Diabeetusss

I just want to make an announcement up front: I WILL have diabetes when I come home. You wanna know the secret to Khmer cooking? 4 pounds of sugar. In EVERYTHING. And then add some sweetened condensed milk if thats not enough. Last night Sister Fife enjoyed the classic Khmer snack of bread dipped in sweetened condensed milk. Nope, they really love to eat that here. And then when you run out of bread, you just eat the sweetened condensed milk on its own. Meanwhile, my hypoglycemic companion looks on, eatin some cabbage. Poor thing. Remember that time in my life when I had absolutely NO sweet-tooth? Those days are long gone. Diabeetus. (sorry that joke is about 400 years old, i know.)

Anyway, I had another AWESOME week. Our family of investigators is progressing well, along with our other investigators, and we also picked up two more referrals of people who want to learn at church yesterday. After being in Tuolkork (aka the static-y deadspot of my mission) for 3 looooong months, the work is starting to pick up again. I'm super stoked to be here right now.

Wanna know why else I'm super stoked to be here? STAKES HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY ORGANIZED IN CAMBODIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We officially have the Cambodia Phnom Penh North Stake and the Cambodia Phnom Penh South Stake. President Moon sent us the email to inform us of the stake presidents and everything. Cambodia now officially has 10 functioning wards! I almost cried when I read that. I wanna send you guys an excerpt from the email we got from President Moon: 

"There are more than 4,000 Saints in Cambodia that now enjoy the blessing of living in a Stake of Zion...What a longed for, prayed for, worked for, and anticipated day for our members here.  Today we organized the Phnom Penh Cambodia North Stake and Phnom Penh Cambodia South Stake...In the North conference Sister Gong shared a brief testimony and thanked the choir.  She told how almost 20 years ago she and Elder Gong were living in Washington DC and were assigned to help with a branch full of Cambodian Saints that were transplants from the refugee camps in Thailand.  She related how she had been called as the chorister for Relief Society.  She tried to lead the music but no one would sing.  Finally after a couple of weeks she asked them— why won't you sing?  Are there any songs you know?  They said— we are afraid to sing.  It was dangerous to sing for us.  During the Khmer Rouge time anyone that sang would be killed.  So they didn't sing and were afraid to.  She then said how much her heart was filled with joy today to hear the Cambodian Saints and the choir singing the songs of Zion and singing praises to the Lord.  It was very touching...I testify that this is the work of the Lord.  He is in charge and leads the church and its leaders through inspiration.  The gospel is true.  It brings joy and happiness to those who will accept and live it.  Two elders at the North Stake Center today introduced me to a less active woman in their branch (now ward) that had not come to church for more than 12 years.  But she heard about what was happening and came today.  It has been a glorious Sabbath day in Cambodia."

Sorry that was a little longer than I was expecting it to be, but it was just such a dang good email. Brought tears to my eyes. It isnt until moments like that that I realize how attached i have become to this place and these people. I am so incredibly grateful to be serving here. 

Another great story about teaching the people here: Ming Siyan. My fav. This week we taught her about tithing. As you can imagine, teaching some of the poorest people in the world that they have to pay ten percent of their miniscule income is less than pleasant sometimes. Ming Siyan cant even afford a bike, and on top of that her daughter is really sick right now. She's definitely struggling. But when we were teaching her, I asked her: "Do you believe that God has enough power to help you through these problems?" Her response was not at all what I was expecting: "I don't know yet, but I will try." PRAISE THE HEAVENS ABOVE. This is exactly the type of investigator I have been dreaming of. Not only was it honest, but it also showed her willingness to "experiment on the word." Too often, I have those investigators that promise to keep commitments and then they don't, or they say that they understand when they really have no idea whats going on. Ming Siyan's response showed me that she is honest about where her faith is right now, but that she does indeed have faith enough that she's willing to give principles like tithing a chance and see if God will bless her. She heard Jesus Christ's name for the first time not even one month ago. But she knows she has faith enough to do something as difficult as paying tithing, even when she can barely afford to take care of her family. What an incredible example. These people teach me so much more than I teach them. 

You wanna know why else I love the members here? Because they show us so much love back. We went to teach a member here and her daughter just had a baby about 2-3 days before. Her daughter isn't even a member! But the people here are so kind and respectful and loving that when we walked in to teach this person, the daughter who just gave birth said to us, "Sisters! I want you to give my baby an American name." And she was SERIOUS. She had already given her child a Khmer name, but often times Khmers have an English name as well. And she asked US to pick the name. how cool is that?! We picked Aaron. It was so cool. (PS this baby weighed 2 kilos aka like less than 5 pounds and they were like "oh he's so big!" and I was like.......no. impossible. Cambodians are tiny.)

Also in a moment of sheer genius this week, I threw our house keys and got them stuck on the roof. Huzzah. initially, Sister Cloud was NOT pleased with me. (meanwhile Sister Fife was standing on our balcony and laughing her head off, and Sister Hem just goes, "Sister Daiveee AYYY!") But we laugh about it now. Especially after we had to hold a less-than-stable Khmer-made "ladder" and watched our tiny little Khmer landlady climb onto the tin roof to go grab them for us. at 5:30 am. The best was having to explain it to her in the first place: "Maybe the sisters are a little crazy and maybe they got their keys stuck on the roof...." 

Oh ALSO guess what I did this week! I harvested peanuts! heres why I'm so excited about that: If you remember correctly, my very first service project when it was still my first week in the country was to PLANT peanuts. And I finally got to harvest some! So it looks like my mission has officially come full circle. #metaphors PS I now know why the literally Khmer translation for peanut is "dirt bean" : So. Much. Dirt. I looked like the dusty kid from the Peanuts (no pun intended. That was just a hilariously wonderful coincidence. McKenna would be proud to know that I'm still capable of making a pun). 

And to finish, a lovely quote from Sister Cloud, who was in the process of complaining about our burning hot bike seats that had been left out in the scorching Cambodian sun during a lesson: 

"I'm toastin my biscuits over here...talk about 'hot cross buns'."

--> aaaaalmost fell off my bike laughing so hard (again.)

Okay thats all for this week! I love you guys SOOOOOO much! Miss you tons! Peace out, botpisaot!

Love, Sister Davis

Scriptures I liked this week: 

Doctrine and Covenants 67:13, 19:16-19, 19:38

And Psalms 27. You all know thats my favorite. I reread it pretty often.

Keep on reading the Book of Mormon all the way through! 

Eating with the members after service. Sister Fife, Me (in Elder Plothow's hat) and Sister Peterson. Did I tell you guys that Sister Peterson is with me here in BB?? MTC comps reunite!

Cool rickety bridge We went to after service. I wish I couldve gotten a better angle for you guys, but there were too many trees in the way. 

​Me and Sister Dy (sis peterson's comp). Shes super adorable. 

​Aaaaaand this would be a sign that I found to be quite funny - reminding people to not stand in top of the toilet and squat. ( or sit backwards). *sigh* the problem with countries that still mainly use squatter-toilets #onlyincambodia

So a Brit and a "Canadian" walk into a bar...

Good story: Sister Cloud and I leave our bikes at a members house to go out and to some "walking and talking" aka contacting aka stalking and trapping into corners those unassuming Cambodians and making them listen to stories about Jesus. 

So we walk by this restaurant that Sister Cloud has been meaning to take me to and we're just looking at the menu, and this guy sitting at a table outside goes, "You've got badges." And we're like...yeah. We're missionaries! So he's clearly got an accent, and I guessed he was from Scotland and it turns out he was from Manchester, England (sorry Daddy, I know i failed you there) (PS I'm still really ashamed because I used to be able to tell the difference between those accents) (PPS when I said Scotland he got a look of disgust on his face and i knew immediately without him telling me that that meant he's from England). ANYWAY. He and his Canadian friend have just had a few too many pints of that Cambodian beer and start railing in on us. The Canadian is going on about how Buddhists are wonderful and Christ never really existed and then something about a prostitute, meanwhile, the guy from Manchester doesn't even care that he's interrupting and is asking us random annoying things like "WHY DO WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WHEN JESUS WAS BORN IN APRIL?" and "THE MONTH OF OCTOBER IS NAMED AFTER CAESAR AUGUSTUS".........................thanks for that little tidbit of information (which is also wrong. Pretty sure the month of AUGUST is named after Augustus, jeenyus).So sister Cloud and I were both like.....k. you're drunk. We politely defended ourselves (mostly sister cloud did because i was steaming and was really eager to start an argument like the old Chloe would have but i refrained since i have Christ's name pinned on me) and we wished them a good day and kept on walking. 

The whole story is actually much longer and much more interesting than that basic info I just gave you, but it was a really cool experience. It helped me realize a lot of things. 1) Daddy is completely justified in hating everything north of London (nobody likes you, Manchester).  and 2) I now know why I was sent to Cambodia. Because if I was in Europe I'd just argue with everyone. People in Cambodia are wayyy more sloat. Easygoing and humble. And they give us 10 kilos of mangoes every week. I love Cambodians. After that little experience, I finally realized just how much I love the Cambodian people and how incredibly grateful I am to be serving them. 

So speaking of the Cambodians that I am currently serving, Sister Cloud and I were lucky enough to get a bunch of new investigators this week. Do you remember my investigator who brought her son to church? Well it turns out she has THREE kids, and now we're teaching them ALL. Her name is Ming Siyan and she is so awesome. She wanted all of her kids to start learning and they've all agreed to be baptized. She has a 22 year old daughter, a 14 year old son and a 9 year old son (who im positive has ADD, but hes adorable so I let it slide). This is the first family I've taught since I've been on my mission! I'm so so so excited to finally be teaching a family. Truth is, the husband is sort of out of the picture. Plus we also know that he's an abusive drunk (way more common here than you'd like to know) so obviously we're not teaching him. From what Sister Cloud and I understand, the parents are separated, but things like that are really fuzzy in Cambodia so its a little more confusing than that. Anyway, Ming Siyan and all her kids came to church yesterday (they come every week and its incredible because they actually dont even have a moto or a bike or enough money to get a ride, but they somehow find a way every week). So sister cloud asks ming siyan "hey are you gonna stay for the second and third hour of church?" and Ming Siyan goes "No sorry we can't! My husband was drunk so I took his moto and we gotta get it back before he realizes it's gone!" Just as cheery as ever. a CLASSIC cambodian investigator. Comments like that dont even surprise me anymore. Other than that, she is wonderful and her family is progressing well. We're hoping they'll get baptized sometime in June. SO SABAY.

In other news, Sister Cloud and I realized exactly how far we bike in our area. Just so you know, this is the largest area I've ever been in since I've been on my mission. IT'S GIGANTIC. Anyway, we have this huge map on the wall in our bedroom of the area and after a particularly long day, sister cloud and i were tracking where we had biked and we realized we had biked so far.....that we biked off the map. Not outside of our area, because thats against the rules, but the map doesnt cover our whole area. and we biked so far that where we went wasnt even covered on the map. literally biked OFF THE MAP. I dont even want to know how many kilos that is. But on the bright side, Sister Cloud and I have found a delightful way to pass the time: we sing VeggieTales! You should see the look on the Cambodian cow herders faces when two random white girls bike by them in the middle of freaking NOWHERE bouncing up and down and singing these songs. Not that they can understand what we're saying. 

OH i almost forgot: another really cool thing that happened yesterday: LOOKRUU OLESON CAME TO BATTAMBANG!!! My teacher from the MTC!!!!! He served in Battambang for like 7 months when we served his mission and he just got married so he came to my branch and I got to talk to him for a while! It was soooooo awesome. I miss my lookkruus so much. And it was so weird because when we were in the MTC, he would go off on rants in Khmer and we would all be like.................huh? Literally did not understand a word he said. But when he started speaking in Khmer, I totally got everything he said! It was so cool. It's the first time I've really been able to gauge how my language has progressed.

Anyway, thats pretty much all for this week. It was a really really good week! We taught a lot of lessons and had almost 100 contacts! I know thats probably puny compared to other missions in other places, but thats the most ive ever had on my mission so im stoked about it! 

I love you guys and miss you a ton! Keep on keepin on! See you soon!

Love, Sister Davis

PS Really awesome quote by Uchtdorf that I read this week:

"Sometimes we become impatient with where we are in our journey, don’t we? If you are 12 years old, you might wish you were 14. At 14, you might wish you were 18. And at 18, occasionally you might even wish you were 12 again and could start all over.

There will always be things to complain about—things that don’t seem to go quite right. You can spend your days feeling sad, alone, misunderstood, or unwanted. But that isn’t the journey you had hoped for, and it’s not the journey Heavenly Father sent you to take.

With this in mind, I invite you to walk confidently and joyfully. Yes, the road has bumps and detours and even some hazards. But don’t focus on them. Look for the happiness your Father in Heaven has prepared for you in every step of your journey. Happiness is the destination, but it’s also the path. “Peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” is what He promises. That is why He commands us to "be of good cheer." 

 ​LOOKRUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such a great day. I'm so happy i got to see him. im gonna smiling for the rest of the week.

                                                   ​Just your regular trip to the crocodile farm.

 Baby crocodile! Sorry i know i look like im choking it but you have to hold it that way or else it can bite you.

​This day we went for a ride on the "bamboo train" they put a bed frame on wheels and stick it on a railroad track and then you get to ride through a really pretty part of battambang. Thats me and sister cloud with Elder and Sister Zemp, the senior couple

The Legend of Bo Phaa

I've decided that my subject lines are pretty much just for me. If I tried to explain them to you, you wouldnt find them funny at all. So, the Legend of Bo Phaa will forever remain a mystery. (Don't worry its not that interesting). 

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.

STAKES!!!!

The big news just came in!!!!! Ready? Drumroll please......

CAMBODIA IS OFFICIALLY ORGANIZING ITS FIRST STAKE!!!!!!

Technically 2 new stakes! Phnom Penh North and Phnom Penh South. I'm bummed I got transferred out of Phnom Penh right before the stakes are organized, but I'm still so happy!

This is HUGE NEWS!!! Getting a stake is a big deal. The church has been in Cambodia for 20 years now, and it's finally being recognized as an actual stake because we finally have enough members and enough organization. And I am one of the lucky few who actually gets to be in the country when it happens. I have often complained at the lack of organization the church has here. It's no one's fault, it's just that all the members here are new and dont really know how to run a ward or stake the way we do in America or in more developed countries. BUT the beauty of a stake is that it brings a lot of organization with it. The church here is going to progress a TON now that we're officially being organized as a stake, and I'm super pumped. I can't believe how lucky I am to be in this country at this exciting time! This is a huge milestone! GO CAMBODIA!

Okay so....................I'm in Battambang!! Seriously, I. LOVE. BATTAMBANG. This is everyone's favorite place to serve and I can totally see why. It's like Kampong Cham only a little MOREYou still get some rural places here, but they also have a bunch of good restaurants and American stuff. Por ejemplo, (or in khmer) utihah muay: All the missionaries in BB (like maybe 8 of us) are going to an Indian restaurant for lunch! I havent had Indian food in FOREVER. theyve also got a couple cafes and american restaurants. So its basically Kampong Cham only I'm not drowning in rice. 

Here's the bad news: Yesterday President Moon decided I should be the English Class leader in Battambang. MAJOR WOMP. I told myself right before i got transferred that if I made it through my whole mission without being an English Class leader, I would consider my mission a success. Not that I dont want responsibility or anything, but English class is so stressful just being a teacher. I guess you guys dont know much about english class do you? My bad. The missionaries teach a free english class at the church every wednesday night. Only the American missionaries teach: the Khmer missionaries are actually students themselves, but they help us plan and prepare and stuff. I kind of knew based on the missionaries in BB right now that it would end up being me. Some of them have already been the leader, some are too new, etc....I have no idea what the english class is like here either so it will be difficult to get started. but Sister Cloud will help me a lot, I'm sure.

Sister Cloud is great too. She's been really great with helping me become familiar with the area. She even gives me tips on how to interact with some of the members here so I know how to get them to like me. one of those priceless little tidbits was to actually open up my mouth and TALK to the members. Like be friendly and stuff. Crazy huh? No but really, that's always been a rough spot for me. I'm still really shy with the language (which I know I shouldnt be because its pretty obvious from the second they see me that HEY IM WHITE AND I DONT SPEAK KHMER) so anyway, I usually am smiley and try to be friendly and ask how they are but I rarely get to know them on a deeper basis because I'm afraid I'll ask a question and that, ya know, they'll actually respond. People in KC and Tuolkork didnt really have a problem with it, and I still had really good friendships with the members there. BUT it was a goal of mine to be more open and friendly so I've been seriously taking myself out of my comfort zone and forcing myself to have real conversations with people. Especially here in Battambang, it's really important for the missionaries to have good relationships with the members, so thats my goal for this transfer.

Oh also....I'm finally living in a house with other sisters! My whole mission so far, I've lived alone with my companion. Which is fine, but I'm really excited to live with other people too! The other sisters are in BB 3rd branch, and their names are Sister Hem (a khmer whos super nice and a great missionary) and Sister Fife. Sister Fife just finished her training and she is AWESOME. She can literally quote Nacho Libre backwards and forwards and last night she made the Nacho Libre face (you know the one) and thats when I realized......I've found my eternal companion. Honestly, she's hilarious. We also live in the same house as the senior couple, Elder and Sister Zemp. They live on the bottom floor and we live two floors up. Last night they invited us downstairs to eat ice cream with them while we did our language study. So they're great. 

It was hard for me to leave Tuokork because i absolutely adored the members there, and I also miss Sister Kohler like CRAZY. Shes back in America by now. how weird? BUT I think this transfer was a really good decision on President's part and I'm super stoked to be here.

Anyway, Ive only been in BB for three days so I dont have much to report, but I have a feeling i will soon. I LOVE BATTAMBANG! It's going to be such a good transfer guys. I can feel it. 

Daoy seckdei srolan,

Sister Davis

These pictures are all from my last few days in tuolkork. My last picture with SIs Kohler!!!

 My last picture with Om Sokha!!! I already miss this crazy old woman. Just for the record, right before this picture was taken, Om's parting words for us as we were saying goodbye was (to sister kohler, who she knew was going back to america): "When you go home, tell President Thomas S Monson that I need to borrow 5,000 dollars." Solid.

                              Boro's family. They were less-actives that I loved to go and teach.

                                                  Ming Srei's family! Sdaay naah!

                            Chendaa. One of my favorite memebers in Tuolkork. Shes so stinkin adorable,

                                 Bong Combei and her husband, Ming Phaa, and the twins Mei and Mian

                     Am I so happy to be back in a province? I am SOO HAPPY to be back in a province!!!

                                                        My new companion SIster Cloud

Battambang or Bust

And once again, transfer calls literally blow everyone out of the water. I'm leaving Tuolkork. Whaaaaaaatt???? I know it's probably hard to understand since you guys don't know much about the areas here or how transfers work so you're probably all like, "okay, shes leaving tuolkork. no biggie." WELL LET ME TELL YOU: its a biggie. First of all, I literally JUST whitewashed this area barely two transfers ago. And Sis Kohler finishes her mission this friday so shes not going to be in tuolkork, so we assumed i would stay to lead the area again. But no....President Moon decided to just take sisters out of the area. He's splitting up Elder Schleede and Elder Sorensen and giving each of them new companions so now tuolkork is going to just have two sets of elders. I JUST whitewashed this place man, come on. I cannot explain through email exactly what a big deal it is that im leaving. Its completely crazy. 

But guess what else???? I'M GOING BACK TO THE PROVINCES!!! I'm headed to Battambang! I want to parade through the street of Phnom Penh with a fanfare. I LOVE the provinces. The city is cool and you can buy lots of stuff (which reminds me to tell you that my bank account is gonna get a break after I went crazy buying stuff in the city. oops.) and the mission home is here and all the missionaries are here too. But everyone knows the provinces are where its at. Especially Battambang. Battambang is everyones favorite because the missionary work there is always on fire. I'm so stoked. My new companion is another American, her name is Sister Cloud. I've met her once before. So I'll meet up with her (shes in Battambang already) and we'll take the 6-hour busride to Battambang together on Friday. I cant wait. I already get to serve in two provinces and my mission is still in its first half. THere are some people in my group who havent even been to a province yet, so im really lucky. Battambang or bust! 

PS for those of you who are like Mrs Thomas, its pronounces baattam-bong, not bottom-bang haha.

Anyway, so today is sister kohler's last pday. We're hitting up all the major phsaas today because shes going back to AMERICA on friday!!! How crazy is that?!?! Being someones last companion is so weird because theyre always like "oh the mission flies by!" and youre just sitting there like.........ive still got ten months left. but i still believe her. when that day comes for me at the end of my mission its gonna be so weird. itll go by in the blink of an eye.

I have more great news! I finally found a big book of REAL Khmer food recipes. One of the members in Kampong Thom, her name is Sophol, she put together a big book of her recipes for things like chaa and kaa and curry and a bunch of other foods i havent even told you guys about. So I will OFFICIALLY be able to make you guys genuine, super yummy Khmer food, straight from the source: a real khmer. Ive had two khmer comps and I always meant to learn how to cook from them, but i was always too tired to actually want to cook. So get excited. You're going to be eating a lot of rice when I come home.

Oooooh sidenote: turns out this whole time when I've been trying to say the word "student" in Khmer ive actually been saying the word "horse." Suh vs. seh. My english class horses were probably really offended. 

And then also, Sister Kohler and I just found out the word for "squid." Its pronounced "yee-hoo" and neither one of us can say it without cracking up.

SOO last p-day I went to the Royal Palace. Its where the king lives, or im pretty sure where he used to live. its a big tourist attraction. Super cool. I went with sister thain and her companion. Ive got a ton of pictures of that for you. But as per usual, they were totally trying to rip off the foreigners (classic cambodia). First of all, its 25 cents for a Khmer to get into the royal palace. $6.25 for a foreigner. Huzzah. And then on top of that, they were selling cool fabric near the exit and noramlly at the phsaa you can buy one sompuet of fabric for about $7. Sister Thain asked the lady at the royal palace how much they were selling it for and the lady goes "Hoksep dolla." Hoksep means SIXTY. Sister Thain was HILARIOUS. She literally yelled out, "HOKSEP?!?! Well....I'm just gonna 'hoksep' over here" and she just turned around and walked out. That was a week ago and Im still laughing about it. 

Oh here;s a major bummer from this week. Sister Kohler and I got our helmets stolen. I'm still bristling over it. They basically dont wear helmets here, so you can bet that im not gonna find an American quality helmet here. My new one doesnt fit my head well, the strap already broke and I just look like a downright fool in it. My old helmet was pink and white and so easy to see! I loved my helmet! It was the weirdest thing when I realized I actually MISSED my helmet. I miss my helmet you guys. I'm losin it. Still...I had that helmet for half of my mission! I'm still way upset about it. Though it was probably my own fault for leaving out on my bike at night on one of cambodias main streets.

Why were we at one of cambodias main streets at night, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. We were watching the priesthood session of general conference!!!! and it was SO GOOOOOD. During the big meeting last week, President Moon said, "I want the sisters to watch the priesthood session of general conference because it applies very well to the power that you sisters have as missionaries." President Moon is awesome, because that session of GC was amazing. Is that what the priesthood session is always like?! Because I've been missing out! You guys should go watch it online like we did if you havent seen it. Super goood. I took like 6 pages of notes.

OH MAN. I almost forgot. A bird totally pooped on me this week. We were riding our bikes and I almost crashed into sister kohler when I realized it. I was NOT pleased. But its okay, because im pretty sure McKenna has been pooped on like 6 times already right?

Well, thats most of the stuff I have from this past week. Can you believe Im going back to the provinces?! Ugh I cant wait. BUT that does mean we're back to the scarce mailing system. Packages and letters may take months to get to me. So keep that in mind.

Some spiritual thoughts: I really liked what Uchtdorf said during the Priesthood session. He made a comparison to our life on earth and Rip Van Winkle. When our time on earth is almsot done, will you be able to look back and say that you used your time wisely? How did you contribute? Don't sleep through your time here on earth; use it effectively!

Also, this one is SOMKHAN MEINTEIN, SO SO SO IMPORTANT. I want you guys to read the Book of Mormon. All the way through. Beginning to end. Take as much time as you need, but take it seriously. Read it, think about it, take notes. You will get out of it what you put into it. Dont think of it as a big challenge. Just do a little bit every day.  It'll change everything for you. Theres a reason we have it! In Preach My Gospel, it urges us not to take the Book of Mormon for granted. And we are prmised that as we read, "there will come into [our] hearts the Spirit of the Lord. There will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments." Nothing makes me feel better than reading the scriptures. Thats my request for you guys! 

Okay mian tae ponnung! This was a really good week! And I'm SO excited for everything that lies ahead! I love you guys so much and miss you a ton! 

Love, Sister Davis (Chlobo, Chol, Chololo, Lolo, etc)

 Some pictures of us in a flooded street....aaaaaand its not even the rainy season yet.

Suesdai Chnam Thmei!

Suesdai Chnam Thmei = Happy New Year!

Today officially commences the three-day celebration for Khmer New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!

And guess what?!?!?!

Khmer New Year is THE WHIPS. And I dont use that term lightly.

The Cambodian New Year is hands down the BIGGEST holiday of the year here, and people literally put their whole lives on hold to celebrate. Everyone stops working, stops doing anything and basically they just hole themselves up at home with their families for three days straight. And heres the kicker: they dont just "stay at home." They go all the way back to their homeland, or their home province which is 99.999% of the time NOT Phnom Penh. We call this "going srok"("srok"means country, but they use it to refer to the provinces as well). 

"Sister Davis what happened to all your investigators?"

"They all went srok." --> Means WE HAVE NOBODY TO MEET WITH. Literally. Khmer New Year is the most unproductive three days in a Cambodian missionary's 2/1.5 years of service. Phnom Penh has to be one of the busiest most crowded, most trafficky cities in the world and it is currently a ghost town. All the shops are shut down, locked up, closed. No one on the streets. We had to search high and low to find this super sketchy internet cafe that im currently in because all the other ones were closed.

 

President Moon even told us that this wednesday, the last day of Khmer New Year, we should just spend the whole day deep-cleaning our apartments. And tomorrow we have an all-day meeting for the missionaries. It's completely useless to go out proselyting. Have I sufficiently explained what a big deal Khmer New Year is?

Needless to say, this past weekend when Cambodia got to watch General Conference, almost NO ONE came. Super sad. Like, yeah theres a prophet of God speaking this weekend.........eh I can afford to miss that. EXCEPT WAIT HOLD UP a single solitary ONE of my investigators came. Shes a brand new investigator, I had only met her once and she totes came to watch general conference. She is seriously SO AWESOME. Probably one of the best investigators Ive ever had. Shes super smart and her only desire in her life is to just do the right thing and be a good person. She said she wants to learn about our church because every time she meets with the missionaries or walks into our church building or talks to the members she just feels so good inside and she knows shes surrounded by "goodness.: So yeah....shes stinkin awesome. Her name is Srei Oun. Love her already.

Speaking of general conference though. AMAZING. I usually have a favorite speaker and its usually pretty obvious, but this year it was harder for me to pick. I studied my notes for a long time and decided that Elder Perry was my favorite. Hes usually not up there for me but I LOVED his talk this year on obedience. If we have faith in God and trust that He has a plan for us, we will be obedient and do what He asks of us because we know that He can make far more of our life than we can on our own. Loved it. The obvious otherswere Holland, Uchtdorf and Bednar (no surprise there). I also really loved Gary Stevenson's talk. This life is your four minutes! They have already begun and the clock is ticking! Are you using your four minutes wisely? You never know when your four minutes will be up. Never delay the things you know you have to do. 

I also went on an exchange this week with Sister Homer's comp, the other sister training leader. Her name is Sister Melton and she is HILARIOUS. one of my favorite people in the whole mission. She is seriously so awesome. Super fun, but also such a hard-working and obedient missionary. We had a blast on our exchange. At the end of the exchange, when we were evaluating together, we were talking about how sometimes we're not sure if we're being effective as missionaries because we're not good at the language and Cambodia is a hard place to be teaching about Jesus Christ, so sometimes we feel like "whats the point?" And Sister Melton said something that changed my whole mission. I told her, "I dont know the language very well and i still feel like i dont really know what im doing, so I know that there are tons of other missionaries who could take my place, and teach the people im teaching right now, and they could do a much better job of it too. Its not like these people are depending on me. This elder or that sister could do a much better job than i could, so sometimes i feel ineffective." And she literally just whipped around and turned right to me and was like "Dont EVER think that way." And then this is the part that changed my mission. She said, "Im not great at the language. I dont know as much as these other missionaries about the gospel. But these people dont need perfect teachers. they need someone to love them. Could that other elder teach my investigators better and more clearly? Certainly. But I am sure that no one in the world could love them better than I do." I had never thought about that before. I LOVE my investigators, no matter who they are. And I want nothing more for them to be happy. Missions are not about being the best at the language or knowing the most about the gospel. Its about loving, and showing Christ-like love to others.All we are asked is to serve others with all of our "heart, might mind and strength." By doing that, you fulfill your purpose as a missionary. So thats my missionary lesson of the week.

Quick question though: last week i saw two movies and I want to know if they were actually big, because they both came out after I left and obviously ive never heard of them. 1) Mandela. Looks like a biopic of nelson mandelas life. Yea or nay? and 2) Mr.Pip. Starring Hugh Laurie. and i think we all know how i feel about hugh laurie. Yea or nay? 

Also do you guys know the song "What does the fox say?" Cuz its huge here.

Heres your weekly Om Sokha story: We were telling her that conference was coming up, and we were teaching her how to say President Monson's full name (which cambodians seriously struggle with. You have to make up word games and acronymns and stuff to help them remember). Om Sokha had her own method: She made up a song. Just started singing on the spot. "Thomaaaaa EHHHHh Mooooonsooon. Cia Pyiakarei (is a prohpet) ....." and then like five minutes more that i dont remember.

So anyway, all last week was people preparing for Khmer New Year, then general conference, and now people are gone for Khmer New Year so it wasnt a very eventful week.

Quick funny quote from sister homer: "I have discovered that a well-placed 'meow' will go a long way." (...............no idea.)

Also read Colossians chapter 3!!!! ALL OF IT!!!!

Peace out.

Love, Sister Davis

PS you may have also taken notice of Elder Ballard's talk, since he talked about missionary work and suggested members start reading Preach My Gosepl. I would like to draw your attention to this little snippit: "Can you imagine the impact if family and friends included things they are learning from their personal study of Preach My Gospel in their letters and emails to their full-time missionaries? Can you picture the blessings that will come to families when they know and understand better what their sons and daughters will be studying and teaching on their missions?"

Ahem. Need I say more? I have actually been thinking about telling you guys this for a while, but I just kept on forgetting. Cant really ignore it now that Elder Ballard has spoken up. I believe Phoebe bought all of us copies of Preach My Gospel many years ago, because shes awesome. Find it. Read it. Its not just for missionary work. PMG taught me A TON of things about the church and the gospel in general that I didnt even know before my mission. Its cool. DO IT.

This is another one of my very new investigators. Her name is Ming Touch. Shes really great. Already committed to baptism.

Also....I know. My hair.

A picture of Sister Kohler, Sister Homer, myself and SIster Melton after our exchange. It had just started raining before we got to the church so we all look like poo (except for sis homer, because she always looks like a model).

THIS IS OM SOKHA!!!! Arent you glad you can picture her now? I went to teach her the day of the exchange, when i was with sister melton. and obviously sister melton didnt know om sokha so we got in that lesson and sister melton was looking at me the whole time like "are you serious?!" At the end of the lesson she was taking videos and pictures of this woman because she could not believe how insane this lady is. Totally nuts. Totally love her.

This was another tukgae we ran into in the church. I know this picture does not at all show you how big it was but it was.....big. Certainly well over a foot long. Theyre about the size of iguanas only they are terrifying. It moves at the speed of lightning. Im surprised i was able to get this picture.

RIP Tukgae

Okay so remember last week when I emailed you about the tukgae? It's the really big obnoxious lizard that makes a weird noise and that people are deathly afraid of. Well, like I said, there is one tukgae that just hangs out in our neighborhood. I hear it every night. I kid you not, maybe two days after I sent you that email, Sister Kohler and I walked down the stairs outside of our apartment and what did we find? The HEAD of a tukgae. It literally looks like someone just chopped its head off with a knife. It was the whole neck and the head just at the bottom of our steps, being attacked by ants. It was super nasty. But don't worry I got a picture of it for you guys. Obviously the picture doesn't give you a great idea how big it is, but if you ask for my humble opinion, I would tell you its approximately the size of a basilisk. (Laugh now, but just wait until you see the picture. It's weird how accurate that description is).

So this week we had zone training. That's when the zone leaders (for the North District Zone that is Elder Schleede and Sorensen) go have a meeting with President Moon and he gives them some direction for the missionaries and then we have a big long meeting conducted by the zone leaders where they relay that info from President Moon. And let me tell you.....it was a DOOZY. There were a ton of crazy things that were brought up in the meeting, but the one I wanna talk about is the 212 degree program that President Moon introduced. (there;s a metaphor behind the title of the program but I don't really have the time to explain it. Its a good one though). One of the points of the program that I found really interesting was this outline for missionary expectations: 20 lessons per week, 10 contacts per day, 2 baptism per companionship per month. I was pretty surprised to see that last one. 2 baptisms per companionship PER month is a lot. Especially in the area where I am right now. At first I kind of blanched at that and thought that it would encourage missionaries to baptize people who weren't ready, which is obviously not good. But then I was reminded of a quote I heard a while ago when I was in Kampong Cham: "You catch them, He will clean them." It was in reference to Christ's invitation to "Be ye therefore fishers of men."  It's my job to find and teach to the best of my abilities, and then God will do the rest. But Tuolkork is definitely a rough area to be in. Even Sister Kohler said that she's never been in an area this hard in her entire mission. And I'm not gonna lie, it's been a rough transition to go from Kampong Cham to here. I've got a lot less investigators and there are times when we don't have many people to teach, which brings me to my next point: CONTACTING.

If you dont know, contacting is that classic missionary thing that everyone pictures when they think about missionaries: going up to a rando on the street and being like "hey, do you know Jesus?" Though hopefully a little more creative than that. Anyway, we go contacting when we have nothing else to do, like no one else to teach. And let me just throw this out there: before I came to Tuolkork, I had not once, not EVER gone contacting. That's right people, I'm barely a missionary. I had NEVER gone contacting before I came to the city. I always had someone to teach, whether an investigator or a recent convert or a less-active. But now in this new program, we're expected to get 10 contacts a day, which is TERRIFYING to most of the missionaries here. People were sitting in zone training being like, "how are we gonna do that?" We're a suuuuuper low contacting mission and President Moon was like, ok that needs to change. So Sister Kohler and I have been doing that and guess what? It's not that hard! My personal preference is to buy something and then contact the seller. Its wayyy less awkward that way and they kind of have to be nice to you since you're giving them money. Plus in Cambodia people just sell whatever they want on the side of the street so you dont even have to go into a store. You just stop your bike. On the downside, I'm gonna go broke. Anyway, it's definitely getting me out of my shell and pushing me out of my comfort zone, but it's making me feel more accomplished as a missionary.

It just occurred to me right this very second that there's actually a huge aspect of my mission that I don't think I've ever told you guys: Cambodia is a non-tracting mission. Tracting is when you go door to door to contact people. It's kind of a symbol of missionary work, but the Cambodian government doesn't allow us to do that. Which probably works out just fine anyway, because a lot of people don't really have doors............? I can't tell you how many times I've been in a situation where they've like closed the curtain (or a door if they have one) to their house and my companion and I just don't know what to do. Most people leave it open so when we come to a "closed house" we're like.....what do we do now? Do we knock? I don't think knocking on doors is a thing here. If that does happen usually you just stand outside and yell "Ming ay!" or "Bong ay!" or whatever their name is, ming, bong or om or whatever.

But anyway, back to the zone meeting. When we were talking about contacting Elder Duffy, who was in my MTC group and is hilarious just pipes up and goes, "Bikes are free game yo! Let me tell you: they are a captive audience! The most they can do is turn....and then you can just follow them!" We were all cracking up at that because its kind of true. *disclaimer: missionaries do not chase people down the street against their will*

On that topic, I got McKenna's weekly email from Mrs. Thomas and was laughing about her comments about biking. I remember very vividly being that missionary who can't ride a bike, running into stationary objects and overall just making a fool of myself. My bike squeaks too McKenna. But I can say that I have drastically improved my biking skills. Last Monday I was with Sister Litchfield and we were talking about riding with no hands. I've been working on this for while but haven't quite mastered it. so i was like, "I can only do it for about 10 seconds and then I just start to veer off into the middle of the street (hello phnom penh traffic). I think my bike is faulty." Of course my thought process being that maybe, like a car, I need to have my tires realigned. And sister Litchfield's response?  Laughing at my very serious comment she goes, "Shut up Sister Davis, your bike isn't faulty, YOU are faulty!" Gotta love that brutal honesty from Sister Litchfield. I miss hanging out with that girl a ton.

Overall it wasn't a super eventful week. But here are some good quotes that I liked/laughed at:

SIster Kohler: "When I burp it tastes like peanut butter." (she eats a whole jar a week, so this was no surprise).

And now for the serious ones:

Elder Johnson (senior couple missionary talking about his mission): "They say 'if you give the Lord a piece of bread He'll give you a whole loaf.' In my case, I've given the Lord a crumb and He's given me a whole bakery."

Elder Schleede at zone training meeting: "You shouldn't be looking for ways to justify breaking the rules. You should be looking for ways to fulfill the rules. Conform your situation to follow the rules. That is the spirit of Christ-like obedience."

This week I really liked 1 Nephi 18:16, and 2 Nephi 11:5. I also super liked Romans 10:14-15. Huzzah for missionaries!

Okey doke, I think I'll sign off for now. Love you guys a ton!

Love, Sister Davis

PS I SAW A ROLLS ROYCE THIS WEEK. IN CAMBODIA. I almost fell off my bike I got so excited. We were with the elders and Elder Schleede was like, "Sister Davis...do you know cars?" And I was like heck yeah I do! But seriously....a rolls royce. what the freak, man.

                                                     Its most definitely of the basilisk variety. 

Remember that Joma bakey and cafe i told you about? Well....I got a ham egg and cheese on a bagel. well, a "bagel". It was still the closest thing ive had to a sandwich in months.

All the american sisters went to the south district center to watch the general women's conference broadcast on saturday. 

This is my new favorite word in Khmer. It means "chatter" or "jibber jabber" something along those lines. And its cracks me up. THAT IS A WORD.