Tinikling!!

So sorry this is another not so good journaling week hahaha. It's just so hard to find time at night when you get home at 8:30 and you still have to call referrals, record the day, cook and eat dinner, shower, journal and then try to be in bed sleeping before 10:00. So usually I just don't have time to journal which is unfortunate.

There is some sad stories that'll go at the end of this email, imma need y'alls help! I'll put it at the end so you have to read everything, or you can just skip to the second to last paragraph if you want.

But first let me tell you about our fun this week, haha. So we had clean checks like Wednesday and (sensitivity alert!!! Might be TMI for some parties) so now that I've put that warning in there I'm free to share EVERYTHING😀hahahaha so one of the Elders clogged our toilet the morning before clean checks (I didn't know it was clogged till the morning of clean checks😅) Anyway idk how he managed to clog it because we don't have toilet paper here, we just have a hose called the "bum gun." Anyway he clogged it and one of the other Elders in my house decided to poop in there too, which wasn't even to be funny he just didn't think about it I guess and then pee in there as well on a later account. Anyway then that morning Elder Rabe tried unclogging it, but apparently he doesn't know how cause he used the toilet brush instead of a plunger. So that thing was infused with not yummy stuff. Anyway needless to say I can give a shout out to my Dad in this instance and my Mom in other instances for raising me to know how to unclog a toilet and do other house things that I thought everyone knew. . . but apparently not🙃😂anyway so I had to fish the unwanted logs out of there and then had to plunge it out. And by a miracle (because the plunger was so flimsy and bad) it finally was able to flush! Anyway sorry about that I just had to share because I was baffled.

Anywayyyy there was that massive holiday and they raced boats. We took a look for a couple minutes and contacted some people and we actually met an inactive member and invited him back to church so that was awesome.

Okay we had our baptisms, ming pola, ming po, and vwisa got baptized. They are so awesome and it was a super good first experience for me, even though it was slightly stressful hahaha. I just wanted them to have the best experience possible so when they look back they look back with great love for that event. Also satan works so hard to keep people from getting baptized! Ming pola's moto broke down on the way there!!! And there's been like a ton of people who've gotten into moto crashes on the way to their baptisms. So if you remember I need help praying for the safety of everyone here in Cambodia. And that satan will not have the power to delay the most important and sacred event up this point in their lives.

Okay also this is for all the Cashmere people!!! So their 30 year anniversary of the Church being established here happens this next Saturday. And one of the dances they're including is tinikling!!!!! Which is so crazyyy cause I know how to do it!!!! Shout out to the dance extravaganza from Vale Elementary School!!! And also we had such a good dinner tonight with boo ra(our tuk tuk driver) we ate some yummmmmyyyy dishesssss. okay now to mellow down for the sadness.

Okay so finally here to tell y'all about the sad story, so there's actually two! One is this family who fell inactive and got into super big debt, so much that they can't even go to Phnom Penh to buy new garments! So I'm having some shipped down but maybe I can convince my family to help me out with another fundraiser to help them out, and for future Cambodians who want to improve but can't because of their situation! It just breaks my heart to be honest. And here's the even more sad story. So there's a guy who is paralyzed some how and just lays on his bed where he gets taken care of. It's so bad he needs a fan on him so it's easier to breathe. But guess what? Their neighbors hate them so they built their gutter system to flood the house of the crippled guy. So when we got there to their house there was about two feet of water in their house and they had to turn off their electricity so they didn't get electrocuted you know. So now he can't have a fan and is at a higher risk of dying. Not to mention the little three year old who keeps getting sick from all the mosquitoes that breed in the standing water in their home. We're going Tuesday and digging a trench or figuring something out to help drain the flooded parts around their house. But it has to go under the neighbors front yard access and they don't want something there so that's where the dilemma is. So that's why I kinda need your help. Idk I'm just brainstorming because it just hurts my heart that they literally can't do anything about their situation because the neighbors hate them and they're way too poor to move. Anyway it's super sad because their story isn't unique/uncommon. Everyone here has had someone die just because modern technology wasn't available. We are visiting a less active member whose best friend (who he got baptized with) ate a bad mango and got a stomach flu and died just because they were too poor to get him to a hospital. It's so hard to hear these stories and just think how much a little can help these people, they give you everything they have because they love making people happy. Anyway hopefully you're not feeling down after reading all that sorry, it's so long. It's super hard because I have such a desire to help and serve them but sometimes I can't get it through because of the language barrier.

I love you allll!! I hope that you can feel the Savior's love for you and how much you are blessed!!! Each new breath is a gift from your loving Heavenly Father. Don't waste it!!! When you feel like your life is hard always be humble and realize someone somewhere else has it harder, and that no matter what Jesus knows you perfectly. Go to Him in every moment, especially in your times of need.

Okayyyy have the bestesttt weeeekkk

Bye byeee

Love Elder Acton