Oct 27, 2014 Chickens and Eagles

I was talking to a new member in another branch the other day. He is a professional boxer named Khamera. Super cool guy and really excited about learning about the scriptures and the gospel. On some weekends he goes to Thailand to fight and gets his paycheck. Someone asked him how much he usually got paid and he said that it wasn't very sure. When pressed he talked about the last fight he was a part of. If he won, he got $70 (keep in mind, there are some people here that don't make that much in a month) and if he lost he got $35. BUT, the bookies told him that if he lost they would give him $350 extra. That's a significant amount of money around here. He said he tried to win (If he wins a lot they want him to fight at bigger fights so it can be even better than the short term loss) but the other guy won. Nice consolation prize though. The sports scene in Southeast Asia is a little different than it is in America.

Earlier in the week I was teaching a group of children and their grandparents in one of the slums off the railroad tracks. Such nice humble people who are enduring trials that I can't even really comprehend. As the lesson came to a close, the grandfather asked one of his grandchildren to say the closing prayer. She is six years old though she looks like she's about four, keep that in mind. In her prayer she asked that God would, "Please have my mom stop playing cards and gambling. She doesn't need to play cards, she can just play with me and my sisters instead. And help my dad with his job so that he can keep this one and not lose his job. And help him stop drinking." I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Poor little kid.

We had a fun activity in English Class on Wednesday. In order to get our students talking and excited we taught them how to play mafia. Really, what we were trying to do is get them to argue with each other in English. It was pretty fun. Being in a classroom setting can get people to do things that they would never think of doing in the real life. If the teacher tells you to do something, you just try and do your best!  We had a lot of fun. Not much to that story actually.

I want to tell a story real quick. There once was a man who raised chickens. He had several hundred chickens and spent a good amount of time taking care of them. One day he noticed an egg that seemed a little larger than normal. He however, did not pay too much attention to it and put it in the pile with the other eggs to be incubated. Several weeks later when this egg hatched, it was not a baby chick inside, but a baby eagle.

This eagle had an interesting upbringing. It was born in a chicken coop, lived with chickens, and was fed and treated like a chicken, and so it acted like a chicken. It ate feed with the chickens, scratched in the dirt with the chickens, slept with the chickens etc. Eventually though, the eagle got a little bigger.

One of the older children noticed this and told his father, "Dad, there's an eagle in the pen with the chickens." The father chuckled and told his son, "Son, that's not an eagle it's a chicken. It eats like a chicken, it walks like a chicken it acts like a chicken. Therefore it is a chicken."

The son set out to prove that the eagle was indeed an eagle and so he took the eagle up on top of the chicken coop and pointed its head off to the horizon and whispered to it, "You are an eagle. Fly!" The eagle looked up at the horizon, down at the chicken coop and then hopped down and continued to scratch with the chickens. The son dragged the eagle to the roof of the house and had the exact same result. "See?" said the father. "I told you it was a chicken."

Undeterred, the son took the eagle to the top of a mountain, far from the chicken coop below. He went to the edge of a cliff and pointed the eagle's head at the horizon and whispered, "You are an eagle. Fly!" And the eagle opened it's wings and flew.

Sometimes we forget that as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father we have infinite potential. If we spend our time in less worthy pursuits we will never reach our full potential. We will never learn how to fly if we spend all of our time scratching with the chickens. Fortunately, a loving father in heaven has prepared a plan for us. When we follow his commandments we will have real growth in our lives and we will be able to reach our full potential.
Love y'all!

Elder Vore 

Oct 20, 2014 Everyone is a Critic

I've had several experiences recently that have both been a little humbling and a little funny. To preface this, some back ground is necessary. There are different dialects of Khmer spoker here in Cambodia. Actually, they're not even really different dialects, more like different accents. In America when we think of a country accent compared to a city accent we might think that the city accent is clearer or more correct (I'm imagining people from small towns in the south compared to people from suburbs near big cities in the east). In Cambodia its a little different. The big city accent is slurred and unclear. Among other things, Rs are dropped, sub-consonants are routinely ignored and tones are kind of thrown into a language that isn't actually supposed to have tones. Those from the provinces, especially in the north like in  Batdombong, speak very clearly. All of the letters are pronounced the way they are written and their speech is almost clipped.

I've spent my entire mission in the city at this point, except for 7 months in Baku where they speak like those from Phnom Penh but even more pronounced. My speaking has been learned from those who supposedly don't speak very clearly. I'm very good at parroting what those around me say, and I pick up accents a lot better than I pick up words, reading or writing. Basically, I sound a lot like a Khmer that was born in the city.

 My companion is much younger in the mission than me, but he is also a very good listener and good at parroting and picking up accents. He however, has spent the last 6 months in Batdombong, an area that is known for its clear speakers. In the last couple of weeks as we have talked to people around our area we have been complimented on how good our Khmer is, especially my companion. Boy, they love how clearly he talks! "You (pointing to Elder Brewer) speak very beautifully," they say. "Much better than him (pointing to me). His words all run together and aren't pretty". I've spent all this time working on speaking exactly how Khmers do and in the end what do I get? Everyone is a critic. :P

This last Saturday night we went to visit one of the families we teach and were greeted by a somewhat pitiful sight. They were in the process of adding a floor to their one room house so that there would be enough room for everyone to lay down at night. Crossbeams were placed just above their heads (I have to duck to walk in but they're a little shorter than me so they're fine), floorboards were laid on the second floor and they started to lay bricks. The roof was to be raised just a couple of feet (the second floor is going to have a really low ceiling) and they were replacing the tin for the roof.

 In this process it was necessary for them to take the roof completely off for a few hours while the cement dried and stuff like that and then put the new roof on. Their sister also happened to be moving and had put all of her stuff in their house. Then it rained. Without a roof the rain was particularly frustrating. All available tarps and plastic bags were put over the recently laid wooden floorboards that would warp if wet. All of their exposed belongings sat in the rain. When we showed up they were just kind of staring at everything. Clothes, belongings, and construction materials filled the house. Only two of them were sitting (on bricks) while the rest of them stood. There wasn't enough space for them to sit. We stood just outside the front door as rain came down softly. I was fully expecting them to be pretty down but they were incredibly positive about things. We laughed together about their bad luck for a good 15 minutes before we left. Sunday morning we went to help them clean out their house and lay the bricks so the roof could get put on. 

I was really blown away by how optimistic they were. Nothing was getting them down! I guess we don't have to react to challenges negatively, we can just laugh it off. I really felt like I learned a lot from them.

Elder Brewer and I ran into a lady who was collecting recyclables to sell in front of our house as we went home this week. She dropped her cart when she saw us and started begging for money. That was a little uncomfortable because we aren't allowed to give money to beggars, but Elder Brewer had a couple of energy bars and he gave them to her. She was pretty drunk and reacted a little illogically. She threw the energy bars down and said, "I don't want these American cakes, I want Khmer food or money! Don't you have any rice?" She certainly wasn't very grateful and didn't seem to understand that the energy bars would help her a lot.

Later I was thinking about the Atonement. Sometimes I see people who learn about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and then choose not to follow Him or his gospel because the Atonement is not the gift they wanted. They wanted money. They wanted instant gratification. They wanted entertainment. They wanted rice. 

Sometimes we act like that. We want God to solve our problems. We want him to tell us what to do. We want Him to guide us financially. Instead, He has given us the Atonement. When we learn about and apply the Atonement in our lives, God will bless us, though not necessarily the way we want Him to. Often times it would help us a great deal if we would just focus on the things that God wants us to focus on. Jacob taught, "seek not to counsel the Lord but to take counsel from His hand." So, the next time God gives you a blessing or a challenge, try to apply that. I'll try too. Love y'all

Elder Vore

Oct 13, 2014 Some Things are Not as They Seem

While leaving the church the other day I was the given the phone number of someone who had come into the church and said they wanted to learn English and were willing to listen to a message about Jesus Christ as well. I called and was greeted by a woman who said her house was on a street near the church. I told her to stand on the side of the road and flag me down when I passed. I also told her I was wearing a white shirt and tie. I went all the way down that road looking for a 20 something woman who looked like she was looking for something and got nothing. At the end of the road I called her again and she said that she hadn't seen me, but that she was now sitting by a certain tree near a parked car. That was actually a decent enough landmark so we turned around and headed there. Once there I was somewhat shocked to find that sheover the phone and the wind was blowing so it was kind of har was a he (some kind of weird problem with his voice), and he was pretty shocked that I was American (we were talking d to hear). So, he was looking for an older Khmer man on a motorcycle and I was looking for a woman. But at least we found each other!

Hey! I have a new companion! His name is Elder Brewer. Elder Brewer hails from Wildomar, in southern California and is the 5th of 7 siblings! Elder Brewer likes long walks on the beach in his bare feet and puppies. :D Ok, maybe putting words in his mouth. We're getting along super well and he is a big singer! There are going to be 4 Elders in our small apartment for a little while and 3 of us are really big singers! We went off on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in impromptu 3 part and it was awesome! I might send y'all a recording or something.  

I want to tell a story about a woman named Panny. She was just 49 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. Because the health care isn't the best in Cambodia she went to Vietnam to find better a better hospital. In Vietnam she got some bad news and the doctors told her they didn't know what to do. She cried in her hospital room and one of the doctors gave her a bible and suggested that it could help her find peace. She opened the book but couldn't read it because it was the wrong language. The Bible laid on her chest overnight and for some reason, when she woke up she was feeling much better. She scheduled a later visit, got some painkillers and went back home with a determination to find out more about Christ. She contacted a cousin of hers who is a member of our congregation in Ta Khmao and started coming to church.  For several weeks she studied the scriptures very carefully and wanted very much to be baptized. She had a very firm belief that if she followed Christ, He could cure her cancer. The week before she was to be baptized she went back to Vietnam where they told her that there was nothing they could do and that she was going to die in a matter of months. She was crushed. 

After staying at her home for several days she decided that she needed to keep following the commandments that she had learned about with the missionaries and received baptism. She did so and invited her whole family to come with her. She dragged her husband to worship services every week for several months. Over the last few weeks her health worsened and she went in and out of a coma. Two weeks ago was fast and testimony week where members are invited to stand up and give their own personal testimonies. She wanted to get up and speak but literally could not leave her bed. She told her husband that he had to go to church and speak for her. He did. She was in a lot of pain before she went into a coma one last time and passed away.

At the funeral this last Tuesday I was moved to tears. More so than anyone I have ever known personally, Panny kept the faith until the very end. Her husband broke into sobs when he told us that one of the very last things she did was sit up and tell him that she loved him and that he had to get baptized. It was almost hard to believe.  She made me think about a talk I read recently by Elder Dennis E. Simmons called 'But If Not'. He wrote: 

' Faith is not bravado, not just a wish, not just a hope. True faith is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—confidence and trust in Jesus Christ that leads a person to follow Him. 

Centuries ago, Daniel and his young associates were suddenly thrust from security into the world—a world foreign and intimidating. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to bow down and worship a golden image set up by the king, a furious Nebuchadnezzar told them that if they would not worship as commanded, they would immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. “And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” 

The three young men quickly and confidently responded, “If it be so [if you cast us into the furnace], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand.” ....  then they demonstrated that they fully understood what faith is. They continued, “But if not, … we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” That is a statement of true faith. '

I really felt like Om Panny exemplified this. She probably told me over a hundred times that if she followed Christ that she would be healed of her cancer, I think she really believed that; but when she was on death bed she was going out of her way to find some way to serve the God she loved. 

' Our God will deliver us from ridicule and persecution, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from sickness and disease, but if not … . He will deliver us from loneliness, depression, or fear, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from threats, accusations, and insecurity, but if not. … He will deliver us from death or impairment of loved ones, but if not, … we will trust in the Lord.

Our God will see that we receive justice and fairness, but if not. … He will make sure that we are loved and recognized, but if not. … We will receive a perfect companion and righteous and obedient children, but if not, … we will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that if we do all we can do, we will, in His time and in His way, be delivered and receive all that He has. '

I believe that will bless all those who truly believe in him. I love you guys.

Elder Vore

Oct 5, 2014 Be Perfected in Him

One of the activities we run at the church here is a free English Class. The main purpose of the class is to try and find people who want to learn more about the gospel, but it's also a really great opportunity to help a lot of people who need to be able to speak English to be competitive in their job. We have been spending a considerable amount of time lately working on making our English classes more organized and conversation based but we also realized that it wasn't doing as much good as it could be doing because we simply weren't teaching very many people. So, we decided to do some advertising.

Several months ago we made signs to hold on the side of the road by the church but Elder Martinson and I felt that the signs we being underused, so we encouraged all the missionaries serving in branches that operate out of our building to go out and hold the English class signs whenever they were sitting at the church waiting for appointments. This worked really well. We had many people stop and ask for information and many more that were interested in learning more about the gospel or joining in with our worship services. However, the first week after we started this advertising push we only had 7 people come to English Class due to a Khmer holiday (we average around 55 in three classes). We decided to just laugh it off and keep trying.

 This last week we had 123 show up to class. The 70 or so that came for the first time packed themselves into the foyer where we had only one sign in sheet (we quickly made 5 copies and got another table). When you double the amount of students in your class it gets a lot harder to teach. And I mean a lot harder. We can't just lecture either. The whole point of the class is to get them talking and practicing their English with native speakers there to help them. We had only three classrooms ready and only 3 lessons prepared and enough worksheets for about half of them. It was pretty crazy. We're hoping to split into 5 classes this week. Ideal class sizes would be around 15, but that doesn't seem feasible right now..

Random side note, 6 of those 70 or so new people came to sacrament meeting with my ward and several more went to the other two wards. Pretty cool.

I've been thinking a lot about becoming perfect lately. In Matthew 5:48 Christ taught us to be "perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." This command to be perfect is repeated a number of times throughout the standard works including to Abraham (Genesis 17:1) and the Nephites (3 Nephi 12:48; 27:27). It's a matter of doctrine that "the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save e shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them (1 Nephi 3:7)", and so it follows that He truly does expect us to be perfect. How can we, imperfect "natural men" (Mosiah 3:19), expect to be perfect like our Father in Heaven? There are a lot of possible answers to that question and I want to share an example from the sporting world to illustrate just one.

In 1984 the Miami Dolphins were the the best team in football. They went undefeated, 14-0, in the regular season and won three straight post-season games including the Super Bowl. The first and only ever "perfect season". Now that's not to say that the team was perfect or even that their so-called perfect season was perfect, I'm sure they had their ups and downs, but their imperfections were swallowed up in a greater victory, that of overcoming all opponents, all obstacles, and taking home the championship.

When we got baptized and made sacred covenants, you and I joined a team, and unlike the 1984 Miami Dolphins who had no perfect players on their roster, our team captain is perfect. He is Jesus Christ. He is our exemplar. He is our savior.

During His mortal life nearly 2,000 years ago, the Savior, Jesus Christ, performed an act known as the atonement that is central to all human history (The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles). Bruce R. McConkie wrote, " We know that in some way, incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice, ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy available to those who believe in his holy name" (The Purifying Power of Gethsemane).

You and I and all of us who believe on Christ's name and show that we are willing "to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places... [by] being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that [we] have entered into a covenant with him (Mosiah 18:9-10)" have joined His team. When we are weak, he is strong. When we fall, He lifts us up. Though we will sin, when we feel godly sorrow and repent, He takes those sins upon Himself, the sins of all mankind, and He suffers, but He is strong and we are cleansed. Our team is not perfect, but we are undefeated.

President Boyd K. Packer taught, "it was understood from the beginning that in mortality we would fall short of being perfect. It was not expected that we would live without transgressing one law or another (The Atonement)". Rather, the plan was that we could be saved by grace, after all that we could do (2 Nephi 25:23). So we have a disclaimer. We cannot sit on the bench and watch Christ save the day. Even though we are imperfect, unprofitable servants, we have a personal responsibility to follow Him with all our heart, might mind and strength. Our Heavenly Father may not expect us to be perfect now, but He certainly expects us to try. When we try with all our heart to follow Christ's perfect example, we can be made perfect through His atoning blood.

At the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni makes one final plea to all who read: "... come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ".

To those of you who have joined Christ's team through baptism by immersion by proper authority, be a team player. Follow the rules. When you follow the commandments that Christ has set for you, you will never lose another game.

For those who have not yet joined this team, and especially my friends who may be reading this, I encourage you to learn more about it. We do not capture those who walk into the chapel and lead them captive to the baptismal font. Rather, we welcome the curious and those seeking for more. I promise that all those who learn about and apply the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will see that it is good and it will bring them happiness. Only after learning about and applying the teachings of the church could one make an educated decision about whether or not one should decide to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Come and be perfected in Christ.

Love,

-Elder Vore

Elder Vore and Elder Martinson

With Chan Finel, Sokpheakday Kong, and Nimol Kosal

Sept 28, 2014 Translating

Even though I've never been in an accident, I'm kind of glad they make us wear bike helmets out here. Sometimes I'm biking around at night and a branch just wacks me in the head! See? Helmets are useful." -Elder Martinson

Zone Conference  September 2014

Translating is kind of hard. You would think that once you know two languages you could just say whatever you want to in either language and just go with it, but it's not quite that easy for some reason. This last Tuesday we had Zone Conference and Elder Martinson and I were asked to translate. I'm happy to help of course but every time I do live translation I feel like I get nothing out of what is said. In one ear and out of my mouth with no time to process the meaning. For example, I was asked to translate for President Moon as he was doing training on how to teach new converts and help them grow in the gospel and I feel like I don't remember anything of what he taught! Too bad...

My companion was translating near the beginning of the conference, and almost missed it when President Moon made a very important announcement. We are opening new proselyting areas in the provinces of Porsat and Prei Veng! For a number of years our proselyting strategy in Cambodia has been all about staying near centers of strength. In the last few months we've been moving further out and opening new areas (like when I was in Baku all those months ago) and now missionaries will be heading to two new provinces! It's a pretty bold step. Everyone is kind of hoping that they are the ones that get to open the new area, we'll see next week!

I saw a cat catch a mouse this week. It's not a myth, cats really play with their food before eating it! Weird. I felt pretty bad for the poor little mouse. There are a lot of rodents around here, some bigger than others. Sure, we have your regular house mice like in America, but we also have huge street rats. Those things are literally the size of cats. On Sunday one of our members told a story about a time when her family was raising dogs to sell and one of her chores was to guard the puppies and make sure that the rats didn't eat them. That seems to go against the natural order of things...

Had another funny experience relating to Zone Conference. We got a last second assignment to set up the catering for the event. Usually that wouldn't be a big deal but because the Conference was being held on the day of a major holiday in Cambodia, many businesses were closed. Elder Martinson and I went casually to our first three choices and found that none of them would be able to cater the following day. We continued on to two other restaurants, but were starting to get a little worried. We kept teaching people like normal and then in between teaching activities we would check a couple of restaurants and see if they would cater for us. We finally found a caterer and agreed on a deal 10 minutes before we needed to tell the Assistants what was going to be for lunch at the conference. Looking for a caterer is number 193 on the list of things I never thought I'd do on my mission. Number 194 is tying balloons to the ankles of 13 year old children.. I feel like I've accumulated a lot of random experiences and skills on my mission. Some are weirder than others :P

Eating lunch with a member

Just one last thought on food. I've found that pretty much anything is edible if you fry it and put soy sauce on it. That's it for me guys! Sorry the email is a little short today. Love you!

Elder Vore

It flooded this past week...this is the lower road down by the railroad.  It used to be a road--now it's a river.  Wading through black water was disgusting!

Sept 22, 2014 The Pursuit of Happiness

  

For hundreds of years now, colonists from all over the word have been drawn to the United States, "the land of opportunity". We always learn in school how lucky we are and how thankful we should be to our founding fathers and for soldiers and other such figures, but it's really hard to understand how good we have it in the USA until you leave.

About three or four times a week I make a visit to the slums on the railroad tracks to visit our members there. I should probably take pictures to help you understand what kind of a place it is, but my camera is broken, so I'll have to describe it. As you come up to the tracks, the first thing you notice is the smell. It smells like a dumpster. Rotting food, human waste and everything they throw out just sits outside of their houses. The garbage truck doesn't come down this way. Everyone here literally just lives in their own trash. It's strangely not very green and leafy around here, probably a result of building the railroad. Look around and that's the first thing you see. The tracks.

 People are all over it actually. In America you're not even allowed to get close. The kids play in the tracks and in the dirt. They're not wearing much, and they look dirty. Most of them "shower" when it rains. Just stand under the water that runs from the roof with some soap. No one ever gets really clean. If you look around a little more you'll see the adults. It's always shocking how many of them there are. The women gamble, playing cards while sitting and watching the children run around. Most everyone is drinking or smoking, often both. Men sit around in groups with cheap glasses of rice alcohol, it only takes 15 cents or so to get drunk on that stuff. The houses sit on stilts for the most part, dangling over the waste below. Walking through the filth to the houses takes some getting used to. The kids run around bare foot. They would be in school if their parents had a little steadier of an income.

It's a hopeless place. It's shocking, and sad. I can look down the line of shacks and see four generations of the poverty cycle. Almost none of the children are getting any type of education or vocational training that is going to help them escape. The NGOs are great, but we've got a long way to go until we see any actual growth. Most of the residents want to be out and working to make their lives better but they can't even get started. They don't even know where to start. Get a job? How about the factories? If you don't have a ride there then you can't work there. Many of them open their homes and sell things. Vegetables, snacks, cokes, fish, but they're barely getting by. Most of them don't even know how to hold a job if they ever got one. They may be free to pursue happiness, but they're struggling just to survive. 

On a somewhat related note, my language skills have, in a way, regressed as I've been in this area. Since the beginning I've learned this language by listening and parroting. The longer I spend in the city and especially in poorer areas, the more I am surrounded by those who don't actually speak Khmer very clearly. Imagine if you dropped a foreigner into "the hood" and had him learn English. Check up on him in a few months and his language skills would be really interesting. That's basically what I've done. For the most part, it's what all of the Elders all over the world do, it's one of the main reasons we can actually speak the languages that we are assigned to speak. It can occasionally mean that I don't exactly understand the words that are coming out of my mouth. I'm kind of like a toddler when I speak. Sometimes people we talk to laugh at us. They laugh, not necessarily because it's funny, but because the words coming out of my mouth seem very incongruent with my skin color and dress. I'm kind of rambling at this point, not really sure where I was going with that.

One of our recent convert's names is Om Vanna. She's in her 60s and lost her entire family during the Pol Pot regime years ago. For the last 30 years or so she's been working as a nanny for a family that is extremely rich. Occasionally she would take a break and walk around outside the mansion and that's where she got to know Chompei, who is also a recent member. They learned about the gospel together in Chompei's little shack on the side of the road and decided to get baptized. Om Vanna's employers aren't big fans of Christianity. Vanna was aware of that and she never told them where she was going when she left the house. Every time she goes to church or comes to read the scriptures with us, she ducks out secretively. We weren't fully aware of the situation until she kind of stopped coming to everything. Apparently her employers have now completely forbidden her from doing anything that relates to Jesus Christ. It wouldn't be as big of a deal if she wasn't basically a part of the family. She has lived with them for 30 years and doesn't have anywhere to go if they put her out.  It's unlikely that you or I will ever have such persecution because of our religious beliefs, but a lesson can and should be learned all the same. 

Christ taught, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)"

There will be a time where we need to stand up for what is right. The world does not always appreciate or support good morals, chastity, or religion. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland so movingly said, "Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around you don’t live it at all. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them. A long history of inspired voices, including... President Thomas S. Monson, point you toward the path of Christian discipleship. It is a strait path, and it is a narrow path without a great deal of latitude at some points, but it can be thrillingly and successfully traveled, “with … steadfastness in Christ, … a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.” In courageously pursuing such a course, you will forge unshakable faith, you will find safety against ill winds that blow, even shafts in the whirlwind, and you will feel the rock-like strength of our Redeemer, upon whom if you build your unflagging discipleship, you cannot fall." (See "The Cost and Blessings of Discipleship, General Conference April 2014)

Love you guys!!

Elder Vore

                                                                     Me eating crabs!

Sept 15, 2014 Weird Things

Sometimes strange things happen around here.

Had a super weird experience on Wednesday when I went on a companion exchange in Pochentong earlier this week. We were at the church interviewing a young man who was preparing to get baptized when a girl walked into the church building. That wasn't the weird thing, the weird thing was that she was white. We don't get a lot of white people in that part of town.

She was talking to one of the missionaries out in the lobby when I got out of the interview. She explained that she was just walking around and saw the church and wanted to check it out. Then one of the members came up and asked us where she was from and she answered in Khmer. Everyone's heads turned to look at her. I wish I could have seen it from the third person, we must have looked ridiculous.  You would think that we, as people who have learned this language already, would be less shocked to meet someone who had also learned this language. I must have felt about the same as everybody who meets me on the street and is shocked that I actually speak Khmer. But she didn't just speak Khmer, she spoke Khmer like someone who had been raised in the ghetto. That's an accent that I am familiar with, but it was absolutely shocking to hear it come from her mouth. She came to Cambodia when she was 9 years old. Some time after she got here her dad died and she lost contact with her family in South Africa. She went around teaching English at people's houses. Some people lead really crazy lives. We weren't sure what to make of her because her story didn't make much sense after the basic details and eventually we just left. I still can't believe how perfect her Khmer was.

Last week I talked to a guy named Sau and he indicated that he had some interest in learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I set a return appointment with him and got his address. We called him before heading over and he didn't answer so we decided to just go to the address and hope that he would be there. The address was a little hard to find but finally we found the house and were a little shocked to see that it was a massage parlor. Now, in Cambodia, massage parlors are not as innocent as massage parlors in America. Sure there are plenty of places where you can get a normal, nice, massage and at really decent prices (Like under $3 an hour) but many others that deal with a less innocent business. There were 5 or 6 women sitting around playing cards and waiting for customers when we showed up.

 Once we had convinced them that we didn't want massages, we asked about Sau. They seemed to not recognize the name but couldn't decide. That was weird. We were getting ready to leave when one of the women pulled out a picture and asked us if we recognized him. I wasn't sure, but it was enough to get us to call the guy again before leaving. Sau answered the phone and I told him that I thought I was at the wrong address. He told me it was the right address and that he would be by in a few minutes. Well... We weren't sure how comfortable we were at the massage parlor, but we sat and waited for him. I started making faces at a baby that was playing just inside and he giggled. Then Sau came up. Everyone clearly recognized him and he got off his motorcycle and picked up the baby I was playing with. It was his child. We were thoroughly weirded  out at this point but taught him and his wife a very normal lesson and invited them to church. We haven't tried to meet them again yet, but I think next time we'll try and see if we can meet at the church or something...

 I wish I could explain better what this missionary experience means to me. Every time I leave the house I am excited. Every time I walk into the church I'm happy. Every time I meet new people that want to learn about the gospel I just get this big grin on my face. This is so much fun! I love my job, I wish I could do it forever.

There's a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that explains this joy. It is the joy of bringing other unto Christ. It says: "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! (D&C 18:15-16)"

I know that sharing the gospel with others brings great joy and I want to encourage you who are reading this to think about the ways you are trying to share the gospel and whether you can do it more boldly. Love you guys!

-Elder Vore