Khmer Week!

Hello people!

Go World Cup! I wish I could cheer for America or Cambodia, but neither of them is in it so my big is Denmark! YAGA! Kevin De Bruyner about to eat.

This week was an interesting one and I have zero time so here is what happened:

• On Saturday our two baptisms that were supposed to happen this week suddenly just fell through. One of our investigator's mother suddenly passed away which is very heartbreaking, and another went to his province. Rough stuff, but things are still going well in our area! Just kinda how life is!

• We got transfer calls and I will be in the same area and I will be comps with a guy named Elder Pov who is a native. I am super excited and I am hoping that he can help me speak Khmer a little bit better. We have a lot of work ahead of us this transfer and it seems like we don't have time to get everything done, but I think that if we proselyte by the spirit we will have lots of success.

• Khmer Week was this week.  We put away all American food and snacks and went full Khmer! Rice or noodles for every meal and only bananas for snacks. It was a fun time haha although my stomach wasn't feeling it. We even ate some Duck Embryo which was actually pretty tasty and some chicken foot made by our neighbors in a very good soup! 

• Here is a quick funny story: We were waiting for our investigators to come to church so we just started trying to usher people into the church from off the road. Sadly we had no success except a guy on a moto who thought we were asking for a ride. You gotta love being a missionary

I am happy and I know that Jesus Christ lives and governs this church. I know that although every day isn't the most spiritual and life-altering, I do know that this gospel can change peoples lives. This church is true. I have been reading a lot in the New Testament and I especially love the simplicity of the verse in John 14:15 "if you love me keep my commandments!" If we really love God we must show it by our actions. We must live according to His commandments in order to have his spirit and follow His perfect plan that he has for us!!!

Also, my favorite scripture is Moroni 7:41 so go give it a read and think about it for a good minute

Joy in the Journey!  

Love Elder G

One year older, not so sure about wiser

I HOPE ALL MY HERO'S HAD A WONDERFUL FATHER'S DAY!  I am so grateful for my Dad and Grandpa's AND also for all the men in my life who have been a Father to me from church, sports, and school.  I am better for knowing strong Men in my life.

And now.....HELLO PEOPLE!

THANK YOU so much to everyone that wished me a happy birthday! I am so grateful for all of the amazingly thoughtful people I have in my life and I feel so blessed. This week was an interesting one, to say the least, so here are the good parts:

• After getting ditched by some of our investigators we decided to go visit a family of members because some of their children have gone less active. After visiting for a little and sharing a spiritual thought, the father of the household who is our First Counselor in the Bishopric whipped out his guitar and started playing Country Roads by John Denver! It was fantastic. He knew all the sounds of the words, but he doesn't know any English so he was just saying sounds that weren't really words which were pretty funny, but also just amazing. We ended up just belting a little John Denver on a Thursday in the middle of the Kingdom of Cambodia. 

• Zone Conference! The last time that we get to hear from President and Sister Christensen in the mission. I won't go into too much detail, but they talked a lot about what it means to be a successful missionary. We have accountability to the Lord on how hard we work for these two years. Pretty crazy to think about. It was pretty powerful to hear them and a few other missionaries that are going home bear their testimonies. I really felt the unity of people doing their best to share the joy of the gospel in that small meeting room. I am so grateful for the influence of President and Sister Christensen in my life.

• We got dropped by a few of our investigators. Another one of them got a job on Sunday and two high school girls said that their fathers didn't want them to learn about Christianity. You win some, you lose some. But we also found some great people and an awesome family of four that is pretty exciting so things are looking up. They came to our ward party and had a great time. 

• We also had a baptism for a girl named Heang! It was a pretty awesome experience. When we first met her she was actually atheist and did not believe that we have a living God who loves us. Little by little as we continued to meet with her and as she continued to try to accept the gospel in her life she was changed. She felt the love of her Supreme Creator and was changed by it. She is awesome and it was pretty amazing to see her baptized on Sunday!!! I know how much light the gospel can bring into our lives by living it. I am not gonna lie before my mission I don't know if I knew this, but now... I KNOW. The love of Jesus Christ really can change people

For my birthday we ate well! I went to a place called Jars of Clay and got some Lasagna (which just isn't a thing here) and some cake and ice cream. Nothing compared to the cake and ice cream back home, but still pretty tasty! We spent most of the day teaching lessons and then went to the church to teach a lesson AND some of the members came and surprised me with a cake. It was so nice of them to think of me and they even gave me some gifts. It was really fun to celebrate with them! At night we tried to make some s'mores, but our jerry-rigged fire was just absolutely not working. We ended up cooking our marshmallows over a burning sock from one of the elders in our house! Welcome to Cambodia! It was a good birthday haha! 

To end I would like to share something pretty cool I learned in personal study. I was reading in Mormon in the truest book on earth (Book of Mormon) and I stumbled across some thought-provoking verses. 

25 And it came to pass that we did contend with an army of thirty thousand against an army of fifty thousand. And it came to pass that we did stand before them with such firmness that they did flee from before us.

26 And it came to pass that when they had fled we did pursue them with our armies, and did meet them again, and did beat them; nevertheless the strength of the Lord was not with us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren.

The Nephites were able to beat the Lamanites and hold them off in this certain battle. They were able to come off conqueror even though they were the underdog. However, we come to learn that they were able to have success WITHOUT the strength of the Lord. Although they won, they were still weak like their brethren because the Spirit of the Lord did not dwell in their unholy temples. We learn a valuable lesson. I think that God is waiting and willing to bless us with strength and His Holy Spirit. However, often we don't do the things necessary in order for him to bestow that blessing upon us. That doesn't mean that if we don't have the spirit then we won't be successful. I know plenty of people that are way more successful than I will ever be without the spirit in the Lord and lots of people that live much harder lives than I do, even though the Spirit abides in them. The Nephites still won the battle, but think about how much better their lives, and their future could have been if they had the Spirit to be with them. The Holy Ghost makes life better! Do what you must in order to have it in your life.

That is all for now. I love this gospel and my Savior

Elder Gochnour

Migraines and Summer Rains

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying the excitement of the new summer season, it is one of the best times of the year! 

To start out I would like to publicly apologize to everyone that has had a migraine because I judged you and I was so wrong. Before this week I believed that migraines were just really bad headaches that people got and then just called it something different. Just gave a severe headache a more intense name. My thought process was altered when I could no longer think at all because of a bulging migraine that came to me on Friday night. My comp had to interview the other Elder's investigator who lived 45 minutes away, biking as fast as we could, attempting to not crash into the heavy traffic. By the time I got home, I felt like someone had taken my head and used it as a basketball for a few hours and then screwed it back on. The pain eventually subsided and we didn't miss any work, but man do I pity those who have had migraines. 

Other than that we had a pretty good week! In terms of missionary work we actually got a little bit wrecked. The orphanage got a new leader and he is much more of a stickler on rules and has to get everything approved with the big people up top so we will see how that goes. They weren't able to come to church this week, but the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead so you never know. (sadly they swept this year...). Another one of our investigators that was about to be baptized got a job on Sunday and is out for the next month or so, which is a bummer but life moves on! We are hoping she can work everything out a little bit later.

Noteworthy things:

• A woman started breastfeeding as we were attempting to teach her. Lots of people and not enough clothes on in that house

• Went to the new mall called Aeon 2 that they just built in Phnom Penh and that place is insane. It is almost nicer than America. I just walked in and my jaw dropped. I found a dope bulls hat that I almost copped, but then I realized that it was first hand, and equivalent to American prices... No go. 

• Taught a guy who had a broken arm when I was on an exchange with Elder Herrera, but it had healed into place broken so we tried to bend it back for him hahahaha. Kinda a "you had to be there" type of moment

• One of our investigators named Seyha, and his family is moving out of our area which is pretty sad, but he sat us down before he left and told us his life story. It was the craziest thing I have ever heard, but I came to realize the importance of God's plan for all of us. No matter who you are God has a plan for you so TRUST HIM!

One way that I have really recognized God's plan in my life was on my last exchange with my trainer, Elder Herrera. He has an amazing story and really has taught me so much about how to be a good missionary, but also how to be a strong, independent and trustworthy person. I am grateful God placed him in my life. 

Not too exciting of a week, but sometimes the not exciting weeks are the best ones because it gives me more time to focus on the SAVIOR! I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and I know that he is my best friend. I have a testimony of His perfect life and even more of His perfect and enabling Atonement for all of us. I especially have gratitude for His ability to heal us from our trials and our sins. Like Nephi I want to gladly proclaim: 

13 Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulcher for the space of three days 

he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; 

and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God. 

Wherefore, my soul delighteth to prophesy concerning him, 

for I have seen his day, and my heart doth magnify his holy name. 

Looked to Jesus and find healing in His wings! And you can look to Christ by reading the Book of Mormon so do that too.

Lebron deserved it. Happy Birthday, Mom! 

Joy in the Journey

Love,

Elder Gochnour

THE ORPHANAGE!!!!!!!!!

What a week to say the least. My comp is still district leader and we now have 8 Elders in one district, so we have to go on a lot of exchanges. It is kinda a bummer because I don't get to see our investigators as often as I would like, nor do I get to spend much time in our area, which is amazing, but you take what you get and you don't throw a fit. With that in mind, I went on two exchanges so I wasn't in my area much, but we still had an amazing week! 

Here are the main things that happened:

• While on one of my exchanges we were riding down the road and heard some sirens blaring pretty loud. We decided to pull over and see what all the fuss was about and about 30 seconds later 5 tanks passed and a few trucks loaded with armed soldiers haha. Crazy! It is almost time for the election!

• We made our first attempt at ministering with our ward this week. Things are pretty slow getting started because it is all so new to the wards here and probably everywhere, but yesterday we were able to go visit a lady from our ward. Turns out she goes to church almost every Sunday and the relief society president was just visiting with her friend haha. Our meeting turned into us giving four straight priesthood blessings to some older ladies. One of which, was 98 years old!!! Crazy. 

• This morning when I tried to withdraw cash from the ATM from my mission funds, the machine just ate my card so I don't really know what to do haha, but I will figure it out. You gotta love Cambodia. 

THE BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK! While I was on another exchange one of the Elders that went to my area contacted four orphans, while passing out English fliers. They seemed pretty nice and said we could go visit them at their orphanage. Elder Tuft and I decided to give it a shot on Saturday afternoon. Long story short, instead of just meeting with the four orphans, the whole orphanage sat down and was willing to listen to what we had to share. Because they were all Christian we connected with them about our love for the Savior and the amazing opportunity we have to pray to a loving Heavenly Father. We closed with a prayer and invited them to church. They all said they would go! And we talked to their leader who is just a 23-year-old dude, and he said the orphanage doesn't care what church they go to as long as it is Christian, and he also said that we he was looking to find the truth! The next day we rolled up to church with 16 orphans between the ages 14-18 and it was so dope! We didn't even have enough room in our chapel to fit them in so we just had to set up some more chairs in an off-shooting room. They are awesome and we have a lot of hope for them! It is pretty cool to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can give you hope and joy no matter where you come from. Whether you are a white-kid from Holladay, Utah or an orphan from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, it doesn't matter. The love of Jesus Christ and the blessing of His infinite Atonement is applicable to all of us. Things are going great. We feel very blessed and are trying to tie off all the loose ends. We managed to get 30 investigators at church with the help of all the orphans. We aren't sure how we are going to go ahead with teaching them, but we are going to talk to the bishop tonight so I will keep you posted!

This week I have been studying a lot about the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 
We all know that because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can receive a remission of our sins, through sincere repentance, but too often we forget that the Atonement is for saints too, not just sinners. The Atonement allows us to push beyond our personal, human capabilities and become better people. It allows us to conquer our weaknesses and fears. Christ's sacrifice can give us strength when we feel that our tank is empty. 

As we learn from the powerful speech offered by King Benjamin in The Book of Mormon "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord." Through the Atonement of Christ the Lord, we can become SAINTS. We can have God's power manifest in my life to push us beyond what our natural capabilities are. I really have come to love and appreciate the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life and the precious scriptures that teach me so much concerning that subject. 

However don't take my word for it, take an apostle of the Lord's word and read this talk 
by Elder Bednar: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/david-a-bednar_strength-lord/

To end the letter I would just like to say how grateful I am to be able to serve this mission and to learn about the grace of God. I would also like to give a special shout-out to my WONDERFUL Mother!!!!!!!!!! If you know Jeni, then you know that she is the best mom ever. It is her birthday this week so please give her your love and a hug because sadly I can't. Happy birthday mom! I love you. Also, a SHOUT-OUT to my awesome Grandma Gochnour!  Her birthday is also this week!  I love her and I am so grateful for her example of love that she shares with everyone she meets.

Joy in the Journey. 

The church is true. 

Go read the Book of Mormon if you don't believe me

Elder Gochnour