More Pictures

This is the bridge/board that broke right after we walked across it.

 her nick name is Flappy Bird.... hahahhaha Cambodians are so cool

 

 Teaching verbs....like "Dabbing"

 CAMBODIA IS BEAUTIFUL!

 THE NEW CHURCH IS HUGE

 We had so many people at the building dedication!

 We had a celebration after the dedication.

 Senior Missionaries are the greatest!

There were lots of reasons to jump for joy! 

President and Sister Christensen...love them

Week 18: Tarantula Treats

I hit my four month mark this last week! Pretty Crazy! Time is flying by! I can't believe I only have three more weeks till I'm out of training. AHHHH

So Sister Haddock and I didn't do so well on budgeting our money last month so we had to cut back a lot this last week. This last week together Sister Haddock and I only spent five dollars! HAHA I'm really proud of it-and it's not like members feed us here either. Eggs, Rice, and the free ketchup packets are great meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. :)

The Elders took the Sister to a less active's house that we could go to. They live on the river in this "tree house". It was pretty cool but also a little scary. I felt like at any moment I was going to fall through the floor. When we were done we were walking back to get to the road and you have to walk on these tiny wooden pallets that are used for a bridge. One of the Elders was walking on it and it totally broke! HAHHAHA It's actually not funny because this board/bridge is the only way for these people to get to their house. Don't worry, we helped fix it. Needless to say, he's going to hear fat jokes the rest of his mission! hahah that'll never get old.

Kaden, Carson, and Dallin- you will love this next story. In english class I was going over what different parts of speech there are and I was having everyone go around and tell me a verb. I teach the advance class and most of them are adults but there are two brothers in the class who are 12 and 14. I love them so much! I pointed to the 12 year old and said "Tell me a verb." and he stood up and said, "Dab." and Dabbed. HAHAH I died. For all those who don't know what the Dab is, ask a teenager.

This last week a new church building got dedicated in Cambodia! It isn't in the city, its in the jungle in a town called Champong Jam. Since I have an amazing companion who is musically talented, I got to go :) She played the violin in the open house and the dedication. THE CHURCH IS HUGE.  No joke, it is bigger than the Park Lane building for sure! They said it will take around 20 or more people to clean the church each week! It's beautiful! We got to road trip there with a senior couple, the Thurstons! Just like any other road trip, we had to stop for some treats. Lucky for us, the famous Tarantula Farm was on the way there! Yes, I ate a Tarantula. No, it did not taste good and No, I did not get sick. If you don't believe me I have a video to prove it.

**Road Trip**

**YUMMY......NOT**

Everyone loves my nose here! Two times in one day random people come up and grab my nose while I'm walking by them. hahaha it always catches me off guard! Apparently they like my pointy nose!

I read today in D&C 24:12 and it says, "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men." I loved this because it is saying all I have to do is "Open My Mouth" and work as hard as I can day and night. God will provide me the strength to continue on. MISSIONS ARE HARD. but somehow every day I can continue to put one foot in front of the other, continue to bike, stay awake though lessons when I can't understand what anyone is talking about, eat something I know I'm going to regret, over and over every day. God gives missionaries some crazy powers. I know that if I wasn't set apart as a missionary, there would be no way I could do this work.  MISSIONS ARE SO COOL! EVERYONE SHOULD GO ON ONE!!!

Thank you for all the prayers! I sure need them! Love you all!

Sister Snooks

Week 17: Blank Space

Hey everyone! Another solid week has gone by. I feel like a ton of stuff happened since I last wrote, but I'll try and narrow it down to the best events.

Our recent convert is the sweetest lady ever. She always randomly calls us and asks us where we are and brings us food. She feels bad that we work all day and never have time to eat! She is so Christ-like. She calls us all the time and I am scared to death to answer the phone if it's not a sister or elder missionary. Sister Haddock will be in the shower and the phone will ring and I will panic and bang on the bathroom door until she opens. Trying to understand Khmer is hard, but trying to understand Khmer on the phone is REALLY HARD. Anyway, she called us and we missed the call and I picked up the phone and called back without thinking and had a little conversation with her until I realized I couldn't understand what she was saying.... BUT that is besides the point. I finally got over my fear of answering the phone! yay!!!

I went on my first exchange! At first it was supose to be me and Sister Cook, aka my MTC companion. Could you imagine these two white girls who can't speak Khmer trying to teach less actives and investigators all day long? It would of been a party! But instead, I went with her companion, Sister Brown, who is way cool. We had such a busy day! She came to my area so I had to lead out the area which was scary but way good for me! Funny story. We were trying to meet with an active member and we go see this Om (Om means older women) and she is little insane/crazy/insane... like to the point I wish I could have videoed her talking. She was so animated! Anyway, I had no idea what her and Sister Brown were talking about (because the only vocab I know is church vocab) but she was wearing this blanket as a dress and out of nowhere she just takes it off to show us her scar down her stomach. HAHAH. I was so blind sided. Thank goodness I took anatomy and human bodies don't bother me. Apparently she was telling Sister Brown all about her surgeries she has had. Bless her. 

Jessie, Blank Space went off in English Class and I totally thought of you. There may have been a couple tears shed for you Jessie... and for Taylor Swift.. ;) 

I got two dresses made! 12 dollars total! One of the many things I love about Cambodia! 

Another lesson we taught this week was about commandments. I was super excited to teach because I know a lot of the vocab. I started teaching her and she got off topic so I was lost in what she was saying but could tell it was about a trial she was going through. So, when I can't understand I fully have to rely on the spirit and pray that what I am feeling is the spirit and not my mind trying to think of something to say. A scripture came to my head, D&C 121: 7-9.

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

 9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

I looked at my companion and said the scripture. She smiled and said that she was thinking the same thing. It fit perfectly for her situation. Her family all thinks she is crazy because she is Mormon and its been really hard for her. She told us this scripture was an answer to her prayers. I know that even though I was not able to understand her story and all that she was telling us, the spirit will always be there to help me know what to say in their time of need. Sometimes it is overwhelming to have these adults who are so much older than I am turn to us for comfort and help. But I know that this gospel can help them and that the atonement of Jesus Christ will always give them comfort. This Church is so true. 

Thank you all. I love you!

Hahahaha... I'm so white

On Splits with Sister Brown 

Week 16: Conference Weekend in Cambo!

You know how I said it rained like crazy the last few weeks? Well... it rained even harder this week! I took some pictures but no pictures could capture what it is really like to bike 30 mins in rain like that... I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Every day here is so exciting. Sometimes I'll be biking and something will happen (like the blood of a dead pig on the back of a moto will splash on me as it drives over a bump) and I just laugh to myself and think to myself  "Only in Cambo."

So I made it through my first transfer! Six more weeks and I'm done with training... but I still don't know Khmer, dang it. With this transfer we got a new sister in our house fresh from America! Her Name is Sister Galland! I was in the MTC with her. I was so happy to see her! Before she came on Saturday, Sister Haddock and I were in a trio with her companion, Sister Nguyen who is the coolest sister ever. I love her so much. She is s Nam sister so we went to Vietnamese class with her. On the way there it started raining (shocker) and the traffic got bad. I was getting a little stressed out because I was in an area I've never been in. It was raining, motos and cars were on both sides of me, and the cars behind me kept honking. As I was crossing the middle of the street my bright pink croc fell off AGAIN. haha those dang crocs.  Anyways....... I now realize this story really isn't that great but I don't want to erase it.......... AND THEN I FOUND $20!!!!  (that's an inside joke hahah sorry.)

This is Sister Galland. Sister Cook & I were excited to see her!

I think I get called French around 20 times a day. I can hear people refer to me that way and I always set them straight and say,"I'm not french!" I corrected this lady on the tracks as she called me french and she was so in shock that I, a white red head, struggling to ride a bike, could understand her and speak Khmer! I would be shocked too. 

So the Cambodian mission has these things called CBR which are records of the members. We have a ton of less actives. We find them by looking through the CBRs and using maps drawn by previous missionaries to find where they live (because addresses don't really work here). It is a struggle sometimes. I will put some pictures of CBR maps below. They are insane but through the guidance of the spirit we somehow find them! So far Sister Haddock and I have helped 5 less actives come back to church which is amazing! We are still finding more to help and working on the others to come to church!

We got to watch Conference this week! Conference is like Christmas for missionaries. We all huddled around the this tiny TV as we learned form each of the talks. I am so greatful to have the opporunity to hear form each of them.  I loved how Pres Utchdorf talked about how we shouldn't take certain things in the church for granted like prayer, reading the scriptures, and the sacrament. Watching people take the sacrament for the first time or pray for the first time is precious to see how sincere they are. This has made me ask myself, "Am I going through the motions or sincerely in doing all these things?" One thing I am working on is prayer. I know that God is waiting to hear from us and when we pray with a real intent. We are his Children and have the ability at any time to kneel and communicate with our Father. 

This Church is True. I love you all! Thank you for your support!

Sister Snooks

**Best Day Ever!! I got to see my CICFO sisters.

**Zone Lunch 

**Mike's Burger. Yes, he ate all of that!

**People here ask me why i have pink skin all the time hahahha then they say its very beautiful hahaha

This my be my very first watch line...ever....

**We treated ourselves to some ice-cream sundays.

**This is how we do transfers over in Cambo.

**Crying because I thought about Taylor Swift and what if she came out with a new album while I'm still out hahaha.....but seriously