The Word of Wisdom doesn't make life harder, it makes it easier 3/13/15 Week #36

This is my "costco"--the market where I buy my food

Well this week flew by. It was a pretty good week. We had Tie come to church and he brought 2 of his kids. He is supposed to get baptized in two weeks if their arent any hiccups. Im super excited for him and his family. His kids are so cute. This week we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and I was stressing way bad about it, because in Cambodia drinking is literally a way of life. Its the only thing guys do when they get together, so when you choose not to drink you choose to almost take away a big part of your social life. Its a big choice for people here, but we explained the blessings that would come from it. At first he seemed kinda bummed and not too happy, but as we read the scriptures with him he started to loosen up. He realized it would help him, not make his life harder. He committed to never drink again. It was a good moment.

last night we had the opportunity to eat at a members house. They have their problems but are super nice to the missionaires. But the food was terrible, im not going to lie about that. There is this vegetable here that is kinda like the grossest thing in the world, its has like a super sour fishy taste and it looks like a long wart. She boiled them and then fermented this fish for a week or so and made this paste and lathered it on. Then she got raw fish and put it on top, just like the cherry on some ice cream. Ha i felt like was going to die, my body kinda like twitched when the taste hit my tounge and she asked if i didnt like it, and i said "nah, its way good"so she gave me 3 more. kill me.

On friday we went to batambang for zone training. Its like a 3 hour bus ride. It was fun. our zone leaders are way cool, super funny good missionaries. They talked a lot about not being "Glory hunters" beacuse every missionary wants to find a village super far away and baptize a hundred people and feel way cool, but they said what will help Cambodia the most and what will strengthen the church is if we are Zion builders. It was cool. We need to build the church, becuase its so young here. The church culture and khmer culture clash pretty hard so its been fun helping the members and our branch president realize what they need to do.

Well my comp and I are doing good. This month and next month is the "hot season" and man its been hot. I sweat through my shirt at like 10:30 in the morning. its the  best.

love you guys

Elder smith

Chaa Gruang, super famous dish and I learned how to make it. It looks gross, but its amazing.

Elder Smith with Elder Ouk --one of the kids he knew at CICFO when we were there 4 years ago and now they are missionaries together :)

 **I (Allyson) added these next 2 pictures.  The first one is of Sam and Mara Ouk after he got his mission call to serve in his native land of Cambodia.

Here is Sam with his arm around Mara in 2012 when we stayed at the orphanage for a month.  It is amazing that they are now serving their missions together!