Sister Jessalyn Homer: Hey guys

Family,

This week kinda flew by pretty fast. It was once again just a normal week, though maybe we had more rain than usual. Honestly, I love the rain. It is so much better than the heat. I would so much rather be soaked with rain than sweat, and those are kind of the only two options. So, get ready Mom and Dad! :)

Also, do you know that I have officially been a missionary for 18 months now! Yay! Now everyone blow a kazoo.

Today until Wednesday is a major holiday here in Cambodia called Pchum Ben. So things are going to be kind of quiet for the next few days. Yesterday our church attendance was down because people headed out to the provinces. BUT it was still a really good day. I actually really liked the Sacrament talks we had. One woman talked about Job's story, which is ironic because sister Kean and I have been using that a lot this week in our teaching, and I just LOVE JOB! Seriously, if everyone could be like Job! And then the 1st Counselor filled up some spare time and I really liked something he said: "Obedience is the key to heaven." I love that. Obviously the Atonement is really the other major key, but if there is one thing I could instill in these people here it would be that you really do need to follow the commandments and teachings of God if you want to be with him again. The Atonement by itself won't be enough if you don't do anything to change your life to be more like God! Oh how I wish these people could see that! Honestly, I just have such strong feelings about obedience these days and I think our 1st Counselor nailed it!

Also I have maybe told you about a somewhat less-active Ming that we visit regularly, Ming Paula. She is just a sweet, sweet, sweet woman. I love her so much. And I went to visit her this week and she told us how this other church has been coming and studying the Bible with her weekly. And we talked about it briefly and how she should just be kind of careful. And I loved her response. Mostly it was along the lines of, "Don't worry Sisters, I know where my heart is. I know where my loyalty is. I know what I want. I know the book of Mormon is true, I have a witness for myself. There is nothing that can tear me away." Wow! I felt like a proud parent. I think I will take Mom and Dad to meet her. She truly is an incredible woman with a firm resolution to stay committed to God's church!

I also went on another exchange this week with Sister Earl! That was super fun again! We had a really good day. She also is only in her second transfer, so it was fun to be with her. Also something we were focusing on throughout the day was teaching commandments in the context of the gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, etc.). So we had a few lessons about the commandment of scripture reading and we taught it intertwined with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was so great! I think it created a clearer picture for WHY we read the scriptures and more than just something that we need to check off the list every day. It was fun!

Also during our exchange we decided to eat lunch out at this place I have had my eye on called Alma Cafe (Mexican homestyle cooking). So we went. And do you know what happened? I had Mexican food. And I heard native Spanish speakers. If I had gone there a year ago I probably would have left in tears. But I was able to make it through with only small pangs of grief. It was a good experience. Also their cake was delicious.

Now for some really important things:

My whole life as I have sung the song "Up on the rooftop" at Christmas time, I sang it like this: Up on the rooftop reindeer paws, out jumps... but in fact, that is not correct. It is actually this: Up on the rooftop reindeer pause, out jumps... I know that it sounds the same, but that is quite the distinction, and it wasn't until I read these Christmas trivia cards we have in our apartment here that I realized that major difference. And you would think the fact that reindeers don't have paws - but actually have hooves - would have tuned me in a lot sooner but... no. This is one of those Grapes=raisins/tuna=chicken of the sea kind of things, isn't it. Gooood. Gooood.

But, on a more serious note, did you know there aren't any McDonald's here in Cambodia? Why you may ask? Well, turns out Cambodia's meat doesn't pass McDonald's standards. So that is comforting considering the amount of meat I have consumed these past months has been considerable. Once again, gooooood! But don't worry Mom and Dad, the meat really is fine I think! You will quite enjoy it!

So I guess that is all for me this week! We are making some good headway with some less-active members who probably would have rather remained unfound. We are slowly winning their hearts. :) We are quite the persistent pair, Sister Kean and I. :)

Love you all!

Sister Homer