Hi Family

Cumriapsua Krom Kruasaa!

I'm sorry to hear about Grandpa passing away. :( It really kind of is a sweet thing though knowing how much pain he was in. We know he is in a better place. I have been teaching the plan of salvation to a few investigators lately and today I am just even more grateful for it than ever! I know that I will see him again, we all will! And he won't be how we remember, he'll be strong and happy! What wonderful news! My spirit will definitely be with you on Friday.

Hopefully I have some happy news that can cheer you up! My investigator Ming Ranier got baptized yesterday! It was so sweet! She is incredible! On Saturday we met at the church and watched Finding Faith in Christ (In Khmer) then she went in for her Baptismal Interview. She passed! And then yesterday after church she was baptized! She was glowing all day, you could tell she was excited. I think she was kind of nervous too, but it all went perfectly. Our branch president baptized her. It was great! And it was especially sweet because her daughter is a member and she bore her testimony at the baptism. It was the sweetest thing. Ming Ranier will be such a good member!

Also church was great because we found a new investigator this past week and she came to church for ALL THREE HOURS! Her name is Astoria. She is 21 years old and is like 7 months pregnant. She is the cutest thing. I think she is so prepared for the gospel. She had kinda been taught by missionaries before because she had a book of mormon, but somewhere along the way stopped learning. But this time around I think she is golden! We found out yesterday that her husband like left her and has a new wife, but I honestly think she found so much comfort at church. We had multiple people who kind of fellowshipped her! And she said the closing prayer during the 2nd hour! Woohoo! we like kinda randomly committed her to baptism already during our 2nd lesson, but not really officially. So we will do that this week. It was so funny though because we were talking about Christ's Ministry on Earth and we showed with our picture book how Christ was baptized. And as smooth as even possible Sister Cheek was like, "do you want to be baptized?" and she was like why yes I do! And then we just kept going with our lesson. I feel like we should have set it more officially and set a date and stuff, but we'll take care of that. I think we will push for July 28th. Happy Birthday to Teresa!

So last week I told you how Sister Melting like got in an accident, and I can't remember if I told you that her legs were like super infected or not. But yeah, she is totally better this week! Seriously, missionaries are so protected and blessed. Also, I seriously love Sister Melting. I LOVE coming home every night and talking to her. We laugh all the time. And she loves Lake Powell too so we just really understand each other. We are way more similar than I ever thought. And listen to this. Sister Melting and Sister Kayak's area is like EXPLODING. It is so great! They had 23 investigators at church yesterday. I promise that really is crazy for Cambodia! It is one of my favorite things to come home every night and hear about the random person who called them and wants to learn, or about that random family that just walked into church. So happy for them! And it inspires me. I KNOW that there is just that same potential in my area. We just have to find it. How exciting!!!

This week I had some ups and downs, but ultimately decided it has been my favorite week here. Also, I think you should all sit down for this next paragraph or so. I have learned something. And I am just sure that you have all been waiting for this day and have probably even placed bets to see when this would happen. Eh hmm. I have learned that I don't have to be right all the time. That's a big one. But let me clarify, I didn't say I've learned i'm not right all the time, I have just learned that I don't have to be right all the time. :) No but seriously. This really all stemmed from this one morning, I knew I was right about something and so I pushed it and pushed it, and yeah turns out I was right, but the spirit was gone and the tension left over was the worst thing in the world.  And as I evaluated I realized me being right was not worth that. When there was tension in our companionship, the work was so hard. I was like almost ready to call it quits. But then I really tried to apply this thing my Mission President teaches which is "don't try to change the other person - change yourself." I have really been working on changing myself and not having to be right. Something I realized is that there really can be multiple "right" ways, especially doing missionary work, and it is okay to follow someone else's "right" way. And when it comes down to it, the work can't get done without the spirit. So if I have to sacrifice being right to keep companionship unity, then it is totally worth it. Wow, so yeah. Missions have this way of changing people for the better, turns out. I'll try and work on not needing to be right all the time. And good news, companionship is back in top notch working order. I'm just sad it was my fault we had a bad day or so. :(

We went to FHE with a family on Saturday night and it was so fabulous! It is a mom with her 6 kids. The dad is kinda MIA. But we sang and read the Family Proclamation to the World and sang some more and shared scriptures, and the spirit was so strong! I was really fighting back tears because the spirit there reminded me of the spirit in our home! I loved it! That is so hard to find here. I told them that I felt the spirit so strong in their house and that I know that Heavenly Father is so pround of them. They are so great!

We have been trying to serve more in order to find people to teach. So the other day we were riding our bikes and a lady on the side of the path was cleaning shoes. We stopped our bikes and just went over and asked if we could help and jumped right in. She collects shoes from the streets and stuff that have been thrown away and cleans them and resells them. So we squatted next to her big pot of water and just started cleaning her shoes. We eventually started telling her about who we are. The whole neighborhood basically like came over to watch these 2 white girls squatting and cleaning shoes, hilarious. So sister Cheek just worked her magic and contacted like crazy. We found this one lady who had learned before but I'm not sure what happened. We went back yesterday and taught her and her 2 kids and her sister (I think.) Her name is Bong Jam and she is SUPER interested. She couldn't come to church yesterday but she promises she'll go next week. And her Sister Srei Tween was also quite interested. I think they will be really good! We taught them about prayer and got them to pray! woohoo! It is so fun to see how this gospel changes people's lives and brings light into their lives! We also taught the lady and her husband who does all the shoes, that lesson was a little more crazy, but she said we could come back. Fingers crossed!

I've told you about the piano class we teach. This week it was good because this random guy, who no one knows where he is from showed up on Friday just ready to learn. So we taught him and the elders like contacted him and he came back the next day for piano again. He lives in Phnom Penh I think but works in Stung Mean Chey. I'm not sure what is going down with him, but hopefully it turns into something! Also I am getting a little more confident in just talking despite sounding like a fool, so I attempt to explain some musical concepts to some of the members, and it is hilariously fun! They are so cute and pretend like they know what I'm saying! Maybe they really do. Crazy! But can I just say. The concept of rhythm just does not seem to fit in anywhere here. I'm determined to teach them rhythm before I leave this place. It might kill me. But i'll do it.

Alright, that is all I have this week. It really has been SUCH a good week! I have started looking forward to each of our appointments and stuff during the day rather than looking forward to the end of the day. I know that is so sad, but that is kinda how it was for a bit. Turns out this work is so much more fun when you can understand the people a little more and you care about what they care about! I'm learning how to be a missionary! Woohoo!

Also I want you to know I eat a can of peanut butter a week. That is not an exaggeration. Life is great. I will never take for granted SO many things ever again, you can't even imagine. A working toilet. A dishwasher. Toilet paper. Meat that is like... not liver or bone. I seriously love this place! It is crazy! Haha I'm laughing out loud right now because of how funny and crazy this place is. What an adventure I'm on! I love it!

Love Sister Homer!