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