Week 39:Transfer Calls, New Assignments

Hello! This week has been a great and surprising week. Time is flying by right now. I can't believe you guys are all preparing for Spring Break!

This last week I got to do another exchange with a trio! Sister Luke and Sister Sum! Sister Luke is in my group and is the sweetest. Sister Sum is a friend of mine! When I visited Cambodia before my mission I met her and just adored her! So, to be able to serve with her was a dream! And to be able to speak in Khmer with each other was so fun! We visited a member who was very pregnant. Not going to lie, after seeing how huge she was, I became very nervous to have kids... It looks painful. She is very close to her due date and she asked if the Elders would come and give her a blessing. It was one of the most beautiful blessings I have ever heard. The spirit was so strong. Not only did they bless her but he also blessed the baby boy. The Priesthood is such an amazing gift God has given us. I am so grateful for all the Priesthood holders in my life, especially my dad.  I feel like before my mission I took it for granted, but now I realize how lucky I am to have a father who could give me a blessing whenever I needed it. Thank you Dad!

I really hoped she had her baby by now! She is huge! Poor thing.

This last week a less active's Dad died. He was sick for a long time but it was very hard on the family. The dad was not a member so they did the funeral the traditional Buddist way which is way different than just a normal funeral and at the end they cremate the body. Only a couple hours after he died, Sister Um, the Elders and I went to the Wat for the beginning ceremony of when they say a Buddist prayer over the body to bless the soul. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen as I watched this family grieve over their lost loved one. They truly believe they will never see him again. I wanted so badly to tell them that they could see him again! And that their whole family could live together forever! I am so grateful for this knowledge that I have about eternal families. I have seen more deaths in the last 9 months than I have my whole life! I realize how precious and fragile life is. Sometimes I start to panic about how far away I am from my family. I am always comforted when I remind myself of the Plan of Salvation and that my family is sealed for all time and eternity. It is the most comforting thought.  This was the first time I attended a traditional Buddist funeral and I hope I don't have to go to one of those again. 

I got my transfer call last night. President pulled out another Surprise for me! He asked if I would be the Senior Sister Training Leader over the mission. I was a little shocked because I still feel every young in this mission and that I still have a lot to learn before becoming a leader. He reminded me that the Lord calls upon those who are weak to accomplish his work.  I am very humbled and excited to work along side of President Christensen and Sister Christensen. They are amazing and I know I will learn so much from them! Also my new companion is Sister Hall! She is hilarious! I have been living in the same appartment with her since the last transfer and I love her so much! We are going to have way too much fun! I am sure this next couple of transfers I will have plenty of funny stories to share with you all about her. I am also moving areas which is so sad. I love the members here so much! But I will still see them all a lot because I am only going to a neighboring area.

Exchange with Sister Luke and Sister Sum

Sister Luke, Sum, Brown, Hall, Me, Clark, and Um

Thank you for everything. I Love you! and if you have extra time, please pray for me!! The "weak" could use some prayers in her behalf.

 Ran into this guy at the church! He said he lives in Nampa Idaho and I asked if her knew any Snooks and he said "Yes, TimSnooks!" THATS MY DAD! and I also found out this guy is Hailey's, (my BYU Roommate) Bishop! What a small world. 

Week 38-Random Words

The two random words I learned this week that have funny direct translation:

Giraffe is Animal Neck Long and Booger is Nose Poop. Khmer is the greatest! LoL

***Happy birthday Muay! She is the best Recent Convert ever.**

I don't have a ton to write. We did exchanges again this week and I exchanged with a Sister Mcillece who is in her training! It was fun! It made me step up my game a lot especially with the language since I was the senior companion. Every house we went to seemed to give us a kilo of mango! Mangos are so good here so I'm not complaining. 

I ate a baby duck egg! Super gross to look at but it surprisingly tasted good! 

Transfer calls are this next Sunday and I think I will be leaving. Super sad to leave this area because I love these members and investigators so much! Maybe there will be a miracle and I'll get to stay. We will see....but I'm also always up for an adventure. 

**When your whiteness is overpowering. The Rel Society President invited us over for dinner!**

 ***This is the mother of my teacher from the MTC!**

That's all I got. Have a good week! AND.........Happy 18th birthday Kaden!! 

**Only in Cambodia**

Week 37- Exchangesssss

Hello friends and family!

Right now I am in an internet shop and they are blasting some rap/dubstep music that says the phrase "No Money, Means No Honey" the whole song. Haha I love Cambodia and their music. 

This week was good and full of exchanges and meetings and zone conferences so we didn't have a ton of time this to work in our area! I feel like I haven't seen some of the members in forever even though it has only been one week. I just love them so much! My companion thinks I will be leaving the area on next transfer but I really want to stay with all the members and be able to see the investigators I have been working with these last five months get baptized!! But hey, maybe a miracle will happen and I will get to stay. I'll know in two weeks. 

Guess who hit their half way mark and didn't even realize it? Oops. It was on my birthday. Weird to think that I am closer to finishing than when I started my mission. It's sad actually! I feel like I haven't been here that long! Time is flying by right now. 

I got to go on two exchanges and one of them was with Sister Mortell! Sister Mortell was in the same MTC group as me! It was fun to be companions for a day! It was also fun to see how much Khmer we knew because we didn't have our Khmer companions to lean on!  And... we did really good! Until we went to a house and the mom asked us to cast out an evil spirit from her daughter.... hahah I haven't learned the vocabulary for all of that so that was a struggle, let alone it also was the first time I've had to deal with that. SO... that was very interesting. Afterwards Sister Mortell and I just looked at each other and laughed because of course that would happen on the exchange when there are two non-fluent Khmer speakers. But don't worry, it all got taken care of. The only thing we did not do successfully on the exchange is not get ripped off. In Cambodia you can bargain for prices and because we are two white girls they always want to charge us about double to normal amount. I really wanted some mango and I bought some for around two times the normal price... I got scared and didn't want to bargain. I still don't have that part of living in Cambodia down.. Sister Mortell and I think we will be companions in the near future. Fingers crossed it happens. If it does, we'll have to work on not getting ripped off... 

In Preach My Gospel it says, "As you learn about Jesus Christ you are going to want to change your life." Our mission president wants us to start teaching about repentance sooner in the lesson and more often. I have loved using this phrase because I know it to be true! When we come to know Christ, we want to change and become better and I have seen this a lot in myself while on my mission. I am coming to know my Savior so much better. I have changed so much on my mission already and I still have a lot more I can change or do better. I am thankful for the opportunity I have everyday to repent and try to be a little better. I'm working on it EVERYDAY. 

Missions are amazing. If you have the opportunity to go, you should go. 

Week 36- Wisdom Teeth, Birthday Cake, and CICFO

In the words of Liv Demordaunt,  this last week was my "Birthday Week." Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I had a great birthday that was full of surprises thanks to the members, Elder and Sister Thruston, my companion, and the sisters I live with. Probably two of the best surprises I had was when I opened the door of our bathroom the sisters tried to explode a confetti gun on me but they couldnt figure out how to pop it (Shout of to my BYU roommate Sister Garviet and all the times I surprised you with confetti ... :) ) and the second was when the Karaoke Club next to our house, that plays music so loud it shakes our walls, played the happy birthday song. The sisters may or may not have requested the song.... I guess we will never know. 

I had a crazy exchange this week! I exchanged with Sister Lines and the first thing we did was go to the dentist because her tooth hurt! We get there and the next thing I know is the dentist is taking two of her wisdom teeth out to fix the problem!  Since I was her companion, I have to stay in sight and sound of her. I got to watch them yank those suckers out! It was in that exact moment I  realized I do not want to be a dental hygienist... So I have no idea what I'm going to do after the mission but hey I'll cross that bridge when it gets here. 

The same day we exchanged, Sister Cook came in town and did an exchange with the other sisters I live with! It was so fun to see her again! We reflected on our MTC days and how we learned every Khmer word wrong. But hey- look at us now. It's amazing how fast you learn a language on a mission. 

Last week I had the opportunity to go back to CICFO! A year before I got my mission call I actually came to Cambodia and volunteered at an orphanage called CICFO. I fell in love with all the kids. I surprised themand showed up on my Pday! It was so fun to be able to understand all that they were saying and to be able to tease them back. I love being able to speak Khmer. 

We had a miracle this week. We have a member who was offended by another member a long time ago and would refuse to come back to church. She became so bitter that even when the missionaries would come over she wouldn't want to talk about church because it would bring up memories. It is so sad because their whole family was very active before. Some of their kids even  served missions. I brought Sister Um over to her house this week and within 1 minute they made a connection witheach other! Her son served in Sister Um's ward and loved her family so much he would actually refer to sister Um's Mom as "mom". It was so good. It was the first time I have ever seen her talk so much and open up to us. I can't remember how this came up but somehow I told them that I raised pigs before my mission and the whole family just died laughing over that. Anyways, we didn't share a lesson but at the end Sister Um invited her to pray. When we left I told Sister Um how great that was because the entire time I have been in this area (close to 4 months) she has rejected the prayer every time. But here is the biggest miracle- this last Sunday we had District Conference AND SHE CAME! When I saw her I totally started crying. I have been praying and praying for her heart to be softened. I know God listens to us and I know that we are sent to areas to help specific people like how Sister Um was able to connect with her so fast. Missions are so amazing. You get to experience little miracles like this everyday and it makes you so so so happy. 

I want to brag a little about one of our amazing investigators! Her name is Nika and I have been teaching her for two transfers! She is what we call a "Golden Investgator" that the Lord has truly prepared. This last week we had planned to do the Ten Commandment lesson but when we met her she had a drink and we were pretty sure it was tea. So we switched the lesson. I was a little nervous because the Word of Wisdom and The Law of Chasity can sometimes be a really hard lesson for people to understand. But she took it so well! After the lesson she dumped the tea all out. I am so proud of her. I love her so much!

Thank you again for all the birthday wishes! Thank you for the support also!