Monday, September 22, 2014

Week 11: It was like 1000 degrees outside and I almost died!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

This week was a blast! Monday was probably one of the best P days so far. We were told of a new place to play soccer so we went out there and there were like full on teams playing. I gathered my courage and asked them if they wanted to play against us. It was so much fun, I have been hoping for soccer to get more competitive! We won of course and it helped us all realize how easy soccer would be for contacting people. 

Tuesday we were out in Kilometer 7 and we were walking on some monkey bridges looking for people to meet when this lady pokes her head out of one of the stilt houses and yells at me! I ask what she wanted and she said to just come over there. I walked across some boards to talk to her and she told me to come into her house. I looked in and there were five others in there. We went in and she kept calling me her child (con) and referring to herself as mother (ma). She started asking about our religion and we told her why we were here and what our message was. Without asking any further questions, she told us she was going to follow us. We explained that we were not the leaders of the church. (haha) She accepted a Book of Mormon and said she would read it. We gave the others Plan of Salvation pamphlets and they began reading them right away as well! It was crazy. 

Wednesday morning we went to a local tailor and I took measurements for my first pair of pants! Woo Hoo! The best part was that the pants cost 8 bucks. Score! Almost as good as the DI... then we went to meet our investigator who is close to baptism. He is amazing; he has gone from smoking two packs a day all the way down to four cigarettes. He wants to be baptized so badly. He said it was really hard to quick smoking and I told him to give me all his empty packs of cigarettes from this week so he wouldn't be tempted by them.

We also had a ward activity that night before English Class. We were just about to start, when the old Branch President asked if I could give a spiritual thought to start the activity. I had quickly picked a few scriptures to share about. I didn't know what to say or anything after I shared about the scriptures so I decided to just bear my testimony and to show my gratitude to the members for everything they have done for me. Sometimes it is hard and I was a little scared coming here and they helped me feel at home and showed me a lot of love. I started to tear up and I can testify that you cannot speak Vietnamese when you cry.

Next thing was Thursday. We were invited by one of our members to come to her house for a family home evening. She is by far the wealthiest member in the Branches and I had never been to her house before. We went to the richest part of the city. She has a nice house and it was really fun. She asked my companion and I how our parents went about teaching us the gospel. It was fun to look back and really think about it. We came home and planned for the next day. 

I have started a kind of work out group a couple weeks ago. We live with two Native Khmer elders who are notorious for not getting along with anyone. I have made it my goal to be good friends with them. I work out every night and about two weeks ago one of them asked me if I would show him a few things. I helped him and his companion work out and since then they ask me every night if we will work out together. I have seen a change in them since we have been spending time together and becoming friends. They are both really great missionaries. 


Next we went to our other investigator Chu Bay's house. It was like 1000 degrees outside and I almost died. We went there and began reading the Book of Mormon with him. He loved the story of Lehi's family and then shared this insane story about his life. He said that when he was young in Vietnam, he and some people thought they found a land mine. He started throwing rocks at it and when it wouldn't blow up, they went to investigate why. He dug it up and it was a lock box. He opened it and it was a Kilogram of pure gold! He told us about how in  the time of Pol Pot* people buried stuff like that and told us how he has payed for virtually everything with this block of gold. He has lived in four different houses off that gold. That story blew me away!

Then we had District Conference this Saturday. We had President Moon there and also an area 70. It was really good and I met a bunch of members from the other Branches. It was so exciting and I learned a bunch of new words. 

That night we went to a place called Phumsamaki to contact people. I was walking and these to teenage boys started talking to me and one was wearing a jersey for the soccer team Chelsea. I asked about it and he said he loved soccer. I told him I played a little and he was very interested. We walked into this little neighborhood and he started talking to the other boys and they all asked me if I would teach them how to play soccer. They all spoke Vietnamese so I told them I would.

Then this morning we decided it was time for a haircut. We found this old man in a little shop who said he cut hair. He had a folding chair in front of a mirror and two pairs of rusty scissors(haha) . I was a little apprehensive about it, but hair is just hair. I reasoned with myself and decided that even if it was bad, it would just grow back in like two weeks. It actually turned out really well and we gave him a dollar for the new cuts. This week was a blast. 

Love,
Elder Morris

* Pol Pot, was the Cambodian communist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until 1997.

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