Hey guys! Well this week is Christmas. I've never had a Christmas without snow or lights so its been weird. Its funny, lots of people here havent even heard of Christmas…but thats not going to stop Elder Neuberger and I. Christmas this year is going to be bumpin. Prae Choom, Cambodia isnt going to know what him em ha.
This week we had 3 different investigators come to church. Thats the most i've gotten so far on the mission, I was way happy to say the least. Sophal came, this new investigator name Peeset, and a super old lady named nat. Peeset and Nat both agreed to be baptized. Super cool. This past Sunday President Christensen, his wife, and some of their family who came to visit came to our church. Elder Neuberger translated for them, but then it was his turn to give a talk. So... I had to translate... I literally thought I was going to die. Ha I definitly dont know khmer, but I had to try. It actually didnt go as bad as I thought. Funny stuff.
Well this week I've been studying a lot about just believing. Some less actives and members come up to the elders and just say, man i wish i could believe like you guys. So as I've been studying about believing i learned some cool stuff. All in all, we CHOOSE what we believe. Belief is just a choice. Its not that special. You either say "Yip I believe, or nope it cant be real" Presdident Uchtdorf said "There is no magic to belief., But wanting to believe is the necessary first step! God is no respecter of persons. He's your Father." Way simple. I've never met God, or had an amazing spiritual experience, but I believe. I choose to. Its not something that some people have and others dont. Its a choice. But its hard sometimes. Things happen and bad things get thrown into our lives. Thats when belief turns into faith. Elder Anderson said "faith is not by chance, but my choice." When something negative is in our life, we need to do something. We got apply the faith and what you believe in. Then the faith becomes stonger, becuase you already have relied on God and gotten through the trial. Sorry im getting all preachy, but i just felt like writing this. Its good stuff. Just start with the desire to believe if you dont know where you stand. Then choose to believe. Honestly, ha its just a better way to live. Believing there is an all powerful God who loves you and wants you to be happy in this life is a good feeling. The sermon has ended.
Well to end the emial i wanna share one miracle that happend to one of our members. So right now everyone is harvesting their rice and planting. The lady we live with has some big rice fields. She sells the type of rice that all the rich people eat. Its super good and sweet. She went to her fields and started to throw the rice seeds in her fields. Her neighbors started making fun of her, becuase they said they saw 30 rats in her field the day before and the rats were gonig to eat all of her seeds. So she dropped her basket and prayed in faith that the rats wouldn eat her field. Then she just threw all of her seeds. All of it. Thats a ton of faith. Then the next day she came back, All she saw in her field was a huge python as thick as her leg in her field. The snake ate and scared all of the rats away. So sick! God is in the details of our life.
Well i hope all you guys have an awesome Christmas. Cant wait to talk to the fam this week!
Love Elder Smith
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| These little dudes love wearing our helmets :) |
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| Afternoon nap, no crib needed |
ps-just a little bit from his companions blog-Elder Neuberger
"This last week has been way cool. . . as in temperature. In the mornings and evenings it’s been a brisk 70 degrees. I shiver on our bike rides home at night, because the breeze just picks up over the rice fields and douses me in cold. No enveloping dust/slum pollution to serve as a blanket for me this year. Elder Smith loves the temperature though. He makes fun of me for being cold. Ohhh just wait till next year... Then he'll feel my pain.
As bad as I think it is, the Khmaes seriously pretend like the polar ice caps have shifted to cover Cambodia. They get all wrapped up in blankets and scarves and beanies and what not, hahaha. Ahhh . . . it’s so funny. The other day we go over to our investigator’s house, who will be baptized in 2 weeks, and her son comes out of the house and he goes "Wheewee! It’s cold! I was riding my moto back from Prey Totung this morning and the wind made my face go so numb you could slap me right in the face and I would never know", haha."
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