Madeline in Cambodia: Quick Quality Week in Battambang

Hello Everyone!

Well kind of a crazy week here in Cambodia. Monday I had a great birthday. Thank you to everyone for the birthday emails and love. In honor of my birthday, Sister Kosal wanted to do our make-up so we were turned into Srey Sa'ats. (pretty girls). I’ll send some pictures. And right after that we had to rush to a branch FHE. So that was interesting... we stand out because we're white and we stood out even more. Super fun!

So this week was crazy because of COOL CHNAM. The Khmer New Year! Battambang. It's basically as big as Christmas. So proselyting this week was a bit difficult but we made do. President Christensen had us do a read-a-thon of the gospels in the New Testament on Friday. Super fun. We dressed in comfy Khmer clothing and hung out at the church with all the Battambang missionaries, ate food and read the scriptures and watched Bible videos. Then on Saturday we deep cleaned our house. Kind of disgusting but greatly appreciated. Then Saturday night all three branches in Battambang had a party. We played fun Khmer games, ate Bubba (yummy rice porridge), and threw baby powder in everyone's faces. (For Khmer New Year everyone throws baby powder all over everyone's face. We were biking around and everyone on moto just had white patches of powder on their face haha). Also warning! If you are in Cambodia during Khmer New Year and you are white, you are a pretty huge target for water balloons. We were biking and there were random people all along the street and people in trucks would throw water balloons at us and everyone else. Also this pretty old grandma lady sprayed me down with a water gun and this old lookpuu got me with a bucket. I was very thankful because Cambodia is definitely in the middle of hot season. Anyways it was super fun. Also I think I still have baby powder in my hair.

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Cambodia doesn't really celebrate Easter or know about it. But you can feel the love of God and the mercy of our Savior wherever you are. This week I have been studying in the scriptures and every other resource I can find about Heavenly Father. Everything about Him, begins with love. I am thankful that He loves me, imperfect and sometimes super pathetic me. And I know He loves you too. And I've realized that I know without a doubt that other people are children of God. It's so easy to know that and believe that for other people. But I'm coming to realize, believe and know that I am a daughter of God too. The song, "I am a Child of God" includes me and it includes you. Heavenly Father is so good to us. And I feel privileged to be able to share His love and message with the Khmer people.

Have a great week!! Much love and Khmer sniff kisses,

Sister Mortell

ស៊ីស្ទើរ ម៉ូរធែល