Sister Jessalyn Homer: Family

Hey everyone,

This week was SIGNIFICANTLY better than last week. Mostly it was just a normal week, which I loved! I love just getting out and teaching. These people are just so funny and this place is so funny!

We got a few new investigators this week. One's name is មីងរង (Ming Song), she learned a few years ago but left to a different city. Well now she is back and she is awesome! we've taught her twice and she is so good! She can't read, but what's new. She cut us up the yummiest pineapples to eat before she would even let us start teaching. By the way, the pineapples here are tiny, so cute! Anyway she is so good and she like insisted on coming to church, even though she couldn't make it to the branch she is supposed to go to, so she came to the other one. Haha, okay! Yes! So she did come for 2 hours yesterday, and I hope it was a good experience for her! I think it was!

Yesterday we also had Ming Laundry, Brak Kneesock, Srei Chia, and Homestar get confirmed, woohoo! I was so so so excited that Brak Kneesock came. We came across her on the side of the road on Friday and talked to her for a long time. Long story short, her husband left (wants to go back but his co-workers won't let him) and hasn't sent her money so she has no food to feed her kids, not to mention she is pregnant and has lost 3 pounds, in the last few days. She was saying she will probably have to sell her bike to be able to feed her kids. I obviously didn't tell her to not do that, but if she did that meant she couldn't come to church. Well, after talking to her for a while we went and bought her some food so her kids don't starve. We offered to come get her and take her to church on sunday. She told us to just wait and see, and then we didn't hear from her. But so yeah she came and I was so so so excited!! This woman is awesome. She bikes herself and her two kids to church, while pregnant and stays three hours. Not to mention she said she had been praying constantly and reading her scriptures because she didn't know what else to do. So good!

Probably the best thing that happened this week though was that we got a new washing machine. We told the senior couple it kinda didn't work (understatement), they came and looked at it and were like, oh well let's just get a new one! Apparently that was no big deal. Let me tell you, if I had only known, I wouldn't have been wearing dirt for the past 5 months! It was like Christmas. It's incredible. We maybe smell like real people now!!! It's wonderful.

Something I always knew, but didn't really think about much until this week is the difference between The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Let me tell you, there is such a difference. In Utah I think it is really easy for the two to kind of just be the same, but here, they are two very different things. And I actually realized I kind of like that because, you don't really develop a testimony of the Church here, but you can still develop a testimony of the Gospel. Certainly, you CAN develop a testimony of the church here too, but at least for me coming from Utah... you just kind of don't. But it's an incredible thing to see, and realize that the true thing we are converting people to is the gospel, not the church. In places where the church is developed, it's easy to forget that. All that probably didn't make any sense, but to me that was kind of a significant thought this week.

This week was a creature week. Meaning there were creatures everywhere. The best one though was the cockroach. I have honestly had the best luck with not really having to deal with cockroaches. But one morning this week, we came downstairs and there was one laying on it's back. You would think that would mean it would be dead, oh no. They play dead. They fake you out. So after lengthy observation I decided it truly was still alive. I took so much raid to that cockroach, it was borderline excess. And then we also poured soap on it, cause sister Davis heard that kills them. I wish you could have witnessed this battle. I like to think I'm maturing in my ability to handle bugs. Needless to say, we overcame.

Also someone told Sister Davis her feet look like baby pigs. HAHAHHAHAHA this is the same member who wants me to marry her son. Also a dog stole one of sister Davis' shoes. But it was recovered.

Do you know how much I LOVE Pineapple Fanta?

Also, it's official. You can spot a nerd in any culture. <3

I guess that is all for me! I love you all!

Sister Homer