I think he is starting to realize that what we are teaching is actually "real" and that God will really help him. 8/14/16 week #60

Dear Fam

Such a good week. So that family that we contacted last week we started teaching them this week. Actually just the husband is learning right now because his wife is busy but its a good start. His name is Veejet. Super down to earth guy who has 3 little kids and trying to make a living for his family. They literally live in a tin tree house over this super polluted river. Its a tough neighborhood but with some really good people. After we taught him the restoration we met him two days later and wanted to share the Plan of Salvation with him but we felt like prayer is what he needed to hear. He had lots of questions about it. At the end of the lesson he started talking and just started smiling. He was like ever since we have met each other that first time you talked to me little amazing things have been happening in my life. Nothing big just little things all the time. I think he is starting to realize that what we are teaching is actually "real" and that God will really help him. SO COOL. 

Also we taught Bong Rit again. The past two weeks he has been super busy because he has been preparing to apply to a special scholarship to get his PHD is France. He prayed way hard and he got it! It was huge for him. Super cool, the bummer is that he is moving to France in Ocotber. We dont want him to get baptized and then just leave to France so we decided it would be best for him to get baptized in France. So we will continue to teach him and give him over to the Elders in France when he moves. 

Vine is doing way good. He is coming to church every week and is becoming friends with the young men. Its way cool. I think he will be ready to get baptized in about 3 weeks. SO PUMPED. 

Sunday morning we went to visit my favorite active member family in the branch. The Ngin family. Super awesome. We were sitting down talking to the mother and her son came down and was messing with his mom. It was way funny. Then she went into another room and pulled out this bamboo stick and was chasing her kid around trying to wack him with the stick. She gave up and sat next to me and said Elder I really don't want to be sealed to a kid like that. Ha it was awesome. Good stuff. 

Also some good news, our branch might become a ward in the future. Its really progressing. Super awesome. 

Hope you guys have a អស្ចារ្យ week. 

Elder Smith

 Super cool dude. His name is Sunday.

My Cambodian brothers

Went to Wat Phnom for P day

Transfer week! week #57 8/7/16

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Well transfer calls were last night. Some good news and some bad news, Elder Medley and I will be parting ways. I'm way sad. He's definitely one of my favorite comps. So chill. BUT i got a call and i will be the new zone leader in the city. South Zone is the biggest zone in Cambodia so im a little nervous. I though I was going to train but being a zone leader is going to be tight. BUUUT my new comp is a little difficult. Im not going to lie hes a twin of Elder Chhouk. There are 3 famous super difficult missionaries in the mission  Elder Chhouk and Elder Try are on the top 3.  Its going to be a adventure to say the least. 

But im just going to love this man. Hes going to feel way wierd becuase of the amount of love that im going to bestow upon him. His life is going to be amazing. im taking this as a challenge. 

So we met Rith this week and he told us he completly stopped coffee and tea! Hes done he said and he just wants to get baptized! It was a sick lesson. If all goes well he should get baptized in 3 or 4 weeks. I'm way pumped for him, 

Church was awesome today. We had 4 investigators and we picked up two new investigators that are way good. we had over a hundred people come in our branch! Elder Medley and I had two goals this transfer- we wanted to get 20 lessons twice and over a 100 people at church twice and we did it. It was awesome. When i first got here it wasn't that good at all. So its been fun seeing the area grow in numbers:) The work is coming along. I'm really starting to love this area. The members are awesome and we got some really good investigators. 

Cant believe you guys are moving to Thailand! it looks like the Lords hand is in it all the way. Im so pumped for you guys. That's going to be one way cool adventure--I'm all in.  I'm way jealous, but Cambodia is way cooler so whatever . Love you dudes. Thanks for the prayers! 

Cambodians are really good artists

teaching English!

This week was a thousand times better than last week 7/31/16 Week #56

Hey guys! This week was a thousand times better than last week.

So our area is a branch but we go to the church building where all of the wards are. And for the past two week our branch has had the most people show up for church than all of the wards in the South Stake area. Elder Medley and I are doing a ton of less active work and strengthening the members. Its a ton of fun. This area used to be way tough, crazy what some hard work can do. Its doing way good now.

So Sophiap and Teeda showed up to church again. I'm really excited for them. We can only meet them once a week because he is so busy with work, but they have some really good faith. We might see a couple baptisms in a month or two. Ive gotten really close to this couple. They are way awesome. Can't wait to see what happens.

For Bong Rith we have a plan to help him stop drinking coffee and tea. He committed to completely stop in two weeks, so we will see what happens. Hes down to a cup a day instead of 3 or 4. We had a really good lesson about the Sabbath day and what Gods wants us to do in this life. Hes comin a long. Its not easy.

Funniest thing happened the other day-- Elder Medley and I were coming out of our house to unlock our gate and this insane lady who sells vegetables and meat outside of our house was just waiting outside our gate. So we talked to her as we were opening the gate to take our bikes out and she asked if she could come in. Before we could say anything she ran into our front yard and yelled "Oh my gosh" and started to rip all of the leaves off this tree. My comp and I just looked at each other not knowing what to do. I guess the leaves on this tree are way delicious and expensive, i had no idea. She told us thank you and had a handful of leaves and then ran out and started selling them outside or house. Ha it was awesome. I guess you make a soup called Slamajoo with it. I'm going to ask her to make it for me.

Well looks like Idaho is still as beautiful as ever. Miss you guys.

Elder Smith

 

 

 "the difficulty in life itself is a blessing. For it initiates a desire within us to turn to the Lord.""

A very weird but great week! 7/24/16 Week #55

Well this week... There have been better HA

Well on Tuesday night i woke up at like 2 in the morning with this insane sharp pain in my stomach and 5 minutes later i was downstairs having everything inside my body leave with great force. It was terrible. I tried to go back to my room, cause thats the only room in the house that has any sort of AC but as soon as i would walk upstairs i would have to go back to the bathroom and throw up. It was way hot so i just took my shirt off and laid on the tile in my bathroom trying to smack the ants that were crawling on me and feeling sorry for myself and trying to cool off. One of the worst nights of my life not going to lie ha. Got like no sleep at all. But after like 5 hours of just dying it quickly went away. I have no idea what I ate, but this body did not like it. 

Buuut Bong Rit came to church yesterday and he brought a friend. It was awesome. He really enjoyed it and is progressing slowly but surely. It was really cool to explain everything we do. He was really interested. Hes such a cool guy. 

On Friday elder medley and I were late to a meeting so we went down this bridge and were hauling on our bikes. Im talking like Gear 3 and gear 8 status. I was going way fast, and then this dude totally cut me off way bad and there i went. Sliding on the road. I pretty much had to just ditch my bike and jump off it. nothing i could do. I tried to land on my shoulder and back and it worked really well. My hand and elbow have some good road rash but i was wearing my helmet so i was safe. That new backpack totally saved me, didnt get anything on my back ahah. There was like a group of like 80 people that came over to me. The guy just drove away way fast and didn't do anything. The bike is ok, just a couple scrapes. So this week was weird but it was also way good. 

I found some really good qutoes that i have been studying a lot lately

"Righteousness is simply a humble understanding of how unrighteous one is, coupled with a deep commitment to be better."

"The difficulty of life itself is a blessing. For it initiates a desire within us to come to the Lord."

"Circumstances that invite us toward Christ are blessings to us spiritually even if they are challenges to us physically."

Love you guys! 

This is where we do all of our shopping. This lady hooks me up way good.

This week was amazing, just like every week on the mission. 7/17/2016 Week #54

Hello Family

Well well well, its monday agian. This week was amazing, just like every week on the mission. 

To start off we had a really wierd thursday morning. We went straight to he church to meet an investigator and we found two hobos sleeping at the church. We woke them up and tried to help them, they were heavily under the influence and couldnt believe we spoke khmer it was funny. 2 minutes later a lizard jumped off a shrub and bit my companion on the arm. It was awesome. 

So we had some really good lessons this week and we are seeing some investigators really starting to progress. Sophiap and Tidaa are doing great, they are just way busy but they came to sunday school and loved it. It was super cool to see them get invlolved and stop being shy. Rithia is in france for the next 10 days wich is a bummer, but we gave him some chapters to read from the BOM and he got really excited. My comp and I have been really trying to help this Less Active named Cone. Hes hilarious, he showed up with a white shirt and tye and passed the sacrament. It was awesome, and that other old lady that we found a couple weeks ago gave a talk during sacrament meeting. It was cool seeing people make changes and then help the branch. Good stuff right there. 

These past weeks and actually my whole mission I've studied a lot about how to listen better to the Spirit. i just want to get better at it. I heard a way good quote from my main man Ezra Taft Benson he said "When you do good, you feel good, and that is the Holy Ghost Speaking to you." Super simple. As a kid i always read scriptures and heard stories of a "burning in your bosom" and how that is the way you know if the church is true or not. For me it doesnt work like that, it comes by living it. As i live it, i love it, and I feel it which makes me want to share it. Oaks put it in a great way, "Surely the work 'burning' in this scripture signifies a feeling of comfort and serenity. This is the witness many receive. THis is the way revelation works... I have never had a burning (caloric heat) in the bosom." Packer said "The Holy Ghost communicates with the Spirit through the mindmore than through the physcal senses, Personal revalation comes to the mind as thoughts and to the heart as feelings." The Holy Ghost is a voice we feel not hear. 

I love this mission. Not going to lie, there are some tough days, like days that just are terrible.

Ha this area is a little bit tough. Its just not easy, every day is like a mountian i have to climb, and some days when i wake up and its 5:30 in the morning and im dead tired, im not going to lie i have no desire to do anything ha, but thats where i have to make the descion if my mission is about me or others. On the mission you get to make lots of decisions. you talk to yourself a lot, ive gotten to know myself better haha. Its been fun, im really excited for the next year. thank you so much for the chocolate!! it was greatly needed. You da best "Come what may and love it." Its the only way to have a good time on your mission. 

live long and prosper         Love, Elder Smith

We all got new bikes!

Well I hit my year mark!! 7/10/16 Week #53

Ayyye

Well it looked like the 4th was a ton of fun. America is the best. S/O to Ellie, you da best. Im so sorry about your accident. hope you feel better. You got prayers coming from Asia. 

Well it was a successful week. Even though this area is super hard to deal with, it was good.

The work is going pretty well, we have about 5 pretty solid investigators, it's been fun seeing our investigator pool get bigger almost every week. Elder Medley and I have set some good high goals, we will see if we can do it. I've kinda realized there is no such thing as a "bad area" people talk about areas and about how crappy they are but i think its maybe because they just didn't try or work that hard. You cant call an area crappy if you've worked your hardest at it, you will eventually love it if you try. 

We had a way good lesson with our two golden investigators. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they had a lot of questions. It was a ton of fun. The man we are teachings name is Sopheap and his wife Teeda (translated Angel) is like 15 years younger than he is. He works for the government and has a ton of money so he gets a young beautiful wife. Little side note, Sopheap has the weirdest laugh ever. i just think of a little gremlin who buries his neck in his shoulder and stares at you when he laughs, it gets me every time. Our member help said she thought sopheap was Teeda's Dad. I had to tell her that wasn't cool after the lesson. They want to get baptized, but they are super busy with their jobs so it will happen in like 5 or 6 weeks. I'm super excited. 

We also had 2 amazing lessons with Rithia. At the end of one of the lessons, he said "Elda, when i talk to you guys and i learn, and i read this book, i just feel happy. I dont know why im just so refreshed." it was fun trying to help him realize it was The Spirt of God telling him what he was doing is right. 

the first couple weeks of teaching a new investigator are so cool. You get to watch them pray better, ask questions about Nephi and Lehi and teach them that their families can be together forever. Its so fun. Some people you have to just let go because they aren't interested, but sometimes they notice the Spirit and they run after it. Its so cool to just sit back and watch the spirit work on them. 

So i hit a year, man time is just so weird on your mission. But I've been thinking about my mission and what Ive put in and what I've gotten out of it. I've worked hard, no regrets and now i have one more year. As i thought about this past year i started to become so much more grateful for Cambodia because its given me the opportunity to change. Im so grateful that Christ has given me an opportunity to just change for the better. There's no other thing, organization you can volunteer at, a job or church thing that offers anything like a mission. You get to leave everything you once knew, your family, friends, house, school, everything and then be put in a group of people you have never met and live in a new place. The only ounce of familiarity you have is your Heavenly Father and your scriptures, I think that is part of the reason why missionaries and myself start having such a strong desire to read and pray. Its something that isn't new, and you start to cherish it so much, and you just start praying and reading like you never have before. You rely and depend on your Father in Heaven and you get to watch first hand God helping you and making you a better missionary. Missions are dope. I highly recommend it. 

Have a good week guys

Lots of love form Cambodia

ELDER SMITH

made my sick comp soup cause i'm oh so sweet

getting pretty good at Khmer writing

the other elders we live with are from Vietnam, this is what their freezer looks like everyday

"The Elders are coming. Everything is going to be ok." 7/03/16 Week #51

yoyo fam 

Those pics and videos of McCall seem so much fun. You got me missin home again, but its all good. It's a good thing to miss home.  It's just summer in Idaho is the absolute best.  But what Im doing here is so much more important. I love it here. truly. I think this past year, everything just seems so much more real. The gospel, my relationship with God, what i want to do in my life, its not just an idea. I love it.  i just love life and i want to help people have dope lives and the best way is through the Gospel. For p-day we missionaries are going to go play some basketball and try to find a burger somewhere to celebrate the 4th! It'll be fun. Almost as fun as McCall...ha just kidding that is a lie. The reunion looks like so much fun. I'm super jealous. Yeah on Friday im going to hit my year mark! Its crazy, it feels good though knowing that i have given a year of my life to the Lord, but i hate how I'm half way done. 

Well this week was awesome. We had a really cool thing happen to us. A couple days ago all of our plans fell through in the morning so we just started contacting. We both had the idea to go to this one part of our area that we both hate, because for some reason everyone there is just super mean, but we decided to go contacting over there anyway. After like 2 and half hours of complete rude shut downs we stopped on our bikes and started feeling sorry for ourselves. So we started biking again down this dead road and all of the sudden this old lady started yelling, "Elder!" So we stopped and started talking to her, turns out she is a less active member who just moved from across the city because she was having some problems, and didn't know what to do. So she prayed and felt the spirit tell her to just go outside and that everything would be ok because the Elders were coming. It was so cool. We talked to her for a while, and saw her at church yesterday. I love being a part of little miracles. Really makes you feel good. The Lord is aware.

last night we had a funny/sad thing happen. This old man in our branch invited us over to his house because he said he won a prize. He cut us a ton of jackfruit when we showed up. He and his wife were super happy. They received an email and a text message that they had won 1 million dollars. Obviously it was a scam so we read it and had to tell them that no, they did not win and they shouldn't give their bank account number to them. They were bummed. I felt like i just ruined Christmas for them.  But someone had to do it.

So this week my comp and I made contact with 2 new golden investigators. I'm so pumped. They are really educated and THEY CAN READ! Which is awesome. They are a new couple, but the husband is like 45. its like a 20 years difference but whatever. The guy his name is sophiap and his wife is teedaa. They are so awesome, they feel like they have been really blessed and they want to thank God for all of their blessings. We had a really good lesson about the Restoration. I think in a month or 2 they will be ready for baptism. Our other investigators are doing really good too. When i first got here we had 1 investigator now we have 8. Thanks to our Heavenly Father and a little hard work. Life is going good. 

Love you guys

Elder Smith

Throwback with Elder Baecco at Khmer New Year