Exchanges

Missionary life is busy and I often run out of time on p-day to send my weekly but I hope you all still enjoy the updates 😊

Tuesday February 4th

I started my exchange with Elder Eav (as a District Leader I am suppose to go on exchanges with each missionary within my District). We left my apartment and drove to a member's house because he had these hives, or itchy spots, all over his body so I gave him so itch cream. Which I guess you're not suppose to do. You're not suppose to give stuff, you're only suppose to help with words, but I have had a hard time not helping when I have stuff that could help. So, anyway, we gave that cream to him and then rushed home because we were running out of time because we wanted to make curfew. Then we played some bier, which is a card game that is kind of like the card game "scum," which was super fun! Then me and Elder Eav talked a while that night and it was super awesome to get to know him more and his thoughts on some things.

Wednesday February 5th

We ate an awesome breakfast that Elder Eav made that was nice and protein packed with eggs and pork and rice. And we also had some banana bread that I had made. After breakfast we did some language study and then we took some pictures for Sister Paa. Sister Paa didn't really have her family really support her so I thought it was pretty important to do that for her because she goes home in a couple of weeks and she didn't have any missionary pictures. Then we ate at Kung Fu kitchen for lunch and it was super good. After lunch we had a really good lesson where we taught about temples with the bong that has a skin disorder that is in some of my pictures. Anyway, we taught him about the temple and it was super awesome and an amazing experience. It was awesome that Elder Eav and I were able to teach that because we are only 4 transfers in and the language is SUPER hard but we were able to teach him that lesson for and hour. After that we went to this massive hotel, at this hotel, at the very top, there was like a little park on the roof. We felt like we were in a movie because we got the security guard to let us in, we pretended that we didn't know any Khmer and then Elder Eav preteneded to be talking on his phone until some people came to the elevator and then we spoke in English again and asked the people to press the button for the top floor. It was fun, we went to the top and took a couple of pictures there. Then we went back down the stairwell, which we found out afterwards that if you open those doors to get out of the stairwell an alarm will go off. But luckily, since there aren't any handles on the inside of the doors, we chose to go through some doors that were already open, which I'm not sure how the alarm didn't go off on those doors since they were already open but anyways we made it. So we went down to the third floor and contacted some people there; two girls. Afterwards, Elder Eav and I took a couple pictures real quick with our Books of Mormon in our hands. Then there was this little Chinese girl that totally roasted me. There were some flowers on the ground and I put one in my ear and asked her if it was pretty and she was like, "no, because it doesn't fit your hair." Then I was like, "what?!, why is that?" And then she responded, "actually it's because your face is ugly." I was like "what the freak?!" It was super funny, because I got roasted by this little Chinese girl that is in Cambodia who spoke pretty much perfect English. Then we rode super fast to this place and contacted some people on the way, then locked up our bikes and walked to dinner at a burger place. And we of course, talked with the people who were selling the burgers. After that we rode super duper fast way across town, took us a while and we were super sweaty, to bing chun, which is an ice cream place where hang peng is. He is super lit but his parents don't want him to learn. Anyway, we went there to talk with him and just keep a connection because I believe that one day he will be able to in a position where he can accept the gospel and progress that way. After that, on our way to the church for a lesson, we ran into this guy who was driving a moto next to us riding our bikes (I don't know why but when I am with my Elder Eav my confidence level just goes up-we were just talking with EVERY single person). Elder Eav started talking with this guy on his moto so then I slowed down and started talking to him too. Then we ended up pulling over to the side to give him a flyer for English class and a prayer card. Then he ended up saying that he was a member and showed us where his town is and we were like hmmm, I don't think there is a church over there but maybe there is I don't know. Anyway he said that he was a member and that he was baptized by an Elder (we asked if he remembered the Elder's name, but I don't think he did) Anyways that was super neat. Then we had a bomb lesson where two bong's, who are members, helped us teach. It got over at 9:00, which is a kinda against the rules because we are suppose to be home by 8:30, so that was a bit bad. Before, we went to the lesson, we had stopped to get some mangos so on the way home I was carrying like a 15 pound box of mangos in one hand while riding my bike-which was super fun 😆 Oh, I forgot to say that when Elder Eav locked up his bike when we went to get lunch, he forgot his combination! So we had to spend like 20 minutes trying to remember his combination because we locked our bikes to a pole to try and be more safe. So that was fun, haha! Anyway that day felt pretty productive because we had two really, really good lessons and contacted a lot of people.

Thursday February 6th

Thursday was my exchange with Elder Freeman, the little one, or newer one(we have two Elder Freeman's). We switched at 9:00am and Elder Eav went with my companion, Elder Phal. We had a lesson with a guy who has been a member for a year and he told us that he gave his younger sister a blessing but he doesn't have the priesthood so we had to tell him umm. . . you don't really have the authority to do that but we can help you schedule an interview to be able to receive the priesthood. So then we talked about the priesthood and that was super awesome, he has A LOT of faith. Anyway that was awesome, and then we biked to his house which was super far-probably like 12 miles. On the way back from his place we stopped by some cows which was fun. Afterwards, we went home and ate lunch and did studies and then we also tried to find the patriarch's house but we were unsuccessful. So we did some more studies and then we went to a kid's, named David, and his parent's house and we had ANOTHER AMAZING lesson there where we just answered some questions and we showed them "My Family Tree" and they were super excited about it. They want to create their own, so Elder Eav and Elder Freeman will have another lesson with them later and set that up with them. So it was super, super awesome.

Friday February 7th

Friday we had District Council, because there was Zone Conference on Tuesday, and District Council was super good. Then we switched back to our regular comps and we ate lunch at a market which was super yummy, and it's not very expensive so I was able to eat lots of food. Then we had some really good language study and I was able to learn some Khmer slang; like how to say "cap" which means that someone is stretching the truth which was super fun. Oh, English class today was super spiritual at the end, it was super nice, everyone was actually listening to me and it was super quiet, which allowed the spirit to be there and it was super awesome!

Saturday February 8th

Today we were super busy ALL day and had some really good lessons! I had another baptismal interview with an ohm and that went really good. Then we had Family Home Evening at this one lady's house which was really awesome. We brought some chicken over that I had marinated in paprika, italian seasoning and salt & pepper and a little bit of oil and some oyster sauce and it was super good. I ate a lot! Oh, and this was the night that I made rolls. . . super yummy!

Sunday February 9th

Sunday was a super, crazy busy day! I ate some german pancakes for breakfast. We left the house at like 7ish and taught a lesson and then had sacrament and then one of the mings was late so I had to figure that out 1/2 way through second hour. I told them to go to ward 2, which they did and they were still able to partake of the sacrament so that was super awesome. Then we joined priest quorum for a little bit, which was good. And then we found one of our potential investigators who was trying to find the church but he just wasn't being able to, he sent us a picture of some school that was across the street from where he was. We looked it up on google maps real quick and it was like right next to the church so we hopped on our bikes and rode over there real fast. Then we found him and he was just walking and so we walked with him and that was fun. Then we did a little tour of the church and the when Elder Phal was doing part of the tour I had to schedule another baptismal interview and then there was someone else who was wanting to talk to me too so that was kind of stressful because everybody was wanting to talk and I was trying to not like ignore people or say "I'm too busy" because I was trying to make them all feel good. So anyway, and then there were some crazy birds also. Then we went and visited some inactive members, which was super nice and then went back to the church for the Sister Missionaries' baptism. After that, Elder Phal and I weekly planned a very packed week and then did our studies because we didn't have time to do that earlier in the day. I ate a super good dinner and then did a call-in with one of the sisters which went really well.

Monday February 10th

We didn't too much today, we just went to like three different markets to get groceries and then played some games at the church. Then we printed off some pictures of Elder Cook that talked about the information of when that event was happening.

Tuesday February 11th

Today was a super full day!! We left at 8am to go teach a lesson that was super fun. Then we went to District Council which was super fun as well. I had the Sister Missionaries share a message which took up like 30 minutes and was super good. Then we ate lunch all together. Afterwards, Elder Phal and I hyped up some members about Elder Cook coming and then we taught another lesson. Then we went to go teach this 14 year old kid that said he wanted to learn but he just kept laughing and running out of the lesson and I didn't have much patience that night, so I was just like "okay, we're done teaching." So we just said a closing prayer and then that was the end of that. Then the kid was staying in there so I just told him we as missionaries are really busy, so if he really wants to learn about Jesus Christ, and really wants to learn we can teach him but if he just wants to mess around then we can go teach other people that are in need. I didn't want to make him feel like things had to be super serious, but I felt like I needed to tell him that. Then we went to go to a ming's house but she was super busy sewing, that's her job, so we just went home.

More updates to come 😀

Love

Elder Acton