I GOT TRANSFERRED! I am so sad and heartbroken. I love this city of Battambang. The title of the email is a popular Khmer song that talks about the city of Battambang, being in the center of the singer's heart. This song describes how I feel about leaving this place. It is crazy the love, friendship and care I have gained for the Cambodian people in four short months. Getting on the bus tomorrow knowing that I probably won't be coming back to this fantastic city for at least 2 years is pretty hard to wrap my mind around. I love these people. I know that the people I’ve met in this amazing city were meant to change my life and to help me have a better perspective on life.
BUTTTTT the good news is I am going to Kampong Cham, which is another Kite (an area outside of Phnom Penh)! So basically I am just going Kite hopping haha, not a city rat quite yet, but I am so pumped! The best part about all of it is I get to be comps with Elder Cunningham!!!! HE IS A HOMIE! He went to Woods Cross before his mission and he is way good friends with Elder Sam Bennion (Elder McDougals cousin), and he loves basketball, the same music as me, and pretty much everything else that I like. I am pumped to go get work done with him.
BUTTTTT the good news is I am going to Kampong Cham, which is another Kite (an area outside of Phnom Penh)! So basically I am just going Kite hopping haha, not a city rat quite yet, but I am so pumped! The best part about all of it is I get to be comps with Elder Cunningham!!!! HE IS A HOMIE! He went to Woods Cross before his mission and he is way good friends with Elder Sam Bennion (Elder McDougals cousin), and he loves basketball, the same music as me, and pretty much everything else that I like. I am pumped to go get work done with him.
The song Blessings by Chance the Rapper, is kinda how this week felt. There were so many times I had doubts that everything would work out, that we wouldn’t get our investigators ready for their baptism & I about gave up all hope but the Lord delivered. He always will, we were very blessed. So the big news is we were able to baptize 3 out of the 4 people we planned for! (Benjamin said that he wasn't quite ready and that he wanted to wait 2 weeks)
Dee and Mae were baptized which was pretty much a miracle. They are brother and sister and pretty much only have each other and their mother who is extremely sick. I taught them for the first time, the second week that I was in country. Fast forward four months, after dropping them a few times, losing hope, and meeting them countless times, they are now members of the true church of Jesus Christ. They are so unique, but seeing their conversion really helped me to understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone. If we keep trying and keep showing hope in these people then one day everything will work out. Dee bore his testimony about all the churches that he has been apart of and ended up talking for 13 minutes haha, but at the end, he talked about the faith that he had in Jesus Christ, and I felt peace to know that he had finally entered into the true fold of God.
My favorite story and miracle of my whole mission is the story of Pu Toic. He is the same man that about four weeks ago had nothing to eat on Sunday and was saved by the gift of one bag of rice. The lessons that we’ve had with him have been some of the most humbling experiences of my life. He collected cans for a week or two just to scrape by and to save enough money to buy his kid $60 dollar glasses, for his broken eyes. The next day, his son was playing in the road and his glasses fell off, and got smashed by a car. Toic didn't get discouraged. He kept working hard. He missed only one week of church because working was his only option to have enough money to buy food. He truly put his faith first in the Lord and made monumental sacrifices in order to do what was right (Jacob 2:18-19). As he bore his testimony at the end of each of our lessons I felt the spirit so strongly every single time. Teaching him was a breeze because he already was following the gospel in his heart. He felt the love of the Savior and did everything he could to live according to it. He never lost hope. And today he is a baptized member. He was able to take at a loan from the bank and now has a tuk-tuk (kinda like a taxi Khmer style) which is one of the best jobs in Cambodia. He has enough food and he is happy. I really can see how much better his life has gotten since that first day that we met him, and Sunday I was lucky enough to confirm him. He has been blessed both temporal and spiritually. Before he had to hand bike two hours to get to church, and now he takes our investigators that don't have a moto to church. He is one of my favorite people, and his story truly is a miracle. If I were to not have one more success story my whole mission, my mission would be worth everything to me, just because of the story of this man. I love Pu Toic.
One of my favorite things every week is reading the emails from all of the boys!!!! I am so glad to be out here doing the same work as them. I love hearing how Christian is getting bit by dogs, James is baptizing in France?, and Ty is going to the office hahahah! Michael Scott would be proud! Love all the boys! Keep doing WORK!
Anyway, Chinese New Year's was this week and everyone loves it here. We went over to a neighbors place and they hooked it up with some random cakes, noodles, and soda hahah! Kinda hard to meet people because everyone was way drunk, but it was fun to have a little celebration. This week was a perfect week to say goodbye to these people that I love. We also went to the Bamboo train on Monday which was way fun!!!!!! It was the most Americanized place I have been for a good minute. The church is true. Read the Book of Mormon. Joy in the journey.
//Elder G
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