Eatin' bugs and Clippin' toenails

I FINALLY DID IT!!!! I ate a bug, guys. not like i accidentally ate an ant that was crawling on my food, because ive done that maybe a trillion times by now. I mean I ate one of those big, fried up crickets (or locusts, i honestly dont know) that they sell on the side of the street. It was crunchy. But it also gushed in my mouth, that was unpleasant. Honestly, if it werent for the gushing, I probably wouldve eaten another. It kind of tasted like a Dorito. But lets be real, i dont remember what doritos taste like. 

Also, in the news of me being introduced to Battambang Branch 3: Sister Fife decides to show us the house of this one member, her name is Om Luan. Shes super old and she cant walk, and she cant really use her hands either, but shes really sweet and she comes to church every single week. What a champ. Anyway, the three of us sit down and right as we do, Sister Fife whispers to me: "Sometimes she likes us to clip her toenails for her." Guys, this is Cambodia's world. I'm just living in it.

Sister Fife does so many things that crack me up. She is seriously hilarious. The other day she was buying something (we were actually on splits when this happened so I didnt witness it myself, but I got to here the story which was just as good) and she was near a school, so there were a bunch of people coming out of the school. She started trying to contact this one person, and the person she was with goes "that person is deaf." And she was like.....oops. so then she turned around and tried to give a flyer to another person, and then some lady was like "He's blind!" This happened a few times before Sister Fife got really embarassed, then she turned around and realized she was standing outside of a Deaf/Blind school. Shes a star.

Then another time, we were in the middle of a lesson with Sela, and Sister Fife is trying to explain some important doctrinal principle, I'm sure, and theres this cow like five feet away from Sela's house and it makes this super loud, obnoxious Cambodian cow sound. And literally just in the middle of her sentence, Sister Fife goes "Bauy" (the cambodian word for "bless you") and just continues teaching, like it was completely normal. Sister Ky started cracking up in the middle of the lesson and now Sela officially thinks Sister Fife is cray cray. 

Sister Fife and I have also started doing this thing where we fall behind Sister Ky, and then count to three really quietly and then we speed up and bike on either side of Sister Ky and start belting random Disney songs. This week was Hakuna Matata. Sister Ky really likes it, I'm sure.

Anyway, SIster Fife's branch is doing much better than mine these days. Her investigators are progressing really well, and a couple of our investigators should be getting baptized pretty soon. Bong Noy is one. She is so awesome. Shes almost 40 but she looks younger than me, and she has two kids who are half Mexican (her husband died a few years ago though). Anyway, shes super great. Then we have a part-member family that we're working with and we think two of the kids should be baptized pretty soon too. So Branch 3 is doing really well. My investigators have slowed down pretty well. Either they cant come to church or they cant let go of buddhism. BUT I'm still workin on it and Ive got faith that I'll see some miracles happen. Assuming I dont leave Battambang, and if I leave Battambang, you guys know I'm gonna be crying for days. 

So, yesterday I gave a talk. On humility. Ha. We know we're always given talks on the things that we need to learn about sooooo....

It wasnt great. I calomed so many times and poor Sister Fife was left with like 15 minutes to cover. She did really really well. I'm 3 months ahead of her, but I'm really impressed with how much Khmer she knows. getting comfortable with actually speaking it takes some time, and some days are better than others, but she knows a lot of vocab. She's super great. (when did this turn into an email about sister fife? Im sorry i havent really told you anything about what i actually did.)

Sister Ky is going to the temple in the phillipines this week. She got permission to go with her family. I think its a really rare opportunity for Khmers since they dont have a temple, so she got permission to leave for a week. Which is awesome! Im super happy for her. but that means that sis fife and I are gonna be alone this week......so obviously Battambang is going to go up in flames. Hooray! We'll actually be going to Phnom Penh tomorrow because I have a meeting to go to so we'll actually just burn Battambang a little and then maybe scorch Phnom Penh a touch too. Dont worry.

PS im working on some more food for you guys. like Khmer food. Have I told you about brohok? It the rotten, salty fish paste. Literally rotten fish that has been sitting out for who knows how many months, and then they add spices and mash it into a paste. Its delicious. For real, I love it. Whenever i go out in public, the first question is always "you know Khmer?" and shortly thereafter "Do you know how to eat brohok?" <--- thats a fun grammar lesson for ya. in Khmer, they dont ask if you "like" a certain food. They ask you if you "know how to eat it". yep....I know how to eat your rotten fish paste, believe it or not. so anyway, you guys have that to look forward to when i come home. 

OH MY GOSH I TOTALLY ALMOST FORGOT. I conducted my first exchange this week!!! And guess who i went with? SISTER PETERSON!!! My old MTC companion!! It was suuuuper fun. At first I was really nervous. Its just weird to see your old comapnions, and when its your MTC comp, you know, you wanna know how good at the language they are, and I was showing her MY area and so I was just super nervous. I thought it would be weird to teach with her since the only time I taught with her was in America when both of us knew literally zero. BUT it was so AWESOME!!! We taught super well together and we both learned a lot from each other. We had a ton of fun. She is such a great missionary. I'm so happy I got to do an exchange with her! And hopefully I'll get to do an exchange with the sisters in Siem Reap after Sister Ky comes back next week. (in case you guys didnt know, Siem Reap is where Angkor Wat is! Its not like I'll be able to go in and see Angkor Wat because it wont be a P-day and we'll be out proselyting, but if I'm lucky i might get to ride my bike by it! And hopefully I'll go visit Angkor Wat another transfer. Still got my fingers crossed that one day I'll serve in Siem Reap.) 

Anyway, i think thats all the most important stuff for this week. I'm really excited to go to Phnom Penh for the leadership meeting. I always learn a ton there. Sister Fife and I are gonna have a crazy week! I still love Battambang with all my heart! And i love you guys too! Miss you tons!

Love, Sister Davis

​Happy Rainy Season! These days, I'm grateful for frizzy hair, and saran-wrap ponchos bought on the side of the road that rip at the armpits and make me feel like a sweaty spring roll.

​More zone conference pictures. these are the battambang and siem reap missionaries all together.

The art of doping: "dope" is an actual khmer word. To "dope" someone is to give them a ride on the back of your bike. they make their bikes with actual dope-seats here. its like a piece of wire. really uncomfortable. The girl doping me is Khanya, shes a member in third branch who helps us teach a lot. I KNOW MY HELMET MAKES ME LOOK LIKE SUCH A FOOL.

This is what happens when you don't bring a Rigabamboo

I'm just stating outright that this email is probably going to be pathetic. Usually I write things down throughout the week in a notebook that I carry around with me so that way I remember what I want to email you guys....AND I FORGOT MY NOTEBOOK AT HOME. What a fool. So I'm just gonna go by memory and probably end up telling you guys the most boring stuff from this past week. Sorry.

Okay...one thing i remember having to tell you was about Ming Roath. She is the member in 3rd branch that we helped build a house for. So her story is one of those stories that just makes you so sad. Sister Fife has been working with her for a while. A few weeks ago, she stopped being able to pay for her house because she was sick and couldnt work, so she lost her house. She has two boys and they were living on a krei (a large, wooden bed frame that cambodians use as a sort of bench to sit on and lie down on) on a dirt road underneath a tree. and in Sister Fife's words "It's not even a big tree." She has literally no money. She and her kids are practically starving. We ran into her walking down the side of the road two weeks ago and we were like "hey! where are ya headed? can we go with you?" and she was like "Oh yeah, I'm just going to work on building my house. I was gonna do it alone!"  So thats when we called the elders and started building her house. She had just grabbed some random pieces of wood and tin and sometime in the coming weeks we're gonna start putting it all together. Anyway, Ming Roath is so amazing. She's one of those people that just has such a sweet spirit when she smiles and she has such strong faith considering all of the problems she has right now. 

Okay so get this: yesterday, Sister Fife and I were waiting while Sister Ky was in the bathroom and we were talking to this girl in 3rd branch. Her name is Srei Nait. And out of nowhere she goes "oh yeah I was baptized when I was six." And sister fife and I were like..................................what? I actually encountered that problem a couple times when I was in Kampong Cham.  In a country where the church is so new, when the missionaries first start out and there isnt a lot of organization, a lot of things like that happen. Obviously, the missionaries know that you have to be eight years old to be baptized, but because the people here dont have government records the way we do and the paperwork is so lacking, things like that just happen. And then other missionaries are left to clean up the mess. So now this girl has to get rebaptized and right now she's 13 so i guess we technically have a new investigator? her family has been in the church for a long time though, so it should be pretty easy. Anyway, thats my mission for ya.

Another thing pretty unique to southeast asia: the buddhist dilemma. I've got at least two investigators at any given time that are like "I really like jesus christ and all and I totally believe.....but i wanna be buddhist too. is that cool?"  and then you kindly have to explain that.....no. its not. Like buddhism is cool and everything, its not like i have a problem with buddhism. But....we have this thing in our church where, if you get baptized,  the whole "worshipping your ancestors" thing is a tad frowned upon. sorry. So...we're dealing with that problem.

And then there are my investigators that are GOLDEN like perfect in every way shape and form......but they cant come to church because they go to university for 5,000 hours on sunday. but sister fife and i are trying to do this thing where we dont complain sooo....ill just stop talking now.

Okay I literally am hitting my head against the wall trying to think of things from this week that I wrote down......I fell off my bike.........again. But this time was particularly interesting though because I didnt actually fall down. I was coming around a corner, when a moto crossed the street and was clearly going to hit me if I didnt move (there are ZERO road rules here and it seriosuly gets on my nerves) so I tried to swerve out of the way really quick but i was on loose gravel so my tires slipped out from under me. But this has happened to me SOOOO many times (you know....dirt roads....nothing is paved....it happens) so I guess my body just has finally figured out how to avoid it and I literally just jumped and hopped over my bike mid air as it fell (this is a much more interesting maneuver than it sounds...im still not quite sure how i did it). i landed on both feet and STUCK that landing. Sister Fife was behind me and she was like "That was so graceful. I wish I had gotten that on tape." And then 5 minutes later down the road, shes biking behind me and goes "I'm STILL thinking about that! That was so cool!!!" 

I feel like I ate something weird this week but i cant remember. I probably eat something weird every day without my knowledge though so its not really news. 

Oh yeah. I got an AWESOME backpack. Like, you dont even know how awesome. I bought the fabric and brought it to a member and she sewed me the coolest backpack in the world. Its purple and gold and it has elephants on it (obviously). Its currently one of my most prized possessions. 

Okay well, im sorry. I did my best to remember. Next week I promise i'll have a good email. Last week though we got to go to that cool ancient Wat and we also got to go exploring in an underground cave beneath the hill that the wat sits on top of. And in that cave I saw the biggest spider of my whole life. I know people usually use this reference to exaggerate the size of a spider, but I am NOT exaggerating when i say it was bigger than my hand. I'm in Cambodia so you kind of have to believe me. So anyway I've got cool pictures of all that stuff.

Okay so some scriptures I really like this week that i wanted you guys to read: Philippians 4:6-9, Psalms 55 & 56 and then something else that I wrote down and cant remember. You're welcome. This last week we also had Zone Conference and President Moon came up and taught us about the importance of repentance and the Atonement. It was GREAT. but of course all my notes are........in my notebook. so I'll tell you guys about that next week.

Love you guys so much! 

Love, Sister Davis

                                                                      ​Wat Banan!!!

 ​The cave was actually suuuuuper dark so yes we wore headlamps. proudly. i used my flash though when we were in the cave so it doesnt look as dark obviously 

                                                    ​the trio, just doing some cave-explorin

sorry my eyes look super creepy in this pic. you know what else is creepy? kanha's hand in the background. She's a member in branch 3. 

Suesdai Thngai Bon Ovpuuk!

You know what I hate? Being rushed through email. So sorry, this email is proably going to be rife with typos and bad grammar. We're going to Wat Banan today and its about 30 kilometers out, so we have to take a tuk tuk and everything and in order to be home in time we kind of have to leave early. I've been told this wat is pretty cool but lets be honest, I bike past fifty wats a day. Heck, I've seen monks doing their laundry at the wats. Seen one, seen em all. #watsonwatsonwats

Anywaysssss, this week was probably the most stressful week of my mission, and therefore logically the most stressful week of my life. I underestimated how hard it would be to serve in both of these branches. Battambang is HUGE. and two branches is just....insane. And while I love being in a trio, and I love being busy, I have to admit that I hope this situation lasts for only one transfer because I dont think its the best. My main problem is that I am splitting my time in the middle which means there are some people that get neglected and left behind because we simply cant make time for them. Ive got a list of 20 plus less-actives that I need to meet with, ON TOP of new members ON TOP of investigators. And thats just one branch. Theres just not enough time, and I hate the feeling that some people in my branch arent getting my full attention and arent getting the help they need. Luckily the members are really understanding and theyre always like"two branches?! you must be so tired sister!!" We're working hard, but its definitely stressful.

In other news, sister fife was just like "hey we gotta go, the wat's awaitin" and im like............i JUST started my family email. so are you ready for the shortest email EVER from me? k here we go:

this week we did service 3 times, all helping build people houses. One of them is for a member in third branch. Her name is Ming Roath. I'll tell you about her next week. But one of the thingsa about service that I MUST tell you is this:

I now know what it is like to be considered a second class citizen as a woman. Ive done lots of other kinds of service, but this is the first service ive done in building houses and such. and all the khmer men (incluiding some of the elders) are like "sister, you cant lift that piece of wood." "Sister thats too heavy" "Sister you cant use that nail hammer." And im like DANG PEOPLE IM A GIRL NOT AN INVALID.

the most obnoxious annoying thing EVR was when I went up to elder Mok and I was like "I WANT to help, what can I do?" and he looks at me and goes "You can go clean the dishes."

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................no. No. One thousand levels of no. Elder brewer was there when it happened and he was like oh boy, whats gonna happen now. I was not happy after that, but eventually, i just climbed onto the frame of this house and started sawing stuff without permission. I just demanded a saw and was like "if you dont tell me what to saw, im just going to start sawing random things"  that worked pretty well.

Another cool thing that happened was a group of Americans from BYU came to BB. they are working for a charity called the Liahona Foundation. President Eng Buan Huoc led them up to BB from phnom penh. Anyway, they girls about my age, all BYU students and I was translating for them (PS I'm the worst at translating. Its simply not a talent of mine. Its wayyyyy hard). and afterwards i tried to talk to them and guess what? I cant talk to white people unless theyre missionaires i guess. I was SOOO awkward. Seriously, it was painful. Sorry guys. Ive lost any and all social skills. (and lets be real, i didnt have that many before)

And to end this simply fantastic and informative email, Sister Fife is telling Sister Ky the story of Peter Pan. Its an ongoing thing, and its hilarious. Im the illustrator. I draw pictures of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell and Captain Hook and Neverland while Sister Fife narrates and Sister Ky is just enthralled by the whole thing. "whaaaat?? wait sister what is pixie dust? A crocodile ATE his HAND?!!"  Shes so adorable. I love being in a trio and I love my companions. 

Okay im really sorry this was like the WORSt email ever but ive gotta go. I miss you guys a ton!!! Happy Fathers Day!! 

Love, SIster Davis

The tri-panionship

I'M IN A TRIO AGAIN!!!! throwback to my days at the MTC!!! I absolutely love being in a trio. I think it just works better when youve got three personalities balancing each other out as opposed to just two. Teaching is a little more difficult, but we seem to work it out pretty well already. The past two days have already been super fun. Suuuuuuper stressful but definitely fun. 

Stressful because, as it turns out, President Moon did NOT take sisters out of 3rd branch. Just a tiny miscommunication there.It turns out he actually wants our trio to serve in both branches. soooooo..................yeah. Dont get me wrong, I'm definitely excited. When I was trained in KC I was in two branches and I LOVED it. You're always busy, always doing something. BUT, this area is..........enormous. Have I told you that Battambang actually touches Thailand? Yep. And now I've two areas that are equally as big to cover. Luckily Sister Fife is here to help me out with third branch. She is awesome and so stinkin hilarious, she is always cracking me up.

My other companion is Sister Ky! She's my third Khmer companion and I love her. She's super sweet and a GREAT missionary. She and I are both sister training leaders together. She's also really westernized so she'll be like "Oh yeah, I really like Rihanna and Beyonce and One Direction" and I'm all like...................shut up. me too. It's great. 

Anyway, I got to take a super fun 7 hour busride to phnom penh, pick her up, and then take another 7 hour bus ride back the next day after a 4 hour leadership meeting. it was just delightful. No actually, I dont mind riding the bus and i LOVE going to the mission home so it wasnt too bad. 

Anyway, a whopping ZERO of our investigators came to church yesterday. I just told one of the other missionaries here and he was like "yeah....you should expect that. June is planting season." Delightful. So for all of June I get to hear my investigators tell me "Can't come to church! Gotta plant some rice!" (that was funnier in my head because i said it in a khmer accent). But other than that our investigators are doing okay. Ming Siyan's family has officially learned all of the lessons. right now we're just waiting for them to find a way to church, because if they cant come to church then obviously they cant get baptized. I have one investigator named Srei Beic and she is suuuper awesome. Crazy smart, and is genuinely interested in knowing "the truth". She asks tons of questions and she's almost done with the lessons too, so we'll see where that goes. Shes actually going to America in probably a few months to get married to a guy who lives in Pittsburgh. He lives like maybe 20 minutes away from Sis Cloud's hometown so Sister Cloud was like "Srei Beic we're gonna hang out when I go home!!!!!" Another really cool thing happened last Sunday with another one of our investigators, Sela. She is the younger sister of a member and she wants to learn really badly. She literally is already like "I wanna join! I wanna be baptized!" and she takes notes when we teach her and is just a GOLDEN investigator. The problem with smart people like her is this: they learn. I know right?! So she learns for literally like 10 hours on Sundays and absolutely cant come to church. It's kind of a cruel joke. Shes probably the smartest investigator I've ever had and she cant come to church. Major womp. ANYWAY. Last sunday sis cloud and I are sitting in church and sela starts to call us, so we run out of the meeting to answer the phone and shes like, "Hey! I'm at the gate!" And sis cloud and I are like............huh? Sis Cloud got all excited thinking that she was skipping class just to come to church. Alas, it was just a holiday (you dont even know how many random holidays cambodia has. you dont even know.) so she didnt have to go to school. granted it was just a tiny miracle, BUT a miracle nonetheless! Because now she knows what church is like and hopefully she'll try to come back again! So those are most of the updates on my investigators.

Oh, I've been meaning to tell you guys this for a while but its pretty insignificant so i always forget. I've learned a little Vietnamese! I know how to say "Hello", "Can I have some soup?", and "I'm going to hit you in the head."  Really useful. Tonal languages are a piece of cake. (just kidding; if sis litchfield heard me say that she's most definitely hurt me). 

Oh another cool thing that happened while I was in the leadership training meeting: Theres this one missionary named Sister Kuoch. She's Khmer and was actually Sister Homer's comp before I came to the country. And shes probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen. So she was sitting near me during the meeting, and she doesnt know a lot of english. She uses headphones to get a translation and she also sometimes has people translate for her. She actually knows enough to talk and converse but shes still shy about it I think. Anyway, during the meeting, President Moon asked the missionaries how they felt about having new stakes in Cambodia, and sister kuoch raises her hand, takes off her headphones, and stands up to speak. She didn't get much out other than how happy she felt. But she was so emotional when she spoke it made me a little teary (and President Moon too). You dont know how long these people have been waiting to see the church progress in their country. It is sooo important to them, and such an incredible milestone for their country. And for people like Sister Kuoch, who have sacrificed so much to serve a mission in their home country, its like a dream come true. Thanks for being excited with me, guys. It really does mean a lot.

I think thats all for this week. I'll try not to die serving in two Battambang branches. I think this might be the most stressful transfer of my mission but probably a really fun one too! Love you guys and miss you tons! Talk to you next week! Peace out,

Love, Sister Davis

 ​My two new companions!!! theyre so awesome. 

 ​Here's a good story: So we were coming back from an appointment with a member, and it had started raining hardcore while we were teaching. And in Cambodia theres this nasty light brown clay that, when it gets wet, kind of turns into a quicksand-like trap. Its like, the more you have stuck to the bottom of your shoes, the more attaches itself until the mud on your feet weighs five kilos.  It also gets stuck on your bike tires and jams it up pretty bad, until the wheels literally dont move. So sis Fife's bike got it pretty bad and just as we're standing in the rain trying to help her, three boys (the children of the member we had just taught) come by and are like "Sisters! you got caught in the mud!" and they all rallied around to help clean out sis fife's bike for like 20 minutes. they were so cute. Dont worry, i gave them candy to say thanks.

​I got to see Sis Thain and Sis Egelund at the mission home during transfers! Sis Egelund is headed back to Vietnam already.

 ​                             Sister Cloud and I making what I think are supposed to be pirate faces

                                                     ​All the missionaries: Pirate Night!

​Elder jensen, Elder Plothow, Sister Fife and I were all born in Kampong Cham Branch 2 so we took a pic together. Technically I'm a half breed because I was born in branch 1 too but they let me join in anyway.

Waking up at the buttcrack of dawn.

Before I get into this email, I just wanna say: THIS WEDNESDAY IS MY HALFWAY MARK. I've been doing this missionary thingy for 9 months now. so thats.....weird. im just gonna stop talking about it now if thats okay.

Okay soooooo.....there's a funeral down the road from our house. And when I say down the road I mean maybe 20 yards from my bedroom window. And if I've taught you guys anything about monks, it should be this: they are loud. And they like to warble and chant into a deafeningly loud speaker. I can't even describe to you how loud it is. This is not an exaggeration: the goal is for the surrounding area within a full square mile to hear. And lucky me, I get front row seats. And monks aren't just loud. They're loud at 4 o'clock in the morning. Being awake at the crack of dawn is one thing. Being awake at the buttcrack of dawn is a time when NO ONE wants to be awake listening to a Buddhist funeral. 

But it doesnt even matter because I didnt sleep a wink last night anyway. Here's why: We got transfer calls last night. Usually I let you guys know a wqeek in advance when we are getting transfer calls because I dont know if im going to have any changes. But first of all, this transfer totally snuck up on me. I still feel like I'm brand new in Battambang, not 6 weeks in. Second of all, I was perfectly, 100% certain that both sister cloud and I were staying. And for the billionth time, I was SO SO WRONG. President Moon is either crazy or he's a genius, because that's the only logical explanation for the way he does transfer calls. Ok so here' what happened: Sis Cloud and I are studying the language when we got a call from President Moon. Now, President only calls you directly if you are being assigned to a leadership position, otherwise you just hear from the district or zone leader. So I saw that he was calling and I was like, "oh Sister Cloud he's maing you the sister training leader (equivalent to a zone leader for sisters) here in BB, no prob" --> went back to studying while she answers the phone. And then I hear her whisper to me "I'm opening up Kompng Thom!" And then my jaw literally hit the floor. Never, ever, EVER in the history of this mission has KT ever had sisters. (Kompng Thom is a province next to Kompong Cham) I think its due to safety reasons. So anyway, the biggest joke in the whole mission is sisters saying "Oh yeah, im going up to whitewash KT" because no one thought it would ever happen. And yet here is my companion, literally going to do it. I have no words.....crazy. 

So that leaves little old me. After she finished talking to President Moon, Sis Cloud hands me the phone and is like "He wants to talk to you!" So I take the phone, and President tells me that he's taking sisters out of 3 branch (sister fife's branch). So sister Hem is leaving BB and Sister Fife is going to be my companion! And we'll be staying in the branch im currently in, which im happy about because I get to continue teaching all of our investigators, who are progressing really well. We're supposed to be in a trio, but we're not entirely sure who the third person is going to be yet (long story). But on top of that, President Moon called me to be the new Sister Training Leader. Moral of the story: President apparently still has no idea what a fool I am. Shhhhh dont tell. So thats a JOKE. Anyway, get ready to here hilarious stories about me trying really hard to be a sister training leader and failing miserably at it. 

Sidenote: I had a much more interesting email planned for you guys, but now I've had to spend the whole time explaining transfers. 

So anyway, this next week we'll just be preparing for that. We also have English Class Special Activity Night coming up (every six weeks we plan a fun activity night for our english class students). This week we're doing a pirate themed activity night, complete with a cannon ball game and a walk-the-plank game. (I'm really pushing for a station where they practice pronouncing the "r" sound. Like "Arrrrrrrrr!" as in a pirate. get it? eh? eh? I'm sorry I try. Being english class leader is the whips.)

Speaking of English class though, possibly one of the greatest events of my mission thus far happened last week. So Sis Cloud was teaching while I was grading their worksheets, so I'm just sitting observing this game going on that they are playing. I dont want to spend time explaining the rules to this game, but what you should know is that the players sometimes get "punished" and they have to perform something funny in front of the class. So one kid was in this position and his embarassing thing that he had to do was sing to us. 

*Before I go on, you should know that Khmers love the most random American songs*

This kid literally starts BELTING "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. Yep. Celine Dion somehow found her way into my English class. And he seriously.......sang it out. I didnt even know what to do. I was like...I can't even handle this. Should I laugh? Should I just leave the room? I was baffled. (truth be told, he wasn't a bad singer, but the Khmer accent on top of the ridiculousness of the whole situation was just a little too much for me to handle). 

On a more unfortuante topic, Sis Cloud and I have been working with this one less-active named Ming Sokkma. Our lesson with her yesterday seriously just took the cake. We were riding off and sister cloud goes, "IS SHE NOT THE MOST FRUSTRATING PERSON YOU HAVE EVER MET?!" The really unfortunate part is the fact that she is Ming Siyan's neighbor, our family investigator, and the only way Ming Siyan gets to church is if Ming Sokkma goes to church and she's......well........less active. She tends to make a lot of excuses and frankly, she just lies to us a lot.  So anyway, sis cloud and I are planning a lesson for her one day, and we're just sitting at our desks in total silence because we dont know what to do with her, and after a loooooooong moment of silence, sis cloud just busts out with " 'AND THE LIAR SHALL BE THRUST DOWN TO HELL"...................I think thats the first scripture we should share with her."  That girl cracks me up. I'm honestly wayy sad shes leaving. I thought for sure we'd be companions for another transfer. (Correct me if im wrong: scriptural jokes like that are probably only funny to missionaries.)

Anyway, I think I will save my investigator updates for next week, since transfers hijacked this email. Next week i'll know for sure who my new companions are going to be (sister fife is pretty set in stone...not sure about the third person). 

Okay well I love you guys and miss you a bunch!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUT TO FERBUS!!!!! Things are going really well and Im stoked to still be in Battambang! It's gonna be a good week! Love love love you!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Davis

Spiritual thought about keeping covenants:

Read Doctrine and Covenants 25:13 and here's a quote from Barbara something (forgot to write down her name) from the RS Presidency:

"Keeping covenants is true joy and happiness. This is comfort and peace. This is protection from the evils of the world. Keeping covenants will help us in our times of trial."

Remember the covenants you have made with the Lord and keep your end of the bargain! He is sure to bless you. In the words of Uchtdrof:

" I know for sure that the promises of the Lord, if perhaps not always swift, are always certain." 

 ​Sis Cloud and I found a cool hippie restaurant that has hammocks outside! PS while we were there guess who we ran into: OUR MANCHESTER FRIEND. surprise surprise: he was more sunburned than before and shockingly not as chipper at 11 am as we was during happy hour.

 Me and sister fife. Just hanging. She's my new compy!!!!

​I dont even know what the cambodian peoples party is. probably something communist. but these signs are everywhere in this country. and I figured, hey why not take a picture even though I look like poop and im wearing a dress that looks like an aztec threw up on it. (it was $3 okay, dont condemn me).