Crazy Khmer New Year! April 17,2016 Week #41

Yo fam

Well this week was khmer new year. And let me tell you, it was a ton of fun, but for missionary work it could not have been worse. Ha these people go insane. We called like a 100 people and no one answered. They just shut thier phones off for like a week straight.  We would ride our bike along the road and these guys would just soak us with water guns and sokers. It was hilarious. Then people would try to slap our faces with baby poweder. Im definitely going to come back here when im not a missionary and show them whats up. The whole road is like white right now because of khmer new year. good stuff.

Food wise this week, Elder Beacco and I got some way good stuff. We had 2 members give us the privledge of eating chicken feet soup and some pig brain soup. It was terrible. The chicket feet.. i can eat some gross food, but man it just looked like a 100 year old womans hand. The gag reflex bit me in the butt this week. My comp and I hit a way cool dumpling restaruant this week. We looked at the menu and saw they had crocodile and shark dumplings. So we smiled at eachother and got a plate of Crocodile and Shark. It was awesome. Super good too.

A couple days ago we had some members call us and wanted us to go out to the village called svie jake (mango banane village) and give out food to poor people. It was way out there. it was a special experience. Seeing all these super old cambos and tons of kids coming from the trees and their houses, was so cool. they were so grateful. the last place we went i swear there were like 30 kids all around us. It was so cool. it could have been the first time they have ever seen a white person before. Some kids were yelling ghost at us, it was awesome.

This week I read a lot. One of my favorite stories is Nephi building the ship. 1 Ne 18:2-4 got me real good. He said "Now I, Nephi did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did i build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men. If we take a step back we can say the Ship is us, all of us in the future. Nephi is the person we are right now. And we need to decide if we are going to build our self after the manner of men or of God. In verse 3 it says "wherefore, the Lord showed unto me great things." When we humble our self we raise our self so we can be spiritually ready to recieve those "great things" from God. There is freedom is surrender.

One more thing i want to share. So there is this recent convert that we are teaching, his name is sack. hes 23 years old. Super cool,hip dude who has a lot going for him. He got baptized about 6 months ago, and has been an example in my life ever since i have met him. Hes the only member in his family, his family is way mad hes a christian now, his boss and all of his friends try to get him to party with him every weekend. All of his friends in the church just left on missions, so its kinda just him now. He gave a talk yesterday and it was so good. He talked about how during this khmer new year he had lots of temptations. He said one night he was with all of his friends and his big boss from work, they all trying to get him to drink, they called two pretty girls to come sit by him, and he said that he almost just gave in. He was right on the brink. But he went to the bathroom and just prayed and asked for the strength to overcome and say no. He did it. He denied. He stood as a witness and didnt care, even though he had so many excuses to just give in. Hes the coolest.

uptate on investigators: we have 1 dude named phiap. super cool guy and had a way good lesson on obediance. he wants to get baptized so bad, but he has some issues with drinking. we have another guy named moon, hes doing way good and even came to church during khmer new year. literally like no one showed up. and then we have these two girls one is 25 and the other is 12, they will probably get baptized in two weeks. we are trying to teach there dad, but he's a little rough. i think we can get him. all in all my area is doing way good. if next week goes well , we could have 10 investigators with a baptsimal date. lots of prayers. CICFO sounds like its doing way good. Super cool. man i feel like every week i get some news about how good its doing. its so awesome. that place helps so many people. im so glad we got involved there. its been nothing but good.

well i got like no time, sorry! i love you tons- mom and dad have fun going to the beach for the 5th time this year ha. love you dudes random fact:  Lately i throw up so much. its way weird.

peace out, Elder Smith


*he didn't send any pictures this week, but I found these off someone else's blog :)

Cambodian Version of a Piñata

        

My comp is a baller! 4/10/16 Week #40

Sam didn't have much time this week to write so here are a few excerpts from our letters:

hey momma
 My new comp is a baller. hes from saint george. he has a really cool past. he is a convert and wanted to get baptized, but his father didnt let him, he had to wait a couple years until his dad said yes. hes the first one out of his whole family to go. so cool. we're having a ton of fun together. So refreshing.
we have some really good investigators right now. Im still in the same branch, just a different area. We have quite a few investigators but they will all be busy this week for the new year. Its literally insnae here. Its going to be a crazy week. We are still in the same house, i just swithced rooms. ha it was a weird transfer call.
thank you so much for your prayers. I know they help me every single day. One thing that would help me would be to pray for me to be more sesitive to the holy ghost and that i can understand these people more. i can speak well, these people just have super thick accents. i love you so much! Thank you.
Charlotte The cheeseburger I had this week was the best thing in the world. I want another one! I miss fast food sooo much! Im going to go everyday for the rest of my life when i get home haha. You better go with me! I wish i could see you get baptized! love you so much!! have a good day!

yo tyler! whats up! The new comp is way cool. Hes like a friend i would have back at home. super fun guy. Hes from saint george. Dang thats super fast dudeon your track race! Did you eat it when you ran the hurdles?? ha i saw some people at highschool eat it pretty bad. funniest thing ever. Yea khmer new year is insane. There are tons of people here, and everyone is busy so its hard to meet people, but its all good. its super pretty here. i like the country a lot better. the people are more humble. ha what did you speak on?? love you dude

I listend to conference this past weekend. man our church is so cool. My testimony of latter day apostles and prophets has grown so much. I had two very specific questions and they were both ansered. Really felt good. You can see the good in their eyes. Its so cool.
You know i actually kinda forgot you guys were here, it wasnt that distracting at all. Ha its all good! Im super excited so many good things happened! That school is going to help a ton of people. So cool.

Yeah the conditions here are super rough. there are some houses here that makes me so sad. Seeing little kids not in school and picking up water bottles and beer cans breaks my heart. Its super sad sometimes. But i know that it will all work out eventually. Maybe not in this life, but everything will be ok.

Meeting David and Pattica was aweseome. They both are awesome. his english is so good! i was way impressed. I could tell Pattica was a super good missionary. i love how missions just completely change people for the better. If you go on a mission, and you try and put effort into it, you will come back a new person. its part of the deal ha.

i remeber that jet lag feeling. Those first couple days in the field i thoughti was going to fall asleep riding my bike ha. I've never been so tired in my entire life. i dont think i've gotten over it yet, becuase im still so tired ha.

Hey thanks for the package and the money. I am so exctied to buy some good food. NO MORE RICE. its going to be a glorious day today. i just might buy some lucky charms

Thanks for everything. Love you all so much. Sounds like life is going good. cant wait to be apart of it in a little bit. have a good week!

elder smith

Well I did it! 4/3/16 Week #39

Well I did it. 3 months with my comp. It has been a very weird 3 months but nevertheless it is finished. So we got the trasnfer call and im still in siam riap but im changing areas, Im going to be with Elder Beacco. Im so stoked. Hes way chill. I've gotten to know him really well, we were joking that we were going to be comps and it happened. Im going to be with him in his area. So stoked! Elder uhi is coming and training and taking over our area, so im going to show him around for a little bit to help him out. This next transfer is going to be a ton of fun and hard work.

Next week is going to be way different. we have zone conference, conference, and khmer new year, which means we dont do anything for like 4 days haha. Its like a week long holiday. and the best place to be is in siam riap. Im super stoked to see all this hard core khmer culture. Its going to be so cool. Im having a bunch of members teach me some khmer dances. They are the funniest thing ever. I cant wait to show you guys. Youll be impressed. I get low.

This week has been pretty good. It has been kinda hard too cause my comp has kinda quit, but ive coaxed him along so we did some good stuff. I contacted this dude last week named bong ngaa. I felt like i needed to go to his house again on sunday so we went over and we started talking. He came to church and brought one of his friends. It was so cool. They want to learn

We have these two investigators who have been christians since the end of Pol Plot. They pretty much have the Bible memorized, and they have their own little congregation of like 50 people. We've had some really cool conversations, and its been super cool to see how thier perspective have changed. I special ordered a massive Book of Mormom for him so he can read. If he asks and gets an answer i could get 50 new investigators. How cool would that be.

Now that im getting comfortable in the language i love talking to people. Its way more fun. You here some funny/crazy stories every day becuase cambos literally will say anything. They are the most straight forward people ive ever met in my life. This old lady yesterday tole me she had diarriah. for no reason whatsoever ha./ I was laughing so hard. I was sitting in this one house talking to this old man and he was sharing stories from Pol Plot. He said when he was 14 he was in his village, which had 90 people in it and the khmer rouge came in and just slaughtered everyone, but he and like 10 people escaped. pretty much everyone in his life just died in an instant. man i hate pol plot, such a chhguat.

Big shout out to the 3rd ward for the valentines gift ha, that was awesome, And grandma and granpa smith that package was amazing. When i saw that hickory barbecue sauce and salsa i creid a little not going to lie. you guys are the best.

love you guys!!

on splits with Elder Xiong

coolest TukTuk in the world!

Great people. Tried to teach them, but they were not interested 

backyard of an inactive member

I will be forever grateful for my mission 3/27/15 Week #38

this man is someone I have been working with since the day i got here. He just got the Melchizedek priesthood. 

well this week started out rough, but ended good:)

So our awesome investigator was so close to being completely perfect, but 4 days before his baptism a bunch of his brothers came and when guys in cambodia get together they just drink and sing karaoke. They loooooove karaoke here. Anyways he said no for a little and then he drank. Awww this alcohol thing is really killing my groove here. He was so close, but he told us and was honest which was cool. He came to chruch and went to all three hours. We told him he needs to wait a coulple more weeks, he was bummed but he agreed. I know he can do it, but the flesh is weakkkkk. He just needs to realize he doesnt have to do it alone. Im really starting to love this guy. He's just a good dude with a super cute fam.

We started teaching this old man this week. He doesnt know how to read that well, but he loves having us over. He showed up to church too, which was awesome.

This Sunday i was translating in church, and half way through the branch pres looks at me and was like hey can you give a talk right now, they didnt show up. Ha so boom, 2 minutes later i was up their just trying to give a talk. Ha it went pretty well.

Being out on my mission I feel like my life is like one of those claritan clear commecials for allergies. My life at home (spiritually) wasn't like it is now. It was blurry. I cared but not like I do now. i dont know why, i was just looking at everything from a wierd perspective. but now i see so clearly. I just understand everything now. Like its real. its so cool. I will be forever grateful for my mission.

This week I have been studying a lot about God-- His characteristics and just how loving He is. Its super simple.  In Alma there's a way cool story about this question... Is there a God? Lots of Cambodians believe, but they just dont know who God is. Does he have a body? Is he just a floating spirit in the universe??  'Korihor tries to teach the people that there isnt a God, and Boom Alma comes in in Alma 30: 37-44 and shuts him down. Alma asks Korihor if he believes there is a God, and he says no. Then Alma goes off and aks "What evidence have ye that there is no God...I say unto you, that ye have none, save it be your word only...I have all these things (prophets, scriptures) as a testimony that these things are true..and will ye deny them?"  Then korihor asks for a sign and Alma explains we have signs enough. In verse 44 he says "..and all things denote that there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all the things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea and also all the planents which move in their regular form DO witness that there is a Supreme Creator."
If your athiest I'm sorry, but you literally have nothing. You have to have more faith that there is no God than you do if you were going to believe that there is one. I know there is a God. Everything shows that there is God (if your just going to go by facts alone). He loves us. And we only have to have a desire to believe first if we want to try it out. I love you guys. peace out homies,

elder smith

Only $10 for a pig head

jack fruit tree-looks weird but tastes so good

service in the jungle!

lost stick city battambong

Weirdest 20 min of my life 3/20/15 Week #37

Yo what up

So this was was ehh. Ha it was kinda of a wierd week, but some good stuff happened. On thursday it was the first time on my mission where i didnt leave the house becuase my companions neck was hurting. Yes, his neck. It felt so wierd. I hated it. I was like restless. And theres like nothing to do, ha i felt so wierd. ha I can't relax now. I think I forgot how. I'm just always used to doing something all the time. I dont like relaxing anymore. Weird stuff.

so on sunday our investigator tie brought two of his kids to church and one of them had to go to the bathroom.  Tie asked me if i could take him. so of course i did. this kid is like 7, and their house is wood with leaves as the walls. They are wayy poor. So i took him to the bathroom and it had a regular toilet and urnal. And the look on the kids eyes was hilarious. He asked me why it wasnt outside, and he had no idea what a urnal was. I was laughing so hard. ha he would not do it. I was trying to explain to this little kid how to, but the words just wouldnt come out in khmer, i was laughing too hard. This kid has never seen a toilet in his life. After like 5 minutes of trying to convince him he would not have it. So we just went back to his dad. It was hilaroius.

Siam Reap has about 45 recent converts, and  very few of them go to church. So we have been trying really hard to meet a lot of them. Its been cool trying to understand their problems and creating lessons on their needs.  There is this one guy named Dee. He's way cool. Honestly i dont really know how he got baptized, he doesnt believe in anything but he really wants to find the true church. so we're treating him like a new investigator. its really cool. I think if he really applies what we teach him, he will be able to get that peace and happiness he is trying to have. Got high hopes for him.

we were contacting the other day and i saw this tobacco stained toothed funny little cambodian lady, and i asked her if i could help her with her garden. she said "FRIEK YAH"" and handed me her pales and made me water her garden. it was hilarious. Then she got this massive hose and out of the blue just drenched me, ha it was so wierd. I was stunned. I couldnt believe she did that. Then we both just started laughing way hard. Easily the wierdest 20 minutes of my entire life. I got a dope pic to prove it. we taught her about prayer and she would have none of it, she said she was too old to learn. it made no sense.

Love, Elder Smith

read alma 5: 27-28-- it''ll getcha

Crazy looking dog with 2 different sized eyes

market phsaa lee--grocery shopping!

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!

Faith is confidence in God 3/6/15 Week #35

Well this week was pretty cool.

We have two investigators who are progressing super well. Tie came to church this week and brought his oldest son who is like 8. Tie has 5 kids. He has the cutest family. So pumped for him. He's been reading a lot and has a ton of faith. We taught him about Baptism and he's way pumped to "cleanse his spirit". So if all goes well he should get baptized in 3 weeks.

We have this other guy named Hiang. He's 17 and is super cool. He wants to get baptized but his parents are gone and I think he lives with his grandma. He is getting baptized in like 3 months when he turns 18. This dude is way cool. Just wants to do what is right. He loves the scriptures and teaches me a lot when we teach him.

Funny thing that happened here in Siam Riap is that this 45 year old crazy/hobo lady has pitched her hammock right in front of the chruch. And yesterday she was using the fire hydrant to take a shower. Ha what the heck... she's insane. I think im going to start a hashtag or somehting that says #onlyincambodia.

I've been reading a lot about faith.  I really like how faith is confindence. Makes a lot of sense. I think the hardest thing for some people to realize is that we are just as important as Moses, or Adam or Nephi.  We have the same significane to God. The reason they had those miracles in their life was because of the faith or confidence they had in God. God works after our faith, those prophets learned to overcome the natural tendencey to fear and replace it with courage and confidence.

I've also have been studying about how our prayers can have a big impact on others. They have the power to help people who have lost their way or not doing whats right. When Alma the younger was going about destroying the church he saw an angel and the angel said "For this purpose hve i come to convice thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants (his father, the prophet and other good people) might be answered according to thier faith" what if Alma his father and the church members never prayed for him? They might have thought Alma the younger was a lost cause, but they prayed with faith, and because God had mercy on alma the younger and the sons of mosiah thousands were converted through their missionary service. and alma the younger became a prophet of the Lord. Because of the prayers of others Super cool. When we pray with faith for others things will happen if its Gods will.

Shorter email this week, but next week will be better. Peace out

elder smith

A service project

Angkor Wat Trees

Stairs to a temple