The Week of Butterflies 8/28/16

Hello!
Let me start out telling a small story. I ran into two elders from my group this week and we talked about things to do to get rid of stress (because being a missionary can be hard). Anyway, one of the elders was talking about working out and then another said, " I write in my journal every night and when I'm biking, every time I see a butterfly I think of three things I'm grateful for" and I was all like "what the heck? I've never seen any butterflies in Cambodia" and then they said "???? they're literally everywhere. you're just not looking for them" and I went home and pondered for the rest of the night of what Heavenly Father wanted me to learn. And I had to ask myself if I was really putting in an effort to look for things to be grateful for or was I just focusing on all the things going wrong? The next day, we walked into our church building an there was a butterfly just sitting on the wall as if it were waiting for me to notice it. And then I realized, I am very grateful for the hardships we have on our missions and in life. If it was easy the whole time, how the heck would we grow and truly "put off the natural man and becometh a saint"? 

Anyway, this week was awesome! 

Our investigator, Phi Ngan, is progressing so hard and it's crazy! She's asked us to meet her three times a week and is reading all of the reading assignments we give her. She is always trying to share the gospel and truly understands what we teach her. WHAT A BLESSING. 

We also picked up a new investigator named Chi Loan. Her husband is a former investigator of the elders and just started learning again. It's really hard to teach Chi Loan because her understanding is sooooo basic. We taught her five different times how to pray and she still doesn't remember. BUT while we teach her, she spits out a million questions which really makes us think she very much wants to understand this gospel. 

This week, we went to go see Ba Xum who is a 90 + year old who lives with her daughter. She was just sitting in front of her home waiting for us and quickly welcomed us in. She told us she had been waiting for us all week. She told us how sick she was and that her limbs were frail and numb. She said,"every night, I shower all clean. I eat until I'm all full and I lay down to sleep hoping I'll be dead by the morning" ...... After the lesson, she pulled me back and showered me with Asian grandma sniff kisses and said "I love you so much" and sent us on our way. Chi Trinh and I went home that night way worried she was going to die. We called the elders the next morning and begged them to go over and give her a blessing. They went. SHE'S STILL ALIVE. WE ARE SO HAPPY. At church, she pulled us aside and said "Thank you so much for sending the elders over. I feel a lot better" 

Mostly all of the active members in our branch are preparing to go to the temple in Phillipines at the end of November and we are so happy for them! We've been doing all we can to pray for them and try to help them prepare. 

MY MTC COMPANION SISTER LUKE IS NOW IN CAMBODIA AND SHE BROUGHT ME FOUR BOXES OF GRANOLA BARS AND WE ARE ALL SO PROUD OF HER AND SO HAPPY SHE IS BACK. i get to see her today and I CAN'T WAIT! 

Chi Trinh and I were sitting in ward council yesterday and both had the same feeling. We love the people here so much. They have become a family to us and they have grown so much and we are genuinely happy for them. Neither of us wants to leave this branch at all. I love the people here! 

I'm so happy to be doing this work! 

Love,

Chi Ca Nguyen 

Picture 1 Our investigator fixing my bike

Picture 2 Em Thao goes with us every Saturday and Sunday morning to proselyte. This was shortly after a dog peed on us. hahah 

The Week of Sprinkled Miracles 8/21/16

HI! 

SO we were lead to a handful of Potential Investigators this week and have been teaching them and it's awesome! Only one has come to church so far but we remain hopeful and very grateful because THERE'S ACTUALLY WORK TO DO NOW. YAYAY!

I can't remember that much else from this week because it's going super fast. 

Have fun going back to school!!!

Love,

Sister Nguyen 

Pictures 1 and 2 language study in three languages

That's all I have because my camera is still broken oops hehe 

The Week of the Soggy Bom 8/14/16

Hi friends and family! 

This week, it rained like crazy and I forgot to plastic bag everything so everything in my bag got SOAKED including my camera (so no more pictures for a while) and my scriptures. I've tried to let my books dry in the sun and several fans but nothing has worked and its still way soaked haha It's tricky when we are in lessons and I try to open up to a specific scripture but can't because the pages are stuck. But apparently, all of the members have water damaged scriptures too and I can't believe I'm talking about this as if its supposed to be entertaining 

Chi Trinh and I have just picked up a new investigator!!! Her name is Phi Ngan and she is the girlfriend of the branch president's less active son! She has learned a little bit with the missionaries before but never with sisters. We committed her to be baptized and she said yes

because she wants to become a daughter of God! She remembers a lot and it has honestly been such a tender mercy! She even came to church yesterday :) The only problem is that she is living with her boyfriend and probably breaking the Law of Chastity. BUT WE'RE WORKING ON IT. 

We found one of our less-actives! Well, actually, she found us! Her name is Co Anh and she just got of out prison! yayyyyyy She called us up and asked to meet us at one of the members house. We sat on the floor and she just bawled and told us how much she wants to repent and that she will never leave God again. It was really sad hearing her story and we are going to try to meet with her more often to help her out. Oh! Don't worry she wasn't in jail for anything super bad. 

Yesterday, we went to go visit one of my favorite families! Co Nga and Chu Salin live in Toul Kork and are a little ways away from our house but we bike there every Sunday and they feed us a million mangoes from their mango tree plus they're hilarious. Co gave us the mangoes and said "be careful, if you eat too much, you're going to diarrhea." and then she squated and shot finger guns from her bottom 

We sat down with them and asked Co if she was reading the BOM and Chu jumped in and said "YES! Co is awesome! She reads it till 3 in the morning!" I thought wow! That is awesome! and then Chu got up and said "It's because she's on the toilet until 3 in the morning" and ran out of the room laughing hahahaha Co sheepishly laughed and said "yeah. its because my stomach doesn't like mangoes" 

This week, we got Sisters in our house and I realized how much I missed the company of other people. It has been way fun, plus it's Sister Haddock! So we just sit and reminisce on how easy the MTC was and how naive we were. 

WELL. That's pretty much the week haha. The days are going by super fast and I can't recall where this all started and can't believe we have been out for so long already. 

I love you all and hope you have fun getting ready for school to start again >:) Have a blast this week!

Love,

Sister Nguyen 

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I can't even tell you what happened this week 8/7/16

HELLO! CONGRATULATIONS, HANG!!! I AM A NEWLY DECLARED GREAT AUNT!!!

And baby Zara has just enough time to reach the cute stage of babyism by the time I get back. 

This week was so good!

We found a super
lost less-active that is about an hour away by bike super away from society! After we visited her, she told us she didn't even really live there hahaha the worst

We found out last night that we are getting Khmer sisters in our house! WE ARE SO EXCITED TO HAVE FRIENDS. 

I don't really remember a lot from this week, but here are some mediocre pictures.

BYEEE 

Love,

Sister Nguyen 

Picture 1 Service: Peeling a million bananas

Picture 2 Sister Larsen is dying this week and I am so sad 

The Week We Became The Wedding Singers 7/31/16

Good week! 

We had Sister Cheney with us for a while and it was a blast! Hahah. We had to fit the three of us on two mattresses and those were some of the most uncomfortable nights ever haha I don't even remember sleeping. 

Sister Cheney is a champ and is literally so good at the language already, it's incredible. We are all so impressed and grateful for her addition to the program. It was so fun  to be with someone who is so new to Cambodia. You kind of realize some of the things you do aren't actually normal or acceptable. I think Chi Trinh and I have been out for so long we just kind of forget haha 

On Tuesday, we called up one of our Potential Investigators and she told us we could come to her house. Well, 3 hours later, and tens of thousands of phone calls to her. We never found her house and are pretty sure she sent us on a wild goose chase just to mess with us. She kept changing the location of her house and we were so naive and so hopeful. That was a very rough day for us. 

Wednesday, we had our last English class and will be heading over to the North Stake Center this week. We had soo few students that Sister Christensen said it wasn't worth it. 

On Saturday, all of the Viet missionaries were asked to sing at Anh Lim and Chi Dung's wedding. They're both returned missionaries and were sealed in the temple and it was just so touching to see their example. The District President married them and when he announced them man and wife he said "you can kiss her now or you can continue to kiss her when you go home later" hahaha it made everyone feel really awkward. 

Yesterday, for the second time ever on my mission, we had an actual branch council and it was awesome to see ALL of the leaders there. There is a real difference in the Khmer and Vietnamese branches. There are so few Vietnamese members here, they really focus on sticking together and keeping the members active! 

Oh! Also we met with that woman with the fourteen kids and actually got to teach her and her husband. Half of the lesson was in Khmer and half in Vietnamese. It was sick. They have agreed to meet with us again tomorrow! We're so excited and really pray we will get to start teaching their family even if it will be in half Khmer and half Vietnamese. 

That's pretty much anything exciting that happened! I love you all and am grateful for your support!! 

Love,

Chi Ca Nguyen/ Sister Wing 

Picture 1 Toilets in odd places 

Picture 2 One of the Stake Counselors backyard is a river that leads to Thailand 

Picture 3 We just shut down the English class here in TSK :( Only six-seven students each week. 

Picture 4 My favorite students that are technically not supposed to be in this class 

Picture 5 SERVICE. Peeling something? 

Picture 6 A cool wall at our member's house. 10 points if you can find my name. 

Picture 7 Sister Cheney/ Chi Tuyet and I found out we have the same blanket haha go target

Picture 8 Beautiful bride and Handsome Groom