A Child is Born

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!

I have a whole lot to talk about so we will see how this goes.

On Monday I was able to say goodbye to a few people and then I was hoping to do the same thing, but my comp got sick so I sadly wasn't able to say goodbye to a lot of the beloved members in Pochentong.  I will just have to meet them another day or in the spirit world haha! I love Pochentong and those amazing people. 

Then came transfers on Wednesday! But because our "kids" (new missionaries) didn't get in until Thursday morning I was able to spend about 3 hours to try to become familiar with every member's house and ever investigators house in our new area. Which really just wasn't enough time haha. We were just biking around hauling trying to see them all haha with Elder Orton who was here before. It was a very rushed three hours!

Then I received my "son", Elder Chytraus!!!!!!! I got the skyline eagle! All I am saying is the boys at Oly better keep the streak going and get the rock because I can't be training an eagle without the rock! Good luck boys. Anyway, Elder Chytraus is an absolute baller. It has been so fun to be with him and help him experience this crazy country for the first time. He has seen a couple of his first naked children and super poor houses! It is so fun to see how new and exciting it is and I really reminisce about my first days in this crazy country.

The days following were pretty chaotic. I had to figure out all the zone leader stuff, use a dinky map to find where in the world I am going, and also I am English class leader so we had to print out all the papers and stuff. Not to mention we had no food and the house was just a mess so it has been a whirlwind of a few days, but things have settled down now. On our first day here though we taught a cool guy and gave him a baptismal date which was so awesome. This area has about five good investigators that are all doing way well and have a lot of potentials and so things are definitely looking up! One of which is an old guy who looks exactly like Samuel L. Jackson, just a little bit skinnier so we just call him Elder Jackson or Samuel L. hahaha and he is an absolute legend! I will keep you updated on him. I already LOVE the members in this area. They are so fun and I can't wait for these transfers ahead.

I am sorry for the scattered email, but I want to share one more thing. One night after I prayed I just laid down at night and felt pure joy. It was one of the weirdest, but best feelings. I realized that the reason I felt that joy is because for the space of about 3 whole days I hadn't thought about myself once. Even though on your mission you come to forget yourself and get lost in the work, often times your mind slips back to things of home, or concerns for the future, and you start to think about yourself. Those things are natural, but as the busy three days came and went I didn't think about any of those things and in return, I just felt pure peace and joy in my own life. I know that Jesus Christ lived his whole life this way. He lived for others and in return He was perfect. May we all forget about ourselves a little bit more and focus on others this week!!!

I will give you some better stories next week, but for now, just know that I love you all. 

Even though we are all weak, imperfect servants of the Lord, God can work miracles through us. 

Go, Titans.

Love,

Elder Gochnour

Bye-Bye Pochentong

  

Sadly because of transfer calls last night I will be leaving this beloved area of mine. I am gonna miss this place and this amazing ward that meets every Sunday within the walls of an old mansion. 
I am excited though because I will have the opportunity to train a newcomer to the mission and we will be going to Chbarm Pov and white washing the area. They say that you really come to notice your weaknesses on your mission, and I can't wait to truly come to understand the meaning of that sentence these next two transfers as the leader of this area! 

I am really gonna miss the amazing people here and especially Elder Pov who I have really come to love these last couple of transfers.

This week we had another baptism! He is only 10 years old and is a member of an active family who goes every week, that for some reason did not get him baptized when he turned 8 (that happens WAY too often here haha). He is actually a really cool guy and it was fun to see him enter the waters of baptism. He kept the testimony very short, but he said that he is grateful for the Savior. I think we can all be a little more grateful for the Savior in our lives.

I thought rainy season was over, but I guess I was wrong because it rained every single day this week. We had interviews with President and it went pretty well! I love the Lewis's and know that they are receiving revelation to guide this mission. Also, one of the missionaries had bad blood clots and almost passed away and so we went and visited at the hospital and he is a trooper. Just chilling in the middle of Cambodia after surgery reading the Book of Mormon. You gotta love the mission life. Other than that just kinda a lot of biking, teaching, studying and everything else that you do as a missionary.

Most importantly I want to share something that I learned in personal study. I have recently noticed that President Nelson has been making a BIG PUSH to have us focus on receiving personal revelation. He gave a talk in conference and studied to find this to be his overarching theme. 
I decided that in order to follow the spokesman of God on the Earth today, I better find out a little bit more about receiving personal revelation. 

I can't even begin to explain how much I have learned and how important receiving this revelation for ourselves is. I invite all of you to read his talk and really think about how you can better receive personal revelation in your own life. 

One thing that I found in True to The Faith says, "Quiet spiritual promptings may not seem as spectacular as visions or angelic visitations, but they are more powerful and lasting and life changing. The witness of the Holy Ghost makes an impression on the soul that is more significant than anything you can see or hear. Through such revelations, you will receive lasting strength to stay true to the gospel and help others do the same." 

There are so many examples of people who have had miracles in their lives and have been changed by the gospel, but because they weren't able to do the work necessary to continue to follow God and continue to receive personal revelation the effect of that miracle wasn't enough to carry them. We have seen this in recent converts that go less active, return missionaries that fall away from the church, in witnesses of the Book of Mormon that went apostate and so many other times. WE NEED TO CONSTANTLY RECEIVE THE WHISPERING OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR LIFE IN ORDER TO STAY ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! It is essential! If you don't believe me then just go ask the prophet! I would like to close by another bomb that the Bible Dictionary drops about God, 
"God can be known only by revelation. He must be revealed or remain forever unknown"

Take that as a little food for thought and find the spirit in your life!

I love you all! GO UTES! Happy birthday Eli and good luck to Oly against Lehi!

Elder Gochnour

The Miracle Man got Baptized

Well, I spend all of my email time looking at pictures of my niece and nephew so #sorrynotsorry

To start things out I would just like to give a personal shoutout to Elder Michael Cunningham who sent me a Donovan Mitchel jersey that is now my new favorite item of clothing. Somebody let my boy Donny know that he has fans repping him all the way out in Cambodia!!!!!! Also, shout out to the Titans for just balling out! TTTE!

This week I had the chance to go to Sen Sok again for the fourth time. Honestly, when I first went there I thought boy I would never want to serve in this area, and I felt pity for the missionaries there, but now I am actually jealous. I love that place, and it came to show me the importance that attitude is everything.

Our investigators are doing good and we are working hard to find new ones! I won't go into detail, but the work is really moving forward here.

2 highlights of the week:

• There is a recent convert family that is very poor and some of the most faithful people I have ever met. His name is Pu Rat and he always feeds us once a week even though they hardly have enough money for their own food. I have learned to love that about these amazing people. They give you everything they have, even if that is nothing. Anyway we were teaching about enduring to the end and I told a story about how I had worked so hard to cook this delicious food called Kha and I did everything right, but then because I didn't watch it while it was cooking on the stove I burnt it. Just like in our lives. Even though we may have all the saving ordinances and have everything done right and followed the gospel our whole life, if we aren't careful we might burn our delicious meal and make all the hard work worthless. Anyway, this guy just got into it and he was so pumped. He was talking about how the salt was like reading the scriptures and the garlic was fasting haha and as I sat there I just felt happy. This gospel truly is for everyone. I feel so blessed to see the joy that comes from these people following the gospel of Jesus Christ and how pumped up he was. 

• The miracle man Setha got baptized this week! If I typed everything that happened from the time that we met him while walking on the side of the ghetto railroad tracks, till the time that he entered the waters of baptism, then you would be reading a novel. I will have to save the stories until I get back. The baptism went super smooth and then the coolest thing happened. He got up and bore his testimony about his family. Because he had lived a life full of sin and satisfying himself. His family had all become separated. He lost communication with his mother and that broke his heart. As he accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ he came to slowly but surely and it changed his life. At his baptism, he testified of his love for his Savior and his hope of connection with his family again now that he has got his life in order. The gospel really does blesses us temporally and spiritually. Then the member of our bishopric and got up and bore his testimony. Most of his kids are less active which I think is very hard on him and he talked about the importance of our relationship with our earthly parents and the love that they have for us no matter what happens. He also talked about the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and both him and Setha were letting the tears flow. Pretty cool to be a part of such a monumental and life-changing work. I love this gospel.

I am out of time, but all of you scrubs better go read Mosiah 24. Love you all! Go Utes and Titans! Joy in the Journey!

Elder Gochnour

Lord, I would follow thee.

September 3, 2018

I would just like to start out by saying that I love you all and hope everything is going well back home.

Nothing too crazy has happened in the last two weeks! Just lots of little miracles and funny stories and cool experiences that would take way to long to describe the background situation. I guess I could sum up my last two weeks by saying: I love being a missionary and getting out there every day and doing the work of the Lord. 

We are a little low in the investigator pool right now, so I decided to focus all my studies and efforts on finding new people. I really gained a testimony of the Hand of God in this work. In Cambodia sometimes you just have to go out and walk under the hot sun and try to talk to people that usually have no interest in learning about the gospel. Hardly ever do those efforts result in a baptism. However, I know that as we show our faith, God rewards us in ways that we wouldn't have expected and don't quite understand. We were able to find three new people who wanted to learn this week, just from random situations and I know that God truly does reward us for our labors.

Guntia got baptized! She was an investigator that we taught up to lesson 5 and then handed her over to the Sisters when they moved into our area. I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting about one of the biggest truths that I have learned so far in this country. On one of my first Sundays in Cambodia there was a guy that was a member from Africa who lives in Cambodia, but super new to the church. He came up to the missionaries and asked, "How can you tell people, and promise them that by following the Gospel of Jesus Christ their lives can be better?" At that time I didn't know how to answer that question. I wasn't sure if I could tell them and know that it was true. I had seen the power of the gospel in my life, but could it really help everyone? Well today, I know. I know that the gospel can help everyone. It truly can change every single person's life. Guntia is an awesome example of that.

I would like to close by sharing a hymn that has really come to mean a lot to me out here on the mission. Give it a read and think about how you can better follow the Lord in your life.

1. Savior, may I learn to love thee,

Walk the path that thou hast shown,

Pause to help and lift another,

Finding strength beyond my own.

Savior, may I learn to love thee--

1. Lord, I would follow thee.
2. 2. Who am I to judge another
   When I walk imperfectly?
   In the quiet heart is hidden
   Sorrow that the eye can't see.
   Who am I to judge another?
3. Lord, I would follow thee. 
4. 3. I would be my brother's keeper;
5. I would learn the healer's art.
6. To the wounded and the weary
7. I would show a gentle heart.
8. I would be my brother's keeper--

1. Lord, I would follow thee. 
2. 4. Savior, may I love my brother
   As I know thou lovest me,
   Find in thee my strength, my beacon,
   For thy servant I would be.
   Savior, may I love my brother--
3. Lord, I would follow thee.

Thanks for all the support and love. 

Choose to be happy this week! 

I feel so blessed every day to be a missionary of the Lord. 

Shout out to Grace for the big birthday this week! 

Love,

Elder Gochnour