Humans

It's about the humans. Not the numbers. One on one, person to person interaction. 

Elder Holland understands. 

  

I want to tell you about one human in my life today. 

His name is Heang. Heang is a recent convert in our branch of about three months. Heang is my inspiration in a lot of ways. 

About 5 years ago he was in a moto accident and the doctors messed up while operating on his broken leg. His right leg had to be amputated a couple of inches above the knee. I have never heard him say a word of complaint about it though. 

Heang found the elders through our English class and says he just "felt something different" when he was around us. When we started teaching him he was a "gangster." He had long hair and did a lot of drugs and was with a lot of girls. 

As the lessons progressed he started to change. One day he showed up to an appointment with short hair and new decent clothes.

As he continued to learn he continued to feel the spirit and he started loving the Book of Mormon. After six weeks of learning Heang was baptized. 

He didn't stop there though.

He continued to read. Continued to grow. He started helping us teach and was called to be a Branch Missionary. He was then able to bear his testimony and share his experiences with others who followed after him.

I have never heard a mean word out of his mouth. I have never seen him without a smile on his face. 

He continues to read, to share, and to grow to this day. I am privileged to get to be a part of his transformation.

Heang is one of my many heroes here in Cambodia and one of the many people I have been affected by. It's about the people. The humans.

I love Cambodia. 

I love my mission.

Love,

Elder Osborne

My Ride.

Something went wrong.

Holland

He came. And left. And took a piece of my heart with him.

Elder Holland came to Cambodia. I sensed his presence as soon as he stepped foot in my country. He's a real apostle. Like Peter or John. I sensed it when he left as well. Now I'm just happy it happened and that he was able to see the country that I love so much.

The crew. 

 A person who attends my English class went to the conference and then afterwards found me and told me she wants to learn. I got a referral from Elder Holland.

View from a member's house. 

Elder Holland said so many good things in both his address to a group of 2000 members and in his devotional for the missionaries. All of his words were amazing but the thing that hit me even more was just his presence. He commands any room he is in. By the time he left I just wanted to be his friend so badly. I hope I get to associate with people like that in the future.

We found a break-dance school. It's covered in graffiti.

 Our English class lesson this week was on families so for the spiritual thought we always do at the end I decided to share some parts of the Proclamation on the Family. In the process of reading it to my English class I realized what a cool document it is. It is so simple but so powerful. Check it out.

Flaming Dragons. 

Our investigators are all doing well. Nobody has been making any big steps recently though. But honestly, I'm not discouraged at all because I'm doing my best. It's a good life.

The sunset makes life better. 

Spiritual thought: Elder Holland told us a cool thing. He talked about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Recently, researchers found some pages of a manuscript from forever ago. 2 or 3 of those pages had some references to Jesus (I'm probably butchering the facts, sorry). They then proceeded to build a big museum around the spot where the pages were found and now tons of people come visit it every year. 

We have 532 pages jam packed with information about Jesus. The Book of Mormon is a huge deal. We know so much more about Jesus and his relationship with mankind because of those 532 pages. I know they are all true and I have felt God's love for me so many times while reading those pages. Go read them.

I love you all

Love,

Elder Osborne

P.s. A story about a generous man and a poor boy: https://www.dropbox.com/s/boy4aibo7fz135v/150819_001_2.MP3?dl=0

AEON

Last week we found what we had been looking for: The best burger in Cambodia. We found it at a huge western/american mall. We never would have found it if it weren't for Elder Olson's ravaging hunger so I thank him for that. Anyway, the burger has bacon and cheese and onions and special sauce and toasted buns and chemical x. And its only $1.50. And I'm going to eat 4 of them today.

Swamp fishing is the new cool thing: 

Everyone in Cambodia is a NeverNude. Everyone in the country showers outside in either a bucket or little shower areas and so they always wear these weird towel things to shower in. It reminds me of Tobias.

This week I learned that it is all service. Everything. I serve the people I teach, the people in the ward, my companion, even the guy we contact that swears at us and tells us to get lost. I'm still serving them with all I've got. So it doesn't matter what happens or how many people I baptize because I know I'm serving them with all my heart. I'm happy.

Cambodian creepy:

On Saturday we learned a good lesson. Friday was a little rough because we were out in the sun contacting all day and some appointments fell through. We were planning for a good full day on Saturday and really hyped about it. And then we called to confirm appointments and everything fell apart. A bunch of people were busy and we suddenly didn't have anything to do. It was going to be another long day but we bit the bullet and went out there anyway. We contacted for half an hour without success when 2 of our appointments called back and said they still wanted to meet. So we raced to the church and ended up with an awesome day. 6 lessons and 3 new investigators. Sometimes you just gotta get out there and show that you're willing to work. The Lord will take care of the rest.

Selfie:

Lol: 

Highly recommended talk! https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/04/but-if-not?lang=eng

I like to party

Love,

Elder Osborne

Terminal Velocity

Dear people that I love the most,

I am writing you to tell you about my week in Phnom Penh Cambodia as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Just FYI.

                  We got haircuts in a shack.          
He was a retired soldier. He shaved my face with a brand new razor blade.

Aftermath

We had a great week. A long time investigator came to church for the first time! Maybe because I woke him up at 11am when I called to remind him. His name is Kesaraa. But sometimes I call him Gay Sarah. Because that's how it sounds. He's way quiet and shy but he wants to learn more and follow Christ. Which is all we can  ask for. 

Sometimes I talk to myself. Actually, I talk to myself 24/7. Mostly in Khmae to try to get the accent down. But sometimes I make up monologues as I ride my bike. I decided to record one. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qw3nm6sl2od2d2j/150808_001.MP3?dl=0

(Warning: Loud)

There are few things more humbling than seeing a 70 y/o man who collects trash for a living turn in his tithing envelope. I love Cambodia.

There are few things more funny than seeing a crazy 50 y/o with one eye wearing short shorts skip across a busy intersection laughing hysterically with his finger wagging in the air defiantly. I love Cambodia.

Gather 'round.

I baptized the Sisters' investigator!

I listen to a lot of BYU speeches every week. I heard a good quote this week from a talk given by LaVell Edwards. He quoted the coach of Notre Dame saying "Prayers work best when players are big." I really liked that. We gotta do everything in our part to help accomplish what we want to happen and then leave the rest to the Lord. The LookPuu has to at least try to find a job if he wants to feed his kids. I have to try my best to speak Khmae and then leave the rest of the communication up to the spirit. Get swole.

This avocado smoothie is my friend.

Spiritual Thought: You gotta lose to win. I have battles in my thoughts all the time. Battles of my will vs. God's will. Battles between getting out of bed or laying down for one more second. Studying Khmae or making more toast. Talking to that random guy or blowing the prompting off. All day there are conflicts between God's will and mine. Most of the time they are things that are really small and seem inconsequential. But every time I lose a battle I gain a little more strength to lose the next one. If we keep losing our battles we will keep being molded by God's will and eventually become who he wants us to become. He knows us better. His will is more important than ours. Lose to win. I know it's true.

I love Cambodia.

Love,

Elder Osborne

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kuy87iu4pxou0g0/150804_001.MP3?dl=0

Elder Samuel Osborne

House 2B, Street 222, Off Norodom Blvd
PO Box 165
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

(Phone: 855 23-214-081)

Et tu brute?

CAMBODIAN KIDS CAUGHT ON TAPE
https://www.dropbox.com/s/scs0gr8ovy8635i/SDC10169.AVI?dl=0

Children these days.....

Cambodia is pretty cool everyone. Not too bad. I guess.

                                                        Picture with no caption.

Shout out to my 54 year old mother who surfed a wave for the first time this week!

This week was good. We found 5 new investigators. 3 of those are a small family. Finding new people is one of my favorite parts of this work because it is pure evidence of the Lord guiding us. He guides us to where we need to go, who to talk to, and what to say. Its all Him. 

    We found a little bakery on a secluded street that just makes the bread for another company. 

           So now we get a huge hot buttery roll every day at 11am for 25 cents. Life is good.

                                I got more letters from my most interesting investigator! 

The rain really hit hard this week. Every day it rains super hard and this huge poop river floods over and everyone gets poop on themselves. Really gross. Super Cambodia.

President came over to inspect our house because its the smallest one in the mission. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1xy665p3y03ohzu/150728_001.MP3?dl=0

All I could think of was President Uchtdorf's talk on Potemkin's village.

Spiritual thought: This week we taught a lesson. It was our second visit with this investigator and we were teaching about the restoration. I don't really know why but we were not very on with our teaching skills. it was pretty choppy between the two of us and it did not come out very clearly at all. But, it was a great lesson. Because the spirit was there. We had been obedient and the investigator really wanted to learn, so the spirit helped us out. This work has nothing to do with my ability. Sure, we still try to teach as clearly as possible but in the end its all about the spirit. If you just live worthy of the spirit then everything will work out.

As you know, I love Cambodia.

Love, Elder Osborne