Delightful Week at the MTC

Tau krom kruasa nun mitpheak hoob baay hauy ruu nuo?

Hello family and friends! The MTC is packed! Right as a whole load of people left, another group came. Right now there are around 2,400 missionaries in the MTC. The choir is around 1,400. It's so awesome. Anyways this week went by super fast until of course P Day Eve. Let's see..

On Saturday we had our TRC. It stands for "Teaching Recent Converts" so mainly we just teach returned missionaries and this cute little Cambodian lady, Om Meak. Om Meak is probably the tiniest, most adorable lady I have ever met. We were having a lesson on prayer and how we have the ability to speak to our Heavenly Father about anything. Whether it's about school, family, loneliness, stress, questions, doubts, Heavenly Father wants to hear everything! So as we were teaching Om Meak, we asked her to share an experience. She began telling her story. From what we understood, during the Khmer Rouge her family fled to Thailand. Her husband was taken and she's never seen him since. She said she prays every night to be able to see him again. I know she will. These people amaze me and I haven't even met them yet. Another thing that truly amazed me about the Khmer people I learned in our grammar class. We were learning different greetings and phrases. One of the phrases is "Tau bccn broh hoob baay hauy ruu nuo?" This literally translates to "Have you had any rice yet?" This phrase started during the Khmer Rouge in the concentration camps. Because they were only fed small amounts water and rice, if someone hadn't eaten any rice yet they would give their rice to the one in need. Ever since that time the saying has evolved into a common greeting. Isn't that the sweetest most tender thing you've ever heard? Cambodians amaze me!

Our investigator (our teacher) lessons are getting better every day. We now have three investigators. I think for the first time, I truly felt the Spirit while I was teaching. Yesterday we were teaching neakming Ranni and even though the lesson didn't go as planned and she's so so stubborn there were a few sentences I said that just felt so right. They were simple and in broken Khmer but I looked into her eyes and spoke from my cet (heart) and I just felt so peaceful. It's so amazing!

So Sunday was a very special, awesome, sweet day. Like always but especially this Sunday. Every Sunday morning we prepare talks about a specific topic. The branch president then picks at random two missionaries to speak. The topic this Sunday was The Book of Mormon. Kind of a huge topic, right? But for some reason I couldn't help thinking about the Character of Christ (that talk from Elder Bednar, go look it up right now and watch it!) So for my "talk" I started studying his talk and finding places in the Book of Mormon where people show the Character of Christ. Anyways then at the devotional, President Burgess announced, "We've decided to watch the Character of Christ instead of having a speaker." And with that announcement I was like "WOOH" cause I love that talk. His talk is the perfect amount of a slap in the face and motivation. So we watched the Character of Christ. I was pumped that I had studied it that very morning. After the video was over, through the door comes Elder Bednar!!! WOAH! With 2,400 other missionaries I had the privilege of listening to an apostle! For about an hour and a half we just had a question and answer session. He talked about how the Character of Christ and charity is not something we practice and develop. Charity possesses us. It becomes our natural spiritual instinct. Many of my questions that weren't asked were answered. When he left, a sea of missionaries stood. I couldn't help but think "tarry a little longer".

Thank you all so much for the prayers, love and support. I am so thankful to love and serve my Heavenly Father and Savior. 

Love,
Sister Mortell

 Cleaning the showers--rubber boots, gloves and goggles. Dorky and all!

 Personal study was a bit rough this week. Also during study outside, we can usually hear the BYU bells. It stings a little bit.

 When you're studying and eating lunch so you write the word craun (a lot) in Cambodian.

 In the lovely laundry room with our Cambodia shirts :)

 What it looks like when we teach our investigators--shoes off and sitting on the floor.