GRATITUDE IS GREAT

Well Lucy is out there taking model pictures and I struggle to keep my clothes clean for more than ten minutes outside my house, haha, but we really are out here!!! 

 When I first got here we just focused on finding, finding and finding, but now all those people are getting close to getting Baptism! The Lord really is amazing and has helped me and Elder Herrera out so much. Good news: So the guy (Puu Sophal) that I messed up his Priesthood Blessing asked me to baptize him this coming Saturday! He is the bomb and I cannot wait for Saturday. His family will all be together in the restored gospel! 

One miracle that happened this week: a kid we are teaching named Benhya (rough guess) before we even started the lesson asked "So when can I get baptized?" He said that he used to have a Christian neighbor that always invited him to church when he was younger. As he and his mom were pondering what they could do to make his life better, they both pictured that same Christian man in their head, that told them to go to church. He said that he knew that because he saw that man he needed to become Christian. 

Pretty much just another fun and exciting week in Cambodia! I have come to really enjoy lists out here in the field so here is another list about interesting stuff that happened this week:

• One of our investigators owns cats, but she puts them in these basket cages haha and there are like 5 cats just chilling in these basket cages. We asked her why she puts her dang cats in these sketchy cages and she replied simply, saying "If I don't then the neighbors will eat them" WHAT THE!

•  Sometimes I shower with lizards, but it is all good because they keep the bugs out! 

• I ate 240 mentos this last week and I have gained 25 pounds since I entered the MTC. Yeah... I know....

• I went to my first FHE last Monday and I was putting some curry on my rice and I accidentally scooped out the chicken foot.... but I put it back smooth without anyone noticing!!

Today I am going to close with a little thought I had this week because it is Thanksgiving on Thursday! One investigator we have asked us this week "Why were you guys born in America with so many opportunities, and I was born in Cambodia with such a hard life?" What a question to consider.!!  I just want to say how very grateful I have become for the little things that you don't notice back home like, air conditioning, toilet paper, couches, clean water and so many other blessings!  

I have a challenge that goes with Thanksgiving.  Go read the talk "Oh Remember, Remember" by President Eyring in the October 2007 General Conference.  Every single day we need to do our best to recognize God's hand in our life. One day for me it was when we were moving dirt for another service project and right when I felt like I couldn't sweat anymore or else I would die, I felt a nice cool breeze of air. It is those little things that we should be grateful for.

Mosiah 2:20 reads, “I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another.”  

We should thank God every day for the living breath that he gives us. We have so much to be thankful for! One other verse…

Alma 7:23, “And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.” 

It doesn't say that we should thank God only when things are good and moving along smoothly. We should thank our Father in Heaven for EVERYTHING we receive. The good and the bad. Especially the bad and the hard, because that is the best time for us to grow and become better. 

In closing I just want to say please be thankful this week and take my challenge!! You will notice a difference in your life. Thank you for all the love and support. I have so much GRATITUDE this week for all of you and for the chance I have to be a missionary. I have so much gratitude for the heat, the hard times, and the trials that we have in this life. Eat some Turkey for me!!!!

A servant of the Lord,

Elder Gochnour

RIDIN' SOLO

This week was another crazy one out here in Cambodia!! First things first, the work is really progressing. I have really realized that God can work miracles through us. Although we are so far from perfect, not the best teachers and have so many weaknesses, if we work hard God will do the rest. We just need to put ourselves in the situation for Heavenly Father to use us as his tools and his instruments. 

So this weekend was a little bit of a rodeo haha! Me and Elder Obray (an Elder who was in the MTC with me) ended up all alone for two days in the middle of Cambodia haha. Our comps are both district leaders so they went up to Siem Riep to go on exchanges with the ZLs. That left me and Elder Obray with two areas, a lot of biking, and very little ability to speak Khmer haha, we were truly Riding Solo!! But it was a real BLAST! We taught a good amount of lessons and almost all ended up pretty bomb because we had member help. Member help is the key to missionary work! I would just try to explain something but they didn't really understand and then the member would just come in clutch and explain it perfectly. It was a lot of biking, but it was really cool because we got to go to the forests of Odembong (no idea how to spell it in English) and it is straight jungle out there. It was legit. We came home after a long day though and just had a complete ant infestation. There were ants EVERYWHERE in our house. We just went ham with the raid and managed to get most of them swept out of the house and cleaned up. 

Funny things that happened this week:

• So remember when I said that ALMOST all of our lessons went well? That's because there were a few we couldn't find members to help. One especially did not go so hot... We get in there planning to teach about Priesthood, missionary work, teaching and learning in the church, and service. However, we realized it was gonna be a long lesson because literally every word that came out of our mouths they laughed out us. Just constant laughing haha, and so we only had taught the service part of the lesson and I just called it. I just said, "Okay that's all we got!" Hahaha you just gotta laugh at yourself sometimes.

• We were teaching one of our investigators who is awesome, but he has been really sick. Anyway, we were getting him ready for baptism, so from what I understood we were just giving him a priesthood blessing to help him prepare for baptism and to be able to know that he is doing the right thing. Looking back I realize how dumb it sounds haha, but he asks me to give him the blessing... So I just tried my best and finished the blessing and everyone just kinda looked confused. Turns out it was supposed to be a blessing of good health. So that's why we used the oil....... I felt like an idiot, but God knows what the Lookpuu needs and he will provide! You live and you learn haha. 

• The only service that you do here is moving dirt from one place to another? Doesn't really make sense to me, but I guess you just do what you are told...

• We went to the crocodile farm last week and it was crazy! I got to hold a baby crocodile and then we threw fish heads into the cage to give them a tasty snack! 

Anyway, I won't write much more except that I love it out here! Every day there is some crazy new adventure. Read the Book of Mormon and especially read 2 Nephi 31! The doctrine of Christ needs to be the center of our lives. Hope everyone has a great week! Go watch some hoops for me!

Yours Truly,

//Elder Gochnour

Cold in Cambodia?

Another great week here! I am loving it more and more every week I spend in this crazy country!

Yesterday it was cold?!?! What the heck haha. We went out in the morning and it was raining, and let me tell you when it rains, it pours!!! It soaked me to the bone.  I think I could have stayed drier if I had gone deep sea diving, but it was a fun adventure. As I was biking I looked down and had goosebumps, something I never thought I would see for two years! Crazy. We even turned our air conditioning off and it was actually nice inside the house. It was a fun surprise to make the week a little more interesting. 

Here are some things that happened this week: 

• I ate some weird food: Coagulated Pig Blood (actually kinda a disappointment because it was basically red tofu with less flavor and more jello-y if that is a thing), shrimp chips which were DISGUSTING, and a lotus flower which was really weird and tasted very similar to dirt. Fun stuff!

• Good food I ate this week: They have these fried bananas which are so dang tasty I love them. They also have this drink called Ovaltine which is like Nesquick but better and they mix it with sweet and condensed milk and it is so delicious. I also love buying their Fanta here. They have green, red, orange (obviously) and blue. The blue one is DANK. I already know I am gonna miss it when I have to go home. 
• Funny stories: We teaching a family and trying to get to know them because it was the first lesson.  This naked little girl just posts up next to me on a bucked haha and just uses it casually as a toilet. That was something you don't see every day in America. Then, I was in the Phsaa (market) just chilling and this lady comes up to me and just socks me in the shoulder, way hard haha, and I thought what on earth? She proceeded to tell me that I was very tall, white person and asked me what I wanted to buy. Casual.

One of the funniest things about Cambodia to me is the fact that they ALL wear knock off clothes. Some of them are actually pretty legit. I met this guy that was wearing a CUGGI shirt instead of a GUCCI shirt haha. And there was also a guy that was wearing sneakers with Nike, Adidas and Under Armour logos on them haha. Sponsored by all 3! Legend!

The work is really coming along here and I am loving it! We have a few people that are looking good and keeping their commitments. God is good. This week I had a cool experience. We called one of our investigators and set up an appointment, to meet with him the next hour. We called the District President to help us teach and then we biked to the District President's house to have him ride with us to go teach. After probably a 15-minute bike ride we showed up to the house, only to hear the guy say that he was "busy" while he was literally sitting on his bum listening to music. I kinda thought to myself, we prepared for probably an hour for this appointment by biking, preparing scriptures, arranging to meet the District President, planning for what we were gonna say and then it all just was shut down because he didn't want to meet with us. I thought to myself, why did I come to this place, so far away, so foreign, and make so many sacrifices, just to be shut down by someone who didn't want to listen to us. However, that night I thought back to a quote in Preach My Gospel in the first couple pages, by Elder Holland that talks about the fact that we are bringing these people salvation. Sure I have sacrificed and it is a bummer when they don't accept this amazing gospel. But how glorious will be my joy if I bring, but one soul unto God, as the scripture states. I had to refocus and realize how noble this cause is. It is the cause of eternity and salvation. I was being selfish to look inward rather than being grateful that we had more time to find people who were prepared!

That is all I got. You guys back home are the best! Know I love you and I am so grateful for all the amazing examples I have in my life. I invite everyone to go read Alma 34 sometime this week. That scripture is money. And let basketball season begin! Go BLUE DEVILS BABY!

Love,

Elder Gochnour