Still at the MTC...

Me and Sister Brinton! I get to see her all the time!

Welp another week down here in the Missionary Training Center. It's hard to write these letters because: 

1. I am sitting here and I promise interesting stuff happened, but I can't remember one thing I did this whole week 
2. Anything that seems funny to me anymore is only because I have been here for six weeks (altering my sense of humor) and is therefore not funny to anyone reading this, so just bear with me haha!

I finally finished the Book of Mormon this week! It was the first time that I have actually studied the amazing book and not just read while I was half asleep, laying on my bed around midnight, and let me tell you, it makes a HUGE difference. I learned so much and received new insight from reading. I had a few questions that I wanted to be answered when I read it, and after reading I can say that those questions were answered. I know that if you have a question read the Book of Mormon and you can find the answer if you search diligently. I loved the peace and the constant comfort that reading brought me. There are some powerful stories in there and I know that it really was written for our day. All in all, finishing the Book was a huge testimony builder from me. 

We got a second teacher which is a huge relief! He is a super good guy and is pretty fresh off of the mission. The first day I don't think he understood that we aren't the best at speaking the language haha. He was using so many words that I had never heard before, but he has finally learned and he has really helped my progress.
I said goodbye to Elder McDougal and Elder Hoj. Elder McDougal sprained his ankle in basketball and barely made it out of the MTC, haha what funny guy. I can't wait for him to say "Miss me with that" to all the French that are rude to him. Elder Hoj finally got his Visa so I said goodbye to him.He will be awesome.

Last Tuesday Elder Cook gave an awesome talk last Tuesday devotional. He talked about the importance of loving your companion, loving your mission president, loving the people but most of all just loving the Savior. The if I could invite you to read a scripture this week it would be Moroni 7: 45-48. Having charity toward everyone you come in contact with, and pray to have this amazing attribute because it really will change the outcome of your day, week, and life, for the better. 

Funny thing that happened this week: There is the slightest difference between the words "To lead" and "To pee" and so some Elder's were teaching the investigator that "We have a prophet today who pees the church." LOL. Gotta love those mistakes!! It's always good to be willing to laugh at yourself

Thanks for all the love and support! Happy to hear that the Utes are rolling! Tough loss this week for the Titans, but they will bounce back and win region baby! Everyone should watch General Conference and go into the sessions with some questions that you want to know the answer to! They will be answered. The leaders of the church are about to DROP some knowledge, and I don't think I have ever been more excited for a session of conference in my life (actually I know I haven't). 

Thanks for reading!

សេចក្ដីរសលាញ់,

Elder Gochnour

If you want to email me hit me up @jacob.gochnour@myldsmail.net.

Elder Hoj before he dipped on out of here

Add Me chilling with Joseph

Sending off Elder McDougal

The crutch Elder Mcdougal after he broke his ankle playing basketball

I look so awkward, but picture with Mary's cousin

God Speed Elder Mcdougal

CHOOSE HAPPY

Everyone who speaks Khmer at the MTC

Another awesome week in the MTC!

Although hardly anything has changed from last week, here are a few big things that happened this week:

1. We made it past halfway in the MTC. Only four more weeks left, WOOT WOOT!

2. We hit the one-month mark in the mission- It has flown by already!

3. We finally got a second teacher that starts on Thursday (hopefully) so we won't have to learn so much on our own

4. After probably 6 hours of study I read the first two pages of Preach My Gospel in Khmer (just imagine how fast I could read the Book of Mormon!!!)

Funny stuff that happened: our district has picked up playing what are the odds which has resulted in a shower from Elder Shumway in the janitors closet, Elder Enloe eating a raw banana peel, and me eating a whole meal without utensils. Funny times!! (The MTC really wears on you after a couple of weeks if you can't tell LOL)

I am sitting here unable to remember anything that has happened this week soooo I don't have much else to say. Elder Jones (Welsh) always goes to choir with me. For those of you who don't know, I am tone deaf and unable to sing. During choir on Sunday, he said to me, "You have actually gotten a lot better at singing." I was so happy to hear that, but a little saddened at the next comment: "You went from being terrible to just being bad." I guess any form of progress is good progress though!

Because Cambodian is a nine-week language in the MTC we change our District Leader halfway through the mission. I was lucky enough to be called as District Leader. I honestly have no idea why because everyone in my district is way more spiritual and dedicated than me, but it's probably because I need it more than them to kick me more into missionary shape haha! The only responsibilities I have are an extra meeting and getting the mail so lot's of power coming my way!!

I would like to end with some spiritual stuff for the week. It is hard to not want to talk forever about spiritual stuff because that's all we talk about haha but I will try to keep it short. First, last Tuesday Elder Kearon gave a talk with a posh British accent. The two things that stood out the most from his talk was the power of prayer and the ability we have to CHOOSE to be happy and to CHOOSE to be the best missionaries that we can be. He first touched on prayer by saying something similar to, get up every morning and pouring out our soul to our Heavenly Father. He talked about the importance of remembering who we are praying to and trying to align our will with the will of God, because only then will we be able to understand the answers that we receive from our prayers. I was reminded of the importance of prayer while reading in 3rd Nephi. The Savior says in 3rd Nephi 13: 5-13 that we must not be repetitive and that we must align our will with the Lord. It is an awesome set of scriptures.

It seems like one of the most overarching themes of the mission is agency. You choose how your day, your mission, and your life ends up all because of your attitude. He encouraged us to choose to have that fire inside of you, devoting every passionate minute to the lord. I know that I want to strive to have that fire inside of me as a missionary. I felt so pumped up from his talk and couldn't help but yell, "It's a great day to be a missionary!!" It reminded me of when Coach Burt would yell "It's a great day to be a Titan!" Today is a great day to be whatever you are. 

That's all I got for this week. Read and pray about the Book of Mormon, serve with all energy of heart, and love those around you. Shout out to the Utes and the Titans for another couple of big W's this week. Keep rolling!! I love you all and am so grateful for the support.

ជាមួយ​ការ​ស្រលាញ់,

Elder Gochnour

Mong Peppers are supposed to be some of the hottest in the world.
People were dying when they ate them but I didn't try any haha

Hanging out with my boy Elder Peck. He is such a good guy

TRIPPING

Me and Elder Ward! 

Another great week at the MTC! Pretty much the same drill here. Language, scriptures, class, and handing Elder McDougal L's!! 

Big news: I have gained 6 pounds!! YUP!! I am trying to put on those lbs before I go to Cambodia and lose them all the first week there lol. Those extra six pounds also put me over the edge of weighing more than Elder Nate Owen! Yay!

I know that the title of my email is slang and that most people may not understand the term "tripping", but it was the only way that I could describe my day yesterday. TRIPPY. So we wake up thinking it's going to be a regular Monday like every other day at the MTC. My companion, Elder Bohman, is acting out of the ordinary and isn't talking much. He states that his throat hurts and that he feels weird. Fast forward two hours to breakfast and Elder Bohman is just hard core lost in the sauce.  He fell asleep on the breakfast table and then he gets up without saying anything and starts walking circles around the cafeteria with his mouth wide open. Straight up CIRCLES. I guess he was trying to find his backpack, but he couldn't remember where he put it and he was so lost. We tried to go do a personal study, but he just sat and stared out the window for 20 minutes, so I eventually convinced him to go back to the room. He fell asleep and was OUT for 7 hours. Honestly, from 9 to 4 I just sat around and tried to study, but there was another Elder stuck in the resident hall because he had hives, who is trying to write a post-apocalyptic book, and he had to talk to me about it for 3 hours so it was pretty tough to get much done. We stayed back and missed our night class too, but he ended up being fine and the doctor didn't know what was wrong with him. I decided to self-diagnose it as the tripping disease.

Other things that happened this week:

1. I have an ear infection which kills, but on the bright side, we got to leave campus and walk down the street which was fun

2. I was searching every day to find Elder Gochnour (Charlie) and finally saw him on Sunday at the devotional. He is a great friend and already knows more Spanish than I know Khmer.... how would it be?

3. We didn't have a teacher from Wednesday to Saturday and I didn't go to class on Monday, so I haven't gotten much work done with the language. But it's all good. I tried to do my best to learn on my own (They are in the process of hiring a second teacher, and our other teacher was in Texas for a family thing)

4. Every morning an Elder yells the top of his lungs the Air Force Fight Song or whatever it is, and it really helps me feel the power of the U S of A baby.

Spiritual Thought:

Chad Lewis, the legendary BYU TE gave a devotional on Sunday and it was amazing. One story that stuck with me was of a young boy that passed away in a tragic car accident. He was always so happy and so outgoing, and everyone would wonder how he always acted so Christ-like. While in the Emergency Room his mom was holding his phone, hoping that his son would make it out alive. He got a buzz on a phone that said "Make Christ the center of your life." Another hour passed and she received another notification on his phone that said, "Make Christ the center of your life." He had set up notifications for every hour to remind him that he wanted to live a life centered around Christ. I got emotional when I heard this because even for me, while on a mission spending on my time devoted to Christ, I find myself sometimes not making him the center of my actions and intentions. This young man was an example of me of the importance that building our lives around Christ can be. The importance of being an example to all in simply the way that we live. And consequently, the joy that can come and the peace that we can receive from doing this.

I love the MTC! Sorry for another long email! Read the Book of Mormon! I have been reading the war chapters in Alma and I love them! Teancum is such a BOSS! Now I know why Ralph liked him so much when he got home from his mission. 

Thank you for everyone for your love and support. Go Utes! Glad we were able to pull out another W against those Cougars! I would love to hear from all of you, just email me @jacob.gochnour@myldsmail.net 

Much love, 

Elder Gochnour

CHICK-FIL-A

Had to say goodbye to elder ference which was sad

The reason I titled this letter with the name of a famous, chicken fast-food chain is that we got it catered on Monday!!!!!  LET'S GO! Hahaha I was dying because Elder Obray started crying with tears streaming down his face because he was so happy we were having some classic chicken sandwiches.

I argued with Elder Jones (Welsh) for one and a half hours on whether the U.K. or the USA is a better country. Clearly, I was right in the argument, but after an intense debate, we agreed to disagree. 

My district and I attempted to do an all Khmer day on Thursday and it went great (till 11 A.M. lol). In the morning there was a lot of pointing and not much talking. After exercise time we ended up just hoisting the white flag and deciding to try harder next time we had an English fast.

Speaking of fasting, Fast Sunday was awesome! They pretty much force you to fast in the MTC, but you gotta love it. One of my favorite memories from this week was fast and testimony meeting on Sunday. A huge group of Thai and Vietnamese Missionaries left our zone on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Some of them I grew really close to so it was bittersweet. Sweet because the shower lines won't be so long in the morning :). It was SO powerful to hear how much they have grown in the MTC and I could really feel the conviction they spoke with, the literal power of God. It was pretty awesome. Elder Ference bore his testimony about Joseph Smith (something that I had been praying to become more converted to) and it was amazing. I got a true testament that he was a true prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon really is true. As pansy as it sounds at the end of the meeting, we sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" and I started tearing up a little bit, but I did my best to hide it. I feel so lucky to be a member of the modern day Army of Helaman!!

The language is TOUGH! We taught TRC which is basically where you talk to an investigator about a gospel topic. We decided to teach on charity which wasn't the best idea because I could barely pronounce the word (seckdei?sawbor?rah) (that's my best attempt at typing out the word only using English characters), but it was the first time I really felt the spirit while teaching in broken Cambodian. I know that charity is one of the most important things and we need to all do our best to have it every single day!

Funny story: one of the Elder's in my district was trying to tell our investigator Vong (who is just our teacher) that Jesus Christ's gospel LEFT the Earth during the apostasy. He looked up the word left in the dictionary, but it was left as in your left hand and I guess my teacher just started laughing out loud during their lesson haha. 

We learned how to write in script this week which was pretty awesome. I actually thought it was fun because it is a lot of building characters through using different pieces. The only hard part is memorizing 30+ consonants, 30+ sub consonants, and like 50 vowels or something. I don't even remember exactly, but somehow the number adds up into the hundreds. Anyway, if you give me at least 20 minutes, my cheat sheet, and a romanized dictionary, I could (maybe) almost read anything! But, the language is coming. It is teaching me humility which is something that I could always be better at. 

Anyway, last thought of the week was from one of my teachers in my class. It seems like I write this every week (which I do) But one of my teachers, Lokruu Harmon is leaving to TA at B.Y.U. so yesterday was our last class with him. He shared with us Alma 38 and it is such a powerful chapter. Anyone preparing to go on a mission or anyone on a mission or just anyone at all should definitely read it. I especially loved verse 12. It talks about how we need to BRIDLE our passions. I didn't know what this word meant but in the footnote, it says "self-mastery". I thought that was one of the coolest terms I have ever heard. What would it be like to have complete self-mastery of our thoughts, intentions, passions, desires, efforts, and actions? Try to imagine what that would look like. If we let our passions control us then we won't be able to focus on loving others and the passions of others. Anyway, that's my spiritual thought for the week.

Sorry for the long letter, but if you read any of it I would just want to invite you to read the Book of Mormon. It is LEGIT. I love seeing Elder McDougal, Elder Dean, Elder Hoj, Sister Brinton, Elder Sherwood and everyone in between. They always make my day better when I see them. 

GO UTES! I hope to not hear much of the game from outside the MTC because the crowd is silenced from Tyler Huntley slinging! I love this gospel and being a missionary. I love all of you too. Thank you for all of the support. I feel so blessed for the examples I have in my life. Feel free to write a letter or an email, or send a package I would love to hear from you!

The Church is True! 

Elder Gochnour

Elder Facer is a good guy

Me and my comp repping our Cambodian Pride

Elder Coon!

Elder Mcdougal