Phnom Penh Mission Pictures

This is my bedroom.

 The front door and study area of our house. Pretty nice!

 This is our church building and the elders we serve with. Elder Allred and Elder Herreara (I'm not sure how to spell his name)

 Our baptismal font. Love it!

 This is the street the church is on. You can see the church sign on the front of the gate.

Look at what they are using for building materials. Scary.

 This is for sale at the market. I'm not sure what it is but I think its cow stomach and intestines.

 This is Sister Trich at the market. She lives with me.

 They literally sell/eat every part of an animal- in this case, pig.

Week 10: Can't tell what's redder...my hair or my skin..#ginger

HELLLLLO FROM CAMBOOOOO.

First off, I love it here so much. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. Even the crappy stuff. I'm just learning to love everything because you only get to live in Cambo once, soooooo may as well always be happy!

Leaving the MTC was the best feeling ever.  Driving by BYU did kinda stink- but I got over it. Being around "real" people in the airport was fun! Utah people are so nice to the missionaries! Some lady paid for my food. Bless her. Talking to my family topped leaving the MTC though. It was nice to hear everyone's voice and feel normal again.

The flight was long. Like 26 hours long of traveling. It was fun having 20 missionaries going to Cambodia on one plane though! I sat next to this guy who had a dog who wouldn't stop barking... it was annoying. I started talking to him and he asked where I was going and we ended up talking about missionaries and what we do. He then asked if I was with all the attractive boys on this flight. He was referring to the 16 Elders. (This guy was interested in men.) I laughed and said I was going to the same place as these Elders and explained that they are also missionaries and we are going to Cambodia to teach people about Jesus Christ. He then asked if I was a Nun. hahhahah 

Meeting President Christensen and his wife was the best! They are the kindest people I've ever met! When I was talking to them I felt like I've known them my whole life! MY COMPANION IS SO COOL. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. Seriously though, she makes everything we do 100xs better. He name is Sister Haddock and she is from Utah. She went to BYU before her mission. She is half Korean and has the cutest Khmer voice I've ever heard. She loves High School Musical and she loves Vampire Diaries. So we get along really well. I live with two other Vietnamese missionaries and basically we have a party house. No joke we have a whole house to ourselves! It is so fun. The house is the same look/style as Botevy's! So it is huge for us. GUESS WHAT ELSE? I'm in the same district with a lot of the missionaries I served with in the MTC WHICH INCLUDES SISTER COOK. So i get to see her a lot!! Bless. 

**This is right after we arrived in Cambodia.  We were wisked off to do some contacting.

I am serving in an area called Toulsangke! It is in North Phnom Penh! It has the biggest ward and is basically the best area. The first Sunday the Young Womens asked me to sing with them in sacrament so I went up and acted like I could read the words to the song. haha it was pretty funny. The Elders in my ward were laughing at me. 

Sadly, I have not seen Elder Smith yet and he isn't my zone leader... But I'm hoping I will run into him when I go to the mission home today!

Jet-lag is hard but having to be back to our home by 7:00pm isn't bad because I am so tired and it's dark. The elder have to be in by that time also. It's not bad at all! Neither is waking up at 5:30! The language.... well all confidence from the MTC is lost... not really.....but I feel like I can't say anything well yet! They talk so fast here and so quiet! It kills me! and the slang they speak, oh my goodness. My companion helps me out a ton. The lessons usually go something like this:  she asks the person we are teaching who they want to pray and without doubt they always ask me (which by the way, everyone thinks I'm French) then she teaches and when she looks at me I try to add on or testify hoping that I am understanding the concept she is teaching about. So far I've been kinda right. hahaha. I asked my first investigator to prepare her self for baptism!! The funny part is is she said yes to me and I got all excited and happy and then my companion asked her if she understood what I said and she said no.... then my companion clarified and asked her again. But hey, I technically asked first. #teamwork

Biking here is the scariest thing I've evere done. But don't worry, God protects his missionaries.The first time I was riding a bike we had to go around this HUGE round about and I almost hit like 20 cars/bikes/mopeds (or they almost hit me, I'm not sure who's fault it was). The whole time I was singing "Lead Me Guide Me." I felt like it was an appropriate song for this event.

English class was so fun to teach. I'm really good at it because they only speak English for those 2 hours. It's so nice. Expect, I totally taught them the wrong way to say "Heir" I taught them to say it like "Hare" Until a Khmer turned around and corrected me.... #fail

On my second day we met with a Lady who has no home and has a little cart she sells and lives by. She is amazing. When she saw me for the first time I don't think she let go of my hand or stopped rubbing my skin because she was amazed at my white skin. I think she said "white skin" around 500 times to me. hahah People in Cambodia love me for for my paleness. It is a confident booster for sure. Anyways we taught he about how through Christ, all things are possible and that he gives us strength to do things we didn't think we could. She then explained the problems she is facing with being able to go to church. She can't leave her cart or move her cart cause someone will take her spot. She has no one to watch her stuff for her for free. She doesn't have extra money to get a ride to the church and its a 1.5 hour walk from her house. We then explained that if she has faith,  God will provide a way for her to receive more money. After we closed with a prayer a big group of people came to her cart and bought things from her. It was the most she has sold in a long time. God will always provide a way for his children that he loves so much, we just need to have faith that he can do it.

I love being a missionary. I thought MTC was hard. HA! The MTC is a joke compared to this. I am sweaty 24/7, we bike miles and miles every day, I am constantly dirty, I eat so much rice and I don't see any American food, it smells so bad sometimes, and everyone laughs when I try to speak. BUT I have never been so happy before in all my life. In D&C 84:88 it says, "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." I have felt the angles bearing me up just in these last few days.

If you read this whole email, WOW! 

Love you All!

Sister Snooks

Here's our kitchen. We were making popcorn on the stove....It kind of got everywhere.  hahahaha

Elder Otto loved sitting next to me for 23 hours!!

 Some one had to always stay with the baggage. Sister Cook and Elder Burnnett

MTC Pictures

I found Sister Cook praying like this one night.....what the heck?

 Elder Curriden sang Savior, Redeemer of My Soul and Sister Cook accompanied. 

 Last Sunday temple walk in dry heat.

 My roommates! Sister Watts from Australia in the pink and Sister Franks from Utah. They're both going to Thailand!

 The Cambodian Sister missionaries! Winters, Bensen, Cook, Snooks, Mortell, and Galland.

 President Moon and Sister Moon. They are the sweetest.

 MCKENNA LAKE!!! I love her so much!

 Her tag actually said "Sister" Cook......lucky.....wanna know something cool? I can read that!

 Get us out of here! 9 weeks is a long time!

 Dang I'm gonna be so cute when I'm prego. After the sunday devo we watch little movies like meet the mormons. We hid Skinny Popcorn in a bush and after the devo we ran outside and got it but had to sneak it in. I put it up my skirt. hahhah So clever.

My district with Neakkruu Chhoeun! She is from Cambodia. I actually met her in my anatomy lab at BYU!

 Lookcrew Ho who is actually a Nam teacher, but we love him anyways. He would come into our class all the time and he would ask me to translate what the teacher is saying from khmer to english for him. It was fun to realize that I can basically understand and  could translate for him!

Week 9: PEACE OUT AMERICA

Hey Everyone!

I don't have very long before I leave for my flight but I just want to thank everyone for all the support and letters and food and emails! It has made these last 9 weeks so much fun.  I am flying out today at 7:05pm! Pretty crazy! These last nine weeks I have grown so much. I can't imagine how much I will grow these next 16 months. I can't wait.This church is true guys. I can promises you! I love this gospel so much and I cannot wait to share this Good Message with the people of Cambodia!

Love you all!  Have fun with having Hillary/Trump as a president!! <3

Sister Snooks

To all my supporters.. THANK YOU!! #thinkskinny

I finally got my name tag.....but it says ELDER Snooks....dang it....

MY district along with President and Sister Moon

"hello world" this is me greeting the Telestial world after being in the Celestial world

The MAN!! Lookcrew Garlick. We love him so much. He was an amazing teacher! He baptized Mara.

Our flight plans!!

Week 8: Last week in America

HEY GUYS!

Sadly, I don't have my flight plans yet.... BUT I'm still leaving this next Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday we just don't know when... I am learning a ton about patience right now. Pray for me. 

Guess who's birthday was last Tuesday! Neil A. Anderson! How do I know this? Well he came and spoke to us on his birthday so that was pretty rad. Hearing from an apostle is always amazing.

I'm developing many talents at the MTC. Drawing is one of them.

This last week we have been really focusing on our Khmer and we did an English Fast so we would only speak Khmer to each other. It is HARD but we learn a ton when we do. Anyways, with a crazy language like this, Sister Cook & I have to ability to talk about people without them knowing what we are saying. So, we used this talent when a teacher who was teaching another language on our floor was in the computer lab. "This teacher is handsome," I say in the most appropriate way a missionary can. He was behind us and Sister Cooks asks me, "When is he getting married again?" I responded,"To me, when I get home!" Sister Cook laugh and says, "Oh really? You are lucky!" Me,"I know, he is very handsome." The teacher then responds, "Wow Sisters, you speak Khmer well!".... In khmer...he said it in Khmer!!! HAHHAHAHAHHAHAH Sister Cook and I died. So.....moral or the story. Don't talk about people in Khmer, especially if they are a teacher in the MTC because all the teachers here know each other's language. On the bright side, I was able to say all of that in Khmer! hahaha 

We taught our investigator Om Thom about the Word of Wisdom and he was having a hard time stopping smoking so Sister Cook and I decided to take his cigarettes. Since "Om Thom" is actually our teacher, he didn't have any real cigarettes so when we asked "Om Thom" if he had his cigarettes with him he pulled out his phone acting like they were cigarettes. We then asked if we could take them from him to help him stop and he agreed! So Om Thom has stopped smoking and I got to hold an Iphone for 30 minutes! hahah Super funny. We both were happy:)

Sister Cook is amazing at piano. She gets these crazy hard pieces of music and can play it perfectly by sight reading. #jealous. She has a beautiful talent and she has had the opportunity to share that talent by performing at the Sunday Devotional for all the 3,000 missionaries! So proud and happy for her! I was also happy because I got front row seats for the devotional thanks to my sweet companion of mine. <3

How could you not love this cute face....Meet Sister Cook

My thought for this week comes from how we say our prayers in Cambodian. When we were first taught, we were taught to say "puaktoolboncuum" which is like an honorific "we", but now that we've mastered that, our teachers taught us this week that we can say "puakkoon" (if you're praying for a group of people) or just "koon" (if you're praying for yourself) which literally translates to child. In essence, we pray by addressing ourselves as children to our Heavenly Father. I love that because every time I pray, I am reminded of my true relationship with Him, as his literal child. I love the reminder every time I pray that I have a Loving Heavenly Father and I am his child.

Thank you for all the letters, emails, and packages. You have NO idea how much it helps to receive those things. You are all amazing and have given me the best support. 

-Sista Snooks

Sister Firmage is officially in Canada. I'm going to miss her.

We are so sick of the food at the MTC. We all chose to eat cold cereal for Sunday dinner.

Week 7- I'm Starting to Forget English

GUESS WHO GETS THEIR FLIGHT PLANS THIS WEEK?? THIS SISTER!! Only 2 more weeks in America and the emotional roller coaster has hit me. Overall, I am exctied to get out into the field. 

Being here for 9 weeks is hard. I've been doing the same thing over and over and over.....and over and over. BUT Heavenly Father has helped me and blessed me with new friends coming in EVERY WEEK! Every monday my companion asks, "Who's coming this week?" and "Are they from Eagle or BYU?" haha it's so fun. Shout out to Sister Cook for being the best companion in the whole wide world. One of the rules is when taking a picture, if it is an elder and sister in the picture, your companion or their companion needs to also be in the picture. She is the best wing women when it comes to that.

 

So every lesson I have taught has been in Cambodian. We started at 10 min lessons in person to 20 min lesson to 40 min skype calls to members in Cambodia! We had our first opportunity to teach a lesson in ENGLISH! haha It was so werid and kinda hard in a way. Anyways, at the end I gave the closing prayer and at the end I tried to end the prayer AND I FORGOT TO HOW TO SAY IT IN ENGLISH! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! hahah it was the weirdest thing. After around 30 seconds of me trying to figure out how to end the prayer I gave up and ended in it Cambodian. IT WAS SO WEIRD. haha 9 weeks in and I'm forgetting english, great. Coming back home after Cambodia is going to be hilarious. My siblings will get a kick out of that. 

We had a devotional about Jospeh Smith this week and I would like to give my short testimony on Joseph Smith. I know this man saw God and His Son in the Grove of trees. I know that he restored the fullness of the gospel to the earth once again. He translated the Book of Mormon. I know that no man, especially Joseph Smith with his lack of education, could make up a book like that. If you don't believe me, then you should read it cover and cover and figure out for yourselve by asking God if it is true or not. No man would make up such a book and go through what he did. His wife, his children, his friends, his family, and himself suffered and were mocked because of the things he taught, yet he never denied it. He seales his testimony with his blood and he was murdered for the act of being a mormon.  I witness unto you that his Book is Another Testiment of Chirst and you will feel it's power as your read it. Elder Holland gives his testimony of the Book of Mormon and I would like to add it to this email. https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-03-08-testimony-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng

Thank you for all the letters, emails, and packages! It may take me a few weeks to respond to you and I'm so sorry! If I had more time I would respond to everyone! Thank you for your patience!

I love you guys!

​Sister Snooks

Eagle. Eagle. Eagle.

Sister Firmage and I always struggle what to do in pictures together...but i sure do love her.

Week 6: The Asian Squat

Hello!

I would like everyone to know that I can finally Asian Squat! Super happy about it. If you don't know what that is, shame on you. Just kidding. But it's really hard. Look up how to do it and try it out. You will understand why it's such a big deal for me. 

Earlier this week The MTC provided us with some clothes since they changed the mission rule about wearing pants/long skirts in certain places because of Mosquitoes. So before the mission I got some awesome pants but The Cambodia Mission decided to just wear long skirts. So sadly, I don't get to wear pants but that's also a blessing since it's so hot there. Anyways, the MTC provided us with three NICE skirts. Us Cambodian Sisters got all the same skirts. 

Super cute. #thankyouthithing 

As most of you know, I struggle to stay awake. As a missionary we have very long days. At the MTC we don't have a lot of variety in the days. I wake up, eat, go to class, eat, go to the gym (pump some iron, ha), get ready again, go to class, eat, go to class, go to bed, and wake up. So it can be hard to focus some days. I was really struggling to stay focused one day and it was getting mad at myself because I couldn't get myself to pay attention without zoning out. So... I prayed for strength. A simple prayer of "Heavenly Father I need help to wake myself up and stay focused in this lesson." Right as I ended the prayer the fire alarm went off! I kid you not! Wasn't exactly expecting him to help me wake up by pulling the fire alarm, but it worked! Prayer works! Y'all should try it. As we were walking out of the building one of the Elders started singing, "The Spirit of God Like A Fire Is Burning".  I thought it fit the circumstance quite well.

Missions include all kinds of work and this week we had the lovely job of cleaning toilets.

Awesome

Guess who can read Khmer? This Sista!  But slowly.... like one verse takes around 30-60 mins to read. BUT HEY, I CAN READ! And that's really amazing. 

We skyped some members of the church from Cambodia last night! It got me so excited to go there! Only 21 more days!!!!!!!!!

So this last Sunday our big topic was faith. Faith is everything. It is what we, as missionaries, try to help our investigators develop. One thing I love about Cambodia is there is very little Christian belief which means I will have the privilege to introduce them to their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and allow their faith in them to grow through the experiences they will have as they have a desire to believe. I have felt my faith grow so much as I've had faith in Jesus Christ that he will help me learn Khmer. He will help me in Cambodia. He will bless my family while I'm gone. He will keep me safe. I know there will be days out in the mission field that will be hard but because of my faith I will be able to endure to the end and have the strength to continue on. I know most of you have watched this Mormon Message before, Mountains to Climb,but I invite you to watch it again.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-003-mountains-to-climb?lang=eng 

It is powerful and has touched me this week. Our faith during our trails will help us endure through the hardest times in our lives. The Savoir has promised us that he will have angels on our left and our right to bear us up and he always keeps his promise.  I know this to be true. 

Thank you for all your support. The emails, the letters, the packages. They mean the world to me. 

I love you all so much!

Sista Snooks

*Its always so fun to "accidentally" run into people you love on your Sunday temple walks .