"CRY" unto God!

SHOUT OUT to the Jazz baby!!! Super teams have nothing on the boys! Jazz N ation till I die!

This week absolutely flew by. It felt like I blinked and it was over. There were some pretty amazing experiences and miracles that happened this week so I will just jump right in.

Remember the guy that didn't have any food and then his friend just miraculously brought food over to his house. Well, he didn't end up going to church last Sunday which was a bummer, but he told us that this Saturday he was going to change his life. We weren't quite sure what that meant, but we went to meet him on Saturday and he was a new man. He had gotten a nice looking haircut and cleaned up his house. He really was making an effort to change his life. After some small talk and discussing what we had eaten that day, we invited him to say the opening prayer. Not long into his prayer, he started crying (also we were teaching one of his friends and he had no shame). He was balling and I just felt so touched by the spirit. As he poured out his heart to God, you could feel how strong the spirit resided in that humble abode. I had to open my eyes as he spoke directly from his heart to see if God was standing right there in the room. After he closed his prayer and wiped his streaming tears off of his face, we all just sat there without moving, but yet so spiritually moved. We all took a moment to soak up that experience. Someone who had truly just cried unto God and was heard by his Maker. Powerful. The lesson was amazing and the spirit was as evident as the humidity that hung in the air. At the close of the lesson, it was decided that Elder Tuft would offer the closing prayer. Again, when we opened our eyes we saw those same familiar tears falling down this man's face. I was so incredibly touched by that experience. I know that God answers our prayers and he is just waiting for us to pour our heart out to Him so He can help us feel that perfect love. 

I won't go into much detail, but the work here is moving along briskly. As Elder Ference always says, it is an exciting time to be a missionary in this part of the world. We should have two baptisms coming up this Sunday and then a few more in the following weeks. It seems like all the success we are having just comes as blessings from the Lord. I just feel so lucky to be along for the ride. 

I am especially grateful for the ward that we have here in Pochentong. We have amazing leaders and members, which is a huge reason that things are going well. We had ward conference and it was one of the best meetings that I have been a part of. Our bishop and stake president spoke, and it was amazing. We sang a special musical number with some members in our ward at ward conference and it may have been the worst musical number of all time. Not kidding. Just straight brutal. I know that Reece Harper and the Holladay 18th ward choir could have really bumped up our game. They are splitting our ward which is pretty exciting. I feel really blessed to be in this area at this time. Although, it kinda seems like all the referrals we get are like 20 to 30-year-old girls which are a little harder because we always have to have male member help but you do what you gotta do!

I went to Sen Sok again for an exchange with Elder Killburn and it was a fun time! In that area you don't teach English class so you just end up doing a lot of contacting. It is always fun to see other missionaries styles of teaching and how I can be better.

• Funny stories We have an unbaptized child that is an investigator because he is 10yrs old and in a member family, but never was baptized. We are teaching him and his siblings who are all pretty young children. In the lesson of the law of chastity, it was very hard to get through anything without them laughing. Things really fell apart when the youngest kid named Ryan asked if it was against the Law of Chastity to fart. Long story short not the most spiritually touching lesson, but a very funny one too. 

•  Everyone's excuse in Cambodia for not being able to walk, remember anything or just being sick is that they have high blood pressure. I may have met the funniest man in my life that was a victim of the high blood pressure disease and he was repping a huge green cowboy hat. I wish I could have gotten a picture. 

We also had zone conference with Elder Meurs. I won't go into much detail, but he is over the Asia area presidency and he did a mission tour. It was a fun time and there were some pretty great things that were said. I learned a lot and really felt the spirit. The best news about it all was the Elder Bednar is coming to the BODI to meet with everyone here and all the missionaries to next month! YUP!! SO pumped. 

Spiritual thought for the day is the importance of prayer. I have always kinda lacked at prayer throughout my life, but I am really trying to just not go through the motions anymore. One thing that really helps me is after I pray I usually just sit there for awhile and try to listen to the still small voice. I would invite you to do the same. It really makes your prayers so much more meaningful. 

Alma 37:37

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day

Say a prayer and make it meaningful and then act on it!!

I love you all! Thanks for the support and love. I love being a missionary. It makes me happy. The gospel makes me happy.

GO JAZZ! The beard has nothing on us.

Love,

Elder Gochnour

$10 Week!

Hello!

This week may have quite possibly been the most interesting of the mission. Here are some bullet points to things that happened:

• I didn't budget very well this month and enjoyed myself a little too much at Domino's and other American restaurants. The result of that was being a little behind on mission funds for the rest of the month. In order to combat this issue Elder Tuft and I decided that we would take the challenge to live a whole week off of ten dollars. Let me tell you, it was a very interesting week. I had some of the worst food of all time haha including ground beef that had been in the freezer for around 6 months and mystery soup that a member gave to us... BUT WE DID IT. We accomplished the amazing feat of a whole week only costing us $10. There honestly were some miracles to help us out on the way. Although I faced some of my lowest lows, I am now in the green! Shooters gonna shoot baby!

• We gave 6 assisted investigators to other sisters and elders in our area and officially decided that we are going to be John Stockton this transfer. One of those assisted investigators was an old man that was very interested in the church but could also be quite creepy. He took us to dinner, but he also told me that I have very strong legs and he even winked at me a few times. He also found out our first names and kept calling me Jacob. We will leave it at that.

• I was able to go on an exchange to SenSok with my trainer Elder Herrera! It was fun to spend a day with him and remember all the good times we had together. I got drenched by some girls on the street who celebrated Khmer New Year two days after it had ended. (During the New Years celebration people squirt water at people passing by)

• Srey Touch (spelling?) it got baptized this week! It was a blast and she is one of the strongest people spiritually I have ever met in my life. She invites everyone she knows to learn about the gospel and always bears her testimony of the importance of the Book of Mormon. She also is just happy. She laughs at everything. It was amazing to see her enter the waters of baptism and know how much it meant to her. It was so rewarding to see that she understood the covenant she was making with God and is willing and prepared for her part. She is amazing. It was also fun because I and Elder Tuft went to a Japanese thrift store and bought matching suit jackets so we could be styling out for the occasion! YUP! We also had to clean out the font and just got soaked haha because all we had was a hose but it was a fun time.

• We yelled America the Beautiful as loud as we could to open our comp study one day. I sure do miss the USA. No place like the land of the free 

• We have an idioms book that we started to use at every hour of the day in our house. Not the most productive thing, but what can I say? A spade is a spade. 

• There is a pig slaughterhouse in our area that is devastating to hear the cries as you ride by. I also saw a guy with a dead pig just chilling on the back of the moto. 

• Our area is doing amazing! We had five at church and the members here are so amazing and so helpful! I love it here. 

•  I had another bike crash and rallied my bike! I am a clutz

• I finished The Doctrine & Covenants! FIRE!

There were many more things that happened, but I will just cut it short for the sake of time (idiom). 

The coolest miracle that happened this week was with a guy named Seta. We found him contacting one day and I felt the spirit strongly that we needed to talk to him. He was born as a Christian which is very rare, but he told us that he had lost his faith. However, he also said that he wanted to believe in God again and come back. We went back and shared the story of the Prodigal Son with him, and it was one of the most powerful spiritual experiences I have ever had in my life. The spirit in the small shack on the railroad was almost tangible. He understood that he was the lost son that needed to come back and find God again in his life. Before we left he said an amazingly powerful prayer. The next day he called us and soberly said that he had nothing to eat and no money to buy food. 
We encouraged him to pray and trust in the Lord because that was relatively all we could do. That night we went and visited him. He said that a friend that he hadn't seen in forever had gone to his house and brought him a meal of food and left him with some rice. I know that because he prayed and trusted in God, through his faith, a miracle occurred. 

There are too many times in my life where I have realized experiences like that just can't be coincidences. They are miracles. God is a God of miracles. He works through our faith. If we trust him and do according to his will then we will be able to work marvelous wonders. I am so grateful for the chance that I have to be a missionary. There are hard days, but I still feel happy even when everything goes wrong. I am grateful that God loves all of us and manifests miracles in all of our lives. We simply must look for them and have adequate faith. 2 Nephi 26:13 And that he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith.

CONGRATS TO WILL AND OLIVIA ON PENNY!!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET HER AND GIVE HER THE BIGGEST HUG IN THE WORLD!!! 

ALSO, GO JAZZ! Don't sleep on Rubio!

Love,

Elder Gochnour

HOTTER THAN BACKPACKING ON THE SUN!

The title of my email is a reference from football when my coach said that last time that he was this hot he was backpacking on the sun. Although a slight exaggeration, I would say that it kinda felt like I was backpacking on the sun this week.  So yeah it was HOT!!!!! I literally have never sweat so much in my life. Hot, hot, hot. But things are good and I am loving it out here! 

This Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are Khmer New Year! In the past, they have just let missionaries watch movies and take off proselyting because there isn't much work to be done, but they always see a lack of productivity following the break, so this year we just worked through the pain! Today to celebrate Khmer New Year we got together with our zone and had a huge water fight which was very fun!

In celebrations of the New Year, everyone and their dog (literally) goes back to the place where they were born which is usually outside the city. There were just empty streets and nothing going on haha. We had 0 students in our English class. Long story short it was pretty rough to try to keep ourselves busy and entertained. We found a guy with a monkey that had only one leg in the middle of the city which was pretty interesting. We also did a lot of contacting and found some pretty cool people! The Lord is truly a God of Miracles. AND our landlords are the BEST!!! They aren't members but they own the house downstairs and they always invite us over for dinner. They make literally the best (most expensive food) and it is amazing. They also love to sing karaoke which is pretty funny. 

One of our contacting experiences this week was of us handing out Word of Wisdom pamphlets to all the drunk people on the street haha. Good times! Also had an interview with President and Sister C and they are awesome. I love them and really am gonna miss their leadership in the mission.

Our way good investigator is one of the best people I have ever met. She diligent reads the scriptures and she has such a good heart! Hopefully, everything will go as planned and she will get baptized this week!  

I want to end by just bearing my testimony about the Book of Mormon. I really do love the Book of Mormon and in fact all scriptures for that matter. I hate when personally study ends every day because I just want to keep reading. I can feel the power as I flip through those pages. Honestly every day I flip through the pages and just regret that I didn't indulge in them more before my mission. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS THE WORD OF GOD! Don't miss out on the chance that you have to read it every day! If someone told you that God sent them a message with the ways to find happiness in this life and in eternity would you read it?? DUH! So we must get reading it because that message is called the Book of Mormon. 

That's all for now! Till next week! I love you all! Shout out to all the young guns getting their calls: Henry, Harry, Spencer, Cole B, and everyone else! Prepare now before it is too late, and go kill it.

Elder Gochnour

City Life

Elder Tuft 

Pochentong Chapel!

I have 0 time because we are going to play basketball for the fourth time in my whole mission and ball is life so sorry for this terrible email.

MY NEW AREA IS DOPE! I love Pochentong already. For starters, we only have one ward in our building and our building is quite a church. It is an old mansion that they changed into a church which is actually way sweet. Our Bishop has a shower in his office that has more settings than my phone did back at home. Also, the font is outside which is way fun! I will send some pictures of it and hopefully, we can be filling that font real soon! 

We have some awesome investigators. Because there are no sisters in our area we can teach girls if there is another male there. We have this investigator named Srey Toic (it works better in ភាសាខ្មែរ but I am too lazy to figure out how to type). She is an absolute BALLER! She has already read to Enos in the Book of Mormon and has one of the strongest testimonies. She told us a pretty amazing experience about how she read in Jacob 5 (the olive tree) and she wasn't able to understand it at all, but she put her trust in God. She prayed with faith and read the chapter again and understood it perfectly! She also highlights and marks her scriptures better than me and went to a few sessions of general conference. Other than that we have some good things going on. We are teaching the guard at the church who is close to being baptized too and things are definitely looking good missionary work wise. I feel so grateful for the Lord's hand in our work. 

This week has been pretty crazy. I said my goodbyes in KC which was sad, but I am grateful for all the amazing people and the great impact they have had on my life. I also said goodbye to Elder Cunningham which was super sad. I love that man! We then went down for transfers and made it to our new area and then on Saturday and Sunday we were just booked with General Conference (not mad at all). The city is a pretty fun experience. There is traffic and it usually smells pretty bad. There are a ton more people here and they even had gator-aide at the superstore!! Too bad it was too expensive.... I already love being in the city though.

General Conference was so sweet!!! I won't go into too much depth, but it was pretty amazing to be apart of the solemn assembly and sustain our new prophet. I loved the focus on recognizing the Holy Ghost and receiving personal revelation. My favorite talks were:

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf- Our perfect savior. WE MUST BEHOLD HIM

Elder David A. Bednar- BE MEEK

President Dallin H. Oaks- BY SMALL AND SIMPLE THINGS ARE GREAT THINGS BROUGHT TO PASS

In closing, I really have already come to love my new companion, Elder Tuft. he is an amazing missionary and an even better guy. He is so easy to talk to and yet he pushes me to be my best self as a missionary. 

One thing that we are really trying to work on that the Presiding Bishop Causse talked about in his talk. We need to make it about the people. Sometimes I care too much about the numbers. How good my area looks on the whiteboard. I compare myself to other missionaries based on the numerical success. This transfer all we want to do is get out of the house and help people. To try to help everyone. To brighten peoples day with a smile. To serve people whether they are going to accept the gospel or not. To actually help people and try to resolve their concerns rather than just teaching another lesson. It already has made such a bigger impact on our work. We feel happier and more accomplished. We are here to help, and hopefully, like the Savior, we can "Go about doing good." You don't have to be a missionary to do that though. I invite all of you to go about doing good as well! Make this world I better place. I love being a missionary! Read the Book of Mormon

Love,

Elder Gochnour

P.S. Got in another Bible bash with a random Khmer guy. Makes me have empathy for Elder Hoggan in North Carolina and Elder McDougal in France

ONE AND DONE!

 I had to borrow a sisters tag because I forgot mine

Well, I have A LOT to write about this week so I will just cut right to the chase. 

First things first, I got transferred. I thought for sure I would stay here in KC because it has only been 6 short weeks, however, I got the call that I am going to  ពោធ៍ចិនតុង (Pochentong) with a guy named Elder Tuft! I am finally going to the city!! I am very sad to be leaving this area after just getting here because it is very beautiful. I am especially sad to be leaving Elder Cunningham, I will miss talking sports with him all day every day and having 3 point shooting contests on our makeshift hoop at home, but I am also very excited to meet new people and live life in the city! Elder Tuft is only two transfers ahead of me, and he seems like a super good guy. Two fairly young missionaries doing the work! I can't wait.

ALSO SHOUT OUT TO JIM MCMUFFIN MCDOUGAL! I LOVE THAT MAN AND IT IS HIS BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK! GIVE HIM SOME LOVE! SHOOTERS GONNA SHOOT

Here are some things that happened this week:

• We tried to go visit a less active member in our ward. He is a way cool guy. We wanted to show him that we love him and support him, so we decided to go visit him at his work. He works at Pizza Company which is like a super nice, expensive restaurant here. We went in and sat down and ordered an appetizer haha expecting him to be working, but when we asked the waitress she said it was his one day off.... great. The appetizer was tasty though!

• We got three new investigators this week which was big time! We have been struggling finding and it was nice to finally have some success. We found this guy named Roat who is an absolute baller. He was a miracle. We talked to him and he was like yeah sure you can come back and then when we come back he just wanted to learn so badly and asked all the right questions. It felt right to teach him about the Book of Mormon and I felt the spirit so strongly in that lesson. Roat has a bright future ahead of him.

• We were visiting a less active and there were some guys playing volleyball by the riverside. We decided to join in and the two tall white guys put in work on those dudes! They weren't ready for what hit them... literally!

• Pu Lee Meng, our golden investigator, maybe one of the most elect people I have ever me, dropped off the face of the earth. When we scheduled his interview he told us he was busy this time of year and he won't meet with us. Really heartbreaking actually. We think it has something to do with a lack of support from his wife. He was already planning a trip to go to the SLC Temple, and now he is gone.

• A guy, RC Chantuu had us over to his house, even though there was a huge funeral going on right outside. As we got there we found out that we were intruding so we just chatted and then tried to leave, but he made sure we prayed first. It was a good testimony to me that we should be proud of this church that we believe in no matter where we are. He is proud to show his devotion to the Lord even if his neighbors think he is different from them. 

Lots of other stuff happened, but we will just leave it at that! 

One thing I realized this week is the difference between The Church of Jesus Christ and The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The branch that we serve in has struggled to get consistent members there and the branch president is very young and new to all of it. Many solid members have been offended in the past. There are some difficulties that must be resolved and don't really have any good solutions. I was pretty hung up on all of it. The thing that I realized is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect even if the Church sometimes isn't. The church is the means to access His perfect gospel. We must live our lives based on the foundation of His Gospel and the church is necessary to help us do that. However, we are all humans, and all humans make mistakes, therefore there will always be some issues. We must remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has no imperfections. It allows all of us a chance at happiness and exaltation. 

I forgot today was Easter! I know that Jesus Christ suffered for the sins of all of us here on this Earth and that he died for us. However, that isn't the end of the story, because Jesus Christ rose again. He conquered all. He suffered every pain so that we can overcome every trial. I have so much gratitude for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We must take up our cross and follow him.

EVERYONE GO READ ALMA 34! STRAIGHT FIRE CHAPTER!

Joy in the journey! Sorry for the long email.

Love,

Elder Gochnour

VOLLEY BALL GAME!  

Our rap album cover 

This Water Buffalo almost touched me !

ALL YOU CAN EAT!

This week was an absolute grind, but a good one!! 

Elder Cunningham had to go down to the city again, but this time with the other zone leader because they had exchanges with the AP's. Keeping the streak running. Every week down to the city. Things were good though! I went on another exchange with Elder Everett and it was a fun time. It was kinda distressing though because even though we were supposed to be working in both of our areas, we spent almost the whole time in his. I had a little bit of, "a what the heck am I doing here?" moment, but you just gotta keep plugging along! I have the same desire as Alma to declare repentance with the sound of a trump like in Alma 29:1-4, but most of the time it doesn't work out that way.  We had some success at the end of the week so that was a blessing. 

On the exchange, we were biking from deep in my area, all the way to the opposite side of his area. I was caught in my thoughts and we were just hauling on this busy road. This moto couldn't see the main road because there was a semi truck parked on a corner and he just tried to shoot the gap and turn left onto the main road. Of course, he just shot out right in front of me and I literally had no time to react so I just T-boned him. I went full Olympics and did a front flip over the handlebars, but somehow I literally had one scratch on my body. The Lord really does protect his servants. I just told the guy it was all good and we shook hands and went on our way. It was a pretty funny experience just to help me laugh at myself for a little bit. My bike kinda got wrecked, but all good! Also, Elder Cunningham and I made a basketball hoop out of a garbage can and a plastic bag, and we play ball every night. 

As far as the work goes, things are good! Lee Meng is on track to be baptized this Saturday. The golden ticket is BACK (haha an earlier guy we found)! We visited him again and is going to start learning with us! We have lots of hope for him. We also found a new baller named Newt and he came to church even though we had only met him once. Things are looking up! 

The best thing that I heard this week was a quote from Elder Everett while I was on an exchange with him. He said that his grandpa always told him, 

"Life is like a buffet. If you leave hungry, 

that is your fault!" 

How true is that! Often times we go throughout life just trying to hold on, thinking that things will get better in the future. Sometimes I wish that I could be back home watching March Madness, but that is just me selling myself short. Whatever phase of life or situation we are in we must make the most of it. We must indulge ourselves in the joys and the people that surround us. We must feast upon the tender mercies that the Lord gives us in our lives, every single day. We must savor the hard times and make the most of them. We must swallow our pride and try to live humbly. If we do all of those things then we can taste the fruits of our labors and live happily. Life truly is a buffet. We have the choice to enjoy all the experiences, whether they be difficult or easy, sour or sweet, and make the most of them. 

Don't leave hungry!!!!

I could go on and on with the puns but I think you get the point. Life is like a buffet. I am trying every day to make sure I go home full!

We had interviews this week with President and it was pretty amazing. He helped answer my questions and lit the fire under me to keep working hard and doing my best.

Love,

Elder Gochnour

P.S. BLUE DEVILS TILL I DIE! GO LOYOLA CHICAGO! 

P.P.S  my favorite kid in KC we call hug kid. We went and visited him and his family and he will always give us hugs if he sees us. Unfortunately, when we visited him he was naked. It definitely didn't stop him from giving us hugs and sitting on our laps haha. What a baller!

MADDNESS BABY!

 Anyone that has the ability or means, please enjoy March Madness for me. Virginia getting knocked off for the first one seed of all time? Crazy. Duke balling, too easy! SO much fun! I miss it so much. 

Anyway, shout out to Lucyann G for the big Bday this week! One year older and wiser too!

This week was pretty interesting haha. We just get wrecked every day in our area, but we are trying our hardest and that is all we can do! We planned to have an exchange on Tuesday, but the other Elders forgot so then our plans were all messed up and didn't have anything to do except just contact. 

The leader of the government made a visit to the island this week so there was like tons of police and everything was decked out in Cambodian flags, and it was way fun. They made the city look nice and they showed their Khmer pride. We also had to go back down to the city again this week (to Phnom Penh). My comps Visa is gonna expire soon and it is crunch time, so we had to make another emergency trip and spent a day and a half out of our area which makes it hard to keep the progress going. The bus rides were brutal haha because there was no AC and I was just SWEATING bullets, but everything worked out. That makes it every week this transfer that one of us has gone to the city.... Also yesterday, my comp was sick so we couldn't go out except for sacrament, but it was nice to just have some time to relax!

The best part of the whole week was Cantuu's baptism! So exciting. He is by far the most prepared person I have taught. The baptism went perfectly smooth, which isn't a very common thing here in the Kingdom of Cambodia. A pretty amazing experience. He bore his testimony about the gratitude that he has in his life for finding this gospel. It truly has changed his life. He encouraged all of the members to continue to have gratitude for the gospel and trust in the Lord. Pretty cool to hear your investigator encouraging you to be better. Saturday night was a REAL good night. After, they gave us tons of food, and there was a party for a guy going to the states for his mission. IT WAS LIT

I am happy and healthy. I love my mission. There are hard parts, but the joy that you can feel is so unique. It isn't the joy you get when you when a sports game or do well on a test. It is more peaceful. It touches your heart more. That joy is the reason I get up every morning, and the reason I love this work. 

Quick spiritual though. In Alma 19, after King Lamoni, his wife and his servants are all converted they all pass out. The first thing that happens after he wakes up is trying to share this glorious gospel.

 31 And he, immediately, seeing the contention among his people, went forth and began to rebuke them, and to teach them the words which he had heard from the mouth of Ammon; and as many as heard his words believed, and were converted unto the Lord.

32 But there were many among them who would not hear his words; therefore they went their way.

Notice how it said that everyone who heard him believed. Those that did not believe did not even hear what he testified to them. I think there is an important lesson in this. Before we believe this gospel and in the Savior, we must first hear about Him or learn about Him. We must read his words. How often do we question our beliefs without even hearing (or reading) the good word first? 

IN ORDER TO BELIEVE YOU MUST HEAR FIRST. 

Everyone that did take the effort to listen to the King and hear what he was saying was converted. Because it is true! I invite you all to hear the words of Christ in your life, by going to church and reading the scriptures.

Church is true 

Madness is real

Elder Gochnour

PICKLES

Hello!

First things first, shout out to Lucy and Eli for getting engaged! YAY! Now you only have to wait a year and a half until I get home to actually get married (yeah right). Shout out to the big bro Ralph for having a birthday! Just an old dad man haha! Also, shout out to Chase Thatcher for his birthday.

Anyway, this week was a grind haha! This area is very hard. We go out every day and just try to find, find, find, and most of the time things just don't end up that way. We had a lot of hope for three or four people that we contacted, but when we set an appointment to meet with them, none of them showed. The most important thing is just trying to stay positive, though. As soon as you get negative things just spiral downward. You have less of a desire to work, causing you to have less success, causing things to just get worse and worse, so we are trying our best to stay humble and do the work of the Lord.  The thing that gives me hope is the two investigators that we are working with. They are the best. Every time we meet with them it just gives me a renewed desire to work a little harder to just maybe find one more person that is prepared like them. Pu Lee Meng said that he wanted to go to Salt Lake as soon as we taught him about temples. He started doing the math figuring out how much money it would be to fly, eat, stay in a hotel and everything else. I offered the house for him to stay (sorry mom and dad)! Long story short, they are both so ready and so prepared from the Lord.  Cantuu should be getting baptized this week! YAY!

I went on an exchange with Elder Everett, a guy in my group that is from Arizona. He is a pretty shy guy so it was a lot of talking in Khmer and it just straight up wore me out. I got home at night and just tanked! It was super cool though because he taught me some magic tricks and we even used them contact. Call me Houdini! OOPS! (Dukedini) 

We had zone conference on Saturday with our 10 person zone, hahaha. There used to be districts bigger than our zone... But it was pretty awesome to have a more personal connection with President and Sister Christensen. We focused a lot on the Book of Mormon, and it was really powerful. 

I was asked to give a talk on how I know the Book of Mormon is true. I used sort of a comical analogy, but also a very true one in my life. I got it from reading Lorenzo Snow's Teachings of the President's book. The analogy goes as follows: When you make a pickle you must first start with a cucumber and place it in a barrel of vinegar. When you first place it in the vinegar does it instantly turn into a pickle? No. Wait twelve hours and is the cucumber fully changed? No. The vinegar has hardly had an effect on the skin of the cucumber. But, if you wait an adequate amount of time and let the vinegar soak all the way through, through patience, you will finally have your desired pickle. That is how my testimony of the Book of Mormon has been in my life. I have been saturated by the Word of God, from the Book of Mormon my whole life. I have constantly learned from the stories in the book and tried my best to live the doctrines taught. My testimony didn't just form the first time I read the Book of Mormon, but through constant study, prayer and living according to its teachings were I able to be fulling effected by the truth and power of the Book of Mormon. It wasn't instant, but like the pickle, if we are patient to abide by its precepts and let the truth and the power soak all the way into the core, then we can come to know the truth of the Book. Please read it and find out for yourself. 

And keep in mind what the Savior tells us in D&C 6:23-"

 22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?

Listen to your thoughts and feelings as you read and trust in God! I am grateful for this mission. For the hot, sweaty days, where I come home and feel discouraged because it is at these times that I am humble enough to be strengthened and taught by the Lord. Those times are the times when I must rely on the Lord to feel his love to motivate me to try a little harder tomorrow! I love this church and the Book of Mormon! I love the grind too! I will talk to you next week!

Elder Gochnour

The Golden Ticket

HEY HEY HEY PEOPLE!

Another great week out here in the big KC baby! On Thursday for Weekly Planning we organized our whiteboard with all the information on our area and gave every single person an NBA player counterpart. It was way funny haha. Our two best investigators are Kawhi and Lebron haha and then our PI investigators are young ballers, the members are Hall of Famers, and the Less Actives are the biggest busts haha (Greg Oden). It definitely helped spice up our week from the long days with lots of contacting. On a basketball note, Elder Cunningham and I also came up with every starting five we could think of. Meaning, the starting five best white guys of all time, most overrated starting five, most athletic, over 7 foot, oriental, under 6 foot, thug starting five and everything in between. My favorite was the scriptural character starting five. Goliath was definitely the starting center. 

We also did missionary work this week too! (much more important) It is pretty cool because our two main investigators are some of the strongest members of our branch and they haven't even been baptized yet. They are rock solid. One of them (Leemeng) (Lebron) gave the other one a tie and they both wear white shirts and ties to church. It is pretty cool to see how big of a positive impact they are having on the branch. Speaking of, we had a miracle with Pu Lee Meng this week. We had a tough lesson on tithing, but he eventually agreed to follow the law of tithing. The next morning he saw a guy outside his house begging for money, and he is very kind so he gave them twice as much money as he asked for (50 cents instead of 25). That same day he found two ($1.25) bills on the ground and therefore he gave away fifty cents but got two dollars and fifty cents in return. Exactly like the law of tithing. God works in mysterious ways.

This week we were just trying to get something going and we were literally going down every single back road that we could possibly see just to try to meet some new people. Right as we were about to lose all hope and just toss in the towel, a high school kid on a moto rode passed us into his house. Immediately after Elder Cunningham said "He is the Golden Ticket," and my first thought was of the Office episode where Michael has the Golden Ticket idea hahah, but after that we went and talked to him and he was a boss! He lives in a house with five other kids that are all around 20 years of age. Although they did not seem to be extremely interested in learning about Christ they showed some interest and they were very kind. We went back the next day and Tiara (the golden ticket) played some Khmer songs on the guitar and he is probably the best singer I have ever heard. He was SO GOOD! We didn't have much time to teach a lesson, but we have a lot of hope for those guys so I will keep you posted!

This week I read the scripture in D&C 58: 16 that reads, "Behold his mission is given unto him, and it shall not be given again." And it kinda lit the fire under me again! I gotta get going because in a year and a half this whole mission thing is over and it is on to the rest of my life, so I better make the most of the time that I have here! 

My spiritual thought for this week is for everyone to go listen to or read the talk called "Oh Lord Keep My Rudder True" by Elder Jeffery R. Holland. Please read it or listen to it. Are you loyal to the cause? Are you loyal to your beliefs? How do you show your loyalty? Loyalty is one quality that is really underrated. Imagine a perfectly loyal world. We must first know where we stand, what we believe in and the standards we hold, and after we figure that out it all comes down to loyalty. Are you your brother's brother? Anyway just listen to it because it is straight FLAMES!

Joy in the journey, hope in the hardship and peace in the peril. That is what Jesus Christ can offer all of us. I know he lives. Read the Book of Mormon and you will too.

// Elder Gochnour

P.S. I went to Auntie Anne's and bought a Shaq jersey when we went down to the city on Wednesday to fix Elder Cunningham's Visa, again. Long story short it was a good week!

P.P.S Shout out to the Titans and the Blue Devils! Undefeated season baby! That's what I like to hear! TTTE

Transferred and The Island

Hey! I am gonna be super lazy this week so here are some bullet points of what happened and what's new with me and my area:

• The night before we left for my new area, Kampong Cham, my two favorite Cambodian families fed us dinner! So yeah two dinners in one night! I had only had one dinner appointment my whole mission before that night, I almost forgot I was in Cambodia (jokes).    It was really hard to say goodbye to them. 

• Transfers were crazy. Packing, riding the bus, then having the bus breaking down and finally getting into the city late, 10:15pm! Then up again at 5 am to play basketball so I was really tired, but BALL IS LIFE!

• We chilled in the city (Phnom Penh) until Thursday because Elder Cunningham's Visa was messed up and we have to go back down again this Wednesday, but it was fun to eat a lot of American food and to chill with all the Elders that I love so much and hadn't seen for so long!

• I am serving in Branch 2 in Kampung Cham. The branch is super awesome and there are some really great members, but on average we only get about 40 to 50 people at church every week, which makes things hard. 

• We have 5 investigators which is a lot different from Battambang, but the best part about it is 2 of the 5 are some of the strongest, most intelligent, and most faithful people I have ever taught. They are amazing. Lee Meng is a 40-year-old who is an absolute baller, and he is already helping the branch run better and giving advice. He knows five languages and he drives a car. Also, he has been to church for 5 weeks straight, all three hours. YUP! 

• The other guy is Chantuu. He is a college kid age, but he is just straight brilliant. We read the scriptures with him, and he understands everything better than me. Super cool!!!!! So things are good. Lot's of time spent finding new people, but we just need to trust in the Lord and be grateful for those elect that we do have. 

• This area is hard because there are huge empty fields that take up about a fourth of our area, then we have the city part of KC which takes up about half of our area, and is all shops, and lastly all the area that isn't in those two parts is either too far away or is Muslim. 

• In Khmer, Cham means Muslim and Kampung means port. So basically this place is the port of Muslims. Long story short, they aren't as nice and friendly, and it is much harder to have people to listen to our message, but you GOTTA LOVE IT, BABY! 

• The best part about my area is that we have the island in it. I am not sure what the island is called, but it is just straight beautiful. I love it there. It is a long bike ride, but being on the island makes me feel like I am in rural Cambodia where I belong. It is amazing there. Also, the church building here is BRAND NEW and it is way dope!

Anyway,  To end I will share a little bit of the talk I gave in Sacrament yesterday. 

Our faith must be centered around Jesus Christ. When I first entered my mission I thought that faith was believing in things you couldn't see. Which is true. But true faith is more than that. I could have faith that Duke is gonna win the national championship this year, but if that didn't happen  - then what? Did I not have sufficient faith? Obviously, that comparison is a stretch, but what is most important, is building our Faith around the only perfect being that has ever walked the Earth. Around our Savior, Jesus Christ. The only faith that can be pure, trusted and sufficient, is faith in Him. In his love, in his Atonement, and in his mercy, to offer us a second chance and the chance to have eternal life. One of my favorite verses is found in Ether 15:34. 

It reads, "Now the last words which are written by Ether are these: Whether the Lord will that I 

be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen."

Our whole purpose in this life should be centered around our eternal salvation, around our chance to achieve eternal life with the help of our perfect, Heavenly Advocate, Jesus Christ. Although we all face trials and suffer, we may always have faith and hope that through Jesus Christ everything will be okay! 

I love my mission and these people, and I desire their salvation! Please center your life around receiving the most glorious gift God has to offer and look to the future with hope!

Joy in the Journey! I met a dude who knew Donovan Mitchell. All the way out here in crazy Cambodia. That is how you know he is gonna be a legend! OOPS. Go Titans, Utes, Duke and everyone else. Also, read the Book of Mormon! I love you all!

// Elder Gochnour