It's the Final Countdown (da na na na)

Cumriabsua!!!

 

Man oh man. Can you believe I have less than 2 weeks left at the MTC?! That's cray. Though I'm definitely ready to get out of here. It's not that I don't like the MTC - I've learned so many great things and have made so many awesome friends - but I can't wait to go to Cambodia to actually do the things I came here to do! It's time for me to actually fulfill my purpose as a missionary: "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people..." (3 Nephi 5:13)

Remember Elder Lao? He was in my district but ended up getting fast-tracked to Cambodia because he was already proficient in Khmer. Anyway, he's been in Cambodia for a couple weeks now and he's emailed our district here in the MTC telling us to appreciate toilet paper and showers. Definitely showers. So I'm.......excited? No, yeah I'm excited. But crazy nervous. CAMBODIA!!!!! What even is that?!?! I'm going to Cambodia!!

Okay cool experiences from this week: Do you guys remember me telling you about TRC and how I got to teach that Cambodian woman? Well, a reminder: her name is Om Meak (that means "Aunt Meak") and she's 60 years old. I got to teach her again again on Saturday with my comps and we basically just asked her to tell us about her life. So she goes off for a while about her life story and SHE IS INCREDIBLE. She lived through the Khmer Rouge when she was married with 3 children in Cambodia. She told us how on October 10, 1975 she watched the Khmer Rouge soldiers cut open her husband's stomach and put glass in it. They didn't even kill him, they just tortured him like that. And then the same exact day the following year, they came back and took her husband from her and she never saw him again. She told us that every single night, she would pray (at this point she had never even heard of our church) and say, "Heavenly Father, help me. Give me strength to get through this and somehow make it to America. Help me find that freedom." She prayed every night and kept her faith despite all of her struggles. I couldn't believe it. What a lessong for us when we complain about our own minor trials. Well, obviously she and her kids made it to America, she was baptized in Boston, and now she lives in Utah, as do all of her children. And she's just the sweetest little woman in the world. I told her (in very broken Khmer) that her faith is so strong and that I can see the light in her eyes and that I know that Heavenly Father loves her so so much. I am going to hear so many stories like Om Meak's when I'm in Cambodia. Our teachers tell us all the time about the generation that had to live through the Khmer Rouge. Most of them can't read because the government basically suspended reading and the language. A lot of them are raging alcoholics (one of our fake investigators is modelled after a real guy like that) or have broken families and heartbreaking stories. And they have no knowledge of God or the fact that He watches over us. I can't imagine how much joy I'll feel when I get the opportunity to look someone like Om Meak in the eye and tell them that there is a God that loves them and that they can be SO SO SABAY (happy) through Him. Dang, I'm so excited.

Any-whoodles, sometimes I shy away from writing you guys those spiritual lessons because lets be honest, some people reading this email/the blog probably don't care about that stuff. But you know what? This is my life now! That's my job! And I know how true it is and how important it is for people to hear that. Henry B Eyring said, "You begin by holding up the Lord's standards clearly and without apology. And the more the world drifts away from them and mocks them, the bolder we must be in doing that." So there's my self-righteous thought for the day.

What else is new? Not much. The flu is going around. Sis Litchfield got it first and then Sis Walker was puking all the next day. i think it's a 24-hour thing. But know this: my immune system...remains....strong! (that was a Harry Potter reference for anyone who may not have caught that. kudos if you did.) So for a while when everyone was sick we were doing less going outside and running around and more staying inside and eating. Main reason I must leave the MTC ASAP is to lose all the weight I've gained. Sis Egelund referred to the MTC as the "Home of the Perpetual Food Baby." Maybe I'll get an amoeba or a tapeworm or E.coli or something in Cambodia. Fingers crossed!! (just kidding....)

We actually have left softball behind and are more into kickball now during gym time. I can promise you I have never laughed so hard at the MTC as when I played kickball with our zone. Nobody takes it seriously, but we all pretend to take it wayyyyyy too seriously, and it has resulted in some pretty off-color and hilarious comments. Most of them from Sis Litchfield. That girl slays me. Elder Flint accidentally slipped because the grass was a little wet and didn't catch the ball as a result. So from across the field everyone hears Sis Litchfield yell "FLINT!!! What are you doing?!?! Is this a slip n slide?!! Are we at a 4th of July barbeque?! Is this a 'WARD ACTIVITY'?!?!" Kickball games are literally just 45 minutes of that and I can't handle it. I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.

Oh also guess what I found out? (get ready to laugh): Because my last name is first in our zone for the Cambo group, I get to be the travel leader when we fly!!!! Woot woot. That means I keep the travel plans and itineraries with me and hold onto everyone's tickets and stuff. So that's pretty hilarious. I know that if you all were to take a bet on which missionary is most likely to lose their ticket, it would be Sister Davis, for sure. SOOOOOOO we'll see how I do with like 15 people to keep track of. I'm probably going to end up accidentally getting our whole zone sent to customs.

Okey doke, here are some scriptures from this week that I'm lovin: Matthew 9:22 (this is the story of the woman he heals and I love this verse from it); Doctrine and Covenants 122:7; 3 Nephi 11:39; John 16: 22-24; ALSO reread the story in Matthew 14 about Peter walking on water. It is my absolute favorite Bible story: "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" I love that verse 31 says, "And IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched forth his hand." IMMEDIATELY. He is always stretching forth his hand for us. I promise.

Okey doke well I love you all thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssss much!!! I think about you all day, erry day. Srolan meinteen!!! (Dang I wish I could write in Khmer script on these computers. romanized is so stupid). No but really, I love you and I'm so grateful for all of my friends and family and their support. Keep on keepin on!

 

Love, Sistaa Daivee

You know, just playin in the autumnal scenery. (it's nothing compared to the CT leaves though.) This literally happened like 20 minutes ago so that's a live update right there. As live as it gets at the MTC anyway.

Elder Yu creepin in the background.

This is from last P-day. So what happened was Sis Thain crawled into one of the rolling laundry carts. Then Sis Litchfield crawled into the other one. And then Sis Walker and I raced them down the laundry room hall.

 

Shortly thereafter, we were mildly chastised by the laundry room attendant.

Chloe's friends at the MTC name her spirit animal as a Snail LOL

Cumriabsua!!!!

Okay I'm just gonna start with definitely the most exciting part of the week: Our devotional last night was Elder Dallin H. Oakes!!! Yep yep....a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles came and spoke to us. It was so awesome. He talked about why we are different from other churches, but emphasized the fact that pretty much all religions across the world have truth and good in them. We are simply offering them the opportunity to add to the good they already have. So I loved that. One thing he said that really struck me was: "If the Lord calls you, he qualifies you." Being a missionary is super hard, and I know it's only going to get harder. Sometimes I really feel like I'm not cut out for this. BUT. I know that God called me to this specific mission because I have something to offer and because I totally CAN do it. If we put our trust in Him, He will help us along every step of the way and He will qualify us to do what he has asked of us. Nephi 3:7 anyone???? "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I can already tell that He has helped me so much and I know that will continue to happen throughout my mission.

Speaking of people who are helping me, I just have to go on a short rant about how AMAZING the teachers here are. Both of my Lookruus are so so so awesome, which I know you already know. But it's not just them. All of the teachers in our zone, whether they teach Vietnamese or Lao or Cambodian, are always helping us in any way they can. Sometimes other teachers will give their class a water break, and in those 3 minutes of a break they have, they will come into our class if we don't have a teacher and just sit down with us and be like, "How can I help you? What questions do you have about your investigators? What questions do you have about the language?" They genuinely love helping missionaries and love helping us be the best missionaries we can be. I'll let you guys in on a little secret: I want to teach at the MTC when I come back! Odds are pretty good for me because there aren't many Cambodian speakers, and what better way to hold onto my language than that? I would love to be the example for other missionaries the way my teachers have been for me. 

What else has happened this week??? hmmmmm.........okay, so the Thais left our zone this week. There were like 16 of them and now they're all off in Thailand! It was sad to see them go because the Thai sisters had become really good friends with all of us. They were so sweet. I'll send you pictures from the day they left. So the day before they left they sang "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" IN THAI. And it was so so beautiful. Anyway, I miss them. 

Wanna hear something else that's funny? Sis Thain has been trying to come up with Disney characters and/or animals that represent me well. First, she claimed that my Disney character was the Cheshire cat. Why? Apparently because she thinks I'm very wise and I know things, but mostly I just sit in the background and laugh at people. Second, she said that as an animal, I would be a snail.

.................................A SNAIL. So I demanded an explanation for that one and she goes, "You have a really hard shell but on the inside you're all squishy." Which I guess is also kind of true.

I also got to watch a talk by Elder Holland this week. It was amazing, of course. One thing he said that I loved was "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." To accomplish truly amazing things with God's help, we have to push ourselves to the very edge. He told us to "go out there and astonish somebody." Man, I love Holland.

Okay something that made me laugh so hard this week: I got three DearElders on Monday. One from mommy, one from daddy and one from anna. Here is what mommy said: "Giants aren't doing too well so far. haven't won a single game.  0-6. Poor Eli." Here is what daddy said: "The Giants SUCK. They haven't won a single game." Here's what anna said: "I am tearing up as I write this to you, but the Giants are awful this season. They haven't won a single game. Not. One." My whole district thought this was hilarious because they know how much i love the giants. It's good to know that I can trust you guys to keep me updated on whats really important in life aka my BELOVED GIANTS. I'll pray for them.........just kidding...........sort of.

So as you can tell nothing much really happens here at the MTC after a while. Nothing exciting to update you on. So I'll give you guys another weekly scripture assignment: Mosiah 27:28-29 & 31; 3 Nephi 5:13; Phillipians 1:29 (I may have already given you that last one?)

I want you guys to know how much I love this gospel and the happiness it brings and I love the peace and comfort it brings to me. It's worth every sacrifice. In the words of Joseph Smith, "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

I love love LOVE you guys so much!!! Have a great week!!!!

Love, Sistaa Daivee

From the left: Sister Ellis, Sister Barber, me and Sister Peterson (they all went to Thailand)

All the girls in our zone before the Thais left

Sis Thain and I in choir. what i do choir what...??? The rumors are true......

Our whole zone the day before the Thais left. See if you can find me!!! its like the wheres waldo of missionaries.

Week 5 at the MTC!!!

Swathikha!!!

I know I usually start with "cumriabsua." "Swathikha" is actually Thai. Just wanted to throw you guys off a little.

What is this, week 5? week 6? I don't even know anymore. Regardless, it was a pretty awesome week. And I've been sick for most of it, so you know it had to be pretty good. 

Let's start with the obvious: General Conference!!! It was so good! I was told that General Conference is awesome when you're in the MTC and that is so true. My favorite talks were by Nelson, Christofferson, Edward Dube, Uchtdorf and of course President Monson. I especially loved Uchtdorf. I remember listening to his talk and thinking about how if any of my friends asked me why I was a member of this church and what's so great about it, I would have them watch this talk. If you guys missed any of those, definitely go onto LDS.org and watch them under 2013 General Conference. I'm pretty sure they already have the videos up and everything.

Another cool thing about conference was hearing them talk about missionaries. You feel so much pride when they do. At the very beginning they announced the statistic that, since the age change one year ago, the number of missionaries has gone from 58,500 to 80,333! that's huge! Elder Flint and I joked that every time we heard them mention missionaries we would be like "Everybody SHHH!!! They're talking about me!!" Silly, but true. 

On Sunday we had a devotional, too. I think because it was GC weekend, the MTC decided to give us a more lighthearted devotional rather than listening to another long talk, so they organized a really cool one. Our devotional was VOCAL POINT!!! If you don't know, Vocal Point is BYU's acapella group. They're actually really famous. They were on NBC's show "the sing off" and recently won some international acappella competition. Anyway, there are 9 guys in the group, ALL returned missionaries, and so they all stood up individually to talk to us and then they did a couple performances. I loved it. 

Next tuesday we have another devotional and it's supposed to be an apostle, so that's really exciting. I'll let you know who it is. I'm putting my money on Christofferson.

Our district got the cool opportunity to meet a man from Cambodia named Eng Bun Huac. He's a convert to the church, is a district president there, and is probably going to be Cambodia's first Stake President. (They're working on setting up the first ever stake in cambodia as we speak.) Our teacher Lookruu Oleson (a different lookruu than the one i normally talk about, but equally as awesome) was so happy to see him and introduce us. Lookruu probably hadn't seen him since he was in Cambodia on his mission. After President Eng left, Lookruu told us his amazing story. He said "President Eng started out selling from a cart on the streets of Cambodia. Now he's the CEO of a company and travels back and forth between the US and Cambodia. The gospel of Jesus Christ will change people's lives more than you know." I can't even imagine how good it will feel to meet people like that and have the ability to help them that much. There are so many people in Cambodia who have so much potential and deserve so much better.

Anyway, I got the shoes right away. Thanks so much for sending them, I really needed those. Mrs. Thomas said she's already gotten my jacket and hopefully I'll get it this week. It was getting REALLY cold here for a while and I didn't have anything to keep me warm. Probably why I got sick.

So, nothing much has really happened this week. I'm struggling to think of stuff.....

We dressed up Elder Flint as a cat this week. He volunteered. I don't think I'm going to send you pictures though :)  We've been told to be careful about the thing we put on our blogs so that other people don't get the wrong idea about missionaries and I think I've filled my quota of questionable pictures, what with us playing with nerf guns and such.

So anyway, here are some scriptures I wanted to share with you guys: 2 Corinthians 3:17; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; Phillipians 4:13; 2 Peter 2:8.

That last one really isn't anything, but it has a winky face in it!!! Our district was laughing about it so I wrote it down.

I hope you're all doing well. Keep sending the DearElders. I'm glad I'm half way done at the MTC. I literally CANNOT speak the lamguage but other than that I'm really excited to leave. I love you so very very much!!!!

Love, Sistaa Daivee

The girls going to cambodia in my zone took our dorky helmet picture in front of the biking missionaries statue. I couldn't take it seriously. Sister Litchfield was making me laugh the whole time. There isn't a single picture where I'm not laughing.

Elder Flint and Meyers with their helmets. Elder Flint also brought safety goggles......? I love that kid. Most of the time he's like a pesky, rude little brother but he cracks me up every day.

 Lookruu Thomas (the one I usually mention) is getting married this weekend!!! So we got him a pie. It was sort of a joke, we thought he was gonna be like, "ok you guys are weird" but he seriously loved it. He was like "Oh..my...gosh. Thank you so much!!!"

Week 4 at the MTC

Cumriabsua!!!!!

Another quick week gone by. I learned so much about teaching this week. I told Lookruu (hope you guys have learned at this point that lookruu means teacher) that teaching is hard for me but I'm starting to suck it up.

We do this thing called TRC, which is when people volunteer (usually Returned Missionaries or members) to be taught by the missionaries training  at the mtc. My comps and I were assigned to a 60-year-old woman named Om Meak. She's from Cambodia and converted to the church when she lived in Boston. Last saturday, Sister Thain and Sister Peterson were in Salt Lake all day to sing in the Relief Society Broadcast (no, Mommy, I did not sing. I told them I'm a horrible singer so they obviously didn't pick me. Oddly enough it was one of the best days I've had here because i was basically a solo sister. I love my companions but it was nice to be able to go to the bathroom alone). Anyway, i had to teach for the first time totally ALONE. I was terrified because her english isnt great and neither is my Cambodian. but it was so cool. Just like when I talk to the Sam Elders (the twins from Cambodia I wrote about last week) I feel like my Khmer gets so much better when I talk to a native. It's good language practice.

The girls in my zone are awesome. We're all becoming such close friends and I love them all. There's a girl named Megan Walker (she's going to Tacoma, Washington speaking Cambodian) and she was friends with McKenna in high school!! Since I know a lot of McKenna's friends from SPringville we have a bunch of mutual friends. She's so great. And did I tell you about Sister Litchfield?? She's so funny. We have exactly the same personality. She just cracks me up. I can't get enough of that girl.

Daddy - to answer your question: I probably won't write you many handwritten letters. I put everything I can think of in these emails so I honestly don't have much else to write about, nor do they really give you much time to write letters. Plus, when I'm in Cambodia, you'll get emails more often than you get mail because it can be unreliable coming from there. But I love your DearElders and hearing about you on a day-to-day basis so keep those coming. (sidenote: thank you for addressing them to "Elder Chloe Davis" - my district found that hilarious.)

I had a really, really cool experience the other day at dinner. there was a lady sitting alone at the end of our table and Sister Peterson suggested we go sit next to her and say hi (she's so sweet). SO we went over and lo and behold, the lady turned out to be deaf. Understandably, my comps were discouraged because they assumed we wouldn't be able to talk to her at all. So I said, "Guys, I do know a little sign language." And I said hi to the woman and said that it was nice to meet her and that I could sign a little. Her name was Anna and she said her friend worked in the MTC cafeteria so she came here to eat with her. Her friend, Katherine, came and joined us a little later. I was able to ask them about their families, their lives and translate for my comps. I asked Katherine if she liked working here at the MTC and she emphatically said, "Oh yes. I love missionaries. There is so much of the spirit here and it is so strong." I loved these women immediately. In the middle of this exchange at dinner, Sister Thain started crying. (PS Sis Thain cries almost every day so this was nothing new or surprising). I asked her why she was crying and she goes, "You are so beautiful. What you are doing right now is so much like the character of Christ." I don't think I can take that much credit because it was Sis Peterson that brought me out of my comfort zone to talk to these women in the first place; I just facilitated conversation. but it was such an amazing experience, and I liked that I was able to make these women smile.

Shoutout to Daddy for making fun of me when I wanted to take that semester of ASL because he thought it would be totally useless. Double shoutout because the jokes on him since I'm now learning Khmer, one of the most useless languages on planet earth. Ha.

I saw a Mormon Message a couple days ago that reminded me of this. Elder Eyring said, "Everyone is different and has a different contribution to make. No one is destined to fail." By no means do I "speak" ASL. Not at all. But sometimes we can make a contribution with the teeny tiny abilities we've been given. I also love that last part: "No one is destined to fail." Nobody is here on this earth to be a failure. We all have talents and abilities to share with others and make a difference, even if that difference is just helping one cafeteria lady smile. God doesn't make mistakes. We are all His children and none of us are mistakes. Everybody can and will do great things if we put in just a little effort.

Speaking of Mormon Messages, you MUST WATCH THE FOLLOWING: Elder Christofferson made a 3-part video called "Daily Bread." And it's amazing. 3 videos. 3 minutes each. Incredible message. Go onto lds.org and just search daily bread and find the one with Elder Christofferson. So so so good. I love all the mormon messages too. They're good, short clips for when you need some uplifting.

Okay last thought. Here are some scriptures that I'm seriously loving right now: John 16:33, 2 Timothy 2:1 & 3, Mosiah 16:9, and Doctrine and Covenants 68:6.

I got nanny's card (show her those messages too, she would like them). It was a classic nanny card that has cats on it and you're gonna get a kick out of this: I was reading it in class and Lookruu looks at it and goes "I love those cards. I can spot them from a mile away. I can guarantee you that whoever sent you that bought it at a DollarTree store." I died of laughter and told him that my grandma makes weekly trips to the DollarTree store. Have I mentioned how awesome my Lookruu is?

Anyway I'm running out of time so I'm gonna sign off now. Sorry there was nothing big to report. After a few weeks your schedule at the MTC becomes pretty mundane. Same old, same old. But I'm learning a lot. And I love being a missionary! I love you all!

Srolan, Sistaa Daivee

A message on the board from Lookruu. It says "I love you eldaas and sistaas. -Lookruu Thomas"

Zach's last day at the MTC! He got reassigned to Vancouver. NO comments on how fat I've gotten please and thank you.

Making up for the fact that the MTC doesn't schedule any nap time.

Week 4 at the MTC

And then when we're not napping, we're using nerf guns to knock soda cans off of Elder Flint's head. I myself was a target more than once. I love my district. (If you look closely you can see one of the darts sticking to the board).