Jan 26, 2014 I Love Lines! And Policemen! And Stoplights!

There are a lot of things that are different between life here in Cambodia and life back in America. People look different, speak different languages and have different beliefs. But most of all... the roads are a mess. I vaguely remember the ride back from the airport on my first day in the country. I wasn't afraid for my life, we were in a van, I was afraid we'd kill someone else. Then, two days later, I was the one dodging trucks and vans while riding my bike to and from appointments. The roads here are clogged with motorcycles, motor carriages, bikes, wheelchairs, pedestrians, pets, cows, trash, potholes and cars and trucks that drive like no one else is even on the road. There are no speed limits, the few stop lights and traffic lines are universally ignored and I don't actually know if the policemen aren't doing their jobs or if enforcing traffic laws (if they even exist) is even a part of their job description. My companion's musings on the subject led me to exclaim (I was literally shouting as we headed down the road), "I love lines! They are so awesome! All the colors and the solid lines and the dotted lines and they're just amazing!" I guess as missionaries we don't have a whole lot of opportunities to get really excited and shout about stuff so we've got to take them when they come right?

Speaking of exciting things, President Moon just called me to go back to the city and be a district leader in Tuk La'ak! I actually was pretty sure I was going there. My new companion will be Elder Duffy, who is a choir nerd. I'm sure we'll get along great. Just as exciting, I'll be able to go on exchanges in my birth area! Whoo!!!

I bought a Rolex at Psaa Tmay for $9 six months ago. It rusts a little but really is a pretty high quality watch. It's waterproof too. They told me I was getting a deal and I readily agreed. Wasn't until last week that I saw that the watch face says that the watch is offictially certified (ironic that one of the options on spell check is fictionally). I might have bought a fake Rolex that wasn't actually made in Switzerland... 

Also, I was playing with Soke the monkey and he stole my name tag and then bit it. When I tried to get it back he acted like a dog when you give him a bone, claimed it as his trophy and would not give it back, so I had to take it forcefully. And he bit me again. So now my name tag has two little notches in the bottom left. Battle scars. 

I was finishing my personal scripture study this morning when I started thinking about what it means to be a Christian. I decided that being a Christian was really simple. A Christian is someone who believes in Christ, someone who believes that Christ is their savior. Being a Christian however, is different than being Christian. Did you get that there? 

The word Christian can also be used as an adjective. A Christian act is a Christ-like act, an act that we would expect Christ, the only perfect man to have done. Sometimes in the news we read about "Christian acts of kindness''. We talk about people who not only talk the talk of Christianity but also act according to their beliefs. They act the way that they believe Christ would have.  We respect and admire such people. We want to be more like them, and more like Christ.

Christ wants us to be like Him. He wants us to do the things he would do. He wants us ''loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free... to deal thy bread to the hungry, ...bring the poor that are cast out to thy house [and clothe the naked]" (Isaiah 58:6-7). He wants us to serve others (Matthew 25:40) and love God and our neighbor (Mark 12:29-31). 

Though it is easy to define a Christian as someone who believes in Christ, the true definition is much deeper. A Christian is someone who believes in Christ and is Christian, someone who believes in Christ with their mouths and their hands as well. 

Love,  Elder Vore

Jan 20, 2014 Learning How to Learn

                                           
Yesterday we met a girl named Srey Leak for the first time. She asked some cool questions about life after death and we talked about God's plan for us for a while but her real questions for us were more personal. "Why are white people so much smarter than Cambodian's??" That's actually a pretty normal question, especially if the only white people they know are the Elders who seem so much smarter than everyone else because we learned their language in a relatively short amount of time.

 We had a pretty lively debate with the ladies selling clothes around us on the subject. The general consensus among them was that white people are white and have a better diets and so they are smarter. I kind of tried to throw that idea out the window but they weren't having it. I'll tell you what though, living in Cambodia for a year has given me a real testimony of the power of Elementary School. Gosh Elementary School is a great thing! Even more than learning how to read and such, you learn how to learn!

 In Khmer schools the teachers say one thing and then the students repeat it and they repeat after the teacher until they have 'learned' whatever they're studying. It's not the best system. Learning how to learn is important. I meet 50 year old men and women that haven't ever learned how to read and tell me that they can't learn about Christ because they don't know how to read. Though that idea is false, the sentiment behind it has some truth. When you learn about stuff, it makes it easier to learn about other stuff. When you haven't done much learning in your life it makes it that must harder to pick up something new.

Can I confide something here. Actually, maybe that's the wrong word since Mom is posting these on the internet huh? Maybe confess? I had no idea what alcohol even smelled like before my mission. If someone was a little tipsy I would have had no idea. And I had never been around drunk people, like ever. I was a sheltered little kid. These days crazy drunk guys are an everyday thing. Sometimes they're actually even written into my planner as part of our planned schedule! I am always amazed by the number of really drunk men who want to learn about Jesus Christ. And I am always amazed by the crazy things drunk people do.

 The other day we were talking to a man who used to go to a Christian church near his house but it closed and he was looking for another church to go to. While we were talking to him his very drunk father came up to us and asked for "Jesus to buy him a toilet". He explained in great detail about how difficult it was for him to go to the bathroom while squatting and showed us about 5 times how exactly he pulled his pants down and squatted.  He said he would even buy the toilet though he would prefer if Jesus just gave it to him. It was really distracting. Also, maybe I need to dress differently if people are mistaking me for a toilet salesperson.

 Most people around here don't know a whole lot about Christ, but they do usually know about His crucifixion on the cross. One of the more common questions we get when talking about Christ around here is why He died in such a horrible way? It's a good question. It is important to remember that there was a purpose behind His death and that Christ was a volunteer. In Matthew 26:39 we read "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Christ truly "[bore] our griefs and carried our sorrows'' (Isaiah 53:4). He was "brought as a lamb to the slaughter", a willing sacrifice for sin (Isaiah 53:7).  The purpose of this infinite and eternal atonement was summarized by a Book of Mormon prophet named Amulek who declared "And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. (Alma 34:15)''

"[Christ's] atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur from Creation’s dawn through all the ages of a never-ending eternity. It is the supreme act of goodness and grace that only a god could perform. Through it, all of the terms and conditions of the Father’s eternal plan of salvation became operative. Through it are brought to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Through it, all men are saved from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment (Bruce R. McConkie 'The Purifying Power of Gethsemane')."

Christ is our Savior and King. His Atonement was the most important event that ever has occurred on the face of the Earth or ever will. Someday we will be brought before him and we will have the opportunity to thank Him face to face for all that He has done for us but we needn't wait until that day. Today we can begin to honor Him by following His commandments and the reading and applying the teachings of His holy prophets in the scriptures. Love y'all,  Elder Vore

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Me and Elder Caine near the group president's house, several missionaries and recent converts after helping a family beat their harvested rice into little grains

Soke the monkey

Jan 12, 2014 I'm Horribly Thirsty

So we don't have water, again... Honestly, In a country that has so much water I just don't understand why it's so difficult to get some of it to the two white guys by the river. We live by the river for goodness sake! Why can't the landlord get a pipe and a pump and just let us deal with the dirt? It's better than having no water at all. On the positive side, we got a shower! It doesn't have any water coming out of it yet (see above) but it works (hopefully) when we actually do have water in the pipes.

We're supposed to get a hot water heater soon too! Maybe after I'm already gone but it is what it is.

I wasn't planning on sharing this story but talking about the water made me think of this. I've probably not been super specific about where our water is actually supposed to come from. Well, we have large tanks on top of our roof to hold water and once a week, or whenever we call, a truck comes by to fill up the tanks with water they get from wells. However, the guy who is supposed to fill up our tanks is horribly unreliable. Ex. Thursday afternoon our water was low so we called him to come fill up. He said he could come by later this week and we scheduled for Friday morning.

On Friday my companion finally gave in to the cough he's been fighting for a week or so and just slept all day. I called the water truck at 8 and he said he would come around 12. At 1 I called him and he said he'd make it by in the evening. We're a little used to his shenanigans so it wasn't too surprising when he didn't come on Friday at all. Meanwhile we've been buying 20 liter drinking water jugs for a dollar next door to use for cooking, cleaning and showering. On Saturday morning I called him and told him he needed to come by before 10 because we would be going out to teach. Sunday we called him at 2 to make an appointment for this morning. This morning I called him at 7 to confirm and he didn't answer his phone. I called him twice more before we left the house. About 20 minutes after we left I called him again to cancel and he told me, ''Wait! Don't leave yet, I'm almost there!'' We talked for a minute and I think he might have finally understood that when we schedule with him, we expect him to show up and if he doesn't we will not be able to exchange services. Things like this are really common in Cambodia, especially in places far away from the city where people don't really have schedules and stuff. 

I have been over the fact that we don't use toilet paper here right? Usually we use little kitchen type sprayers instead. I have converted wholeheartedly, it's a great thing. Except when your water guy doesn't come for a week... So, we bought some toilet paper in the city back when we first had water issues but we ran out on Friday. That is where Mom's first aid kit finally came in handy. For the last several days we have placed a large bag of pre-packaged alcohol swabs for use in the bathroom. I was a little unconvinced at first but hey, it's better than banana leaves right? Right?

In my personal study this morning I was reading in the epistle of James, chapter 1 verse 22 which reads 'But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.' It made me think of two short conversations from my time here in Baku. I was talking to someone just the other day about their attendance at church. He told me that "Even though [he was] far from church [his] thoughts weren't far from God.'' Another time I spoke to a woman of another christian faith. She told me that it didn't matter that she hadn't prayed or gone to church in a while because she had ''Jesus in her heart" and that was all that was really important.  

Christ taught, 'But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.Whether of them twain did the will of his father? (Matthew 21:28-31)' We can probably answer that question for ourselves. It was not the man who said he would follow, it was the one who did. 

 Christ requires more than just saying He has our hearts and minds, He truly requires them, which leads to action! In the memorable words of Dallin H. Oaks ''the gospel of Christ was not meant to be theoretical''! When we are truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ we are not ''hearers only'' but ''doers of [His] word''. Sometimes that means a change in the way we treat others. Sometimes it means a change to our personal schedule to that we can more fully keep His commandment to ''remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy'' (Exodus 20:8). Sometimes it's even difficult, but in the long run it's always worth it. Let's always be sure that we are examples to all men in being ''doers of the word''. Love y'all,   Elder Vore

Jan 5, 2014 Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength

Where on your resume can you fit 'I know how to harvest rice' ? Is there a place for that? Do I have to put it under hobbies or something? The first two times we went to help I kind of felt like we were being patronized. Kind of like the little toddler who wants to help Daddy set up the trampoline you know? Now we actually know how to do stuff. Saturday afternoon found us nearly waist deep in the flooded sraye of one of our investigators, methodically catching the stems of the rice plants with our scythes, grabbing them with our opposite hand and then tearing the fruit off with the scythe. Fun stuff. I actually am kind of starting to like doing this. Weird. Also one man that we're teaching is building a house. We're going to go put a roof on on Wednesday. I'm actually pretty excited about that one.

So, fun story here. We met a family that wanted to learn this last Monday. I'm talking a big family. Sovanna is the 53 year old patriarch of the family that includes his wife, 2 grown children, their spouses and children, and several nieces and nephews that are just kind of running around. Sovanna works in the Ministry of Agriculture, and we know he's doing pretty well in life because he has a car. We taught them twice this past week and nearly all of them showed great interest and faith, made all the more impressive by their unmatched ability to actually understand what we're talking about. These people really get it! They ask questions that really matter! Questions like "How does God answer our prayers?'' and "What do we need to do in this life to get to heaven?" and "What is this repentance thing and how can we start?". Anyway. 

Yesterday the first counselor in the group presidency was teaching the Sunday school lesson. It was on "The Work and Glory of God" and was the first time using the new manual (Old Testament). Only about half of our members really know what the Old Testament  is so it was bound to be a bit of an adventure. He decided to just read from the manual like usual but with this manual it didn't work. This manual talked about all the things we needed to do to set up the lesson rather than about actual doctrine.

After about 15 minutes of reading about markers, distributing manuals to all of the students and keeping order in the class Sovanna raised his hand. He told the teacher he was confused and felt like the teacher hadn't prepared his lesson. He (rightfully) criticized the teaching "technique" and then asked the first counselor if he actually knew what the "Work and Glory of God" was. The first counselor got just a little bit defensive. Things got a little uncomfortable and that's when I stepped in and took over the class. During the lesson he asked the following questions: 'What is the work and glory of God?', 'What do we have to do to receive exaltation?' and 'How can we differentiate between right and wrong?' Super awesome investigator. Very intelligent man. He told me he worked in the Ministry of Agriculture. After church the group president's wife told me he is the Minister of Agriculture... He's not like the actual boss for all of Cambodia but I think he's probably over our province or district or something.

One of our mission's goals for this new year is to make a renewed effort for each and every one of us to serve with all of our "heart, might, mind and strength" (D&C 4:2). I spent a little time thinking about that before setting some personal goals to accomplish each of the individual points. Before setting goals however, I decided to define the 4 categories more clearly. Though these thoughts were originally intended for my work as a missionary I think they could be applied to virtually any work that we have to do.

Serving with all of your heart- means that you really love the work that you are engaged in. Whatever we are doing in our life we need to be having fun. If we don't like our work or at the very least we don't believe it is a good cause then our work will never reach it's full potential. If you don't love what you do, decide to love it!

Serving with all of your might- means serving diligently. I remember in high school seeing intelligent, talented individuals completely waste all their potential because they were too lazy to actually do anything. One of the many lessons we can learn from the parable of the 10 talents is that God expects us to work and progress and not just take what life gives us.

Serving with all of your mind- means using your own personal talents to the best of your ability. God created us all with different talents and abilities. Some people are smart, others are athletic, likable or good leaders. I don't think it's so important what we have been given, but it certainly matters to God that we are using 100% of the capacity to serve using what He has given us, however much that may be.

Serving with all your strength- means relying on God. All of us are human and have human imperfections and frailties. We are weak, while God is strong. Like a child relies on his father for strength, we rely on our Heavenly Father for true strength. This was perhaps most eloquently articulated by Nephi who declared, "And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.... Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.(2 Nephi 4:19,30)". Strength can come from many sources, but true strength comes from God. 

So remember, whatever you're doing, do it with all your heart, might, mind and strength!

Love, 

Elder Vore

Explanation of pictures. We had a six person baptism in our branch a few weeks ago, 3 of them were our investigators. Fun! And then me playing with the monkey. The weird picture is when he bit me. Monkey's name is Soke

in

Dec 30, 2013 Who Says White Guys Can't Harvest Rice?

Merry Christmas everybody! I understand I'm a little late on the whole Christmas thing but we're planning on celebrating Christmas until Khmer New Year in April. Unfortunately, dreaming of a white Christmas doesn't do much good around here... As part of the missionaries Christmas festivities we did a service project: cleaning up trash, pulling weeds, trimming trees and doing whatever else needed to be done at a place called jueng ike, also known as the Killing Fields.

For those who are unfamiliar with recent Cambodian history, from 1975 to 1979 a dictator named Pol Pot ruled over Cambodia. He forced everyone to leave their jobs and work in rice fields from dawn to dusk on insufficient food, shelter or rest. He systematically murdered everyone who was educated, wealthy, successful, had ties to foreign governments and even people that had things like reading glasses. Anyone who opposed the Khmer Rouge regime was rounded up and brutally executed. Somewhere between 1 and 3 million people were murdered in this way. Many of them were killed at jueng ike, now known as the Killing Fields. Jueng ike has hundreds of mass graves, each containing many corpses, some of which have been horribly dismembered. The monument there is full of hundreds of skulls. It is an awful reminder to the evil that can and does exist in the world.

On a more positive note, it's rice harvesting season! All of our members here grow rice. All of them. Which means that twice a year they spend every minute of their free time cutting, piling, lifting, and beating their rice before throwing it into machines (or just hitting it with sticks for a few hours) and loading it into bags. Well we were excited to help and we made every effort to make ourselves free whenever our members were going out to the fields except.... they never told us when they went. They felt like the work was beneath us. So we just went! We have now (somewhat) successfully cut rice, lifted it, beat piles of it, thrown it into machines and carried extremely heavy bags of rice. Some of the work just requires brute strength (lifting, beating, carrying) so my companion and I do pretty well just by virtue of being bigger than everyone else; however, the main work of cutting the rice off the stalks and tying it up takes a certain technique that the natives have honed over years and years of harvesting, and I haven't. This week we are planning to spend a lot of time helping a couple of our recent converts in their family's rice fields. 

Funny thing about dates in Cambodia. They don't count by numbers. Their calendar goes back to Buddha (like 500bc ish?) and goes by names, repeating every 12. Same as the Chinese calendar except Chinese New Year is in February I think while Cambodia's is in April. Anyway, nobody ever knows how old they are. When we have to fill out paperwork for membership records and such we always have to tell them to go get their official birth certificates because if they try to guess their ages or the ages of their children they're way off. I had one guy miss his youngest child's birthday by over 11 years. Also, when they count their age by the Khmer calendar, they're always two years older than they really are. For example, someone who is born in January 2012 would count January-April as one year and then April-April as another year. The if you asked their mom how old they were in May 2013 she would answer 3, because they would have lived through 3 different years already (Jan12-Apr12, May12-Apr13, May13- ). Weird huh? 

Had a very interesting lesson a few months ago with a very busy recent convert. Before being baptized he was Buddhist and his conversion to Christianity was very complete, however, some time after his baptism he stopped attending church services because he was busy attending school. While I was on exchange with a missionary in this area we talked with him about his priorities. He listed his job, classes, homework, and extracurricular English in addition to things like food, water, shelter and sleep. I then asked him what he thought about Christ and where He fit in the priorities. The man didn't really answer the question but I remember what he said very clearly. He said, ''Preah jia mjah'' or somewhat loosely translated as ''Christ is the Lord''. He arranged his priorities and the following day he was at church.

In this last General Conference, Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke about the first two of the 10 commandments. He explained that the second commandment  forbidding idol worship was really an extension of the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me'' (Exodus 20:3). "Jehovah explains, “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, … shewing mercy unto … them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5–6). The meaning of jealous is revealing. Its Hebrew origin means “possessing sensitive and deep feelings” . Thus we offend God when we “serve” other gods—when we have other first priorities. (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/no-other-gods) "

In our lives, there are many good things we can do. Schooling, work, food and water are all important and searching for them is a good use of our time, but there are too many good things that we can do day to day for us to possibly do them all. "Some uses of individual and family time are better, and others are best. We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families (http://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/11/good-better-best)."

I'm reminded of a poem that was recited a number of times at my elementary school.

Good better best, never let it rest,

Until your good is better and your better is your best.

God knows each and every one of us. He has a plan for us. That plan is progression, us continually choosing things that are better and best. He wants us to become perfect (Matthew 5:48) and I know that the path to that eternal goal lies in keeping our priorities straight, with Christ our Lord and Savior number one.

Love, Elder Vore

Christmas Service Project

Church Missionaries Provide Cleanup of Historic Site in Cambodia

December 27, 2013

Salt Lake City — 

More than 100 missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participated in a Christmas service project to help clean the grounds of the Choeung Ek Memorial in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The missionaries from six countries donated 200 service hours scrubbing the park’s central monument, parking lots and park entry roads, as well as removing unwanted vegetation from the park’s protective walls.
Missionaries receive instruction on Cambodian service project.

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.The site is one of “the killing fields” where thousands of people who were victims of the Khmer Rouge regime died and were buried in mass graves in the 1970s. The service was described by one missionary as a “Christmas gift to the memory of the Killing Field’s victims.” “This project reminds our missionaries that service and giving is a Christ-like attribute we all need to develop,” said David C. Moon, president of the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission. “Serving one another in love and kindness increases our understanding of others and promotes peace.” Various international park visitors expressed amazement and delight to observe a team of male “elders” and female “sisters” clad in white T-shirts who were cleaning the memorial. Park manager Jour Sokty gave praise to the missionaries and all Christians for their efforts, especially at Christmastime, to remind all that Christ’s teachings can bring about peaceful living. “I hope we can make this cleanup event an annual affair,” he said. The Church has supported more than 200 service projects in Cambodia, benefiting 3.5 million Cambodians. Church missionaries serve from 18 to 24 months at their own expense to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in more than 400 missions around the world.