Learning Week in Steung Mean Chey

So I stepped foot in my first Cambodian hospital.... DON’T WORRY. All is well. Sister Pace and I were doing language study when we got a call that Sister Y and Sister Peng got into a moto, bike accident. We hurried and biked over to help. They were pretty bruised up and had some cuts so we took them on a tuktuk to the mission home and met Elder and Sister Leavitt (senior missionaries). We then went to the hospital to get them some x-rays. Don't worry they are fine, scraped up and sore but fine.

Other than crazy moto accidents, it was a normal, crazy, great week in Cambodia. And when I say "great," I mean every emotion that exists. Sometimes I'm so happy then sad, confused, humbled, stressed, worried, tired, thankful, strengthened, faithful, confused again. Lots and lots of emotions, and I am thankful for all of them.

So what else? I'll tell you about our investigators. First, Ming Tkhia. She is so so sweet and generous. She insists on feeding us every time we meet with her. We say no but she wants me to eat all the Khmer food or "know how to eat" Khmer food. (If you know how to eat Khmer food, you like prahok, this fermented fish stuff. . . and I do like it, I’m not lying so yay!)  So she feeds us and is so faithful. She's so interested in the church. And she already seems like a member. For example, we invited her to church this Sunday. And she responded, "Oh Sister no, I rest on Sundays." YES, the day of rest haha so good. Anyways she is very sweet. Last Monday we were planning for Tuesday and we thought "let's call Ming Tkhia". So we (Sister Pace) called here and arranged a time. About five minutes later she called us back and said "Sister Sister what you told me about prayer, I think it's true! About 20 minutes before, I was missing you and lost your phone number. So I prayed and you called!" WHOO! We love her!

Second, Chilee. He's a ten year old son of one of our less active members. He is so cute and so excited to be baptized. A couple days ago we were teaching him a lesson. After we were done I was trying to find my shoe and it was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing a little kid was wearing it or maybe a dog took it. (We take off our shoes outside people's houses). It was dark, muddy and probably one of the worst places to not have a shoe (gross, gunky, swampy green, trash stuff everywhere). So I rode home half shoeless and made it through the gunk. All I could think of was, "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings." I hate to say as I was riding back home I thought "Well this sucks. I want my croc back," and then I was humbled. As I was having a pitiful, pathetic, pity party, I remembered that we just taught a lesson to a family that lives in one room that is half the size of my bedroom at home. They don't have much money or food, but they happily share what they have. They are never ungrateful. And they are not the only family like this. I can go a couple days without having one of my shoes.

I'll share another experience. Like I said before, there are so many emotions and feelings that have been felt this past couple weeks. A whole spectrum full. Friday morning was one of the lower of the spectrum moments. I just got so overwhelmed with all the things I need to learn in English and Khmer. All I could see were my weaknesses. I was telling Sister Pace how I was feeling and she said "don't worry" and then she read me Ether 12:27, “and if men come unto me I will shoe unto them their weakens. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” I've always liked this scripture but this time it made a great difference in my perspective. Usually in this scripture I feel like I used to think about the last part, our weaknesses will become strengths. This time Sister Pace focused on the first part, if we come unto Him, He will show us our weakness". She then compared this to a story. Imagine you are sitting in a dark, dark room and you're wearing a dirty shirt. Do you know it’s dirty? No, because you can't see the stains (when she said that I thought, well if you're in Cambodia you could smell it. My nose is always so confused, anyways). But if someone lets some light in, you start to see some of the stains. As more light comes in, you can see more dirty and stains. As the light increased, you can see your stains, or weaknesses. You learn where they are, what they are (fish guts, kitten tinkle, swampy goop). You now know how to clean them. Sometimes we begin to see the stains and just think, “man I am dirty. I have stains everywhere. I smell horrible. There isn't a white spot on this shirt". That’s not the point. The purpose of seeing our weakness is so that we can have a clean shirt. That really hit me. Yes, I have many weaknesses, doubts and stains. But one by one, I can clean them.

I'll share one more experience... Yesterday night we were heading out to teach a lesson. It was about 5 or 6, pouring rain and getting dark. We were trying to find one of our less active member's house. So we stopped by a few places to contact and ask for directions. We decided to go one more street. We saw this lookpuu (like older middle aged guy) and asked for his help. We introduced ourselves and began having a conversation. He shared all about his life. He was recruited to be in the military during the Cambodian war. He learned to be a doctor and saw all sorts of wounds, blood, death, amputations, everything horrible. He said he had to flee to the Thai border. He lived in the forest for some time during the wars. While he was in the forest, he taught himself English. (But he told this story in Khmer so it’s a little fuzzy). He said his wife died ten years ago. He said he has no hope that he will be able to see her again. He just had so many more heartbreaking, eye opening life experiences. And we just listened and testified. I couldn't understand much, or speak much, but I could sure feel something. I think we were meant to be lost that day to find him. Maybe twenty years from now he'll see some missionaries and remember those two white girls he talked to about Christ's restored gospel. Who knows...? (God does).

Anyways that's all I really remember from this week. These people amaze me. And this gospel does too. Much love and prayers!

Love,

Sister Mortell

P.S. some things I learned this week:

1. Everyone drinks Ovaltine. "It gives you strength."

2. The word for dimples is "khoic" (maybe?). Everyone always tells me that while they say "sa'at" (beautiful) to Sister Pace.

3. Zayn Malik and David Beckham are on every haircut advertisement.

4. Half developed bird, egg things are delicious once you get over the feathers.

5. In every picture frame for sale, they have a picture of Hillary Duff (Lizzie).