KINGDOM OF WONDER

WE REALLY ARE OUT HERE! THE BODI BABY! These last six days have been crazy and I don't even know where to start. I am pretty sure that it is 11PM on Sunday night in Utah so I guess you will just get to see this tomorrow.

I decided to name my email "Kingdom of Wonder..." because I literally WONDER?? What the heck is going on at all hours of the day haha. Kingdom of Wondering: Where am I? What is everyone saying? What's so funny? Why is it so hot? And so many more questions just leave me in wonder.

Let me do my best to recap my last couple of days. We left the MTC on Tuesday and many hours later (Somewhere around 22) we were in Hong Kong. I don't know what the scheduling office has on me, but they literally put me in every middle sit on every flight, surrounded by two tall, big elders, so that was chill. It was quite hard to focus on reading "Our Heritage" while all the T.V.'s around me were playing every popular movie that has come out in the past six months... but I tried my best to not stare at there T.V. for very long haha. Anyway, when we got to Hong Kong we went and got some McD's which was MONEY! The only bad part about it was that they literally had two menu items for breakfast: Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup with an egg on top, and the big breakfast. It was yummy, but I should have gotten the soup... Anyway off to Cambodia we went, and as our plane descended the nerves hit me. I was just scared of the unknown. I was just being a wuss though and after a rushed couple of minutes I finally met my comp and found out what area I would be going to.

SO my companions name is Elder Herrera from Athens, Georgia. He is a really cool guy and an awesome missionary. He is Hispanic and he speaks Spanish, English, Khmer, and he is learning Vietnamese. Impressive. He is a great teacher and all the lessons we have taught have gone really well due to his teaching abilities haha so I am grateful to have a great trainer!

The area that I am in is Battambang 1 which is the city area of Battambang. So I am in a city, but not Phnom Penh which is nice because it is a little of both worlds. Little did I know that Battambang is an 8-hour bus ride from Phnom Penh. Because the 30 SOMETHING hours we had already just traveled wasn't enough, we had to add on another 8-hour bus ride. So after we interviewed with President and Sister Christensen (who are awesome) we made our way. The drive was really pretty and I enjoyed listening to the Khmer music videos that definitely kept me entertained.

And my adventure begins. I am not gonna get into all the specifics because I don't want to make this letter a novel, haha, but I will summarize it the best I can. IT IS SO HOT AND I LITERALLY SWEAT BUCKETS. I just sweat and sweat and sweat no matter where I am, but it is all part of the fun. We have been able to teach a good amount of lessons and the work is really progressing here. A lot of people have been shady about meeting with us so we have spent a lot of time contacting, but we actually have had a good amount of success and found three new investigators. The work is moving forward and I just do my best to say hi to everyone I see and bare my testimony when I can.

The weirdest things about Cambodia:

• The fact that they don't use toilet paper. I know that is common in other parts of the world, but sometimes I just need some toilet paper

• At random times of the day, the Monks just blare their chants over the loudest speakers in the whole entire world and they are so so scary haha you can hear them all around the city

• The Phsaa (Markets) are insane!!!! There are just carcasses of every animal you can imagine everywhere haha

• We will be literally talking to people in Khmer but because we are white they say "I don't understand English" and then we say "We are literally speaking Khmer right now" and they are like woah haha... so weird

• Some guy stopped us in the streets and said that he is Christian, and just started singing the most bizarre hymns I had ever heard in my entire life, but he finally let us go after ten minutes. 

It's crazy because it is the hottest, poorest, most unique place I have ever been in my life. I never know what people are saying to me and they laugh at me when I try to speak sometimes. I literally have gotten in two car crashes because there are no traffic laws. But at the end of the day, the weirdest thing is that I LOVE IT already. As strange as it sounds, it is already starting to feel like home to me. It is all somewhat strangely familiar.

Before I end I just want to say how much I took life back at home for granted. Air conditioning, clean water, toilet paper and so much more are just a second thought to us. But here, it is a battle just to have enough money for food. I really have realized how blessed I was growing up. Also, in Priesthood they were talking about the importance of going to the temple. They talked about how they should try to go to the Philippines temple or Hong Kong temple, and maybe even someday they could go to the Salt Lake City Temple. I just sat in that class and realized how lucky I was to live
10 minutes away from a place that people save up their whole lives to go to.  Please, everyone, go to the temple this week and appreciate the ability you have to do that!! WE ARE SO BLESSED!!

You gotta love the journey baby! Working hard out here. Trying to get people interested in our amazing message. Thanks for all the love and support.

Love,

Elder Gochnour