Elder Taylor in Cambodia: June 2016

"First day in the MTC I ran into several people I know, mainly from BYU. My roommates have made it a habit to count how many people I see that I know each day; they find it amusing since they don't know as many people here. I'm rooming with my companion, Elder Millet, and Elders Tan and Otto. Elder Otto was made the district leader after a couple days here. Fun thing about each of them. Elder Millet is from Orem and loves to eat his apples in a way I've never seen before. He takes the apple and hits it with the teeth on his upper jaw, a quick stab. It makes it easier to get a first bite off. It's actually kind of fun. Elder Otto also went to a year of college, in Arizona, before serving; Millet and Tan are fresh out of high school. Elder Tan is from a military family and thus has lived all kinds of places. Although his parents are from Cambodia, but he doesn't know any Khmae and is in the same boat as the rest of us.

The district^

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Companion Elder Millet^

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Zone visit to the temple grounds^

First week here the cafeteria was in use for mission president training so we had to eat in the cafeteria. Other missionaries who have been around awhile complained about the change but I didn't know any different until yesterday. The actual cafeteria is pretty nice, but I haven't seen much difference yet.

One cool experience I had was in one of our first meetings they asked us to share thoughts on some matter and one Japanese elder got up and spoke in Japanese (he was learning English) and it just struck me how global this effort is. I'm sure it'll hit me even more when I get to Cambodia.

Learning the language is by far the hardest part of being here. Khnom srolein deikuu roboh khnom. I love my companion though. He helps me learn as we study and work together to prepare lessons. We've already taught three lessons in Khmae! Not 100% sure how much made sense but I know that we've improved every time and that's all I can ask for. Our investigator is named Sophol (so-paul) and she is wonderful and understanding of our poor Khmae skills. From day one minute one our teacher, Lookruu Garlick has spoken only Khmae except when he says something in English for us to translate. My classroom is so packed. We have some of the largest districts and mine has 12. 10 elders and 2 sisters.

Our zone, or branch, here is the largest one in the world. In sacrament meeting they had all the new missionaries stand up and we make up a huge majority of the branch. Not too long ago the other Cambodian missionaries left. They have us come through in waves and the next batch will get here after I leave, in September. That's one blessing that I've had, looking back. I originally set my availability date as June 1, but switched it to June 15. If I hadn't switched it I would have been assigned to the MTC sometime in September and not been able to make it back early enough for marching band after my mission. The MTC reminds me of the parable of a gardener where the Lord trims you back so you can grow into the person you know he can be. The MTC is definitely a place of pruning. I know the Lord is looking out for me and will enable me to do his work as I humble myself and serve his children.

Amidst all the hard work exercise time is a saving grace. My companion especially needs the time to get out and do something besides study. I've played spike ball, tossed a frisbee (because they don't allow ultimate, sad day), run around, and some lightning. I've heard four square is the game here so I'll have to try that soon.

On Sunday we went to eat lunch in the Morris Center and it was so weird to walk down by my dorm from last year and be back on campus. In the evening we went to choir practice which was a lot of fun. We're singing a song written for Brother Groberg, from "The Other Side of Heaven" by prison inmates he went to visit. Fun fact, the song is only sung in prison and the MTC; which is a shame because it is a wonderful song, Hurrah for Israel or some such title. We had 916 missionaries in our choir and most will be here for quite some time. We have our second practice tonight. At the end of the last practice I was standing waiting for people to move and I heard a sister say, "I want 12." So naturally I responded, "I want 12 waffles; I want 12 of them." It was a good time. (For those who are lost look up Julian Smith Waffle on youtube, should get you the right video)

Another odd thing, you know how shirt collars normally turn brown when you wear them? Mine have been turning blue and I can't figure out why. We decided it must be because I'm a BYU cougar and I just sweat and bleed blue.

We got to use the language program, TALL, for the first time last night and I love it. It will be my best friend for memorizing vocab and hopefully I can get through a lot with it. I was able to memorize 40 words in an hour last night with it. Hopefully I still remember them today, but with review they will stick.

Sorry, or rather som to (sum/some-toe), for the scrambled thoughts. I've been keeping a list of anything I could write about through each day so I just jump from interesting point to interesting point.
Love you all!
- Elder Taylor