Drum roll please! We are going to get acquainted with Elder Caine. Elder Caine was born in South Africa in April of 1993. When he was 8 his family moved to a country called Mauritius, a small island about 750 kilometers east of Madagascar where he grew up. English is his native language though he understands French and Creole as well. Interesting though, when he tries to speak French, ''all that comes out is Khmer''. He spent two semesters at BYUI before coming out here and says he played rugby more than he studied. Shoot, if I knew how to play rugby I probably would too.
And now the downer: we're not actually in Baku yet. Our house isn't ready yet. In the US when you want to move into an apartment you can usually just go find one and move in. Apparently they had to give our new house a complete makeover because there was nothing in the area that had air conditioners, hot water and beds and such. I was all down for living in a shack next to the river and waking up at 4:30 to get fish for breakfast but apparently that's not an okay thing. Have you guys seen 'The Other Side of Heaven' ? I was thinking Cambodia would be kind of like that. I suppose 50 years does a lot for relatively undeveloped countries like Tonga and Cambodia.
Also, I went to the zoo last week. Cambodian zoos are not like American zoos. I got to sit behind a chain link fence and look at the tiger 10 feet away from me. Monkeys weren't even in cages. They just were having a party in the zoo. Monkeys are a bunch of punks by the way! Stealing food and cameras and bags from people in our group is just not cool. Funny though. I got a lot closer to some big scary animals than I ever thought I would. Even more fun was just walking into the cages and playing with the more docile animals. Someone from another group tried to ride one of the deer things. It didn't really work. Also, when big animals step on you with their hooves they hurt.
I really like being a missionary. Can y'all tell from these emails? I'm not sure but I just wanted to make that clear. This work is an amazing work, it is hard work, and it is fun work. There is no better feeling in all of the world than bringing someone closer to Christ and seeing the change it makes in their life. Doctrine and Covenants section 18:15-16 reads, ''And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!''
That is so true. Though this is hard work, it is worth every single bit of effort we put into it. Why? Because ''The worth of souls is great in the sight of God'' (D&C 20:10). These are children of our Heavenly Father. He wants this work to succeed. This is ''[His] work and [His] glory... [bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man'' (Moses 1:39). Though this is our Heavenly Father's work, he expects us to be His hands in doing that work (see http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/you-are-my-hands). In this last October's general conference President Monson taught, ''The holy scriptures contain no proclamation more relevant, no responsibility more binding, no instruction more direct than the injunction given by the resurrected Lord as He appeared in Galilee to the eleven disciples. Said He, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).'' That is a command from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He wants us to fulfill it and we can only do so if we go out and ''preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words'' (St. Francis of Assisi). We must live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hope you guys enjoy the pictures!
Elder Vore
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