Elder Gochnour in Cambodia: 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