ktocambodia : November 2015

Week 21 - Kampung Cham - Drum roll for my new companion!

10:55 PM

OKAY there was a lot this week but I’ll skip to the most exciting part…

I have a NEW companion or should I say companions! WHAT!?!?! YUP I’m back in a trio, but it gets even stranger. So I am with Sister Nhem (a native) and.............. a new missionary. Yup we have a trainee in our trio. I am so excited about Sister Nhem everyone loves her! I'll admit I’m nervous about the koon (the new missionary). We actually don’t know if the koon will be American or Khmae till the day of, so that should be interesting. If they're American the challenge for me will be to not compare myself (higher or lower, any type of comparing is bad); if they are Khmae the challenge will be to get investigators to listen to me rather than expect my companions to translate. I'm also nervous about the complications that come with trios in general. Oh and I’m leading the area, so this should be interesting, yes I have managed to somewhat overcome my weakness of being direction-ally challenged. So we will see how everything plays out. 1 Nephi 3:7 I will go and do. I am so sad to see Sister Harris kick it to the city; I’m really going to miss her. Yeah I'm actually way sad. I really couldn't have had a better trainer.

Last pday we decided to take srei saat pictures. It was a blast! Sister Harris and I went with the traditional khmae wedding attire and Sister Kimball and Ren went India style. The pictures are sweet!!! Anyways we for sure experienced the culture for 4 hours, yeah it took 4 hours ha ha. Sister Harris decided to go with the traditional khmae wedding pants because they are outrageously funny! She looked like an oompaloompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Anyways enjoy the pictures and laugh as hard as you want because they are ridiculous.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and I woke up with a lovely 101 degree fever. Yeah I finally got sick. I somehow managed to climb on the back of Sister Harris bike and we went to the church to have Thanksgiving. Yes I went. I scarfed down my plate of food (I was not going without stuffing and potatoes) and I went and laid on the floor. The zone leaders gave me a blessing because our district leader was sick as well. Priesthood blessings are real! I was better the next day. So I’m grateful for the priesthood. And as stated in last week’s email I am grateful for my family and the gospel and the opportunity I have to be a missionary.

As far as missionary work goes:

We don't have many investigators right now sigh but we're working on it.

So mainly we've been meeting less actives and recent converts.

So exciting Bong Pov (houng's mom) finished the Book of Mormon!!!!! (Even the index ha ha) She also proceeded to share all the miracles in her life since she joined the church. So that was pretty great! Also Sunday we had some less actives and close to less actives come to church!

Okay sorry I don’t have a lot to write about missionary work this week but hopefully that will change soon.

Love you all, Kendall

I love their Missionary Tags on!!

Srei Saat Pictures

Traditional Khmae Bridal Outfit

Having lots of fun!

Thanksgiving!

Beautiful River!

Week 20 - Kampung Cham - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

9:39 PM

CONFUSED by the title of my email?

Wellllll here's the thing, so a few weeks ago we found out Christmas is cancelled, aka we are not getting together as a mission in the city, because the Area 70 asked us not to. Everyone is bummed out but hey what can you do. Anyways I'll admit I was super bummed cause I’m out in a kite aka I’m only with ten people and there are no Christmas decorations in kites cause there are no Americans out here. BUT last pday we went to the Japanese recycle shop (thrift store) and lo and behold there was a 5 foot fully decorated Christmas tree. It had ornaments and tinsel and even a star. So what did I do? I impulsively bought it for $35. Do I regret it NO WAY! I've never been so excited to take down a tree, but we took it apart in the store and biked it home. So that night we put up the tree, listened to some Kenny G Christmas music, and drank Hot chocolate (shout out to my mission grandma Sister Davis for sending it and Sister Harris for sharing)! The cool part is that this is Sister Ren's first Christmas! And she got into it! She decided to rip apart an old pillow and use the stuffing as snow. The best part is Sister Ren bought a skirt at the Japanese Recycle shop unfortunately it shrunk in the wash, so I asked her if we could use it as the tree skirt. All in all yes our tree skirt is a real skirt. When we first put up the Christmas tree we were in a trance. We practically sat around the tree anytime we could, talked around the tree ate around the tree. I finally told Sister Harris and Kimball that Sister Ren probably thought this was a normal thing in America and Sister Harris joked that Sister Ren probably thinks it's our shrine hahah.

The next day Sister Uresk and Sister Young (The super sister training leaders) came for an exchange with Sister Kimball and Sister Ren. We all decided to celebrate Christmas together. So we planned on doing a gift exchange. It was a blast lots of steals and swaps. Tons of talking and good stories. All in all it was a fun Christmas!

As far as the work goes, Oon Kaa and Srei Niat were baptized! Okay getting baptisms ready is mass chaos; in the end we waited for an hour and a half till someone in the branch presidency was able to come. But whatever people just roll with the punches here. We ended up singing practically every hymn translated in khmae while waiting. Once the baptism started it was really great. One of the youth in our ward gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and it was spot on, and the baptisms themselves were beautiful. Between the interview and the baptism, I felt prompted that we needed to teach a lesson on how to share your testimony. (honestly, because the church is new here most people don't know how, I had the idea come to mind we could help strengthen the ward by teaching the new members how to share their testimony and that hopefully the members would feel the spirit and follow their example). The lesson was exactly what we needed to teach! Oon Kaa and Srei Niat got up at the baptism and shared their testimony and the spirit was there! Often people just say they feel happy and thank the missionaries, but this was absolutely different and it was great. I'm so excited for them and the choices they've made. I'm grateful Heavenly Father provided a way for us to have true joy and happiness through the gospel and that we can look forward for things to come.

Sunday was great too! Srei Niat and Oon Kaa were confirmed. I felt the spirit and felt so excited for them and the potential they have as members. Also Sister Harris had the opportunity to teach relief Society and she ended up teaching about how to bear your testimony. Everyone had the opportunity to share in class, and it was an awesome experience. Anyways that’s all I have for this week!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm so thankful for the gospel in my life and the opportunity I have to serve a mission and share the good news. I'm grateful for my family and friends who've been good examples to me and have been there to love and support me. I'm grateful Heavenly Father placed me in a home where our family's foundation is built on Christ. Love you all enjoy being home and together!!!

Love, Kendall

Week 19 - Kampung Cham - Monkey Farm / Wats

6:12 PM

Hi family and friends!

I am so sorry for the short email last week but part of our district went to visit different sites in Kampung Cham! We went and played with monkeys too (not really, that would be like asking for rabies). It was really fun to visit the watts and learn more about what most people believe in here. It was also interesting to learn more about the history of this country and the tragedy they faced.

This week was pretty normal. We contacted like crazy this week. I can't remember if I mentioned it last email but last week our investigators dwindled down to 3, but this week we're back up to 10! And 3 of them are close to golden investigators, unfortunately all three are guys, so if we can't find member help we have to give them to the elders... bummer but hey as long as they're learning.

I'm so excited for this week because........ Oon Kaa and Srei Niat are being baptized on Saturday!!! Before their interview we asked them some questions to figure out how prepared they were, and they were so awesome! It is so fun to teach them because they remember everything, and they keep their commitments. Friday we taught them a lesson on setting goals to get to the temple. I was thinking about how amazing temples are. Heavenly Father created a way for us to remember some of the most important days of our lives while helping others receive those same blessings.

This week I also went on my first exchange with a native! Sister Ren! I love Sister Ren she is so sweet! She was really nice and we didn't really have any communication issues. She knows a little English and I know some Khmae so it all worked out! I was also glad I didn't get lost in the lessons; we took an equal amount of time teaching. It was so fun to spend the day with her, and I’m so sad she'll go to a new area next transfer.

Okay so that's all I have for this week love you tons! Thank you so much for the fun thanksgiving letters and love!

Love, Kendall