The woes of Garrett, the long-legged Frenchman

I will start off with the most recent news.  Last night we got transfer calls, and I am transferring to a kite, or province, called Battambang.  Bat (the animals) dome (like a space dome) bong (read it like it sounds).  It is apparently pretty awesome up there.  Really pretty too.  

I am pretty excited to head out to the kites.  I am sure you can find it on a map; it is on western side of Cambodia, and it is really big.  The reputation of Battambang is that during the Pol Pot genocide that province was one of the worst places.  They have a certain word which sounds like, suhhow.  Which pretty much just means vicious or crazy.   

They also called me to be the Zone leader (the leader of a group of districts of missionaries) up there in Battambang.  I do not know a lot about it but it is a pretty big zone and when President Moon called me last night he said that they are actually preparing to split one of the branches into two, so things are definitely progressing up there.   

Quite honestly one of my biggest worries is being the Zone leader up there.  Also, the Zone leader I am replacing is a straight up baller.  He used to be an AP (assistant to the mission president), and he is ending his mission.  Really awesome missionary.  I definitely have some big shoes to fill.   

I will definitely miss the members in Sen Sok and our recent converts.  I am excited to start in a new area though.  

Channary and the member who would always teach her with Garrett and Elder Hem.

Channary is doing well.  She is now down to 1 tooth on the top.  She got four of them pulled and now has just one.  We met her the day after, and she had toilet like paper in her mouth.  It was kind of funny as she would try and talk with the toilet like paper, but we could not really understand.  She is doing well though.  I definitely will miss her.  

We were able to get some new investigators this past week.   We had one lady who is a referral come for all 3 hours of church.  We have also been working with the Branch President to get all the new recent converts callings.   

 Sen Sok

I had an interesting experience last P-day.  We went to a place in Sen Sok so Elder Hem could get his haircut.  It is a place that we go all the time because they sell vegetables and fruit and bread in front of their home.  Well, out of nowhere, a very drunk Cambodian man decided it would be cool if he came up behind me and started to kick my legs.  I am not saying he kicked me like he was kicking a soccer balls, but he definitely let me know he was there.  Quite honestly I do not remember what all he said, but I remember him saying the Khmae word for "French," "freaking French," and "freaking French and his long legs."

Well, we walked more into the house and he followed and was just annoying.  He was right up next to me on my left and was just crazy.  Speaking small English words (quite honestly not the smartest guy...calls me French and then tries to speak English with me...) and just being annoying.  Either way eventually, I sat down more inside, and he left.

I can happily say though that I do not even know his face because I did not even give him the time of day.  I just looked forward the whole time.  Elder Hem said I had good patience.  So, that was kind of fun.  One of the funniest parts was when the lady whose house it was tried to scare him off by telling him that French people know how to fight and that we hit people all the time if we get angry.  I think she was just trying to help because I am the only one in Sen Sok who buys her bread.

A young member couple invited us over to dinner. They also had several of the youth from the branch over. He made a whole chicken.  You just picked off a chunk with your hands. Also, I ate fried cricket/beetle bugs of some kind.  It actually had a good taste, but the legs were sharp.  

Chicken eggs are a thing of the past.  I eat duck eggs now.  Just slightly more expensive, and they are much bigger.   I am starting to try and make omelets and stuff, and duck eggs work great.  I buy 10 duck eggs for about $1 and 20 cents.  

Fun update on the old branch president.  Our current branch president told us that the old one (who is no longer with us and lives far away) told a few people that the elders receive a salary of $200 a month and that the branch president gets $700.  If only they knew…. (Missionaries do not get paid. They pay their own expenses. Branch Presidents, Bishops, etc. are all non-paid volunteers.)

Dinner with a young member couple (same as above) and some of the youth of the branch. 

I want to share a cool experience I had of my last district meeting lesson.   Last week I had no idea what I wanted to teach for district meeting.  I prayed, studied, started to prepare for certain topics only to come to a dead end and feel that those topics were not right.  I really struggled as to what I should teach.  Last Sunday we were listening to a conference talk and one of the speakers said something that just sparked something in my brain.  I feel like I was really inspired by the Holy Ghost, and afterward, I decided to teach about trials and tribulations.  That was a topic that I felt was the greatest item of concern in the district and in many of the individual companionships.  I am truly thankful for inspiration.

 My main point was to say that when we have many trials and problems on our missions first look at our work and our lives and see what we can do better.  We can all improve and qualify for more blessings.  But after we are trying our best we need to keep working hard, don't quit and just realize that Heavenly Father is just polishing us and helping us to become better.

I really like what I read this morning in Alma 1:25 about that even though they had trials and persecution they were strong in their faith and they continued to follow Jesus Christ will all diligence.  I love their example.  Missions have many challenges and trails, but we just need to continue to keep working hard and going forward.  I remember a line that I heard at leadership conference, ""accept whatever happens, and just keep working hard."  I try and apply that every day.

Each apartment or house in the mission has emergency food and supplies in case there is a huge problem.  Well, the senior couple gave us some new rice because it was getting old but still good to eat.  We found that one of the bags had some little bugs living in it.  Not a ton but little beetle type things.  The lady just told us to put it in the freezer and then pick them out and the rice would still be good.  So we put it in the freezer and then the next day we used the rice.  I did not put it in the pot and water and such; Elder Hem did that.  Well, half way through my meal I notice there are small black things in the rice.  Not a ton but enough to notice.  Well, I realize that they are the shriveled up little bug things that he never picked out.  I tried to pick out the obvious ones, but quite honestly I did not even think twice about eating it, and I know I ate some shriveled cooked bugs with my rice.  Welcome to Cambodia.

Only in Cambodia can a 40 year old man stroll out into the street and into the place where all of us are using the computers in just a towel and it be okay.  

Fish Sculptures and Many Miracles

From Nantun: Ruby Chen, an investigator McKenzie met at a stoplight who should, if all else held constant when McKenzie left the area, be baptized. 

We have been blessed with so many miracles this week.  There was a mom, Yang Jiemei and her daughter who walked into English class the other day.  While I was doing the spiritual sharing on the Atonement of Christ, the mom was listening so intently.  I talked to her afterwards, and they agreed to come to a meeting the next day.  They are really special, and while they have little to no understanding about Christianity, they have mentioned several times that they like this and they feel good even though they are struggling to understand. Yang Jiemei said that she told her husband that they were going to meet with us, and he really encouraged them to go which is huge!  We invited them to bring the dad to the next appointment, and they thought maybe they could.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I actually talked to their grandpa the other day on the phone when I was trying to find them.  He was super friendly and wanted to know if I was a 'real American' I assured him that I was.  He invited us to come over and visit.  We have a lot of hopes for this family.  I really want to work on not just getting the mom and daughter involved but everyone!  The only slight concern is that the family business is selling jade Buddhist statues, which always makes things a little more complicated. It can be worked with though.   

Sister Thomas  and I in front of an old fort that the Dutch built when the colonized Taiwan. Then when China  came and kicked them out, it was converted into a Buddhist temple. 

Shu-feng is doing great.  We met with her twice this week, and she is just so in tune with the Spirit.  She has gained all of these tremendous insights from the scriptures.  She had told her mom that she wanted to be baptized, and while her mom didn't say she couldn’t, she was concerned that it was too fast.  But I guess after that, her mom said she would support her in whatever she wanted to do.  We taught her the word of wisdom this week.  She was feeling sad about having to give up coffee and tea but acknowledged that if this is a commandment of God she is willing to keep it.  She has been keeping the word of wisdom since that point.  She said that she still wonders "why?", but she is willing to act in faith, which makes all of the difference.  She truly is a very prepared person.    

From Nantun: Wu and Guan Jimie, who is a really good member friend. She loved to be with the missionaries, and she spent a lot of time helping us. She is a really wonderful person. 

Well it has been a great week here in Tainan Dong Qu.  We have been seeing a lot of miracles and I am loving having Sister Jarvis as my missionary companion.  She is a lot of fun and she just has such a positive attitude no matter what happens.  I remember I asked her if she had gotten sore from riding on a bike for so long.  She said that for the first little while she was super sore; she of course very maturely kept this to herself.  I am pretty sure my trainer knew when I was saddle sore from riding in the first few days because I kept telling her. 

McKenzie and Ruby Chen

Garrett's Midnight Ride

Well, this week started off with a little bit of excitement and then a lot of sitting around. Last P-day, was a normal day and then we proselyted from 5-8 like usual.  Pretty much as soon as we sat down to plan, Elder Hem started complaining about his eye.  After me looking in it several times and finding nothing and him washing it out several times with no improvement, he decided he was going to just try to sleep it off.  About 20 minutes later, I was outside in the kitchen when I heard him call to me and inform me that we needed to go to the hospital because it hurt too badly, and he was positive he could not sleep.   

After getting permission, we left the house and got a tuk tuk at 9:30ish.  (See picture below). So we went on a ride to the hospital that was about 30 minutes away.  It was definitely weird to be out so late.  Even though we were allowed to do it, it was just weird.  There were actually more people out than I thought there would be.     

After getting to the hospital and getting ripped off by the tuk tuk driver, we went to the hospital.  This is the best hospital in Cambodia.  It is called Royal Rattanack and it is a sister hospital to one based in Thailand.  After checking in, a doctor (not an eye specialist) came and looked in his eye and decided to give us some eye drops and then some pills that he need to swallow.  Now I am no doctor, but I have no idea how taking pills can help a scratched eye.  It was not pain killer.   
Well, after trying to sleep in another elder's room who was at the hospital with den gene, (we were shot down by the hospital staff) we got another tuk tuk and went to an elder's apartment who lived pretty close by.  It was too far and too late to go home. Plus, district meeting was the next morning, and we would have to come back up to the city anyway.   Then Elder Hem decided that his eye hurt too much to go out on Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday.  That is why I spent a lot of time just sitting around.  I hate being at home.  So boring, and all I wanted to do was go outside and teach somebody.  It was really hard actually. So that was the main excitement for the week.  It is safe to say that I am probably the first elder to be out that late in Cambodia.  

I was also very grateful that although we were not able to be outside teaching as much as I would have liked, the Lord and the Holy Ghost still prepared people to learn and listen about the gospel.  I was especially worried about one of our recent converts who we meet 3 or 4 times a week to help encourage her.  Well, because we were inside we could not meet her, but I prayed many times that the Lord would watch over her and help her to keep the commandments.  When we were finally able to meet her, she was great.  She was still doing well.  We also were able to get a few more investigators this week and help them to progress.  We were able to get another investigator at church as well.  I feel like we have some really solid investigators right now with a lot of potential investigators.

Sometimes Garrett just eats his stirfry right out of the pan to save time on washing dishes. 

I had an interesting baptismal interview.  He apparently used to be really smart but got in really bad moto accident and literally now has a dent in his forehead.  He is just not completely all there but he is smart enough to learn and to remember most things.  I admit, I went in to the interview a little harsh and judgmental.  Towards the end, I had a really strong feeling of mercy and the thought of what would Heavenly Father do?  Is it his fault that he can't remember every single thing?  I was blessed to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for that man.  I learned a lot from doing that interview.

Our branch had a Pioneer Day party.  We had some appointments we had to go to so we did not go to most of the party.  Well, it was crazy.  There were little kids everywhere.  Pretty much every little kid in the neighborhood showed up just to eat the free food.  Probably around 50 little kids and 15 or so older adult members. (See a picture below.)

Also, another mission first.  I left my companion under the direction of the Mission President.  We had an English class that we just started up in a new area to get new investigators.  Well, it was on Wednesday, and we really did not want to miss it because we just started and we wanted to gain their trust.  Well, we got permission, and a Melchezidek Priesthood holder came to sit with Elder Hem, and I went with another to teach the class then came right home.  That also felt really weird.  Even though it was not against the rules, it still felt weird.  We are always together.  

Shaved ice the size of my head!

This last one is of me eating bing.  In taiwan they eat shaved ice with a bunch of cool toppings on it.  It is delicious.  mine is mango bing.  It was the size of my head. 

We have had a great week.  Wang Jiemei is doing wonderfully.  We are still worried about her parents who don’t' particularly like us, but she still is planning on getting baptized. They let us visit at their house.  She is in her 30's and doesn’t' need her parents’ permission, but sometimes family opposition, regardless of age, can really put a kink in things. But she seems to be doing ok.   

It has been cool to teach her because at first, I was really worried that she was just kind of blindly following what we were saying. However, as we have continued to work with her, I have been impressed with her own understanding and how she is really taking personal action to learn and understand.  It is almost like she has become smarter, so to speak, in a spiritual sense. She reads the scriptures and understands them.  She sees connections between gospel principles.  She still needs to know and understand a lot, so pray for her, but I think she is going to make it.

 Me with the Hsiao family.  I love them!  My face looks so red in this picture it almost looks fake.  Dad you cursed me.  The Hsiao family is doing great. Brother Hsiao has the Melchizedek priesthood and both have callings in the ward.  They are moving into the other ward's boundaries soon, which shouldn't be too big of a transition. They will still be in the same building and still have the same missionaries watching over them.  They are doing great.

Yao Jiemei is not doing as well as we hoped. She works the night shift and in order for her to come to church she has to come right after working for like 12 hours.  It is really hard, but she was willing to do it.  She came to church on Sunday and was really tired but we hoped that she was still feeling the spirit.  The next meeting we had with her did not go so well.  She said she didn’t' think she could be baptized because she is just too tired to come to church, and even in our lesson, she was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open.  She knows that baptism means a commitment to keep the Sabbath day holy, but she just doesn’t' think she can do it.  It is hard. I have worked a night shift and then come to church being extremely exhausted.  You don't get too much out of it other than just the obedience of being there, so I understand her concern, but at the same time, we know that obedience and baptism are more important than anything.  We had one of her friends from the ward call her.  Her friend said that when they talked, Yao Jiemei really acknowledged that if this is going to work she needs to change jobs.  This gives me hope because at least she is looking for solutions rather than just thinking there is no way.  There are a lot of miracles that need to happen but God is a god of miracles so I have faith.   

So the top one is of me with two of my investigators from Sanmin.  They came up from Gaoxiong to visit a elder who was going home, and they stopped by to see me as well.  They are boyfriend and girlfriend.  Their process of studying the gospel has been a long one, and they are still in the middle of it. I have faith for them in the future. 

I love being a missionary.  This week I have made a renewed commitment to be positive and faithful in my missionary work.  I have set a goal that whenever something doesn't go right to stop and count my blessings.  I feel like I was just focusing too much on what wasn't going right and what I wanted to happen that wasn't and I was selfishly not acknowledging all of the tremendous blessings and miracles all around me.  I think that optimism really is a sign of faith and it is something I have been lacking lately.  I have really tried to change my attitude over the last few days and the spirit has been with me so much more strongly.   

This week has been a great reminder to me of the importance and power of repentance, as I am trying to improve my thinking and faith.  I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven.  I am so grateful for this life and a chance to improve and become better.  I know that this is God's true church.  I know He is watching out for us and He wants to mold us into something more wonderful than we could ever be on our own.  He truly is a merciful God and a God of miracles.   

Contributing to the Fashion Industry and Garrett's Moral Dilemma

Like you see in that picture, we have been cutting a lot of shirts to help people make some income.  Little kids shirts.  One of them is a monkey that says "Mommy's little man" and the other one is a dog.  The pattern is sewn on and then we cut the paper that is on the back of the pattern off and cut off the ugly strings.  I expect that someday you will see some little boy in America running around with that shirt on.  Just remember that I cut that sitting on a dirt road in the Cambodian sun.  The less active person who we help cut shirts a lot gets 100 Khmae riel for 2 shirts.  100 riel is 2.5 cents.  So, that is fun.  

Cutting shirts

So, in Cambodia, everyone cheats.  Everyone cheats in school, and it is to the point where they do not even think that it is wrong.  You ask the younger ones and they will tell you that it is not against the rules, but I talked to an older man at the church. He said it is against the rules, but it is so widespread that everyone does it.  Well, I had a very hard experience this past week.  I guess an elder in the past helped one of our members cheat.  She called him (during a test) and then told him the topic and he texted a response on someone’s phone to her. Then she wrote it down.   

Well, the same member expected that I would do the same thing.  That was not cool with me.  It was a very hard decision because the elder in the past had done it to help her out with an English test.  Well, I prayed, and I felt like I could not do it.  I would not do it because we are representing Jesus Christ, and I know that He would not cheat – no matter how widespread it was.  I also couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if other members found out.  A few years down the road, every member would have the elders cheat for them.  Then if people who aren’t members found out, they would be confused because we are supposed to be honest not helping people break rules.  It was seriously a hard decision, but after praying, I decided I had done the right thing in not helping her.  Well, we will have to see if she passes or fails.  I am a little nervous, but I decided when I made the decision that the possible effects (her failing, being angry at us, etc.) could not affect my decision. I had to do what was right.  So that was a great experience. 

At a golfing range a couple of preparation days ago

As I have explained in the past, Cambodia does not do visiting or home teaching (when each family is visited by two members of the church each month to make sure that they are doing okay). It is very difficult for the church to grow and be strong without it.  Home and visiting teaching are so important to help people keep coming to church and encourage them.  This past Saturday, we meet at the church with the Branch President, his counselors, and some other members.  Then we split into two groups and went walking door to door of the members and less actives visiting them and encouraging them to come to church.  We saw great success the next day as many less active members came to church.  One lady we visited seemed disappointed that she was not walking with us, so she joined and helped us meet and encourage several other members.  I am excited about this, and we have a goal to do this every single week.

 A less active gentlemen that Garrett and Elder Hem are spoke with

One of the benefits of staying in Sen Sok is that next week we are set to have 4 baptisms.  We have 4 investigators that are progressing well, keeping the commandments, and should be baptized on Sunday.  So, that is exciting.  One of them is the lady, Channary, who told us she wanted to stop learning but we encouraged her to keep trying.  She hasn't missed a Sunday since we started teaching her.  So that should be a highlight of this next week.  Then we will start the process of finding new investigators. 

Typhoons in Taiwan

Wednesday was a pretty crazy day.  There was a typhoon.  It was not very bad, and as missionaries, unless it is really bad, we still go outside. Many people on the roads warned us that that was a really bad idea.  The weather was really not a big deal except for like a 10 minute period.  Sister Vandegrift and I were riding to a recent convert's house in the middle of a more rural area that is a bit farther away from the church.  All of a sudden, the winds got so bad we could hardly ride.  These ladies at a noodle shop on the corner motioned for us to come in and take cover.  The wind was blowing so hard, Sister Vandegrift went out into the road to rescue this woman who had stopped her scooter but was getting pushed up against a car by the wind.  It was really bad.  I called the recent convert and told her that we were so close to her house but we couldn't make it.  She was completely shocked that we were trying to come and told us that the winds were only going to get worse and worse.  At that point, the winds were really bad, and we were far from the church.  I was getting nervous, and I didn't know what to do, so I called my zone leaders and told them, “I’m not sure what to do.  We are in the middle of nowhere, and if we get on our bikes, I am pretty sure we will get blown over. And apparently it is only supposed to get worse from here on out.”  My zone leader was nice but basically told me he had no idea what to do.  I told him we would figure it out.  At that point, the wind had subsided a little bit so we decided to get as far as we could.  We started biking, and by the grace of God, the winds and rain were not that bad all the way to the church.  They only got weaker and weaker as the night went on.  We had English class, and there was practically no one there.  However, a couple of people still came.   

  

I am switching the basket on our spare bike. I felt very handy. I was using tools. 

On Tuesday, we got good news about Liu Yu Chow (the 18 year old girl I told you about last week)!  Her dad said she could get baptized a few weeks earlier than her 18th birthday.  He said she could get baptized on Saturday! We were very excited.   

I called the ward correlator and told him the good news. On Thursday, I called the ward correlator to make sure plans were all getting underway.  He said he was surprised the Bishop hadn't called me because the Bishop wanted to push it to Sunday night.  I called the Bishop, and he was so worried that no one could come to the baptism because it was on Saturday during a holiday.  He said he could come, but he didn't know if as many people as would want to come could come.  He wasn't mad but was very concerned and kept telling me that I didn't need to worry about her getting confirmed the same like we do with other investigators because she has been coming to church for so long. I told him that I totally understood, but I didn't know if we could switch it because this was the day that she had been arranging with her family (her father was coming up from out of town).  For the first time ever, I could honestly say that I had absolutely NOTHING to do with the choosing of a baptismal date.  I seriously did not give a suggestion or push; she just worked it out with her family.  The Bishop was so concerned by this he almost seemed on the verge of tears.  I told him I would talk to them.  I talked to her uncle who called the Bishop.  They worked it out and switched it to Sunday night.  It was a very stressful hour of trying to figure it all out. 

 

Sunday night actually worked out really well.  She will have to get confirmed next week, but there were a lot more people who were able to attend.  I felt bad that there was so much confusion, but I have been telling the ward correlator for a while that nothing was set in stone till we had her dad's permission but that her extended family wanted this date so that her uncle could baptize her before going to Australia.  It worked out ok in the end.  I just felt bad that it was so disorganized for a while.     

  

So, I really like cleaning. It helps relax me. Sister Vandegrift thought I looked funny and wanted to take a picture of me. 

  
The baptism was lovely.  Her mom and dad both came and her grandma and grandpa.  A lot of ward members came.  It is actually a huge miracle because on Saturday she got really sick and on Sunday morning she was feeling really sick and had a fever.  She started to feel better and even though she didn't feel great at the baptism, she didn't feel horrible.  After she changed, we couldn’t' find the hair dryer that is at the church.  Everyone was running around frantically trying to find it and was so worried because she had wet hair and had a cold.  Thankfully, the bishop came to the rescue when he pulled it out of the back of the closet.  She really is such a sweet girl who has a really strong testimony.  What a powerful example of enduring to the end.  She had every reason to stop coming to church and not make the gospel a priority, but she knew it was true and she knew it was important, so she never gave up.   

Becoming District Leader in Sen Sok

I am sorry to say that the good investigator is no longer an investigator.  He called us and told us he had to stop because he could not follow Jesus Christ.  I know it is his family that is stopping him which really stinks.  I'm not going to lie I am confused because I received personal revelation and guidance, and as a result, I found him.  I think I told you that before I contacted him after we had lost several investigators, and I really prayed to find out where we should go the next day.  I felt very strongly that I had to go to a certain area, and as I was praying, I had one road that I had seen but never contacted people on come into my head. Again and again, it came to my mind with the same picture, the same place.  I knew I had to go there, and I knew we would find someone that day.  That is why it is so sad to lose him.  I honestly believe that someday he will be a member.  I pray and believe that we prepared him for the future.  He told us that he felt different when he started to learn.  He said he felt different in a way "that I cannot describe."  The Holy Ghost testified to him, and I believe someday he will join the church.

We were also able to serve some of our investigators this week – the same service as last time. We went and cut down sticks and wood for them so they can make a fire to cook their food and sell the wood others.  It was a really cloudy day, so it wasn't too hard. It was definitely a fun way to help them.  

Dinner anyone?

Well, I am in Sen Sok for another transfer.  Quite honestly, I thought I was leaving; pretty much everyone thought I was leaving.  But I got the call, and Elder Hem and I are together.  Also, they called me to be a district (a geographic grouping of missionaries) leader.  I have mixed feelings about that.  First off, I am excited because it is a new challenge, and I think it will be fun to go on exchanges with other missionaries and go into some other areas.  I am also a little nervous to teach district meetings.  The district leader teaches a lesson every week at district meeting.  I have some good ideas to make it not just a lecture, but where we discuss ideas and learn new ideas.  Quite honestly, the hardest thing is the fact that Elder Hem and I are together.  Before, Elder Hem was the senior companion.  And while we pretty much shared the responsibility, he was still technically the leader. I think it will be fine, but I am just afraid it will turn kind of strange.  I do not want him to feel like I am bossing him or anything, which I of course won’t do.  I am excited though.  I think it is going to be really fun, and I can definitely learn a lot.  

Nit is doing well, but at the same time, he needs to do better.  He has faith with his mouth, but now we need to see if he has faith with his actions.  He has learned everything, and he believes.  He knows how important everything is, but drinking is a part of his life, and it is hard for him to stop.  His job requires him to put together a lot of banquets and gatherings and obviously they drink a lot.  He does not have a wife.  That is one thing that he wants so badly - an eternal marriage and eternal family.  I am thankful for him, and I believe he will change.  He needs to show is faith and willing to stop drinking and to start coming to church every week.

A rat must have got into my package (from my parents) on the way here. It only got one thing though.