Monday, June 23, 2014

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. 

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