Hello, readers of my updates; sorry it has been so long since I sent one of these! Time seems to escape me here on the other side of the world.
First off: Merry Christmas! I can hardly believe it's that time of year again. It did manage to get into the 60s here a few times this week and by the way all the locals were dressed you would have expected a blizzard to come through at any moment. They'd look at you in your short sleeves and be in disbelief of the fact that you weren't freezing. I will admit though, I did get much colder than I would have before the mission.
As far as investigators go, Vivian, Deepak, and Bernadette are still doing great. We also picked up a new investigator Ryan and his less active wife.
Vivian and Deepak are very steadily progressing. We've finished teaching all of the commandments and they've committed to follow them. They have a baptismal date for the 6th of January. Vivian was able to attend the baptism of one of the member's daughter, Merin, and she is very excited for her baptism.
Story about Vivian: We headed down to the CKM church building for a series of events. We were going to get there at 10, help clean the church with our branch for half an hour, teach Deepak at 10:30 and then teach Vivian at 11. It didn’t work out this way. Deepak couldn’t meet. Got to the church and helped sweep, carry tables, set up tables, and set up chairs. (for the branch Christmas party) Mckelluh was also there and she said she could help us teach Vivian after we were done cleaning. (Her and Vivian were working on cleaning the girls bathroom and wiping down glass doors. Vivian showed up to do church cleaning in her normal getup of high heels and a fancy short sleeved dress and a felt pink jacket) Cleaning took until about 11:45, longer than expected. We had planned to teach Vivian some commandment, either the 10 commandments or the Word of Wisdom based on time constraints. What ended up happening was Mckelluh and her talked for an hour in Mandarin and talked about Vivian’s life, finding the church, and a review of the restoration. It was really good for her, but we didn’t really understand any of it. I caught a couple phrases every now and again; makes me wish I remembered more of the Mandarin I learned before. Vivian is so good though. She was telling us (Mckelluh translated) how people have told her not to go to the Mormon church and people try to get her to go to other churches. She said she came here first though and now she’s not going to leave. We also gave her a paperback copy of the BOM in Mandarin simplified that we just got and she was very happy. She had us sign in the front of the book so that she could always remember her elders.
Story about Deepak: We went to the church at 11 to meet Deepak. Waiting there for him and I get a call from an unknown number. I think they’re speaking Khmer and then they hang up. Then they call again and ask if I speak English. I said yes, thinking this was a weird Khmer person. Then I realized it was Deepak. He told us that he was at the hospital and that he was sorry that he couldn’t make it, but that he wanted to meet later in the afternoon at 2:30. Went back to the house. Had lunch. Some brief office work. Went back to teach Deepak and he did indeed show up. Had a sniffly nose of sorts and said he didn’t sleep at all the night before, but he still wanted to come and meet with us! We had a good review/emphasis lesson about priesthood, prophets, apostles, obedience, prayer, scripture study, baptism and confirmation, and obeying the law of the land. Still on track for baptism the 6th of Jan!
Bernadette is still working at a slow, steady pace. Reading the scriptures, coming to church, and praying to know the truth.
Ryan: We hurried back to the church to teach our potential investigator Ryan and his less-active member wife, Anet. (7pm at night) They were very open and honest about their situation. Both formerly married and separated from their spouses they are now living together here in Cambodia. Anet’s family is active back in the Philippines and she has a son there who aspires to be an elder one day and serve a mission. She refers to herself as the black sheep of the family, but I feel that she still believes in the church and would come back fairly easily. Ryan is Roman Catholic and very open to learn about what we believe and see what the church is all about. Had a great first lesson with HTBT (how to begin teaching = get to know you/set expectations), God is our loving heavenly father, families, and prayer. They said they will come to church on Sunday again and start praying regularly again. I think they are going to be great investigators. Now we have a member wife and inv husband, and a member boyfriend and inv girlfriend, all from the Philippines.
The work is busy; the work is great. Hope y'all are staying warm!
*Enjoy some pictures below*
- 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
Cambodia's Independence Monument. Just down the street from the mission home
Money! (That's his name) He is the son of Pu Dee from PreyChhor.
Ran into him at the service center. Almost a year since I last saw him. Miss those members.
My make shift camera *tripod*
This is Ivan, our old investigator that stopped learning with us,
but is still friends with some members and came to our Christmas party.
Osada, the eternal investigator. He's stopped learning with us
but still comes to church and our gospel principles class every week
Another throw back to training. Elder Lasswell and I with Pharemy (aka Sister Neat)
She was in KC when we both started our mission waiting for her visa,
left for her mission in Oregon, and is now back. Before her English was ok,
now she sounds great; amazing to see the pre-mission and post-mission.
Christmas in the apartment
Left over decorations from a Khmer Christmas party
Picking up packages in the van because there were too many to fit on Virak's moto
Picking up packages in the van because there were too many to fit on Virak's moto
Lunch with elders at Aeon mall
The stairs up to the apartment of the sisters' investigator in my district that I interviewed for baptism a while back
