Week 17 - Kampung Cham - Jicama/Baptism/Halloween

11:49 PM

Hi family and friends! Missed you all this week especially during Halloween!

A lot of ups and downs this week so I'm going to focus on the good.

This week for service we planted Jicama (it is pronounced (hick-a-ma) I know it’s in America too, they told me " you look like you've done this before.” Apparently my real calling in life is to be an Asian farmer, so I will not be living in America anymore... jokes that would be torture. I am sooo sore, forget squats just plant so Jicama.

Halloween was awesome! I had my first baptism! She's 10 and the daughter of a recent convert. The lessons were easy with her, but she still means a lot to us. I am so excited for her! She is a typical 10 year old, you have to get her to focus in lessons, but she has such a good heart. At first we had trouble getting her to read her scriptures, but we had the idea to give her a time in the day that she HAD to stop and read, and it worked! Every day at 6 pm she reads her scriptures! (To all my little cousins: if she can do it so can you; read your scriptures every day, get to it!) Preparing for the baptism was insanity!!! Typically one of the counselors comes to the church early to fill the font but he forgot that day. Sister Harris and I started it and when we checked maybe 20 mins later it was only ankle deep...It was time to start and Hoang and the elder’s investigator weren't even there! 15 mins later Hoang rolls in and says her Mom's not coming because of work. (Honestly I don’t even know how she got to the church). So Sister Harris talked to her mom on the phone and she decided come! Another 15 mins rolls by and we decide to check the font again and it's still low, we decided to pray really hard and to go ahead and not cancel it. It came time for the moment of truth and the water was just high enough, and Hoang was able to have a beautiful baptism. She came to church by herself on Sunday and was confirmed. She is so sweet and I notice how good of an example she was to everyone in the ward. I am so excited for her, and I know her and her Mother can help strengthen each other.

Also Oon Kaa and her younger sister Srei Neit came to the baptism. They also came to the youth Halloween party later that evening.

Our district got to go to the Halloween party to help with activities and contact people. The 3rd branch here has a ton of youth and they invited so many friends. There were almost as many non-members as there were members. The kids in charge went full out they had awesome decorations, a haunted house, a makeup station, games, and food! I was really impressed especially considering their resources. So in this kite the church building is really small and the chapel is also the cultural hall. So that was a little strange, but it was such a great thing to see the youth come together and help one another have a good time. The best part though was the opening and closing song. The opening hymn was Silent Night and the closing hymn was God be With You Till We meet Again. They honestly weren't trying to be irreverent there piano skills and number of hymns they know are just very limited. It was way fun and I am so glad our investigators decide to come.

Also yesterday Oon Kaa and Srei neit came to Church again. We decided we should try and teach Srei Niet more since she actually participated in the gospel principles class. Typically when we teach Srei Neit it’s just because Oon Kaa is learning. But yesterday night we taught Srei Neit lesson three and she was really engaged! She told us she prays and she started reading the Book of Mormon too! We asked Oon Kaa if she wanted to wait for Srei Neit to catch up on lessons so they could be baptized on the same day. They both seemed excited about the idea. So I am really excited on continuing to work with them.

Okay well that is all for this week! Loved seeing everyone in their costumes keep sending pictures and updates! Miss you tons!

Love Kendall

Planting Jicama

A natural Asian farmer!

This is Bong Oon, she tried to come to church a couple of weeks ago but ended up going to the hospital. We went to check on her and she was outside sitting on a bench because the hospital was full. We went to get her some food and a pillow. She had her beautiful baby girl that night!