Update 105: Confirmations

Bora was confirmed on Sunday, confirming him a member of the church and my final feelings of love from the Lord in doing His work here in Cambodia. I'll fly home Wednesday night. 

It's been an amazing two years, full of all kinds of experiences. It's had its ups and its downs, but the ups always project out of the other memories to fill my soul with joy. I am so grateful for all of the lives that the Lord has let me touch, the people He has put in my path. I will never forget you, Cambodia. 

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." - 3 Nephi 5: 13

While this journey has ended, another has only just begun. May we always remember that the Lord has called us all to do His work.

- Elder Taylor

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission 

House 2B, st. 222 off Norodom

P.O. Box 165

Phnom Penh Cambodia 

5277 Went to tour Moo Moo Farms. The only dairy in Cambodia and owned by a member who served in Cambodia

5282 Went to each lunch at the Ghils' restaurant again! So good to see some of the international branch members. 

5315 Last lunch with two of our investigators, Rotana and Pilot.

5324 The house, what a transfer. 

Update 104: Bora is Baptized

Highlight of the week, Bora got baptized! We've been working with him for almost our whole time in Chom Chao and it has been such a privilege to see him learn about, and accept Jesus Christ as his Savior. In his testimony after he was baptized he talked about how he promised to follow Christ all his life and continue to share his now treasured beliefs with his friends and family and how he hoped that one day they would come to accept Christ as their Savior as well. I love his example. 

In addition to Bora, Hiang and Rota were also baptized! Hiang is a lady that I contacted at the end of last transfer and we started teaching her and then found out that she lives in the other Pochetong elders area and we transitioned to them teaching her. She was prepared for the gospel, accepting everything and turning around from atheist to loving her Father in heaven. A fun side story is that Bora was originally found several months ago by Elder Tuft and Cox in Stuengmeanjay and then got lost in a transition to the Chom Chao elders. I got to Chom Chao and found him and now we taught Elder Tuft's investigator to baptism and he taught Hiang for me. A joyous moment for us both. 

That aside the work rolls on. Staying busy with the days counting down; every moment counts. May you all continue on in the work of the Lord as well.  

- Elder Taylor

Letters will be joyously received at: 

Elder Taylor

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission 

House 2B, st. 222 off Norodom

P.O. Box 165

Phnom Penh Cambodia 

Update 103: Miracle Week for Investigators

Sorry this is pretty vague and not much detail, but I'm out of time so apology in advance. 

Mon: Saw Sada

Tue: Lunch with Sada. Cleaned webs in church.

Wed: Neegoal pranks us. Followed up with Sunmalean. Contacted at a bike wash, lots of PIs. Met Sophal at English class. 

Thu: Ngite called us back, representatives of God. Contacted Pu Moneen. Taught Sophal. '

Fri: Service - painting at Dine's. Interview with President and Sister Christensen. Taught Ngite with Veechae.

Sat: Taught Pelot. Taugth Rotana and he is accepting all of God's commandments with great faith and progressing towards baptism on the 24th. Taught Pu Moneen. Taught Bora at Ming Samae's house and had FHE with him and Leanda, another new investigator. Got two calls from missionaries with Chinna and Taylee as referrals; called them and they said they'd come to church.

Sun: Chinna and Taylee did come to church! Bora passed his baptismal interview and is all set to be baptized next Sunday. We received a referral from a member and set up an appointment and met her, Sovanna, that day. She attended the baptismal service after church and when we met her she said she was excited for baptism. Taught Sarat, finally! Been trying to meet this guy since we got to Chom Chao (my current area). Taught Sophal again and set a date for baptism, the 15th of July. Met up with Sovann for the first time and had a good discussion about Buddhist and Christian beliefs.  

love y'all! 

- Elder Taylor

Here's what my companion said for some more information: 

Week 9:
A cool little miracle that happened was English class this week. When Elder Taylor and I were preparing for the spiritual lesson, we thought to ourselves for a bit and we each made an individual list by ourselves what we think we should teach. When we started to talk to each other, we both had at the top of our list to teach about Baptism and then the Gift of the Holy Ghost! Very surprising! So we prepared the lesson and taught it after English class. What resulted was one of our investigators coming to us wanting to be baptized. Before, we had problems with getting him to make time to meet us and making time to come to church because he works and he has school. But when he told us he wanted to be baptized, he also said, "I'll make time, I'll meet, I'll come to church." It was amazing!

On P-day I also went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It was a very sad experience but it was a well needed one to find more about the history of Cambodia.

More happened in this week and I wish I could recount it all. It should suffice that the work continues with so many different experiences every day.

Week 10:
The work really progressed this week! Baptisms are lined up and we had a lot of new investigators that randomly came our way. We had a member bring a neighbor to church who wanted to be baptized. 5 people at our English class said they wanted to learn. A man straight telling us he wants to be a Christian. There are so many different ways to find people to teach.

This week we had a service project for a small family. It's always a blessing to help those in need, especially those struggling here.

A funny thing that happened this week was that we had an investigator named Nicole. We met him at our English class and he said he was interested to learn. So later we went to his home and started talking about our church. He started by saying he has never learned about Christianity. Then we started teaching about the Godhead and he began to start asking strange and off-topic questions. Elder Taylor and I knew something was up. SURPRISE! "I'm a pastor." he says. It really was surprising because in a country where almost everyone is Buddhist, I rarely meet Christians, let alone a pastor. He told us that we don't need to follow commandments to be saved, we just need faith. That's not entirely wrong but we tried to help him to understand by asking this question, "If you have Faith in Jesus Christ, what would that lead you to do?" We shared James 2:17-18 and John 10:14.

James:

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

John:
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

After he heard these things, we expected him to continue to argue and not agree. But instead he understood. He understood that if you had faith, you would follow God's commandments. He even accepted to read the Book of Mormon and find out for himself. He told us he is an honest seeker to find out what's right.

In order to apply this experience, I would say that you all who are reading should be applying these scriptures above to yourselves. Exercise Faith. Exercise Works. Here is your blessing:

John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Elder Richards

អ៊ែលឌើរ​​​​ ​​​​រីឆាដ្ស

Letters will be joyously received at: 

Elder Taylor

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission 

House 2B, st. 222 off Norodom

P.O. Box 165

Phnom Penh Cambodia 

71 Toul Sleng, Khmer Rouge Prison 

83 Sada

90 Sky, Saat

92 Cool kids

93 cont.

95 Cleaning spider webs in the church

96 Potential investigator, military doctor guy knows good English

00 The IV on the moto, first time I've been able to get a picture

16 Painting

20 cont

21 cont

23 cont, there was a fire in their house, thus the painting

34 Nida got baptized! 

45 Rothea is just a happy guy

Update 102: Directed by God

Good week this week. 

Bora is still progressing well and we've filled out his paper work for baptism. Now just to have the interview next week and then baptized the week after!

Another of our investigators, Rothna, accepted a baptismal date this week and to meet us more often to help prepare for baptism. 

Found several potential investigators, only one has started learning, but I have high hopes for the others this coming week. Went on exchange with Elder Tuft and had a miracle contact happen in his area. We were biking by a high school to try and hand out English class flyers, but all the students had left for lunch already. Elder Tuft was biking away as four teenage guys were walking towards us. I stopped and talked to them, but Elder Tuft didn't notice and biked on. I gave them all English class flyers and when they saw it was at a Christian church they all said, "Hey, we're Christian too!" and we all gave each other high fives. They had just been coming from the organization, similar to an orphanage, where they live and were going to play soccer. They said they'd all come to English class and church on Sunday. They couldn't remember their phone numbers, but pointed out their place to me just down the street. At that point I just stopped and handed out English class flyers until Elder Tuft came back because I didn't know where we were or where he went. Then the miracle came on Sunday when all 17 kids showed up to church after Elder Tuft taught them on Saturday. They're all ages 14-18 and looking for a church to go to and Christian. I'm excited to see where it goes. That was the coolest thing that happened this week, and I'm excited to see what this week has in store. 

Love y'all!

- Elder Taylor

Letters will be joyously received at: 

Elder Taylor

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission 

House 2B, st. 222 off Norodom

P.O. Box 165

Phnom Penh Cambodia 

18 - Trying to make a make shift fender for Elder Yun's bike

19 - It didn't really work out

29 - Miracle exchange with Elder Tuft, also the last exchange of my mission

32 - Cows eating trash? Yes, yes there are.

35 - Can you say, dusty? 

38 - The difference in my shirts and Elder Yun's shirts

41 - Former Sister Chin and her older brother, along with Vichhay and our investigator Sopheak

43 - This little man is ready to be a missionary! Or a prankster taking my companions bag, haha

Update 101: Spiritual Highs and Physical Lows

This week has been a bit unusual. We had the wonderful visit from Elder Bednar at the beginning and then the last half has been filled with me being sick and two new elders moving in to our house to split our area for these next 4 weeks. 

I was feeling good enough to go teach Bora on Saturday and he is still progressing wonderfully! He is so spiritually receptive and willing to follow all of Christ's teachings and make the necessary changes in his life to do so. Teaching those with true desire to learn of Christ is truly the greatest joy in missionary work, as you see the light of Christ grow brighter and brighter in their lives. 

Elder Bednar met with all the missionaries on Tuesday morning. We had a discussion setting in which he asked us some questions and then let us ask him some questions.

Tuesday evening, he met with all of the members in Phnom Penh and he talked about:

1) Keeping the Sabbath Day holy

2) Paying Tithing

3) Preparing for a Temple

The first two points build on each other to come to the third point. It is through Sabbath day observance and paying tithing that we can come to fully enjoy the blessings of the temple. Elder Bednar said: "The church can build a temple in Cambodia. Building a temple is easy, preparing a people is the trial. Building a temple is easy, preparing a people is the trial."

Are we fully preparing ourselves to utalize the great blessings that are available to us through regular temple attendance? 

Love,

- Elder Taylor

Letters will be joyously received at: 

Elder Taylor

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission 

House 2B, st. 222 off Norodom

P.O. Box 165

Phnom Penh Cambodia 

For those who scrolled to the bottom, pictures:

1169 At the driving range for Elder Killburn's birthday

1183 cont.

1191 On a shopping adventure at the Costco of Thailand in Cambodia - Makros

1194 The mission assembling for a picture with Elder Bednar

1196 Elder Bednar and Elder Evans shaking hands with missionaries

1199 Me with my two sons, Elder Phork and Richards

1214 Lunch with some members after English Class at the church

6709 After Elder Bednar spoke to the members Tuesday night

6718 Me about two minutes before I threw up at church on Sunday. (and it was stake conference) Thankfully I'd stepped out of the chapel.

Update 100: The Big One

100 weeks a missionary, and what an experience it has been. 

Here some pictures to illustrate our week:

1080: Skyping home with the family for the last time last week

1082: Service at the orphanage in my old area - Tuk Thlaa. So fun to see all the kids again!

1087: Two return missionaries in Cambodia and our new investigator. We ran into her at the service project because she was there with a member friend and has gone to church with that friend before, but has never learned with the missionaries and she agreed to meet with us to start learning more about what we believe. She is a great investigator! But, sadly she lives in the other elders area, so we only got to teach her twice.

1093: The crew

1095: Sweaty basketball people

1101: Teaching conjugations and I had to through y'all in at the end for a cultural moment ;) 

1105: This picture has a cool story. So we were going to go help paint a members house, but the service project got canceled. We were already all ready to go though and had a member who was going to take us there in his tuk tuk. So we went and visited a long time less active (5 years) with him who he used to know really well. The wife is a member but the husband never got baptized. We found there house after some searching and had a great visit with the husband. The wife was at work and the daughter at school. Great potential in this family! 

1138: Two more children of God were baptized into his fold this past Sunday. One, Srey Pean, was someone I contacted at English class. It's such a miracle to see how people can change their lives through the atonement of Christ.

1139: My favorite investigator right here, Bora. He is on track to be baptized June 17th. Keep him in your prayers as he seeks to understand about God and His teachings! 

1147: Richards and me with Bora.

6703: Talking with Bishop while he makes food for us at his house

Other news:

I got a call this week from the assistants saying that I'm getting two more elders in my area, so we're figuring out how to split it and move them into our house. Never a dull moment! They'll only be here for a transfer though to help try and boost the area for the new branch and since we have an excess of missionaries for a transfer until my group goes home. 

Sorry it's not all inclusive, but hope that it was informative and interesting. 

Love y'all! 

- Elder Taylor

Letters will be joyously received at: 

Elder Taylor

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission 

House 2B, st. 222 off Norodom

P.O. Box 165

Phnom Penh Cambodia

Also, bonus picture of a cat staring us down.