Week 13 - Gotcha Day in Kampung Cham
1:10 PM
A quick note from Mom: What is Gotcha Day? It is better than a Birthday for our family. October 2nd, is the day that Kendall was handed to me in China. It is the day I GOT her. We have traditions that we do every year! Kendall's Chinese name means spring flower. Our tradition always includes flowers, going to eat Chinese food and expressing our love for the blessing of having each other. So this is a Special Day!
Hi family and friends,
This week was hard for me. Homesickness is settling in especially because it was "Gotcha Day" this week. Missionary work wise this week was good. I really want to talk about two people though. The First we came across after a rough morning. Our plans for the day fell through and we literally had no idea what to do. We decided to bike over to an inactives house in hopes her family would want to learn. Along the way Sister Harris kept saying hey let’s turn around and talk with this person. We did this for a good chunk of time and we were practically driving in circles slowly progressing to this person’s house. Needless to say were getting tired of the pattern. Finally, we were on our way again when we passed to women standing outside of a house. I had the thought that one of them looked so familiar. I told Sister Harris and she asked if I wanted to turn around. At first I said no because they were in the middle of a conversation, but then I had the thought what if I don't stop and this is the answer to our prayers (to find new investigators). I told Sister Harris "actually yeah let’s turn back". We started talking to them and it was obvious they weren't really interested, but then two girls came out of the house the two women were standing in front of. It turns out the women didn't even live there. They were just talking, but the older of the two girls wanted to talk to us. She really interested in what we had to say and let us teach her and the younger girl right on the spot. Oon Kaa is so sweet. She is actually Christian already. Our second visit with her she told us she read 1 Nephi 1 and we discussed it with her a little. It turns out she's an orphan; because she turned 18 though she had to leave the orphanage. She currently lives with a family but she's not super close to them (the younger girl who sat in the first discussion was one of the daughters). I realized how ironic the situation was at that moment. It was October 2nd, Gotcha Day, the day I was adopted, and here is this girl in front of me that is living a life that could've been mine. It made me appreciate my mom that much more. I miss her so much, and I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving her to me. I really want the best for Oon Kaa and I was so excited when she and the younger girl came to Church on Sunday. Hopefully, we will continue to make progress with both of them. I'm really glad I "recognized" one of those women outside of their house. The other person I wanted to mention is named Bong Bo. She is so awesome she just had problems with getting time off work to come to church. She eventually stopped working and she told us she knew she needed to come back to church. She also told us she wanted us to teach her children as well, so that's exciting. Unfortunately she was in desperate need of a job and was hired at a gas station. She told us she was trying so hard to find someone to swap her shifts but everyone said they were busy. We prayed with so much faith for her Saturday night. On Sunday, we went by the gas station to see if she was there and she wasn't! Excited, we swung by where she lived and she said that someone ended up filling in for her and she promised she'd be at church! She stayed for all three hours and brought her daughter! We're hoping and praying that the time swap will be permanent. That's all I have for this week.
With much love, Kendall
Other side notes, I finally fell off my bike and scraped my leg up and we don’t get to watch conference till this Saturday and Sunday. I did just look up who was called to be the new apostles though.
Banners my Mom and the Sisters I live with made me for Gotcha Day!
This week was hard for me. Homesickness is settling in especially because it was "Gotcha Day" this week. Missionary work wise this week was good. I really want to talk about two people though. The First we came across after a rough morning. Our plans for the day fell through and we literally had no idea what to do. We decided to bike over to an inactives house in hopes her family would want to learn. Along the way Sister Harris kept saying hey let’s turn around and talk with this person. We did this for a good chunk of time and we were practically driving in circles slowly progressing to this person’s house. Needless to say were getting tired of the pattern. Finally, we were on our way again when we passed to women standing outside of a house. I had the thought that one of them looked so familiar. I told Sister Harris and she asked if I wanted to turn around. At first I said no because they were in the middle of a conversation, but then I had the thought what if I don't stop and this is the answer to our prayers (to find new investigators). I told Sister Harris "actually yeah let’s turn back". We started talking to them and it was obvious they weren't really interested, but then two girls came out of the house the two women were standing in front of. It turns out the women didn't even live there. They were just talking, but the older of the two girls wanted to talk to us. She really interested in what we had to say and let us teach her and the younger girl right on the spot. Oon Kaa is so sweet. She is actually Christian already. Our second visit with her she told us she read 1 Nephi 1 and we discussed it with her a little. It turns out she's an orphan; because she turned 18 though she had to leave the orphanage. She currently lives with a family but she's not super close to them (the younger girl who sat in the first discussion was one of the daughters). I realized how ironic the situation was at that moment. It was October 2nd, Gotcha Day, the day I was adopted, and here is this girl in front of me that is living a life that could've been mine. It made me appreciate my mom that much more. I miss her so much, and I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving her to me. I really want the best for Oon Kaa and I was so excited when she and the younger girl came to Church on Sunday. Hopefully, we will continue to make progress with both of them. I'm really glad I "recognized" one of those women outside of their house. The other person I wanted to mention is named Bong Bo. She is so awesome she just had problems with getting time off work to come to church. She eventually stopped working and she told us she knew she needed to come back to church. She also told us she wanted us to teach her children as well, so that's exciting. Unfortunately she was in desperate need of a job and was hired at a gas station. She told us she was trying so hard to find someone to swap her shifts but everyone said they were busy. We prayed with so much faith for her Saturday night. On Sunday, we went by the gas station to see if she was there and she wasn't! Excited, we swung by where she lived and she said that someone ended up filling in for her and she promised she'd be at church! She stayed for all three hours and brought her daughter! We're hoping and praying that the time swap will be permanent. That's all I have for this week.
With much love, Kendall
Other side notes, I finally fell off my bike and scraped my leg up and we don’t get to watch conference till this Saturday and Sunday. I did just look up who was called to be the new apostles though.
You can't see the pouring rain but it is like a Splash Pad!
This is my children of the world picture, playing with garbage.
A trip to the bakery!
A service project we did, cleaning this room
Sister Harris and Sister Semones with one of their investigators. She just left for a month's vacation.
The first CRASH!
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