2016 is Great! (1.4.2016)

This guy Phialy is about to serve a mission.

We got a baptism yesterday! Vannak passed his interview and entered into a covenant to serve God for all his life. Also, yesterday I found a real long sleeve Polo t-shirt for $1.25 (used, but hey, what do I own that isn't?). Pu Ra, a less active, showed up to church. I got approval from the Mission President to start work on the Car Wash. I found Frozen stickers to put on my planner, so all the little kids love it. I remembered to bring my camera to the internet cafe. The temperature is lowering. Khmae food is tasting better. Contacting isn't so hard. My companion is learning the area. English class had almost 30 people. I don't know. There are a lot of downs, but just talking about the ups is a lot more happy, and it's not necessary to talk about the downs, so why bother? 

Bong Vannak baptism

We had a really powerful lesson with a less active named Pu Khoan. We thought that maybe he wasn't going to church, because he didn't believe that God could give him a job that would let him stop working on Sundays. So we took my favorite five miracles in the New Testament and told him them all. 1) The lady with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34);  2) Feeding the 5000 families (Luke 9: 13-17); 3) Walking on the water (Mark 6:48-50); 4) Silencing the winds (Luke 8:22-25); 5) Him going into any city and them having people ready for him to heal, and he healed them all (Various). We told him that if God has this kind of power,  then he could surely help him to go to church. I also told him that with his knowledge and experience in the church, he could make an excellent church leader for when this area becomes a stake. The lesson was well received and after the closing prayer he told us that he was going to tell his family that the year 2016 is the year he goes active again. I hope things work out for him. 

Ming Da baptism

Our whole district (as in the members in all of KC) dedicated our fast to the finishing of the new church building. It looks so close. Every time I ride by I have daydreams of how nice it would be to start using that building. I'll include a picture of it next week. They say it will be finished in the next two months, so hopefully I don't get transferred so I can be here for the inauguration.

Wyatt as Santa for ward Christmas party

Love,

Elder Hall

Dancing, Pancakes, and Santa Claus

 Our Skype on Christmas Day

The ward Christmas party was super fun. Ever since they made the rule that you can't listen to Khmae music, I've just been craving it, so dancing (Khmae style) to music (Khmae style) was SUPER fun. They also made me dress up as Santa Claus and give out candy to kids, but I just got mobbed by every one (including adults) for candy. I'll send you a picture of the Santa Claus thing. I actually forgot my camera today, so I'll have to get other people's pictures of me. 

 From Elder Slavens' blog

 

During the ward Christmas party, we watched a movie in English (nobody understood). Then we danced for like an hour, ate food, danced more, and then I went home. Everyone was super jealous of my American dance style and cooking. Man, so much culture was introduced there! I taught them how Americans dance AND how we make pancakes. There were a bunch of less-actives there, too. 

 Wyatt's district (from the Ovesons' blog)

Then the next day, Vannak showed up to church, YES! So he will be getting interviewed on Friday, and then baptized on Sunday. (Ming Da showed up, too, but she is the sisters investigator now).  Vannak has come a long way. In the beginning, I could tell his aunt was making him do everything, and he hated it, and just wanted to leave. Then one day I think something clicked, and now he is always asking questions and actually wanting to find out more about what were are teaching.

From the Ovesons' blog

If you want to be better missionaries at home, just pray for missionary opportunities with real intent. Don't be scared that you'll actually get one. And then when that opportunity comes, pray for courage to take it. And if you don't want to take it, pray for desire to take it,and if you don't want to pray for desire to take it, pray for desire to pray for desire to take it! Haha. I'm just kidding, but the point is God will give you opportunities, you just gotta take them. Also, talking to the missionaries about how you could help out is a good way, too. All I can tell you is that when I get back, I am gonna go help the missionaries as much as I can, because I know the frustration of not having members to help me. 

I love you mommy!

Love,

Elder Hall

Results vs Effort

This guy is 90 years old, pumps up bikes for a living,

and dresses like a straight baller.

 Yeah, president never got back to us about Mondulkiri, so we will probably have to wait a week or two. That means that I can email this week! 

 

So for Skype I'm thinking I'll get to the internet cafe at 8 AM on Saturday here which unless there are some tricks that I can't see, would be either 8 or 9 PM on Friday night for you [correction: 7pm Central]. 

 

I have a bunch of pictures from cutting rice, but I took a long video of the bamboo bridge and I guess it didn't turn on because I don't have a video of it. It's kind of a struggle, since I cant see my screen, but I'm sure I'll get to take a video of the bamboo bridge in the future. After all, I have at least another month here.

Bamboo Bridge

Cutting Rice

 So last week, I made a promise at the end of the week that instead of getting happy with results from my work I would be happy with whether I worked hard or not. This was difficult at the end of last week, though, since I had really good results from my work. However, I chose to instead look back on areas where I could have improved. This week, I worked a lot harder, but my results were terrible, because people have their agency. But since I made that promise to myself, I instead looked at how I felt about what I did, and I was happy. SO, I know that Heavenly Father would approve of my work, even though it didn't have the best of outcomes. Looking to the future, though, we will have to move back some baptismal dates, since they didn't show up to church. Vannak was at a marriage, Kum On was just absent, and Ming Da was referred to the sisters. Either way, this coming week will be better. You have to have bad days/weeks to know what a good day/week is like. Cambodia is funner than ever, and I am loving every second. Merry Christmas also ! The next time I email, Christmas will already be past. 

Elder Tatton

The church building in Kampong Cham

I love you Mom, and I can't wait to Skype my family!

Elder Hall

A couple of videos: