   

Well, we devised a plan. We need to see their faces. Then we can tell the landlord who they are. He will tell the "village leader" who would take care of it.  Well, our back door is a wooden door with some sliding locks and then a metal barred gate then slides across with a padlock.  Our plan was the next time it happened that the other three elders would be stationed at various "lookout" points and I would very noisily take off the padlock and slide across the metal door and start to mess with the latches, but not actually open anything in an attempt to get them to come to an area where one of the other elders could see them.  Great plan, but it is has been raining like crazy here.  It has rained hard for the last 3 nights, so no activity.  Either way, we have a good plan, and do not worry.  We are really safe and our landlord knows, and he is our neighbor.  Either way, do not worry.  God will protect us.   

That same member tried to give me two swords – literally 2-3 foot swords to keep in our house.  I told him I cannot take them because we can’t have weapons, and if we had them, it probably would not be the best image.  That was interesting.

More pictures from the crocodile farm Garrett visited several months ago

With Malis it has still been kind of frustrating – especially as she progresses so much.  She accepts difficult commandants with ease, and her faith is really growing, but she still has not talked to her parents.  We set a plan with them that they would go to the church the next day (which they did), and then when they went home, they would talk to her parents. We would then meet again at night time and see what happened.  Well, I started a fast that night to see a miracle – that they would talk to them and that the parents would be accepting.  Well, we met on Sunday night, and they had not talked to the parents yet.  Pretty disappointing actually.  We taught her about several commandments, and she is on board with everything, but it is up to her when she gets baptized.  If she talks to her family, she can still get baptized on the 15th.  (She is 30 btw).  If not than it will probably have to be next week.  I am hoping for a miracle.   

I literally cannot do anything else.  I have fasted, prayed, encouraged, shared scriptures, promised blessings, etc.  It is up to her now.  She has learned everything.  This Saturday is her baptismal date.  I pray and hope she will get baptized on Saturday and hopefully her husband will perform the baptism.  It is going to happen!

Many parts of the farm didn't have any safety railings. They were just in pits.

We were able to have a good lesson on the Word of Wisdom with Malis.  She said she did not understand about tea.  She didn’t see how that was bad for her health.  I told her that maybe it was not a matter of health but that really what is important is that if we truly believe, we will follow and keep the commandment even if we don’t understand.  It does not matter if we see the outcome.  Our faith is what is actually important.  She understood and said she would do it.

We helped out with the Youth Conference at the church.  You would be very impressed.  It was all set up by 20-15 year olds.  Granted it was only one day, but when we helped out with their activity, we could tell, they had nice spiritual moments, talks, and activities.  No adults were involved in planning or execution at all.  I was really impressed.