Sour Sdei!
Sorry, I''m way bad at emailing. This is what's been up lately.
Toul Tom Pong is kind of plateauing right now. We haven't been able to find new investigators that really want to learn about the gospel. And those we do find end up being in a different area, so we have to hand them over to the other sisters. The other day, we came out of a lesson at the church and walked to the front and there was a random lady standing there with her male friend. She asked our investigator, Sophaly, about English class but wouldn't look at me when I tried to answer. And then she tried to quietly ask Sophaly what nationality I was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I answered and told her I was from America, but I was Vietnamese. And then I think it finally clicked in her head that I spoke Khmer. We ended up talking for a little and turns out she's way cool. After talking she said this to me in her cute broken English, "I think you are now my best friend. I always come here to ask questions about English class and then leave after I ask, but this time, I stay and talk to you. I feel so good when I talk to you. You make me so happy. You can come to my house and I will make you food, Chinese or Khmer!" I asked her if she wanted to learn about Jesus Christ and she said, "Yes. You can come to my house and teach me." Big bummer, she is in Comkarmon, but the desire is still there so we gave her to the CKM sisters. Even though it was a bummer, I was so comforted in hearing what she said. We really do make a difference as missionaries, even though sometimes we don't see the immediate effects.
Our mission is doing a HUGE focus on Family History and Temple Work and so we've been going around and teaching that to basically everyone including our super active members. It's been way good and we've gotten a lot of training on it. There's this little book we invite everyone to fill out. It's called, "My family Book" and there is a section for "Me" and Mom and Dad and Grandparents and stuff like that. It's way fast and so fun. I love families, so I'm so happy we're really emphasizing the importance of it. What's way cool is that most Khmers understand the importance of families already! One of my companions told me, "Sister, have you ever wondered why Khmers always say their last name first on everything?? It's because we always think about our families first. In America, you say your first name first, because you think about yourself" (YIKES) but there's that. Also, our mission just got a senior couple who specializes in Family History and Genealogy so the work is really about to pick up!!
On Thursday, Sister Soem came back to TTP for an exchange and we were back at it. It was so much fun beign with her and teaching with her again! She's soo good and I could rave about her forever. Plus, the members were so happy to see her again and it was way weird because they were talking to me so much because they were so happy we were back together. But once she left, they were back to normal...hahaha
On Saturday, Thanh got baptized into the Vietnamese 6th Branch! We showed up at 11 and THANH WAS STILL NOT THERE. So I stated pacing and getting really nervous, but then she finally showed up! We ended up having to ask a member to translate for me, Sister Xiong, and Thanh. Thanh had to get up and bear her testimony but couldn't do it in Vietnamese so she read off of a paper she wrote in Khmer. She was so nervous haha,but now she's determined to learn Vietnamese so she can actually understand what's going on in church. And then after the baptism, as their "light snack", the branch provided us with bun cha gio thit nuong. It was like a full on meal and it was AWESOME. It's funny because when we were preparing for the baptism, I asked the Viet Elders if there was anything we could do or bring to help and in his broken English Elder K said, ""it's ok. my branch will take care of it. after the baptism we will feast". And we really did end up feasting!
After that, we had mutual with the YW and they demanded that I show them how to make cake. Joke's on them, because I had no idea how to make cake and actually just got the recipe off of the internet. It ended up being a big mess because 1. Mixing bowls are not a thing in Cambodia so we mixed everything in small bowls or the cookingpans 2. Ovens in Cambodia are awful. It ended up taking a lot longer than expected and creating a huge mess. The Young Women then decided that I really didn't know how to make cake. It tasted pretty good though. Also, we had to use duck eggs because we couldn't find any chicken eggs hahahah
Well, that's everything exciting that has happened this week. This next week is transfer calls and I'm a little nervous/anxious to see if I will be staying in TTP because I have been here for three transfers already! Plus, this transfer that is coming up is going to be an 8 week transfer! OOOHH AHHHH ok.
I love you all. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Happy Sunday. I hope you have a splendid week and are all enjoying Summer!!!!
Love,
Sister Nguyen
Picture 2 The whole gang
Picture 3 Oops
Picture 4 The most appetizing cake you will ever see in Cambodia....
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