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