Week 65- Hello Again!

We walked into church last Sunday and our Recent Convert from our old area was in the chapel and she yelled, "My daughters!!"and started hugging us and jumping up and down and saying, Ï've missed you so much"and kept sniffing our necks. ( Not sure if I have explained the whole sniffing thing... It is equivalent to like a kiss on the check. SO If I get home and sniff you, know that I do it out of love. ) Haha but I guess our Recent Convert found out that we go to the same church building but only at 9 am on Sundays and not 2 PM like the second branch.... She was telling us how she wants to come to the morning branch... So we will have to find a way to get her to see the importance of attending her own ward!

We picked up a couple investigators. Two of them were former investigators back in Feb when we had Sisters here in Siem Reap. Then we went through a time where we lacked sisters in our mission and they had to take the sisters out of the two branchs here. During the transition of giving the Elders all the investigators, she somehow got lost and they never continued to teach her until Sister Davis and I came to the rescue. She is amazing and she is learning with her daughter. She loved learning about the restoration and Joseph Smith and that he was just like her and had a desire to know what church is true. I'm excited to see her progression in these next few weeks!

Last week we had two potientals come to church. They were telling me about how their pig is going to have pigglets any day and I started talking about how I raised pigs back at home and if she needs any help we can come over! I kinda gave the wrong vibe and probably things got mixed up in the language barrier and they got the impression that I was an expert and laboring pigs. HAHAH!! I didn't realize this until they were telling me that I needed to come to their house that night because the pig should be having the pigglets any min. I told them we could come tomorrow and then prayed that it would have the pigs before I would get there or else I don't know what I would have done!  Luckily for us, it did and when we visited them we got to hold the little pigglets. But it would have been pretty cool to say I helped birth 10 pigs on my mission. lol

We got a phone call from the Elders and one of the Recent Convert's hubsand died. He was not a memeber but the kids and the mother are. He passed away in his sleep unexpectedly. We went over to pay our respects. It was a traditional Buddist funeral since he wasnt a member. One of the daughters was having a hard time and we sat with her for a while and she looked at me and said, "He is gone, and now we will never be able to live together as a family forever." She was so sad that her father didn't have the opportunity to accept the gospel during his time on earth. We helped her remember the Plan of Salvation and that her family could do his temple work and that he still has time to accpet the Gospel. I know that telling her that did not take away the pain of losing her father, but at least it could give her hope. I love the Scripture in Ether 12:4 

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

I know that when we believe we will find ourselves happier when we have the Hope the Gospel offers us. I can't imagine the pian that would come from losing a loved one without the hope that comes from the Plan Of Salvation or you can call it The Plan of Salvation.

I finished the book of Mormon again! And it is still true! In lessons when we introduce Joseph Smith and invite them to read the Book of Mormon i think it is amazing that we have physical evidence that Jospeh Smith, through the power of God, translated the Book of Mormon and he restored the gospel back on the earth. Through diligent study and praying with real intent, you can gain a spiritual witness that no one can take from you.  I saw a sign once on another church billboard and it said something like, "Don't read the Mormon book, It will get you!" Haha I can't remember the exact wording but it's true! It will get you! Because you won't be able to deny its truth. How lucky are we to have such an amazing book that is ANOTHER witness of Christ? So if you dare find out to know if the church is true, just read the Book of Mormon. 

Thank you for everything!

love you!

Week 64- Lets be honest

I'm getting lazy at this whole mass email thing. But lets be honest, everyone just looks at the pictures. 

We had to say goodbye to Siem Reap branch 2 last week because we got new sisters! It is Sister Winder and Sister Jennings. They are great. We went with them to show them an investiagtors house and when we told the investigator we are now in a different area and she will have these new sisters teach she she looked at me and said "Sister are you giving up on me?" haha kinda broke my heart! I reassured her that NO we are not giving up on her and that the new Sisters will take good care of her.  Also told her that if she comes to church she will see us. It's a extra bonus for her. But goodbyes are hard, thank goodness these two areas do a lot of activites together so I will still see all the members and investigators. 

Sorry I'm going to be lame this week and stop here. I wrote about this week in my journal so you will just have to ask me about it later! 

1) Our distrcit has been focusing on unity again this week so we got matching soccer jerseys. What team? Siem Reap ( in the voice of the one and only Troy Bolton )

Check out the names of our team.......

Marra H Oaks

Ezra Tuft Benson

Millet W Hunter

Orton B Hinkley

Vindel Woodruff

Davis R Bednar

Jennings F Smith

and.......Quinton L SNOOKS

 This is late but this is last trasnfers Zone Picture. I just think Sister Christensen looks adorable in this picture. We have zone conference this week so stay tuned for the updated picture this next week.

part 1-stealing the baby pig and the 600 pound momma pig freaking out

 part 2- stealing a pigglet and running away from the momma pig

part 3-trying to take a picture with the baby pig but it was freaking out. 

Week 63- Golden Masks

I don't have a ton today. We got our transfer calls last night and sadly they are splitting our area back into two branches for sisters. So Sister Davis and I will only be over branch one and two sisters will come and take branch two. Sister Davis and I are pretty heartbroken because one of our beloved recent converts is in branch two and we also have a ton of investigators we love in branch two. But we know that it is better for us to just focus on one area and that it will help us be able to help branch one a lot more. Plus, we no longer have to bike hours and hours to get to houses now. That will be nice. Hopefully I don't gain all that I've lost this last transfer!

President and Sister Christensen came last week for interviews. We went out to lunch and then Sister Christensen went and taught with us! I love her so much!! She is so fun. All the investigators and members love her so much and are so honored to have her come and visit them!  I can't wait for my family to meet the Christensen.They are such amazing people. Another bonus about Sister Christensen coming to teach with us is we got to ride in a car. It was so fast!!! haha

That's all I got. Love you all!

 We decided to have more district unity... So after district meeting we did Gold masks. 

Tim asked Ali what she typicall does on her Pdays. I found it really interesting. This was her response.

So I actually don't love Pdays because I get really exhausted on Pdays. haha In the city it was a little different than now but every Pday we wake up at 5:30, personal study for 30 mins, clean our apartment, go to the market to get food (like vegetables, meat, fruit, and so on). Then we try to find a little side store that we call the American store (only it is nothing like anything in America) but we find milk or bread or like crackers. After that we bike back home with all our groceries on out bike (super hard to bike with 20 eggs on a bumpy road) and we clean all the food because it has mud and gross stuff on it. We bleach the fruit and veggies.  We clean off the blood on the meat and pour a bunch of salt on it. If we have fish then we descale the fish and gut it. Yes, I know how to gut a fish now. haha Then we go and email family and after that we go and eat. Depending on how much money we have, we usually try to eat something American so it is more expensive, but worth it. Then after that we have a few hours to go do stuff, if we want. The thing is, if we want to go do stuff it is expensive because I am white. For a Khmer person it will be $1 but for me it will be $15. I hate knowing I'm getting ripped off. So we usually just hang out with other missionaries, go get ice cream, go to the church and play games with the members and missionaries. In the jungle, because there is only Sister Davis and I and four elders we have to do stuff all together because Sister Davis and I can't just be with one set of elders because it looks inappropriate. So we play volleyball, basketball, or soccer together. We went to the night market once which has a ton of cool stuff. We got those fish massages when the fish eat the dead skin off your feet. We haven't done a a ton here in Seim Reap yet but I think in the future we are going to go to a waterfall and another time we are going to a cool wat (ancient temple). We just have to figure out how much it is for the white people.  Good question!!