Apr 28, 2013 Second Week in Cambodia--Mission Wk 13

Wow. My first full week here and not a moment has gone by that we aren't having some sort of awesome spiritual experience or general adventure. My Khmer continues to be an obstacle but I can see that I have learned a great deal just since I have arrived. Nevertheless, I don't always understand what's going on and people don't always understand me. Earlier this week we were teaching the branch president's mother who is a recent convert and is super old. She doesn't always know what's going on either, but it was still a little jarring when after giving my part of the lesson she looked at me blankly and then turned to my companion and said, "Unjung, koat ot toan jeh Khmer dte?" (That's about how it sounds using English letters), which means, "So, he doesn't speak Khmer yet huh?" Pretty rough, but funny at the same time.

We were out in a neighborhood visiting an older woman who hasn't been to church in a while. We finished talking with her and began talking to another lady who was feeding her children when a tiny lady who looked to be about 30 walked by carrying a load of wood. We took it off her hands and when she went back for more we asked if we could help and she welcomed it (side note, About 95% of the time when we ask someone if we can help them we are turned down even if we could really help them). So, for the next hour and a half we helped tear down their old house and haul the wood to a new location. White shirts and ties+hauling wood=dirty elders, but we really had a good time. On a related note, when we returned the next day to help again they had already finished, but expressed a desire to learn about Christ. Since then we have begun teaching 4 new people in the area.

It's kind of funny the questions people ask us, especially my companion who can actually communicate. It usually goes in an order something like this: 1. Whoa, you speak Khmer! Why? 2. Hey, you're white! Where are you from? 3. Which state? 4. Do you have a wife? 5. Do you want a wife? Because I know someone...  I have been here for about a week and a half and my companion has been essentially proposed to 3 times. Super funny. Here in Cambodia, and I've been told generally in Asia, the lighter your skin is, the more beautiful you are. Also, we speak their language. On top of that, we're from America which automatically means we're rich. All that added up equals a marriage proposal a week or thereabouts. Sometimes fairly awkward, but funny for sure.

We entered one house earlier today to teach another recently baptized member. About two minutes into our conversation an older guy who lives with them and is super nice was moving our bikes inside when he said, "Did you come on one bike or what?'' Of course we hadn't but when we went outside to check, sure enough, my bike had been stolen. Ironically enough, I bought a lock on my third day here but it broke the same day we bought it. They sent out a search party but it was useless. All bikes here look exactly the same: old, sturdy, slightly beat up, gray/brown/black, and have a basket and a seat on the back. We used this seat as my companion took me home. This is called doping. One person sits on the back while the other rides. Pretty tough. Somehow I've already manged to do it several times and I figure I'll probably get pretty good at it by the end of my mission.

 In any case, we were doping and the back tire busted, so we walked our bike back to a bike repair shop near our house and took the extra bike in our apartment to the shop to be fixed as well, and then set off on foot to our next appointment. All's well that ends well. We are back to riding. On a related note, I had to buy a new helmet and I picked up a used moto helmet for 2 dollars. It reminds me of those helmets police officers in older movies wear.

It's rained four or five times since I got here, welcome to the dry season! Yesterday it rained for about an hour and then let up, but then came down in earnest for another hour and a half. Literally more rain than we get in a year has fallen since I arrived. Not that that's too hard compared to the weather in West Texas, but it's considerable. I've found that waterproofing your shoes is useless if you're walking/biking in water to your calves. Water get in your shoes and then stays there. During the rainy season we're allowed to wear crocs. Can't quite see myself doing it and my companion hasn't ever done it either but he certainly wants to.

That's all for me for now, sorry I can't address all the things in y'álls (don't know why that accent mark is on there but this computer won't let me change it. Weird.) emails. Thank you for writing though!  Love, Elder Vore

They don't have candy here! Too weird! Obviously all regular candy can be purchased at 1st world stores at slightly elevated prices, but slightly elevated means that I can buy a chocolate bar or lunch for three days. Cereal isn't too useful because there isn't any milk here. Gum is against the rules. Gatorade packets or something to put in my water would be nice. 

We do cook, a lot actually. Every day for lunch is a chaa, which is basically stir fry. My companion loves to cook and every morning I enjoy pancakes, french toast, eggs, etc.. We can skype for mothers day and I'll probably do it around 10 in the morning on Monday here.

Second Week in Cambodia--Pictures!

Our apartment building

"We helped a lady tear down her old house and haul the wood to a new location in white shirts & ties."

"I've found that waterproofing your shoes is useless if your're walking/biking in water to your calves!  Water gets in your shoes and stays there."  Notice the muddy water.

We do cook, a lot actually.  Every day for lunch is  a chaa, which is basically stir fry.  My companion loves to cook!

                                     Teaching with Elder Edmonds, Adam's companion

Apr 21, 2013 First Week in Cambodia--Mission Wk 12

Wow. It still kind of blows me away how far I am from home and how different things are here than from anything I've ever seen. We stepped out of the airport and were immediately mobbed by missionaries and the Mission President. The weather is hot, but not as crazy hot as I had previously expected. Mostly it's just really uncomfortably humid. Always. Like right after someone has taken a shower and you walk into the bathroom? That's how it feels.

 We spent our first night in the Mission Home being oriented and trying to get un-jetlagged and such. On Friday we were assigned areas and trainers and headed out all over the country. My first area is here in the city, northern Phnom Penh, and it's called Tuek Tlat. Immediately after taking my luggage to our apartment and deciding which bike I was going to use, we headed out for my first lesson.

The streets in the city are insane. On the way back from the airport we were in vans and I thought we were going to kill someone. One day later, I was sure I had hours to live. The streets are crowded, clogged, messy and I don't know if anyone actually knows how to drive. I certainly don't. All I've got to say is that everyone in Cambodia needs to take a defensive driving course. I haven't actually seen anyone fall yet, only the results of accidents. My first contact with a moto (about 85% of the cars on the street are motorcycles called motos) was pretty uneventful. He needed to turn, I was in his way, he turned anyway, we bumped and I ended up driving onto the sidewalk. Anyway, the driving scene is completely ridiculous.

Our first appointment was with a family whose father died a year or so ago. The mother has been a member for a while but doesn't come to church. However, a few months ago the missionaries ran into them and retaught and baptized all of the children. When we arrived at the house, I was kind of stunned. They live in a little wood shack, about 8' by 20'. The kids were home, running around in the street and having a great time with the neighbors. The younger they are, the less clothing they wear. Toddlers and younger were naked. We played with the kids, gave them some candy and waited for mom to show up.

 Finally we just started the lesson. As we stepped into the room, my companion broke part of the floor. It was furnished with two yellow foam pads to sleep on , a tv, some clothes on the floor and two battered copies of the Book of Mormon. That was everything in the house. Nevertheless, in high spirits the children spoke rapidly, loudly and at my expense, making fun of my accent and general inability to do anything. "Tvee baab"ing is what they call it here. We taught, encouraged them to pray and come to church and left. 

I think the craziest thing for me here is how closely things that I see as normal are to things that I only associate with undeveloped and developing countries. Hanging "fresh" meat is right next to the Nike stand. Kids play, half naked in the garbage strewn streets as the Hummer comes through. I don't really get it yet, but I know that there isn't another group of people in the world that needs help more than the kids wandering around in the streets here in Phnom Penh. Love y'all. Be thankful for what you have. -Elder Vore 

My companion is Elder Edmonds. He's been out for 21 months now and I will be his very last assignment before he heads home. He's from Orem, Utah and is a really great guy. I really enjoy having him to help me and teach me.

Apr 18, 2013 Elder Vore arrives in Cambodia

The flight was really long and I'm not so sure how well I did with the prevention of jet lag, so this right now is approximately the longest day of my life. Really weird. I don't even know how long my day is right now. Gotta be approaching 35 hours, or at least that's how it feels. In any case, we're here safe, no injuries. This place is crazy. The weirdest thing so far is just seeing things that are so normal for me like Nike stands and Adidas shops right next to hanging meat, naked children and and people chopping up fish. Healthy and Happy! Love you guys. Elder Vore

Elder Adam Vore with President and Sister Moon--mission president

Bro. & Sis. Vore, We just wanted to write a quick note and let you know that Elder Vore has arrived here safely.  After meeting his group at the airport, we took them to a market area near the mission home where they had the opportunity to pair off with some more experienced missionaries and go contacting at the market for a while.  They seemed to enjoy the opportunity to speak the language and interact with the people here.  We then took them to the mission home, had lunch together, and spent the afternoon providing orientation and information to them.  After a dinner tonight we sent them to bed and hope they will get a good night's rest.  They are sleeping here at the mission home tonight.  Tomorrow we will do some additional training, assign them to their companions, and send them to their areas.  We are excited to have the opportunity to serve with your wonderful son.  Thank you for sharing him with us!  We have attached a photo from today, and our contact information below in case you ever need to contact us about anything.

Best regards,

David & Kathryn Moon

President, Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission

House 2B, Street 222

Off Norodom Blvd.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Apr 16, 2013 Leaving the MTC Wk 11

Don't have tons of time today so this is probably going to be a little short and perhaps a little less interesting than most of my letters. Got several last second letters yesterday, including one from recently set apart Alex Hoagland who is going to Guatemala today. He doesn't know this yet but we have the same layover in LAX and I'm planning on finding him. It should be fun.

 On a somewhat related note, I think I'll be calling you guys from LAX and NOT from Salt Lake because of how many missionaries are coming out with us. There are a limited number of pay phones and a whole bunch of missionaries going out at the same time. This means I'm going to be calling y'all pretty late. Like probably really late. Maybe around 10 or so, California time, which would be 12 in Odessa right? Sorry for the inconvenience and if there are phones available at SLC I'll call from there, but we've been told there won't be, so I'm giving y'all the heads up now. Not much else to say and we've still got a lot to do so I'm going to go ahead and sign off. Thanks for writing and keeping me updated on what's going on at home and everything. Love y'all! Elder Vore

New Mission Tags!

This picture was taken by Grandpa Vore, shortly before the MTC

Apr 9, 2013 Running into Sister Megan Parkinson Wk 10

Well, it feels like we've been here a long time, and though maybe in my letters it has come off that I don't totally love it here in the MTC, I do. It's really great. Nevertheless, we are really excited to get out of here and head on out to Cambodia next Tuesday! We leave the MTC at 4:30 in the afternoon, leave the USA a couple hours before midnight on Tuesday and then arrive in Hong Kong around 6 in the morning on Thursday. We pretty much skip a whole day in the air. Pretty weird. We should get to Cambodia around 10:30 and then we're off! I'm completely stoked.  I'm not going to understand anything, the food is going to make me sick, it's going to absolutely insane but I'm going to have so much fun.

 We got to watch all 5 sessions of Conference last week and it was great. I've never enjoyed conference so much! Before it started I felt that I should write a few questions down that had been bugging me about my teaching and listen for answers, and they had answers for me! It was so great to see such an obvious example of inspiration through the words of prophets and apostles.

 I particularly like Elder Holland's talk about faith. The story about the 14 year old boy who told Elder Holland, "I don't know if it's true, but I believe it is," was really powerful for me. We've been taught here in the MTC by so many people who have such sure testimonies about the reality of Christ and His atonement and our Father in Heaven that in comparison, my own testimony of these truths seems rather shaky. It was a really awesome lesson for me to relearn that believing and acting on that belief is good enough. Alma taught that "even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you" and that is so important to remember! When in doubt, hold on to what you already know and desire to believe, desire to have faith and God will help you.

 On a completely unrelated note, our Sunday night devotional this week was Vocal Point. Man, they really are just so good. In addition to their singing being awesome, which pretty much goes without saying, their testimonies were great too. It was all very personal because they had all served missions before, some of them pretty recently, and really understood what was going through our minds here and now. I can imagine it was a pretty strange experience for them as well, having been in our seats watching devotionals just like us and then just a few short years later being up on that same stage which has been shared by so many many amazing, faithful men and women. I don't really know, but it was pretty cool. I love y'all! Thanks for writing! You guys are the best.  Elder Vore

Shortly before leaving the MTC, Elder Vore got to be a host missionary to welcome new missionaries entering the MTC.  He was lucky enough to be able to help a friend, Sister Megan Parkinson, bring her luggage into the MTC after just saying goodbye to her family.

Elder Vore and Sister Parkinson ran into each other a few days later on their way to the temple.

Apr 2, 2013 Easter Devotional Wk 9

And so, another week has passed on! All the missionaries we came in with have now left the MTC, so it's just the 12 of us and a whole bunch of missionaries who have spent considerably less time here than us.  It's interesting to remember that just a few months ago here at the MTC, 12 weeks was absolutely normal. Our scheduled grammer and vocabulary assignments are done so during our 2-3 hours of language study a day, we ask the teachers questions, memorize random words that we hear, search through the dictionary and so forth. 

A few days ago my teacher went to lds.org and then to the conference talks. Apparently, all of the talks that are translated are sitting right there online for anyone that wants to hear them. If y'all want, I'm sure you could look them up in like two minutes. Anyway, we listened to several of them and they are really hard to follow. Khmer takes several more syllables to say each word than English does, so in order to translate for a speaker who is speaking at a normal pace, the translaters have to speak really fast. All in all, I'm glad I'll be here for conference rather than in Cambodia. I might understand a few of the talks here.

 Sunday was our special Easter devotional. Bishop Causse of the presiding bishopric came and spoke in our Mission Conference, which was really great, and then later we had Sister Sheri Dew, who used to be in the General Relief Society Presidency. They were awesome. For obvious reasons, a large portion of their remarks was focused on the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ. It was really great.

 As part of my personal study, I went looking through old talks by Bruce R. McConkie. I don't know how familiar with him the younger kids are, but he was an apostle in the 70s-80s and an immensely powerful speaker and writer. About two weeks before he died, and after stuggling with colon cancer for a very long time, Elder McConkie gave his testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement in General Conference in a talk titled "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane":

"And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.

I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.

But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.

God grant that all of us may walk in the light as God our Father is in the light so that, according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from all sin."

 This was a man of great faith, a faith that I hope to have someday. And though I don't have a perfect faith, I don't doubt for a minute that Christ is our Savior, that he died for us and that he wants each and every one of us to be happy and accept His teachings and follow Him.  I'm excited to be able to share this message in just a short time with the people of Cambodia.

 We should have our travel plans this Thursday or maybe Friday and we are all pretty stoked. And why not right? It was Ammon who said pertaining to missionary work that "there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began" (Alma 26:35) and that is so true. Out of time here, but I'll probably write to y'all soon!   Love, Elder Vore