Week 62- Ants For Breakfast.....I guess

Hello! I am having a hard time remembering all that happen last week... 

We had three great confirmations this last Sunday! One of the girls, លក្ខិណា, was baptized last Sunday (the one in the picture from last week) and then two more, សុភណ្ឌ័ and មីងសុគូណ (Yay for me because I just figured out how to actually type khmer on a computer...haha) They were baptized on Saturday night!  They were all so happy!  We are so grateful to be a part of their conversion and to have the opportunity to see how the atonement can really change people's lives. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before but I'm gonna say it again because it always amazes me.... the members in Cambodia are so welcoming to the new members! We had the baptism on Saturday night and members still made time to come all the way to the church and support them, even though most of them hadn't had an opportunity to previously meet មីងសុគូណ yet they still came! Or another example is when Sister Davis is playing the piano and I am translating during a meeting and we can't sit with our investiagtors because we are up front but the members always make sure no one is sitting alone. It is because almost all the members here are converts and they understand what it feels like to be new! It has made me want to be a better fellowshipper in my home ward and to make sure and welcome new members like the Cambodian members do. They have such big hearts and are so excited to see the church progress in Cambodia! 

I went on an exchange with Sister Winters  who is in my group i came out with. We were together on our year mark in the country!! (Yay we are still alive and I still don't have parasites!!! I think!! ) Anyways, we were talking with another member who is a RM and Sister Winters was talking to him about how she saw a picture of him at a waterfall with some other girls and boys. She said she was jealous (like she wanted to go). But she said the wrong type of jealous because apparently there are two types! haha she said the word that means Jealous but to be jealous of like a girlfriend or boyfriend. The RM told her that she just told him she was jealous like wanted to be his girlfriend and wow it got so awkward after that. But hey, now she and I know there are two very different words so we won't make that mistake again. 

So I bought myself some cereal, which is very rare because cereal is expensive here, but it was on sale. I was saving it (don't ask me why...maybe for a special occassion?) and when I finally opened it up, I realized ants had got into it... But I was so looking forward to eating cereal and I was so hungry I just picked a few out and ate it anyways.... hahah gross. A mission changes you. 

And thank you to my beloved little Sister, Jessie, for letting me know about Taylor Siwft's new song that just came out. Maybe a miracle will happen and it will start playing on the street while I'm biking.. you never know. 

Week 61-You can't turn in mud, Sister Davis

Hello!

This week was good! Our Investigator was baptized yesterday! She was beaming the entire day! She was so excited that she came to the church an hour before sacrament started and counted down the hours until noon, when her baptism started. She is amazing and it has been fun to see how involved the branch has been in including her in everything. Member support is huge!! 

We were riding our bikes to an investigator's house this week and we had to ride through a huge muddy grow pit. I went first and struggled my way through it. I actually had to put my foot down and got my foot all muddy. Sister Davis was behind me and it was her turn to go through. Before she started biking she said,"I'm scared!" and not even a second later while she was trying to turn in the mud, her bike slipped and she fell in the mud. She was covered. It was kinda funny. I can only laugh because we've all done it as missionaries here. She looked up at me and had this look on her face like "What do I do?" I told her it wasn't too bad and she didn't smell that bad either... haha So we laughed it off and went on to teach the investigator. After we were done, we went to the church and hosed her off. Hahah Welcome to the Cambodia Mission, Sister Davis!! Little mud can't stop us! She was a good sport! I love her!

We have been preparing some other investigators this last week for baptism and something we hit really hard was tithing and the importance of it. I know that at home, my siblings are about to sell their pigs at the Ada County Fair this week. I remember doing this myself and a couple months later you receive your pay check from the sale. I remember it was always kinda hard for me to pay tithing because it was a ton of money for me to pay at once ! As I've gotten older, and now being on my mission, I really have seen the miracles that come from paying your tithing. For those of you that aren't aware of what tithing is, let me explain. When you become a full time member of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints we have a commandment to pay one-tenth of our salary to the church. This money is used to build church buildings, pay the electricity and water bills in all the churches worldwide,temples, and to help support those in need. What is important to know is that none of this money is used to pay any of the missionaries, Sunday teachers, Bishops, or even the Prophet. It is actually amazing how much the church is able to do and provide from our tithing money. We have an investigator who has nothing. Everyday she wakes up and tries to find ways to earn money to buy food for her and her child. Before we taught tithing we shared in  1 Nephi 3:7  which says, 

7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

We explained that when God gives us a commandment, He will help us so that we can fulfill the commandment. We taught the Law of Tithing to her and she sat quietly and listened. At the end, she said she really wouldn't have a ton to offer to the church but that she will try with all her heart. It was very humbling for me to see her faith and that she knew, like Nephi, that God would help her pay her tithing and also have enough money to buy food. She is amazing.  She doesn't have a bike to ride to church but members from all over volunteered to come and pick her up but she told me she wanted to be self reliant and find a way on her own. She ended up borrowing a neighbor's bike and she and her son rode all the way to the church and actually showed up a half hour early. That is something that I love about being a missionary! Witnessing the true and pure faith of these investigators who are coming unto Christ. There is no where else I'd rather be than here in Cambodia at this time. 

Have a great week!!!  Love you!

Sister Snooks

More Pictures-Seim Reap and Angkor Wat

I'm a little afraid of these monkeys... One of the elders was sitting down and three monkeys jumped on his back hahahaha

 Sister Davis and me

 ​Me and my child who is taller than me. 

Looks fake but I promise its not.

 

Week 60-Does Cambodia have a Walmart? -Sister Davis

Wow! This week has been crazy and I have so much to share but so little time!!! Oh and the subject line is a question Sister Davis asked me last night. I just looked at her and smiled and let her answer the question for herself. For those of you that don't know, Cambodia does NOT have a Walmart. haha 

Sister Davis. Love her.

Last week we went to Angkor Wat and it was SO BEAUTIFUL! I have so many pictures to send. While I was at Angkor Wat I started to speak Khmer to a tour guide. As I was walking away a man asked the tour guide in English, "Did she just speak Khmer? How does she know Khmer?" and the tour guide said something like, "She teaches about Jesus." The man responded, "Oh... She's a Mormon..." Hahaha I started laughing so hard. It was funny because no one from here even recongizes what a mormon is so I hadn't been referred to as "one of those Mormons" before. It was a fun experience.

 Me just casually contacting a German man  about how he can be saved through Christ infront of Angkor Wat. No Biggy. It looks fake, but its NOT.

 ​The District,  Aka the SR Family. The Unity is real. 

 Me trying to retake the picture I took here the first time I came to Cambodia... I'm pretty sure it's on my instagram (haha) but I'm making a funny face in this one. 

 when missionaries don't kiss

Right after we got done with Angkor Wat, our district (all six of us) got in this sketchy car we rented to drive to BattomBang. Someone sat in the front seat, four of us in the middle, and one laid in the trunk and we played EFY music the whole time. We had Zone Conference the next day. Each missionary, for every zone conference, prepares a talk and while I was preparing my talk I thought to myself there was no way I would get called up because President and everyone in the mission had already heard me give multiple talks and trainings while I was Sister AP....but, NOPE. President called me up to speak again. It made me laugh. Good thing I had prepared! It was on the sacrament which is something I have really been focusing on my mission. How great is it that we have to opportunity to do an ordinance every week to have a remission of our sins. I love playing the piano and translating during sacrament because we sit up front on the stand and face the congregation. I love watching our recent converts and investigators partake of the sacrament and start to pray. So cool. So humbling. These people are so sincere. 

We had an opportunity to do service this week! We were working in the rice fields for a member who has three huge fields and she does it all herself BY HAND. She was very grateful for our help (even though I wasn't very good at it). It was fun! It was the first time I've had the opportunity my whole mission to work in the rice fields!  After, we ate lunch with some members and Sister Davis had the best language mess up I've ever heard! Elder Ouk called us and he was on the phone with the other Elders in our Distrcit. He asked Sister Davis who we were eating lunch with and she was trying to say,  "we were with pretty girls."  but instead she said "we are with naked girls". hahahhahahahahahah I was crying I was laughing so hard.

 ​In the rice field​s

They use scarves to protect their heads and necks from the sun. Works pretty good!

​Me having Charity and helping others. 

We had a miracle happen this last week. Last Sunday we got a new amazing investigator and she lives far away in an area that Sister Davis and I have heard about but have no idea how to get there. We had a member tell us that she could go with us and show us how to get to her house. The investigator didn't have a phone so we had to do what they did in the olden days and we schedule and appointment in advance and hoped and prayed that she would remember. On Friday morning I called the member to see if she could still help us by showing us the way to the investigator's house but she was sick and could no longer take us! We couldn't get ahold of any other members to go with us so we just said a prayer and started biking. All we knew about this little village was that it was an hour bike ride if you are going at a good speed. So we biked and had a prayer in our heart. After we had been biking for close to an hour and there was still no village in sight, I started to regret the fact that we biked so far out without any help. We stopped and I said a little prayer for help and right when I looked up I saw the Branch President and called him over. I told him that we were lost and trying to find a house of an investiagtor that we had no idea where it was and just by chance he knew exactly who I was talking about! And get this, we had actually stopped right infront of the small road you turn off and ride down to get to her house! SO cool! I know God really is with us and this is His work. I know he loves all of us and especially new investigators because there has been so many times in this area where we somehow find a house, like this story, or that we can remember the way to a house we have only been to once at dark. This is His work and through Him we are able to do many things to help the people of Cambodia come unto Christ.

These are our cute recent converts with their baptismal certificates and our new investigator 

I love my mission and I love being a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Have a great week! I love you guys! 

Sister Snooks

Week 59-Training for a Triathlon

Hello! Today we are going to tour Angkor Wat so I only have a little time to email!! This week is good! We are still trying to figure out both of our HUGE areas while also trying to figure out how in the world to train someone at the same time. It's been a crazy week! Two out of the seven days we went to Phnom Penh for a trainning meeting and this week we have Zone Conference in Battambang-so that means we have a lot of traveling to do! It will be fun!

We went to the Independence Momument after the trainning meeting! 

This last week we had a ton of opportunites to teach new investigators! Sister Davis is getting really good at doing the begining teaching of the first lesson. One the best parts about the first lesson is teaching them how to pray. Most people here have never prayed before and have never known that they have a Heavenly Father! Being able to teach them about God is so humbling too because they are so willing to learn about Him. I remember in the MTC I would get overwhelemed at the thought of teaching someone who is Buddist about who God is. But it really isn't that hard.  I have found that they truly do come to understand God better through prayer. I can always promise them that if they want to come to know God, they can start by praying. 

The beautiful Cambodian sunrise

Funny story that happen. Sister Davis and I have been practicing teaching Adam and Eve in the first lesson because as a new missionary that point is harder to teach in general and when you add in the fact you have to speak Khmer..... sometimes its just overwhelming- but Sister Davis is figuring it out really fast! While we were in a lesson with an investigator Sister Davis started to teach about the fall. She was explaining that when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit they started to have sins and they knew between what is right and what is wrong and they could have a family.  But instead of saying "they could have a family" she said, "they knew how to burn their family" and she said it while having a big smile on her face. Hahaha The investigator knew what she was trying to say so I didn't tell her until after the lesson. We got a good laugh out of it. 

I'm pretty sure I said this last week but I'm going to say it again. These members are amazing and are finding so many people for us to teach! Its so great because then the investigator has a good member support. Everyone should go out and give a referral to the Elders or Sisters in your area! They will appreciate it sooooo much!　

This last week I read the talk "Oh Ye That Embark" by President Eyring and I LOVED IT! One part says, "When those feelings of inadequacy strike us, it is the time to remember the Savior. He assures us that we don't do this work alone."  I love this quote from his talk and I think I really needed it last week. I know that there will be many times in our lives we will feel as if they Lord is asking too much of us or that we don't feel like we will be able to do all that is asked of us but I ca promise everyone, including myself, that if you trust in Him and rely on Him and His atonement you will be able to do all that He asks of you. I've seen that a lot in my mission when I felt inadequate with an assignment, the language, or with the responsibility to teach someone about the gospel when I myself am still learning about His grace and atonement. BUT....I have been able to do all that He  has asked of me. If you have time this week, you should read this talk also. Its now one of my favorite talks!

I think I've biked more this last week than I have my whole mission. We show up to appointments and have to take like a 5 minute cool day break before we can start teaching! If we are ever late to an appointment we have to bike so far and fast in the heat! Gosh.. makes me want to throw up just thinking about it. I feel like I'm trainig for a triathlon!  At least the scenery is always BEAUTIFUL!! Every other day I am just casually biking through Angkor Wat. My Mission is so cool.

You can see Angkor Wat in the distance from our house

 This is where we buy meat! yummmmy and so clean right?... 

Week 58- Siem Reap

Hello everyone! This has been a crazy week. Saying goodbye to TTP members was haaarrd and sad... but don't worry, I'm gonna come back someday!!! Moving to Siem Reap has been insane! I feel like I am in a completely different mission to be honest! I love it though and we have so much to do! We are covering two branches right now that are HUGE and are progressing so much! The members are amazing! They are really into missionary work and are finding so many referrals for us! It's fun! Since there were no Sisters in this area before, we still haven't worked out with the Elders who takes what investigators (Kinda awkward) but we will be very busy once we figure all that out. 

 Saying goodbye to Mac Yay! So sad

 Saying bye to Sovanna

I picked up my koon (child) from the airport! She is so cute! Her name is Sister Davis and she is from Utah! She is so good at Khmer! Every day she amazes me with how much she knows! She is super smart! After she traveled for 24 hours we got on another bus to travel around 7 hours to Siem Reap and she was so motivated to stay awake the ENTIRE bus ride to help her adjust to the time change! (keep in mind Cambodia is around 13 hours ahead of Utah)...and She did it! For me though, anytime I'm not doing something, or if I am in a car, I will fall asleep, no hesitation. I felt bad falling asleep infront of her so I forced myself to stay awake. You know, me being "a mom" now I have to sacrifice sleep for my child. I'm pretty sure I was having a harder time staying awake than she was! We stopped at a bus stop for a few minutes and we got off the bus to buy some stuff. As the bus was leaving I realized I lost my phone so I made the whole bus stop as I ran after it yelling for it to stop and then Elder Ouk came running after me and told me the phone was in my bag... haha What would I do without him? The whole bus ride I did a seven hour language story of sing Khmer Karaoke with Elder Ouk. The bus plays songs the whole seven hours so I thought it would be nice to practice reading on the bus ride. It was super funny. 

 Meet Sister Davis. Isn't she cute?

 All the trainers and koons! 

 Elder Ouk being a good dad. ​Poor Elderv Tuft. He's exhausted.

In Siem Reap the elders are Elder Ouk and His koon (who is from Idaho named Elder Tuft), Elder Orton and Elder Chaipinit (who is from Thailand!), and Sister Davis and I. We cover all of Siem Reap. Elder Orton and Chaipinit showed us some houses in the second branch of Siem Reap. It was a lonnnng bike ride. While we were biking we had to get permission from the guards at Angkor Wat to go in without having to pay $37 or something like that. As we were biking the Elders yelled, "look back!" and there it was... ANGKOR WAT!!! So cool! Just causally proselyting in front of Angkor Wat-no biggie! We are planning on going there soon! I'm excited! That day we started teaching a whole family! My dream come true! I haven't had the chance to teach a whole family before! They are amazing! It is a couple with two kids and their granfather who is 91 years old! He is adorable and so happy! But every time I talk to him I have to yell in order for him to hear me and it is really hard for me to yell in Khmer. I was trying to teach him how to start a prayer by saying "Dear Heavenly Father" and in Khmer he ended up saying "where is your house?" hahah It was prettyy cute. They even came to church this last Sunday! Sadly we are giving them over to the elders because they can teach the family and they are handing us over a ton of girl investigators the elders taught before we had sisters in the area. But we are going to continue to keep in contact with them.

Church was a little crazy! We go to two branches and during sacrament we have to have translate, and I was in charge of it! There are a couple of members and some travelers who need translation so we give them a head set and someone has a microphone and we translate for them. It was so hard to speak English! Khmer is not easy to translate and you can not translate word for word or it wouldn't make sense. The first sacrament was a little rough but by the second sacrament I did a lot better at remembering English words. I'm sure the English visitors were entertained by my fumbling for words.

The members here are amazing! After our 9 o'clock church all the members eat together outside! They all bring food and we sit and eat it together! It's so cool to see how much unity these branches have with their members. They really are a branch family! I am excited to work with all of them.

I don't have a ton of stories to share. Right now we are just trying to find houses of members and investigators! Thank you for everything! Have a good week!

Sister Benson and I on trasnfer days!  I miss her!!