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).