HELLO!!!

Hello from across the world:)!! 

This was probably the best week so far!! 

We made cake:) in a rice cooker. like who even knew that was a thing? neither did i. and it was amazing. it tasted AND looked like cake. so incredible.

Huh. so one thing i was thinking about this week that i wanted to share with you all is something i thought a lot about before my mission, and how its changed since ive been out. before the mission, i was super worried that i would get bored of always doing church stuff, 24/7. this is actually one of the things that i struggled with for so long that held me back from deciding to go on a mission, because i love having fun. and to me, church and fun werent always synonymous. what ive been realizing since then is that, to my surprise, you dont get bored. we actually do some of the most fun, adventurous things i have ever done. we just talk to people, get to know people, love people and talk with them about how they can find more happiness. sometimes we help hang their laundry, or cook with them, or help them learn english. we do fun things with our district, we eat incredible food and try to make cake in a rice cooker and mop up our floor when it floods and climb to our roof and watch the stars and the city, and shop for dayyyzz at the markets and get told were beautiful because were white and have pointy noses. its the best. missions are the happiest. 

I had some pretty amazing experiences this week. But something that just keeps coming back to me is how blessed I am. how blessed we all are-to have grown up in america, to have grown up knowing english, to have grown up with members around us. what a responsibilty to help others! Heavenly Father truly knows each one of us so individually. I testify about this at least a couple times a day, and each day, my testimoney grows deeper. I see his hand in our lives more than ever. And he is doing literally everything he can to show us that hes there. were teaching this om in trash mountain, and this week as we visited her, the pain and the hurt and the trials were so tangible. and i know the only way to heal is through jesus christ. he can take away any pain, any scar, any wound. all we have to do is give it to him. i encourage all of you to think about something that you are still holding on to, something that causes hurt or confusion, and make a concious decision to give it to him, and then go to a quiet place and pray hand it over, and then live happier knowing that while you may not have been able to bear this, God can, and he will. because he is as much your loving heavenly father as he is anyone elses. 

ps please pray for bong tia ri and bong ri and som ali! they are this super cute family, and have such a strong desire to know Christ, but have 0 money so they work all the time, so they cant always come to church, even though they want to! 

love sis smith

This week was fantastic! missions arent boring! ex: on mothers day some of us stayed at the mission home and made breakfast for sis christensen...but 5 minutes into us making food, the stove top exploded so there was glass literally all over everywhere. dont worry, we cleaned it all up, and didnt tell pres or sis christensen until after we ate:) also biking through storms is not boring. also we forgot to bring a towel for the srei nuen after she got baptized, so she got out, and we gave her another white suit to dry off with lol. also picking out meat at the market is not boring cause theres chickens and crazyness everywhere.   (Also, idk if youve read the book called, The Rent Collector. But thats the area that im in, right now. Trash Mountain is a real thing. so so crazy!!  )I dont have a lot of time, but i wanted to share with all of you a couple of things! 

1. Srei Nuen got baptized!! yayayayayaya. she is so incredible. shes 17, and has been learning with the sisters for a couple months, and is so ready, and so willing to follow Jesus Christ. Also were teaching two 16 year old girls-Rhett Smii and Srei Mau, who are living with their cousins who are all members. they are awesome! but pray that they will continue to progess! Also pls pray for Bong Tia Ri and her husband because hes been super busy, so he hasnt been able to learn, even though he wants to. 

2. Probably the coolest thing ive seen this week as a missionary is the gift of tongues, and how the spirit works. There was 2ce this week that we were teaching, and the member went off about some concern or problem they were dealing with, and i had no idea what they were saying, but the spirit brought to my mind exactly what i needed to say, and how i needed to say it. the words came, even though i didnt understand what i addressing, or why they were struggling. but it was a super spiritual experience. 

3. remember how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you! he has graven you upon the palms of his hands. 1 ne 21:14-16

k k k , love you all!

hi hi hi

wow. ok. ive been trying to decide what to write. and i have no idea. theres not enough words to explain everything. Cambodia is AMAIZNG. its so different, and at least 3 times a day, i look around me in wonder just in awe that im actually in cambodia. its so cool.

I got here thursday morning, and first thing we got bikes. Luckily, they are super nice bikes cause we literally bike over everything and anything and everywhere. call me a mountain biker. everyone here has either a bike or a mo ped or gets around by riding duk duks, which are little carriges pulled by a moped. im thinking if anyone wants to learn how to ride a bike, just come for a quick trip to cambodia. youll learn super fast haha. the streets are insane compared to america, but here, its all normal for there not to be lanes, or street lights, or speed limits. you just go when you want, even if someone is coming straight at you from the other way. its kinda like your in an action packed movie, running away from the bad guys, swerving in between traffic, except everyones like that. you definitely learn to think of it as an adventure.

i love love love it here. the people are so kind. like everyone jokes about how we cant speak khmae (which is fair cause still cant haha) but at the same time they always say that we know a lot of khmae, and we speak clearly. they love foreigners, so they love talking to us-which is super helpful during contacting, cause we just lead it to why we are here, why we are learning khmae, ect and its awesome. 

this area is called stingmenjay, and people call it trash mountain, cause its one of the dirtiest and smelliest out of all the areas. its the south part of phnom penn, and has 3 wards! so we have tons of awesome members to work with. Here is stingmenjay, we just have us 2 sisters (so were over all 3 wards), and 8 elders. the elders have been so good at showing us around, since were both new to the area. the streets are lines with markets, little shops with fruit and meat and nuts, and tons and tons of random stuff. 

we live in a super nice apt in a gated community. my comp is awesome! her name is sis benson from ephraim. i love her already! she is so patient with teaching me the language, and helping me learn the ropes of how to live in cambodia. also shes brilliant, and knows everything so thats super nice! shes way kind and way awesome all around! 

The language isnt as crazy as i thought it would be. i pick up quite a few words when people talk to me, but not usually enough to know exactly what they are asking. luckily for me, i have  comp who is fluent, or else i would be super lost and confused and wouldnt have food ever. lolz. 

theres so much to explain cause everythings different but i dont know how to!! its incredible here. its pretty hot, basically just sweat every second of every day, but i havent hit the point yet where i wish i was sent to russia. the rain storms here are crazy. so heavy and so fun. one cool thing here is that they have something that looks like bread-warning! its doesnt taste like bread. but they have incredible baggets, bc the french had a huge influence here, and they still have bakerys so thats a blessing! 

one thing ive really grown in since being here is prayer. all the time, before and after anything, constantly, we are praying. when i lived in america, i never really felt the need to pray bc everything was always fine and safe and comfortable and easy. but since being here, prayer gives me strength, clarity, understanding, the ability to learn, etc. im learning about how prayer isnt just when were having a hard time, its for every time. pray always that you may come off conquerer. pray not just before meals or bedtime, but when you are walking into work, or when you are shopping, or when  you are in class. god wants to hear from us. he waits to hear from us. he cares about what we say and what we want and whats hard and what we need. we just have to be the one to open that portal, and then god can talk to us. i invite all of you to make a more concious effort to pray always, if you need set reminders for yourself to pray more often until it becomes natural. prayer is a gift, lets use it!

k, so we can only take pics on mondays, and since today was the first monday, i only have a few pics. ill try to take more during the rest of today! and send lots next week! 

i love you all!! have an amazing week! 

love sis smith

ft below: 1. all sorts of veggies at the market!!

2. raw meat: yummmmmmmmm

3. fruit-like didnt know this kind of fruit existed (actually super good!!)

4. my beautiful comp this morning after we made it back home (thank the heavens) from the markets with all of our food for the week

5. the safe water we can drink

6. a house in our gated community (all the houses are the same-so even though its not ours, thats exactly what ours looks like, except we have a pic of jesus in the window)

They're Here!!

 Dear Parents of our wonderful missionaries,

We just want you to know that your missionary has arrived safe and sound! We love this picture taken right after they got off the plane and met their companions. Although they are jet-lagged they bring a wonderful spirit and we are excited to get to know them and begin serving together.  We spent the afternoon interviewing them and we must say they are a very impressive set of Elders and Sisters. They have gone to their new areas with their companions and will return to the mission home next week when they can stay awake and we will spend a day together in training.

Cambodia is a wonderful country and we feel the blessings of our Father in Heaven being poured out on these people as the church continues to grow here. In the next few months as your missionary’s language skills increase and he or she begins to personally know the people in their areas we are confident that their excitement and love for missionary work will only grow.  We already love your missionary, we were overwhelmed with their expressions of faith and excitement today and we promise you that we will love and treat each of them as one of our own.  Thank you  for trusting our Father in Heaven enough to send your child to this part of the world and know of our confidence that God watches over his missionaries here and blesses them every day.

May God bless you and your family as you continue this wonderful adventure,

Love,

President and Sister Christensen

#deuces

hi hi hi

ok wow oh wow we are headed out in just a few short hours! But i wanted to send a quick email about how amazing the mtc is, and some things ive learned. 

So basically to sum up my mtc experience:

1. teachers are straight angels from heaven. thank you thank you thank you. they are the best at therapy, at teaching, at teaching how to teach, at helping us comprehend, at helping us understand our role, etc. also shoutout to rm's from cambodia who work in the cafeteria that make the mtc the funnest:)

2. khmae is hard. but also i love it with all my heart. im learning how simple the gospel is by having to explain it in in simple language with the few skills i have. theres this cool thing they do in cambodia, where they put 2 almost identical words right next to each other to make a phrase in order to emphasize the difference. ex: listen vs hear, look vs see. in english, ya theres a difference, but not one that we emphasize. and im learning how this difference is something so important that we need to understand in the gospel. we can listen, but not actually hear. in order to be converted, we need to hear. 

3. god sends so many mercies. idk what it is, but this last week was pretty stressful and hard, but i have also never seen so many tender mercies from god or felt his love and acceptance or help more. i dont even know how to explain it, but ill be praying about something, and someone will answer that prayer with the exact phrase i asked it. or someone will tell me the exact thing i need to hear. or give me the exact thing i have been needing. i have felt so much love from god. when you start looking for him in your life, hes everywhere. 

4. i have never prepared for anything so important in my entire life. i remember studying for my ap tests, stressing. and taking a million and one act practice tests, and practicing for distinguished young women, and spending hours planning and putting together activities for student council, and sweating hardcore every time i would have to learn how to drive, and a thousand other things that i was supposed to learn bc they were important. and they were, sure. but nothing is more important that the eternal welfare of someone. there is such a weight, a responsibility. and its humbling, and motivating. and ive learned that during all those times learning how to drive, or studying for ap tests, i had to rely on myself. and when push comes to shove, and its time to perform, its all you. its all about what you remember and how good you are. but what ive realized about the mission is that this work isnt ours. no matter how many hours of prep we put in, we cant do it without the lord. this work of saving souls, this eternal welfare, is work of God. so when push comes to shove, when the time comes and you have to perform (your out on the street contacting or in the middle of a lesson), hes not going to leave us alone to see how many questions we answer right. its about what we can do together-God and me. God and you. God and the investigator. God and the learner. Its ok if you only know 50% of the test, its ok if you dont know how to drive, its ok if you dont remember a specific word or phrase or cant understand perfectly the language. bc this work has eternal significance. ive learned that this work is empowering. bc Jesus Christ and His Atonement are empowering

5. When we give our all to God, when we do exactly what he wants, he qualifies us. it was a pretty busy week, and i got only a few hours of language study, but somehow i learned so much khmae. and its not bc i studied better, or more or harder, but its bc i did what he asked, when he wanted it done, even though it felt inconvienient. 

6. everything is about love. thats why im here. thats why god sent his son. thats why jesus died for us. 1 ne 19: 9

7. we never have to worry, bc when we follow god, we are in the hands of god, not satan. 

8. satan is real. we have to fight, and keep fighting. keep turning to Christ. Keep repenting, keep learning, keep trying. Christ is empowering.

9. the gospel is so true. Jesus Christ came to earth. he established his church, and then he suffered and died for all of us. 3 days later, he rose from the dead. and so we can all be resurrected. we can have eternal life. we can repent and become like him. Because He loves us so much, he called prophet to restore the truth so that we all might be able to find the happiness, peace, and safety that can only be found through Jesus Christ. I invite everyone to, no matter where they are on the journey to knowing our Savior, take a step back, evaluate, and course correct so that you can find a few more ways that you can strengthen your testimony, and come closer to Christ. He invites us over and over, to come as we are, and to come unto Him. 

pray for me cause my flight is five-ever!!! hope you all have a fantastic, happy, Christ filled week.

love sis smith