Mar 10, 2014 "Pregnant? Nope, I'm Just Fat"

 I remember many months talking about how blunt Khmers are about things that we really skate around. Examples include salaries, physical attributes, facts that everyone knows but no one will bring up and other such things.

Yeah, well the other day we found a less-active member, let's call her "Martha", who was baptized back in 2007 from a "CBR" record that had her address and a picture. It took about an hour and a half to find her house (Addresses aren't the most reliable way to find people around here) because all of the roads connecting to the main road 271 were also numbered 271, but eventually we found our way to her house where she met us at the door. After talking to Martha for a few minutes we set an appointment and left. As we headed out Elder Duffy commented, "I know I'm not the only one who noticed that she has gained a lot of weight since that picture 7 years ago." It was certainly true. She was considerably heavier than before. We went to meet her later that week with a member, "Jane" for support. Sometime during the conversation, Martha mentioned that she had been unable to have children since her marriage in 2010 and that it was a little worrying. Then the conversation went a little something like this:

Jane: You haven't been able to have children? You mean you're not pregnant right now?

Martha: No, why?

Jane: Well, you kind of look you're pregnant.

Martha: No, I'm not pregnant, I'm just fat. I've gained so much weight since my marriage.

Yeah, I was seriously questioning my choice of Jane to come with us and help "support" Martha, but it went well. I've heard some people are really rough on the sister missionaries and call them fat, especially the foreigners. I guess they just learn to take it in stride as it's not a bad thing in Cambodia.

Another funny language error story. We were teaching a new member the other day and I mentioned President Monson and the fact that his wife died last year. Because President Monson is a older man and a person very much worthy of respect, I was using words that match that status. Well, one respectful word for wife is pireyia and that is the word that was supposed to come out of my mouth. The word that came out of my mouth instead was pireyea(with a glottal stop), which might not mean anything at all, but  yeak means giant or ogre so it kind of sounded like I called President Monson's late wife a giant/ogre thing... Yeah. Actually wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Also, I hate it when people ask me for homework help. First, it's in another dang language! Even if it's calculus I still have to read and understand the problem and I just don't have the time or the vocab for the that! It's a huge pain in the butt. Second, when I learned another language and spent all my time studying the scriptures and teaching manuals and church magazines, I forgot everything else. I seriously can't do any math at all. I almost feel bad. Like I faked out my teachers so I could get a diploma and college credits and stuff and then proved I didn't actually learn any of it by promptly forgetting everything.

Saw a super cool video the other day that was produced by the church that shares a message about loving the little things. You should really watch it. Very artistically done. I was kind of entranced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUc6o1I_8Dk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Yeah, anyway. I was preparing a lesson this morning about enduring to the end, or continuing in the faith. There is in Matthew 5:48, a very well known statement by the Savior that reveals His eternal plan for us. He said "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." That's a very telling verse. Christ here is commanding us to be perfect, like God? Do you know anyone that is fulfilling that commandment?

Well, in the lesson that I prepared this morning I talked about how we could fulfill that. We become perfect in the long run by our simple every day efforts and good deeds. God probably doesn't expect perfection now, but He does expect progression and that can be our gift to Him. Every day, showing our love for him by doing the simple things the right way. Love y'all  Elder Vore