The Week of 80 Smiles!

Sua sdei! 

This week was good! It was a little slow at first. For some reason, slowly but surely, we have been running out of people to visit. Our days used to be super busy, but now no one is home lately and so we are really struggling to find people to see. The Elders said the same thing was happening to them as well, so I guess it's kind of comforting knowing it's not just our companionship? We ended up doing a lot of English class contacting (standing on the side of the road holding up a sign to advertise our English class. It got a little boring so we decided to make a game out of it and see how many people would smile back at us in the span on one hour. 80!!!)

Two weeks ago in English class, one of the Vietnamese members brought a khmer nonmember with them and referred her to us. She told us she really wanted to learn and so we took her number and gave her a call the next day but she told us she was too busy because she has two kids in school and she is learning how to do nails. The week after that, we ran into her while we were proselyting and asked if we could come see her, she said we could come eat rice with her but that she was only free for one hour because she had to go back to work. We turned around to take a phone call, and then when we turned back around she was gone. Well, this week, the Vietnamese elders have been bugging us about the referral they had for us. We finally found time to meet with the elders and follow them to the referrals work place and turns out it was the Bong Srey from English class! That's three times now that we've run into her. We sat down and talked to her to just get to know her and teach her about prayer. Th spirit was soooo strong and sh said we could come see her at her work place anyday around 4! 

On Wednesday, we had English class again and ended up getting a lot of potential investigators from it -- including a couple! Which means we might start teaching a family(ish)!!! 

On Friday, we met with Srey Niang again and we always have to give ourselves time when we go to see her. She talks for forever. We read a scripture with her, and ended up stumping her with one verse. She read it over and over again and then got really quiet and summarized what it meant to her (which was totally different from what we thought it meant!). She talked about how it made her think about all the wrong things she's done before and how awful she felt for it. But then she started talking about how much her boyfriend has been a help for her and an example to her of strong faith. She said before she was like a tree and he was like a rock that she leaned on whenever the winds blew, but now that he's on his mission, she feels like there's no rock there. We told her about how she is never alone. If anything, we are here for her, but more importantly, Christ is ALWAYS there for her. We told her to rely more on Christ and to let Him help her. By the end of the lesson, we were all crying and it felt good to connect with each other. 

On Saturday, we had surprise service! We helped some members in Comkamon shovel a HUGE MOUND of dirt to make a foundation for their home. It was just us four sisters. The members were so happy and impressed and said we did enough work for 10 men. The next day, they got up and bore their testimony in sacrament meeting about faith and expressed their gratitude for the sisters #YEAH #GIRLPOWER Afterwards, we went out proselyting and were super sore and still are to this day. We met with Thida, one of our investigators and she is doing so WELL!! She has learned all by herself how to read the scriptures and apply it to her own life and she even confessed to us that she wants to become a missionary as well! IM SO HAPPY. It's so hard though, because we only get to meet her once a week. I really wish we could meet her more, but it's also good because she doesn't not feel like she is being rushed or anything! 

This week, Elder Wong from the Seventy will come and share a few things with us and then we have Zone training on Friday and more service on Saturday! It will be a busy week, but hopfully we get to find more people to teach! 

I love this work. I really do. I'm grateful to be serving in Christ's name, teaching and comforting others in place of Him. I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPE YOU GUYS ARE NICE TO THE MISSIONARIES BACK AT HOME. 

Love,

Sister Nguyen 

Picture 1

Srey Kaa was finally baptized! 

Picture 2 there is no picture 2. Sorry. I'm bad at taking pictures. 

The Week of Translated Whispers!

HI. SORRY. NOT MUCH TIME TO EMAIL. I AM WELL AND HEALTHY. 

The work has been good! 

1. KRISPY KREME (the donut business, not the rapper now known as froggy fresh) IS HERE IN PHNOM PENH CAMBODIA

2. We splurged and impulsively bought a dozen 

3. We started meeting with a Less-Active named Srey Niang. Her boyfriend is serving a mission in Vietnam and so she stopped going to church for a little bit there, but has been coming back. She's way cool and I love her so much. She likes to call me Sister Pig because I am so big compared to Khmers

4. On Wednesday, we got switched around a little bit and Sister Xiong and I ended up teaching basic english class by ourselves. More than 45 students!!! And then for spiritual thought, one of the native vietnamese elders got up to share and the class just went wild because he was so quiet and he didn't speak the clearest english ever. it was rough haha

5. WAIT. Last week, we went to visit Thanh and this small frail old lady who lives next to her started throwing sticks and stuff at us through the small hole in her fence. It was way scary. We asked Elder Khanh about it and he said she's probably possessed. Turns out she just hates missionaries. Don't worry. I am 100% sure we are safe though.

6. Srey Kaa the 8 year old we have been teaching ccame to meet bishop for an interveiw on Friday. She was SOOOO nervous. She had us come into the interview with her and wouldn't even look up at bishop or open her mouth. She would whisper stuff into my ear and then I would have to say it aloud. By the end of the interview, she was smiling and laughing, but still not speaking. 

7. All of our other investigators are doing way good and I am so grateful to be serving in this ward!!!! 

8. Can you believe I have already been out for 8 months?? That was way fast. I hope it slows down!!!

9. I LOVE YOU ALL. I PRAY FOR YOUR HEALTH AND HAPPINESS. 

OK BYE BYE

LOVE,

SISTER NGUYEN

Picture 1 They have mango flavored donuts lolol

 Picture 2 look at how Thanh's dog sleeps hahaha

The Week Soem and I Broke Hearts‏

Sua sdie! 

Last night we got transfer calls and I am staying in Toul Tom Pong and Sister Soem is leaving to Stung Mean Chey. I am so sad to be separating from her. She is literally the best, 10 out of 10, two thumbs up, would recommend to a friend. She has helped me learn and grow so much these past two transfers. Lucky for me, we will still be in the same zone so I can see her at zone training :) I am not too bummed about staying, I kind of had a feeling I would be here for a while longer. Sister Xiong is my new companion. I do not know much about her so will update you next week. 

The youth in our ward were pretty upset that one of us is transferring. They even cried and have been very sentimental with us hahaha 

As for the work, it is still the same. We have three progressing investigators right now who are all on track to receive baptism in June or early July. Thida, Sophaly, and Thanh. They all come to church each week and are keeping the commitments we give them. The only problem is that they don't quite read the BOM as often as they should be. We are still trying to figure out what to do about that. 

This week, Sister Soem and I were waiting outside of the church for our investigator to show up for an appointment. A random moto pulled into the church and three American looking girls got off and came up to us to ask about the free piano class we teach. I was expecting them to speak English BUT THEY SPOKE FLUENT KHMER. Would you imagine that? A bunch of Americans speaking fluent Khmer! Turns out they are actually half Russian, half Khmer. But they don't look one bit Khmer. They showed up just half an hour early for piano class so we invited them to sit and wait for the other missionaries to show up to start teaching piano. But instead, they  ended up sitting in on our lesson with our investigator, Sophaly. As we taught them all, the spirit was I N C R E D I B L E. Afterwards, we asked the oldest, Bong Srey if she wanted to learn more. She said she didn't want to bother us but we told her we were full-time missionaries and all we do is teach! Se was so happy and said she would love to learn about Jesus Christ. We were soooo excited but ends up she is in Comkarmon area, right on the border so she is going to be taught by the CKM sisters. 

We didn't get to do much proselyting this week because the electrician came twice this week and stayed for five hours each day. It was frustrating because he told us he would come at 7:30 AM but didn't come until 10.

There was a HUGE Young Single Adult conference this past weekend for the all of the YSA in Cambodia. More than 500 people showed up. Some of them were definitely not old enough and most of them were definitely not "young". But it was way cool to see so many members gathered together to meet. The President of BYU-H came to talk to them about studying at BYU-H and the Us Ambassador of Cambodia even came to talk about getting visas. It was awesome to see them promoting the importance of getting a good education. 

On Sunday, the elder's investigator, Vireak was baptized! His parents were very against him getting baptized and even threatened to kick him out of the house. His father even beats him sometimes as well. We told him he didn't have to rush into this decision. He prayed and thought he would put off baptism for a little while until he could find a steady job and place to live. He decided one Sunday to go to a different ward. Stung Mean Chey,  just to get away from everything for a little bit. When he went, one of the Recent Converts of that ward got up and shared his testimony of the importance of baptism. And then afterwards, the SMC elders had a baptism. Vireak took this as an answer from Heavenly Father and came back the next day and told us he wanted to be baptized! I am still a little nervous for him. But we are definitely praying that he will be safe and be comforted and that his parents' hearts will be softened. 

Not much else happened this week! Sister Sok is sick and we are very worried that it might be something neurological so if you guys could please pray for her, that would be awesome! 

Ok! Have a fantastic week! I love you all so much and am so happy to be here in Cambodia doing the Lord's work and serving His children. 

Love,

Sister Nguyen

P.S, ITS SO HOT OVER HERE

P.P.S IT'S STARTING TO RAIN/FLOOD. PLS PRAY FOR ME. 

Picture 1 We went to eat Korean food after district meeting. And now we have been craving kim chi ever since

 Picture 2 Vireak's baptism! Here are a portion of the youth in our ward

 Picture 3 Soem and I with our favorite grandmother

 Picture 4 Sophia was choking me 

The Week I Became The Strongest Woman In Cambodia!

Hi friends and family!
I have very little time to email this week because we went to the zoo which is two hours away and just got back. For anyone coming to Cambodia anytime soon, it's not worth it. It's five dollars for foreigners and 2000 riel for Khmers. I have finally tanned enough to pass as half Khmer!! There were very many monkeys and they stole Sister Soem's lunch straight from our tuk tuk. 

Not much time, will bullet point this week

1 Sophia got baptized!!! SHES SO CUTE

2 We got three new investigators who all came to church on Sunday!

3 One of the investigators is named Thanh her family is Vietnamese and go to the Vietnamese branch but she doesn't speak a lick of Viet so she is learning with us

4 I caught a falling baby that was about to hit his head on the floorboard 

5 We got to do physical service twice this week. We had to lift a lot of heavy things. I actually felt useful. Thank you mom for birthing me with natural muscles because i have definitely never worked out in my life 

6 Some of the members are very upset at Sister Soem and I and it was a damper on our week. Very long story and very irritating. Trying our best to love the people, nonetheless!!! 

7 We saw a white man dressed as a monk this week who said, "oh! how are the sisters doing??"

8 We finally got Sister Soem to shave her legs for the first time in her life. She let me shave her entire leg for her. hahah she never even lets me hug her 

9 Learned missionary work is definitely NOT easy. Members depend on us for a lot of things and we are trying our best to try to get them to take up some of the responsibility too.

10 I LOVE YOU ALL 

11 CHURCH IS TRUE 

LOVE,

Sister Nguyen 

The Sun Got Hotter and The People Got Colder‏!

No one was home this week because everyone went back to Srok to celebrate Khmer new year with their families. It was super quite in the city. I couldn't believe it! And there were no cars on the once hectic roads. So for four days, we were sure to keep ourselves busy. On Tuesday, we spent the entire day doing a mission-wide apartment cleaning and then afterwards. On Wednesday, we had weekly planning in the morning and then went to English class in the evening. If anyone is interested, our beginners class of about 40 students had a whooping 5 students come. On Thursday, we went to lunch with all the missionaries in the city and President and Sister Christensen. The place was incredibly nice. On Friday, we had Zone Conference, South and East combined and it was very spiritually enlightening. President talked about how the two most important things we must teach are about the BOM and about the Holy Temple. I'm so grateful for both and know they are tremendous blessings in the lives of saints. Sister Soem and I are still trying to find new investigators but no one has showed interest in learning. Hopefully, when everyone comes back this week we will be able to have a more interesting and exciting week! WAIT I FOUND OUT WE GET TO STAY TWO EXTRA WEEKS!!!! WHAT A BLESSING. Anyway, I love this work! I am grateful for the Atonement of Christ and that we never have to go through anything alone because of Him. I love you all too!! 

Picture 1 The Day Sister Soem and I shared a bike. It was very very hot. 

 Picture 2 This is Sister Sok. She has been a real blessing to me these past two transfers. She is serving in Comkarmon but we are in the same house. 

 Picture 3 Khmer sunset #skypic #basic 

The week of Conference!

Good Morning!!! 

No one was really home this week. And so it begins. Khmer New Year. We spent a lot of our time calling to and biking to the homes of investigators, less-actives, recent converts,and even members. Unfortunately, most everyone has made their way back to their hometowns for New Year. And so Phnom Penh is a lot more quiet. Less traffic which is good ;)

On Wednesday, in the morning, we took one of our members to the mission home so she could talk to President about some of the problems she was having. She was a little nervous at first. President said he would talk to her one on on, because she knew a fair amount of English, and if he needed help, he would call us in.So we waited outside the door for a little while. On the bright side, it was transfer day, so I got to see Sister Brown and some of the Elders from my group! They all sound like they're doing super well. I was way pumped to see them.

On Thursday and Friday, Sister Sok got her teeth pulled and requested for me to stay inside with her while her companion and my companion went out to proselyte. Sister Sok is sick a lot,so Sister Clark doesn't get to proselyte as much. So Sister Sok just wanted to give her companion that opportunity. We got the OK from Zone leaders so I just stayed inside and did paperwork and studied for a long time. On Friday,we also had zone training and learned a lot about going out and contacting and looking for as many people to teach as possible. 

And then on Saturday, Sister Soem and I were getting ready in the morning to go watch General Conference with our ward. We thought we were all going to watch it in Khmer together. But when we got there, we saw all the missionaries from South and East zone. Turns out we were watching it in English together and then the natives and members were watching it in Khmer! What a blessing. Other than that,not much happened this week. And this week will be even more quiet. Will update you all.

Conference was awesome and I definitely felt love from the Prophet and Apostles. I lvoe you all and hope you have a fun and safe week! 

Love,

Sister Nguyen 

The Week Maninoot Got Dunked!

Guys. I'm really sorry I didn't get to write last week. But this week was really good so I'll try to make up for it! 

But first! Transfer calls came last night! And I am staying in Toul Tom Pong with Sister Soem for one more transfer!! :) I'm super pumped and I know this transfer will be really good.

It is now April and Cambodia is getting blazing hot. They call this their hot month and when everyone tells me that they have this look of fear on their face. We leave the house at 9 AM sometimes and it's already really hot. We are always soaked from biking in the heat. In a few months, we will be soaked from the rainy season. I have accepted that I will never be dry ever again for the next year. By the way! I hit my six month mark! It wasn't as significant as it sounds and didn't really feel any different. Plus counting down makes me really nervous because I can't imagine not being Sister Nguyen.

On Tuesday, we went to visit Bong Mao. She is the wife of the Elders Quorum President. She's less-active so she only comes twice a month. Anyway, we went to her house and she was home with all of her kids. Salina the second to oldest always hides her face from us. She's only like 5 years old. She's so shy and last time we went, she laid face down for the entire hour that we were there. We could tell she was really hot and quite frankly were scared she was going to suffocate but she still wouldn't come up. Good news! This time she tried to do it again but we went over and talked to her a little and now when she sees us, she doesn't hide her face anymore! So, Bong Mao's oldest was sick and she wanted the Elders to come over and bless him. It was weird because her husband is a worthy priesthood holder too, but that's not my business. She started talking about how her son goes to bed at 9 every night and every night at the same time, we come running to her freakishly afraid of something that he saw. It's been happening for a while and then we got started on the topic of ghosts. This is NOT a good idea because Khmers will talk about it for hours and it really does take away from the Spirit. We told her she could pray and ask Heavenly Father to protect her house and her family and only invite good spirits in. The next time we saw her, on Saturday, she said since we came to visit her, her son hadn't seen anything crazy anymore! 

On Wednesday, we went to see Yiay Rut, who is one of my favorite people ever. She's this super old grandma who lives alone. Her family all died in the Khmer Rouge and when she tells stories about it, it's incredibly heartbreaking. She has so much faith and hope, even after something as terrible as that happened to her. What an example she is. So,we visited her and she started telling us about how her eyes are beginning to not work anymore. Everything is super blurry unless it's up close and tears are always falling out of her eyes. We told her the Elders could come and give her a blessing in about 15 minutes and as soon as she heard that, the biggest two tooth smile came upon her face. She was so happy! It was a really tender moment.She is seriously the sweetest person ever. 

On Thursday and Friday, we went on an exchange to Stung Men Chey with Sister Sheffield and Sister Gallahad. We planned to meet at 2:30 at the Olympic Stadium, a place none of us had been to. We ended up riding around in circles and then Sister Soem got super dehydrated and had to rest for a second. We ended up not meeting until 4. Hahaha it was the worst. But I got to go proselyte with Sister Sheffield for two hours on Thursday and then 1 hour of service and 2 hours of proselyte with Sister Gallahad (a new missionary) for two hours. It was super nice! The members in that area are super kind. Also, Trash Mountain is part of their area! Google it if you can. It's disgusting. Sister Leng calls it Trash World. People actually live right next to it and stuff. 

On Saturday, we had a "ward fire side" and only a few people showed up. It was still a really good fireside and we talked a lot about loving the people around us. They even showed the video "Lift" from lds.org about the lady who has multiple sclerosis and how the people in her neighborhood come every night to help her get into bed. It was really moving and our RC Bong Sovann (the one in the wheelchair) cried when she watched. The ward has started a schedule for people to take her to and from church so we don't have to walk her every week now. A real act of charity. In other news, Maninoot was baptized! She's still way good an even invited her brothers to come and they are interested in learning! 

I wish I could write more., but I running out of time now. I love you all and thank you for your support.I know God lives and loves us! Until next week!!! byeee

Love,

Sister Nguyen 

 Picture 1 Maninoot got baptized!!!!!!!

Picture 2 Our investigator Sophia made food for us