The Plan.

I met some guys whose job it is to break down a Buddhist temple. 

They let me take a turn with the sledge hammer. 

Dream come true: 

Fishin'

Models: 

Buds:

I've been thinking a lot about the Plan of Salvation this week. How cool is it that we know His plan! I try to review it frequently in order to not take it for granted. Here is my shot at explaining the basics of the plan:

Before we came to this Earth we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father. We did not yet have physical bodies, just spirits. God created a plan for us to have happiness and glory like Him. His plan is for us to come to Earth, receive a body, learn and grow, and return to live with Him in Heaven.

God created the Earth and placed on it the first two humans, Adam and Eve. God gave them commandments and taught them the consequences of breaking them. God gave them agency to choose and make decisions. Adam and Eve broke God's commandment and received the consequences including inevitable death, the ability to sin, and the ability to have children. From our first parents, Adam and Eve, we receive these characteristics as well.

On Earth our purpose is to learn and grow. Here we prepare to return to live with God in heaven. Two major obstacles, however, keep us from living with Him again: death and sin. Without a physical body we could not have full happiness like our Father. And because we sin we cannot be worthy to live in His presence. Without a Savior our lives are hopeless.

Jesus Christ is our savior. He volunteered to be our savior. Through his act of resurrection and his suffering for our sins we will all be resurrected and we can be cleansed from sin. Our physical resurrection is a free gift from Him. To be cleansed from sin, however, we must follow his teachings.

Despite the Resurrection, we all must die. Our spirit and body will separate for a time. At death our spirits will go to the spirit world. Here, followers of Jesus will teach those spirits that did not have the opportunity to accept Christ's gospel on Earth.

After some time, our spirits and bodies will unite through the Resurrection. We will be brought back to the presence of God to be judged according to our works and desires. God will judge us justly and mercifully and assign us to one of three kingdoms. The highest kingdom, called Celestial, is where God is. If we follow Christ and are cleansed from sin we will be able to live with Him in the Celestial Kingdom. We will also live with those of our family who qualify. Those who choose not to follow Christ will be in one of the other two kingdoms.

Knowing this plan, it is our duty in this life to choose to follow Christ. We must live our life the way He wants us to live in order to be cleansed from sin and return to Heavenly Father.

I know that this plan is true. God, in His perfect knowledge and love created it for us.

I hope we can all do what is necessary to live eternally with Him.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-06-06-our-eternal-life?category=topics/plan-of-salvation&lang=eng

Love,

Elder Osborne

Based on a true story.

I like to play soccer (football). When I lived on Guam it was all I really cared much about. But being a decent-at-best player myself I didn't have very high expectations as I entered freshman year and planned to try out for the team. Our school was small and no champion-winner so it wasn't absurd for a freshman to make the team. I decided I was going to do all in my power to try and make the team, but if I didn't make it I wouldn't be surprised. 

I played club soccer and worked out to try to get in shape for the season. I still had a big weakness though: I was epically slow. Like President Packer would have had a good shot at beating me in a foot race. This was a problem because everyone knows that a mile run is a staple of any Guam high school soccer tryout. I knew if I couldn't break 7 minutes I had next to no chance of making the team, especially as a freshman. Either way I kept preparing and hoping that I would be able to impress the coach in the other parts of the tryout.

The season got closer and the schedule for tryouts was announced. A Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Alright. All I had to do was take 50 GU Shots before the day of the run and I might have some hope. All was going well until about 2 weeks before the day of tryouts. My parents announced in a family meeting that we would be taking a long weekend and going on a temple trip to the Philippines on the Thursday and Friday of tryouts. Crap. My parents, being the kind and fair people they are, and knowing about tryouts as well, gave me the option of going with them or staying home. If I stay home I get 3 full days of tryouts to try to impress the coach in spite of being slower than molasses. If I go I would get a once in a life time experience of going to the PI and visiting the temple and the MTC and having a good time with my family. In the end I decided to follow what I had been taught for so many years and sacrifice for the Lord and His temple.

I talked to the coach before hand and told him I would only be there for 1 day of the tryouts. Of course, he didn't pay much attention because I was 6'0, 120 lbs with a voice 2 octaves too high (freshman year was weird). All I remember him saying was "At least you will be there to show me how you run!"

Crap.

Well the day of tryouts comes around with my hopes of making the team sitting at an abysmal 0%. I get out to the field and the coach yells "First things first, let's run!"

Let's just say I did not break 7 minutes. Not even close. Not fast. Definitely slow. My hopes have now plummeted to depths deeper than Donald Trump's pockets.

We finish running and then move into a couple of drills. This is more of my comfort zone but there is no way I can ever make up for my weakness in speed. Until, that is, we start shooting. The drill is to sprint a route, receive a pass, and hit a one touch shot into the back of the net.

I get to the front of the line, sprint my route, get a nice pass and WHACK. Wow, that felt good. I looked up just in time to see the ball fly straight into the top right corner with my one eye and the coach look over his clipboard and me with my other eye. I get back in line feeling very appreciative of the lucky shot. I get up to bat again and run the same route. As I get the pass I wind up, time it right, and WHACK. Another perfect upper V. 2 lucky shots in a row bring my hopes of making the team back up to a whopping 2%. There's still no way he will pick me though. The coach blows his whistle signaling the end of the day and tells everyone to be there at the same time tomorrow.

The next day comes around and instead of trying my luck on the field I board a plane to the Philippines. For the whole weekend my family and I visit the temple, the MTC, explore Manila, and eat a bunch of nasty Filipino fast food spaghetti. All in all we have a great time together as a family and feel the Spirit in the house of the Lord. I love the temple.

Monday morning. Back to school. I've already decided in my head that I didn't make the team. I walk into first period, my friend Zach gives me a high five and I sit down to wait for the bell to ring. Wait, "What was that high five for?"

"You haven't checked? You made the team!" Zach says.

I shoot up from my chair and sprint to the coach's office where the team is supposed to be posted. Half-way there I realize that Zach had to be lying to me but I have to check anyway. 

I scan the white sheet of paper posted with a list of names and at the very bottom I see my name. 

"Sam Osborn"

It's spelled wrong and I'm pretty sure the list was from best to worst but who cares?

I made the team!!! 

*freeze-frame fist pump*

I went on to have a great season and eventually held a starting position by the time we traveled to Japan for our final tournament. 

It wasn't until years later that I looked back and saw the miracle that had really happened. The Lord had blessed me. I made a decision to put his work before my own will and he blessed me. Those 2 lucky shots. The fact that at least I didn't pass out running. Heavenly Father blessed me and made up for my weaknesses. His grace is sufficient.

I know that Heavenly Father blesses us for keeping his commandments. When we sacrifice for his will we will be blessed ten fold. I know that the temple is the house of the Lord. Only in the temple can we receive the full blessings that God has made available for us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/why-we-build-temples?lang=eng

Ponderize

Ponderize - (n) 80% pondering, 20% memorizing. 

1. Pick a verse of scripture. 

2. Put it in a place you'll see often. 

3. Ponder it frequently.

 Elder Khiev told me about his history with alcohol:  when he was a kid he saw all the old men drinking beer and he thought they were having so much fun. So at age 11 he and his friends started drinking together. They would get a group of about 10 kids and go into the forest to hunt little animals. They would use slingshots and sticks to kill rats and other little creatures and then go back into town and sell them for a couple of bucks. This would be enough for all of them to get two liters of "brown juice" each. From what I understand, brown juice is fermented palm juice. They would sit around like the old guys and drink until they were all drunk and then fall asleep. This escalated until he was 18 and drinking every day with his buddies and not doing much else. Eventually, his aunt forced him to come to church and learn with the missionaries. The rest is history.

Majestic

This week everyone left the city to travel back to their hometown for the holiday so we had a fun time trying out some new contacting methods.

My new secret weapon:

I decided to try taking this picture of Jesus and just going up to people and telling them I am a missionary of Jesus and asking them if they want to learn. Very awkward but it gets to the point. I tried this a couple of times and then I decided to pray and ask to be guided to someone who wants to learn. Sure enough, within the next hour I showed a guy my picture and he wanted to learn. God answers prayers.

We also passed out 800 flyers for English Class.

Today and tomorrow nobody is in the city so we get two days off to clean our new house and get things organized. It will be super nice because I downloaded all of conference!!!

I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God today. In conference he warned us of the dangers of this world and taught us to be better examples to others. I know that if we follow his teachings  we will be blessed.

love,

elder osborne

Facebook post from REAN ENGLISH CLASS in Cambodia

Rean English Class

September 18 at 12:39am · 

Hello students, 
Today we are going to start learning about some of our English class teachers.

Introducing Elder Osborne!

Currently teaching at the Chamkarmon location.
I asked him some questions to get to know him.

Question #1: Where are you from?
A: I am from Beijing, China (I moved there from America a few years ago)

Q: What is China like?
A: There are a lot of Dragons and Fireworks there!

Q:What do you like to do for fun?
A: I enjoy Surfing, snowboarding, and riding my bike.

Q: What is your favorite English Phrase?
A: “Like a Chicken with its head cut off” which means that you are running around very excited and without knowing what you are doing.

Q: Wow that is a very funny idiom. What is an adjective (a describing word) that defines you?
A: hmm... that’s a hard question, I think the word chill describes me. Chill means that you are calm and relaxed when something happens.

Q: Elder Osborne has been in Cambodia for 6 months now. So tell us what your favorite thing about Cambodia is so far.
A: I love the people here, they are so nice! I also love បាយសាច់ជ្រូក ។ 

Q: What would you like your students to know about you?
A: I really enjoy English class, especially when the students do their homework!

Q:What did you really enjoy learning about when you were in school?
A: I really enjoyed learning about computers, because they are so useful and I feel smart when I can use them.

Q: You are a missionary, what is your favorite scripture?
A: I really like the scripture in the Book of Mormon, Helaman 5:12 which talks about how we have to build our foundation on Jesus Christ, because when we have a foundation then no matter what happens in our lives we are steady and have hope.

Thank you for sharing with us Elder Osborne!

If you have any questions to ask a teacher comment below with the question and we will pick a few to ask a teacher next week.

Top of Form

I judge people based on their shoes

This week we moved houses. From the smallest house in the mission to a huge mansion.

This is our view: 

This is where we eat:

This is my hammock:

Its nice to be able to spread out. But we're not home very often so we don't get to enjoy it as much as we would like to.

The work is slowing down a bit because the Moon Festival is next week. This week we met with one of our less actives who told us about her life story. She lived through the Khmae Rouge but lost 3 or 4 family members. It was crazy stuff, but the craziest was the story of how she got married. Apparently, the soldiers gathered 28 men and 28 women out in a courtyard and told the men to look at the women for 60 seconds. Then after the time was up the men chose a woman and they all lined up in a row. The soldiers then told them to hold hands to confirm the marriage. They then took their names down and it was official. Hold hands = marriage.

We went to a member's house and didn't notice his big cat that's usually there. We asked him where it went. He said he had the neighbors over for dinner. We told him to invite us next time.

President lifted the ban on eating baby duck eggs: 

Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y68lshh3j138y64/SDC10473.AVI?dl=0

Kids gamble under a bridge in Cambodia:

My comp is a model: 

Spiritual Question: What was your favorite line or story from General Conference?

Love you!

love,

elder osborne