Our Contacting Was A Record Breaker

It was a fun week,

On Monday we finished P-day with an intense game of "Bal Toe'at", or Soccer.  It was Missionaries vs. Members, 8 on 8.  We played at about 3 in the afternoon, so it was crazy hot.  So hot that we were sweating hard before we had started playing.  It was one of those days where the game would have been cancelled for safety precautions had we been in America.

 

Us Elders made a good team.  Our squad was about half American half Khmae elders.  We actually beat the members; it was a tough win though.  You'd be surprised but these little Khmaes can play in 110 degree weather, wearing jeans and flip flops.  We will be playing again this afternoon; the khmae's want a rematch.  

Soccer was a good workout and no one died despite the heat.  Tuesday was even hotter than Monday though.  It was rough because I spent the majority of the day outside getting cooked.  (Not sunburned though because I have plenty of sunscreen).

 

After lunch Elder Clark had interviews with baptism candidates in "Poom Tinay" Village.  I had to sit outside while he did those.  The sun was beating down hard, and the metal sheeting of the shack was reflecting tons of heat at me.  I sweat so much.  I was praying the interviews would go quickly.  I ended up standing there about an hour or so:/

Immediately after the interviews we began biking to one of our far away less-active members homes.  I was drinking as much water as I could, but it was all very warm from being outside.  During the lesson inside the less active's home (also hot), I just about passed out.  I remember being super dizzy and not being able to focus at all.  I was just focused on staying conscious.  At one point Clark looked at me, signaling me to bear testimony on a point, but I couldn't speak very well, and I was forgetting really easy words.  Clark helped me along, but he could tell something was up.  One doesn't simply forget the word "Pol-Jay" (blessings)....we use it over 3 times every lesson....So yeah heat exhaustion or something.  After the lesson I was able to cool down a bit and the clouds shaded us, so I recovered pretty quick. 

  

Elder Clark and I started running out of ideas for food to make.  It seems like we make the same meals everyday. So we decided to buy a blender.  I'm excited because there's tons of fruit and stuff at the nearby market.  So yeah if anyone knows any quick/easy blender recipes, send me them.  Our blender CAN chop ice, I was determined to find one with that capability.  We had to go from shop to shop to find one.  

 

I've been using my resistance bands every morning and every night to exercise.  Two things I really miss (exercise -wise): Dumbells and Benchpress.  Also, our bedroom has a nice thick pad on the ground that I stretch and read on.  

Kampong Cham's flooding is going away because it hasn't rained in a while. (I miss the rain because it makes it less hot).  

Our missionary work was great this week and we had a lot of success.  Our contacting was a record breaker for me, 206 contacts :D

We also had a ton of great lessons, both with investigators and less actives.  We gained 4 new investigators.  On Sunday we had an investigator attend church, and 3 long time less actives attended as well!(:  I know that through the spirit in our lessons people are motivated to do things that may be hard for them.  One of our awesome less actives, who had a leg injury preventing him from attending, prayed for strength to go.  It was great to see him there.

In one of our lessons with a less-active, I shared the scripture Moroni 7:5

5 For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also.  

"Bong Pannut"  was super receptive to this verse.  He sat there, read the verse, and then looked at me.  He said "So...if we do good, we are GOOD, If we do bad, we are BAD".  I then asked him if he though of himself as a good person.  He responded "Sometimes I'm good, other times I'm not".  I told him that no one is perfect, but we can be good.  I asked him how he could be good.  He looked at me and said, "I'm inactive...I need to go to church, then I will be good".  That was exactly what Clark and I wanted to hear.  

   

We teach a lot of lessons on enduring to the end because its so important.  What’s the point of starting a race if you're just gonna stop halfway through.  Our job as missionaries is to motivate people to keep going, and show them why it’s all worth it.  It’s so worth it! J

This week at a restaurant we saw an American (rare).  The man was maybe in his early 50's.  He told us that he was a missionary for his church.  He believes in Jesus Christ so strongly that he wants to share the gospel with the people in Cambodia.  We had so much in common, and it was cool to talk about the success we had had.  The man has lived here for 4 years or something, but he only speaks about 2 sentences of Khmae: "This is about Jesus Christ" and "call number". He hands out pieces of paper about Jesus for people to read and then call a number. He said he had handed out some 50,000 sheets in the past year.  Wow.

 

I'm glad there are people in the world who know how good the message of Jesus Christ is, and share it.  Because of that guy's efforts, 90% of the people we contact/teach have heard of Jesus Christ before.  Because of that piece of paper, suddenly they have a base for us to build on when we meet them.  It’s awesome! It makes our job WAY easier.

So yeah, just a great week.  Love you guys!

-Elder Z (In Cambodia)

I met some deaf kids (all related) and contacted them...In Khmae sign language...It was hard but we did it.  Then they wrote on my hand in english...smart kids.

Cambodia

A kid with a cool helmet.