Transferred to Battambang.

No pictures today, but Edward received word that he is being transferred to Battambang which is near the Thailand border. He has had a great experience in Ta Khmau, but could not be more excited for the new challenge. He is being made senior companion and district leader. His new companion is a Cambodian, Elder Kim. Edward reports being "stoked" for the change.  

Many Investigators At Church

Yesterday we had 5 investigators come to church! I think that is the highest I have ever gotten. So that was cool. One of them was a milk lady, ya. So that is pretty cool. But the sad thing is that our golden investigator didn't come to church, we were planning on baptizing him this coming sunday but now we have to postpone it :(, and by this may be my last sunday in TaKhmau. Good news, Bora came again! Three weeks in a row, after 6 months of teaching him I think he will actually get baptized! All of the investigators from English class have stopped learning.  Next week Nisaay is going to get baptized (Tib's little bro) he is a boss, I am excited for that.  This week we got 3 new investigators, and they are all pretty good. One came to church yesterday, and already has strong faith, the other two are very interested, we'll see what happens.  Also last week we were at home for p-day and were both feeling a little lazy and didn't want to go out to go get hair cuts (cause we forgot earlier and really needed them.)  So we just cut each others hair, and it actually turned out well.  Because of service, sickness, and meeting with the president, by thursday morning we only had two lessons, but we pulled out 17 by the end of the week.  Love, Elder Plothow A reunion of the former members of the MTC district at the Christmas mission conference. Riding a lmont on the way to the Christmas mission conference. Looks like all the missionaries ride girls bikes with fake wicker baskets.   Couldn't pass up snapping a picture of this Christmas tree at Luckies. "Could have gone around but it would have taken an extra 20 minutes. Beside, it was fun." Thrashing rice. A funeral tent set up on the side of the road.

Another Good Week in Ta Khmau.

Well another week has gone by here in TaKhmau. This was a very fun week. Things are going great. Things with the comp are awesome! Comp study is always fun gospel discussions about what we studied, super fun. I am excited to go to a new area because I have been in this one longer than the MTC and KC combined. 

Church yesterday was good no complaints, we had three investigators come! Tib's little brother Nisaay, Tib's cousins Piarome, and Bora! I have been teaching Bora since coming to TaKhmau and this is the first week he has come 2 weeks in a row! Whoot whoot. During church a guy fainted, and all the members were going crazy, but it all turned out well. 

Elders Stanley and Choi found this one guy who was interested in why Americans are in Cambodia. And he said we could come visit it him at his house (just for fun, not to learn), he is in our area so on Friday night when a few lessons fell through and we had nothing to do, we went and paid him a visit, he invited us into his house (his house is super big and nice, and cool) during the conversation we told him that sometimes we go to a far area called Kah Koh, (we go there once a week, it is about 12 or 15 kilos away, and has about 20 members there, but Thib, and her family live out there) anyways he said one day he would want to accompany us. (he likes biking for exercise) Then I said, "we are going tomorrow if you would like to come." He agreed and came, he listened in to some of our lessons, and afterwards said he wants to become a member. I am not sure how serious he is, but hey how cool is that? 

Making the most of a moto.

Member missionaries.

A Baptism & A Week In Pictures

View over Ta Khmau from the building where Edward teaches a weekly English class.

The recently baptized member with her younger brother.

Baptism

A farmer's home outside of the city.

A leader in the branch.

A leader in the branch.

Doing service at the Killing Fields Museum.

President and Sister Moon and two of their daughters at the mission Christmas program.

The main street in Ta Khmau.

This was taken from outside the front door of Edward's apartment. Six missionaries live here.

A residential street in Ta Khmau.

On a boat in search of an investigators home.

A typical street Edward visits while proselyting.

Christmas Day Skype

Screen shot of our Skype episode.

Because of Christmas coming in the middle of the week Edward did not email, but we talked with him on Skype that evening. It was great to hear his voice and see him. He is doing fantastic and is expecting a baptism soon. He is feeling very comfortable with the language. In fact it seems odd to him that there was a time that all those Khmer squiggly marks had no meaning.  He is eating well and is healthy. We could not be more pleased with his service in Cambodia.

Branch Christmas Party (Sorry No Photos)

Well another week has gone by in good ol' Cambodia. This was a pretty good week, ups and downs like always but good. Sat was the branch Christmas celebration we were at the church all day cause E. Brittain was helping everyone with their Christmas skits, because he is amazing at the piano. The Christmas party was fun, a lot of people came. Two less actives we have been working with came, didn't come to church yesterday, but I was still happy to see them come to the party. Around 7:00 there was a dance.  At the beginning there was this really scary rap music playing, and I was hating it, finally I asked the branch pres, "do you like this?" he said, "honestly no, do you?" I said, "not at all".  Then without saying anything else the branch president went to the dj's and told them to play less scary music. I felt it was the Emperors New Clothes, nobody liked it, but nobody wanted to say anything. 

Investigator update: 

 A new investigator is amazing! He said he has wanted to join for a long time, but he has never had the courage to ask anybody, but he finally did. We taught him and he accepted baptism. He said that a new life has come into his life and that he used to get mad really easy and now he doesn't. He is seriously the perfect investigator. Every time we teach him a principle he says, "what do I need to do to apply this in my life."After we taught him the Atonement he said, "how can I show my appreciation for this." It is incredible. 

Another investigator is also incredible, she is getting baptized next week. So we hand out a lot of pamphlets with our number on them about the restoration, and her little brother got a hold of one, and told her about it. And she became interested and called us! And just to let you know, that seriously never happens, when they actually call us. And she said she prayed really hard to know if God was really there, and then two days later we showed up. Pretty cool.

Another young man and young woman 25, 27 didn't come to church this week :( But they came to the Christmas party and brought five of their friends! 

Another, 24, is new after about 6 weeks of trying to meet, we finally met him, taught him the first lesson, and committed him to baptism, he accepted! It was an awesome lesson. He was super interested in the Joseph Smith part, because he told us he wondered why there were so many Christian churches. But he didn't come to church :( but next week hopefully. 

Love you all so much! Merry Christmas!

Love, Edward

"Winter" in Cambodia

Well first off, Merry Christmas! I can't believe it is snowing in Utah, that is sooo crazy!  Last night biking home after our last appointment it was one my coldest moments in Cambodia, and it felt like a cool late August early September evening probably around 65 degrees or so, and all the natives were freezing, it felt nice. The weather the last couple of weeks has been really nice, still hot, but not blasting hot. 

This week has been great. Elder Brittain and I just get along great. And this week we taught at two new English classes. The first one is professional and we teach for an hour and at the end can give about a 10 minute spiritual thought. We told about Joseph Smith and asked if anyone wanted a Book of Mormon, and 6 people raised their hand, we were about to get some of their info but the teacher said we couldn't. So next time we will just write our number on the board and and tell people to call it. But we have another English class we went to, it is actually a cool story. So we were escorting a member home after helping us in a lesson, and afterwards we stopped to contact this lady before heading home, but while I was contacting her, another guy who was a former investigator came and talked to E. Brittain, and said he wants us to teach at his English class at his house and we could share "the news from the Gods". So the next day we did, and about 7 of them really were interested. We went again, and the number went down to about 4 interested. But that is still great. And we taught two of them yesterday and they accepted baptism and  came to church for all three hours, so I think they are the only ones really interested, but that is still great. Two new investigators. 

Public Transportation

Family Home Evening

Elder Brittain, on the way to an investigator's house.