ktocambodia

I'm on the downhill!

Hey everyone, another week down at the MTC, but it's official I'm on the down hill now!!! Weeee finally. I love the MTC but I'm excited to go to Cambodia! This Tuesday was special because President Nelson came and spoke at the MTC! The spirit is so strong when he walked into the room. His talk was awesome however I don't really know how to sum it all up. He focused on covenants and engraving them on our hearts; he also focused on missionary work and helping others get to the temple. My companions and I decided to  sing in the MTC choir; we sang Be Still My Soul for President Nelson (considering everything he has in front of him now that he's President of the Quorum of the Twelve). It was a really great night! Satan must have not liked that because the rest of the week was a beating! Not only for me but all pretty much everyone I talked to. It wasn't anything super big.  Just small stuff piling on at the same time. Heavenly Father was aware of me and blessed me through my little cousin Cole and my Mom. I got a letter from Cole Thursday! I was so excited I'm so grateful for the thought and time he put into my cute surprise.  Friday,  my Mom's letter came. It came at the exact time I needed it and it said exactly what I needed and wanted to hear. Heavenly Father definitely blessed me with the Mom I needed. It helped change my week around. 

Saturday was amazing!!! We started the morning off with TRC (training resource center) we teach members who speak khmae. The feedback we got was awesome! I took a picture of the note but the computer won't let me upload pictures today. The brother we taught said, "Sisters you did great! I really appreciated the talk on the priesthood. All of you are doing well in the language. Be confident in your speaking and push yourself. Sister Semones I really appreciated you trying to not look at your notes; it's hard but it pays off. Remember to smile and be present and engaged.  The question you asked was great! You all are going to do great!" The spirit was definitely helping me remember the words I had learned for the lesson. I only had to look down at my note card for one word! It was great especially because this week I felt like i was struggling with the language. Right after TRC we went and taught our investigator Lookpuutuu. Lookpuutuu is really our teacher playing the role of a a person he taught in Cambodia. We felt like we've been struggling with teaching him. He had a ton of questions about everything and it's hard to explain when your vocab is limited. The previous lesson he wanted to know why The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints is different than other churches. We planned a lesson on revelation and the priesthood. We taught how through the priesthood prophets can help guide us. We re taught how Joseph Smith had the priesthood and restored the gospel and how he translated The Book of Mormon. We then talked about baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost through someone holding priesthood authority. We went over the covenants of baptism and the blessings the Holy Ghost provides including the opportunity we have to recieve personal revelation and comfort etc. I shared my testimony with Lookpuutuu and invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. He accepted the invitation and I could feel God's love for him.  I know that Christ set the perfect example for us. I know that he wants us to follow him. I know that The Book of Mormon is true and that testifies of Christ and answers life's most important questions:  Where do we come from ? What is my purpose? and where am I going?  I know that Joseph Smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ and that everyone can enjoy the blessings of the priesthood. I am grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost and that it can comfort me, help me remember things, testify to me about Christ and his  gospel. I am grateful for the atonement and the ability it gives me to become a better person through Christ's merits mercy and grace. I know when I teach, I receive help to teach beyond my own capacity. I say these things in the name of my savior Jesus Christ Amen. 

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!  Thank you for the sweet letters and thoughts!  This week was tricky, and I really missed my family and friends, but the Lord helped me push through it.  I was thinking about the little cousins and how they could learn about the atonement at a young age.  Perhaps you can read the story of the push ups and donuts/ doughnuts (however you want to spell it) or even reread the story of about the school of boys and the rules they make. I love you all! 
Love Sister Semones

PS People in Texas I heard Blue Bell is back!  no fair!

Sister Mon finally got her visa and left on Thursday! She was so excited! I helped her pack and good grief she had so much stuff and didn't want to part with any of it. She eventually got rid of a few things and each bag was exactly at 50 lbs. Packing is not fun but I was happy to help her... Thanks Mom for helping me. Tell everyone if they've sent me anything I am working on sending thank you cards and I greatly appreciate their thoughtfulness and love.  I realized I don't have any addresses.....so I might have to mail one big thing of letters to you and you can hand them out.  We are about to start practicing lessons with each other (we get to pretend to be investigators). We were talking about why it's important to see from an investigator's perspective. Then the spirit washed over me and the thought came that it's not just important to see what they're understanding (and making sure the missionaries are teaching clearly) but rather it’s more important that we as missionaries are trying to become like Christ. We are representing him and doing what he would do if he was there himself.  We have made covenants at baptism to mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. We have the responsibility to see from their perspective and sympathize with them. We then need to help them realize that Christ can do much more; he can completely understand them and empathize with them. I just felt really warm at that moment. Speaking of doing what Christ would do if he himself were present, a week or so ago our former district leader has this really cool card and I was hoping you could get me one. It's my missionary commission and has a picture of Christ on the front by Liz Swindle (the quote is from Bruce R McConkie). Anyways I love it and I try to read it every day (I tried to find it on lds.org couldn't find it) I'll send a pic of it to you next week. It's really powerful and I'm really sad right now I don't have a picture of it to send to you.... Last night Sister Sheri Dew spoke, we were sitting really close too. It was awesome she talked about keeping commandments and wrestling to find truth. She talked about how if we do these things we can access heaven.  On Thursday, the sister training leaders asked me to teach Relief Society. I was stressed because they were supposed to let
me know on Monday. It was okay I had luckily prepared a talked on baptism and the Holy Ghost for sacrament meeting and I didn't have to give it. So I decided to use that. I spent a few hours trying to find materials to help add to the talk but couldn't really find anything. So I said a prayer in hopes that the spirit would guide me and that people would participate. And it turned out to be a really good lesson! The spirit was there and people participated. Thoughts and words just came to mind and I was able to discuss each point further than I had planned. The spirit was strong.

 I know Christ has set the ultimate example for us. Even though he was perfect, he was humble and showed us that we need to be humble and recognize our faults and weaknesses. I know that baptism must be performed by one holding the priesthood. Christ traveled far to be baptized by John the Baptist who had the proper authority. I am grateful for baptism and the sacrament and that I know our sinful selves can "die" and we can become new and clean again each week. I know Christ lives and loves us. Much love,

Sister Semones