Anywho....I know I mentioned last week how much I love Battambang, but I'm just going to reiterate: I LOVE BATTAMBANG. I never want to leave. I want to be here for the rest of my mission and I'm seriously going to yuum when i get transferred. Hopefully it wont be for a while. the members here are awesome, they LOVE the missionaries, and the whole atmosphere is just so sabay. It's simply superb. And last week, our brand new investigator not only came to church, but she also brought her son who is old enough to learn with us! We're hoping they'll both be able to learn together, but school schedules in Cambodia are whack so sometimes its really hard to teach families all together. We'll see. We also had like 10 less-active members show up that we worked with this past week. I dont know the area super well but Sister Cloud's jaw was on the floor when we saw all these people walk in. It was an awesome Sunday. We also got to teach the primary class a mother's day song for next week. Some thoughts about that experience: 1) they can sing in english better than they can sing in Khmer and 2) I have discovered that all primary rooms in Cambodia smell like dirt.
So other than that, what else is going on? Well, the rainy season has started. At least one of the rainy seasons. Theres the rainy hot season, and the rainy cold season. Guess which one we're in. Yup. Rainy and HOTTTTT. The rain starts like clockwork here in the afternoon. You could set your watch to it. And it seems to cool down but then you just realize that it only seems cool because you're soaked through and then as soon as it stops raining you remember its stilll boiling hot only now, its also incredibly humid. My hair looks great, thanks for asking.
I've got a couple contacting stories for you guys. One funny, and one awesome. First the funny: Sister Cloud and I were out and about with a spare 15 minutes so we decided to go contacting near the phsaa. While we're looking around deciding which direction to go in, this lady walks up to us and starts begging for money. It's not that I dont have sympathy for those people, obviously I do. Its super sad. BUT you should know that first, a lot of people here who arent actually beggars will just start begging to white people if they come across them because they assume we'll give them money. and also, missionaries arent allowed to give money to beggars. Its khoh cbab. So we're trying to ignore this lady who has come up to us begging but she's kind of getting in our faces, so sister cloud and i look at each other and she just waits a second, then shrugs her shoulders and turns to the lady and goes "We cant give you money, but we can teach you about the gospel of Jesus Christ!" and just slaps a church pamphlet into this lady's hand that was open for money. The lady just started laughing and walked away because things clearly didnt go her way, but hey: when I turned around she was reading the pamphlet so yeah, mission accomplished.
Okay now for the awesome awesome AWESOME contacting story. Let me take y'all on a trip clear back to 4 months ago when I was Kampong Cham (that seems like a lifetime ago, by the way, not quite 4 months). So Sister Kong and I (DANG Sister Kong I miss that girl) are walking around Bung Snaay, a village we taught in a lot that is filled with investigators who do not progress at all. It's kind of the black hole of Kampong Cham. Its like a mire. You get stuck teaching in there, but no one ever comes out. The investigators in Bung Snaay arent exactly what you would call "golden." But we were walking to one appt and Sister Kong starts talking to this one lady and decides to conatct her. I was just supporting her, doing my thang, but in my head Im thinking, "YAP MONG Sister Kong, we should not be contacting people in Bung Snaay. It's not worth it." I know, I know, I know. Not a very good missionary, but hey, I was still in training and I had never gone contacting before. Cut me some slack. Anyway, this woman's name was Bong Yadaen and she said she was interested but everytime we tried to go meet with her again, she was never around. Typical Bung Snaay. We never even taught her the first lesson. I never saw her again. FAST FORWARD: My first week in Battambang. I'm living in a house with Sister Fife right? Sister Fife just finished her training. She was trained in KC Branch 2, one of my old branches. She was talking about how they hadnt had much success while she was there and then she says, "BUT we had one AMAZING woman that we baptized while we were there. She's still one of the strongest members in the branch, and shes getting her brother to learn too and she loves the scriptures and goes to church for all 3 hours every week blah blah blah.......Her name is Bong Yadaen." I KID YOU NOT MY HEART STOPPED. I asked to see a picture of this woman and guess what: it is THE Bong Yadaen. Sister Kong passed along the contact to Sister Fife and Sister Ashcraft after I left KC and Bong Yadaen ended up being their BEST investigator. And I contacted her! That was my contact!!!! I couldnt believe it. I am still sooooo happy about that story. Definitely one of the cooler stories of my mission. And it was a good lesson for me about contacting. You never know if that person you just passed by on the street might want to learn. And you never will know unless you open your mouth and go talk to them. And even if you dont see the fruits of your own labors, another missionary down the road will. So maybe that woman who was begging at me and Sister Cloud may seem like a random, nothing contact, but who knows?! 5 weeks, months or years from now she might be the newest member of the church. I love having a part in this work. It is so exciting. And nothing makes you feel better than hearing a story like that.
Anyway, I think thats all I've got for this week. Except a couple random things: Remember Elder Heng? Probably not. I didnt talk about him much. Well, I served with him for a few months in KC and he just finished his mission. His first sunday back home, he got called to be a counselor in the branch presidency. He's like, 20-something. Thats how things work here in Cambodia. He's in Battambang Branch 2 so I see him all the time. he's awesome.
I also found a new Khmer word the other day, and the exact definition is: "to cave in, to collapse, to slip, to sink in; to die (by elephants only)" ..............I would like to introduce a new hashtag if thats okay: #onlyincambodia
Commitments for this week: read Jeremiah 31:3, @ Corinthians 13:11, Ephesians 3:19 and also read 1 John. Not St John, 1 John. I feel like 1 John is a best kept secret or something. no one ever talks about 1 John. But they should. Cause its great. All of it. Its only like 5 chapters so read it!
thngai nung, khnom mian tae ponnung! I'm super excited to Skype you guys next week! I love you loads and miss you a ton!
Love, Sister Davis
Sorry not many good pics from this week.
Heres a picture of me and sister cloud sitting in the back of the primary class.
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