In 1975 a man named Pol Pot came to Cambodia and caused the genocide of 1/4 of this nation. Today I saw a glimpse into the lives of the people that suffered so much pain and are still trying to recover.
I don't want to try to explain the Khmae Rouge, you can read all about it if you want. I just want to say that standing on the ground where so many people were killed and seeing pieces of bone still in the ground increased my love for these people immensely. They suffered so much. This country was forever changed.
Okay! So, big news! Elder Neuberger is staying with me and going for his 5th transfer in StungMeanChey! Super cool! I'm super stoked to be serving another 6 weeks with him. He's the king of the dust. We've got a bunch of baptisms lined up this month. It's going to be an awesome transfer.
Last Monday I got to brush up on my haggling skills that I learned as a 10 year old in China. We went to Psaa Thmei. It was ridiculous. It's super touristy so that's kinda weird but it was super cool too. Apparently the elders have a legacy there because every store owner knew who we were and yelled elder at us. Super cool.
There is a twelve year old in our ward that hangs out at the church all day everyday with his little brother. His name is Ettipol (literally translates to "influence". that would be a dope 80's rapper name). He used to go to school but his grandpa stopped the money flow to their family so they just chill all day. Way typical for Cambodia. But anyway, he has been bugging me for the past 5 weeks to get a bay blade and play with him. So I did.
We did battle and it was super epic.
I love our ward so much.
Om Ai: Loooooool. I love Cambodia. So this week we go over to teach the word of wisdom and chastity to him, which usually isn't a big deal for Cambodians because for some weird reason most of them follow these two anyway. So we get through teaching both of the commandments and he seems to understand it all. And then we ask the question we've all been waiting for: Are you and the neakming (aunt/older woman) married? Loooooool it was so funny. He just looks at us and chuckles for a second. And then like all Cambodians he repeats the word we just said. "married". So we wait for a second and ask him again. And he's like "nawwwwww". Yep, that's what we thought. Sooo, that means he has to get married first but I think it will probably happen. So we have to hold off on his baptism for a while.
Om Ai and the neakming.
Sleeping Buddha angel baby.
We had a baptism in our ward this week!
His name is NaaRow and he is wayyyy cool. Elder Allred and Elder Sok taught him. He hangs out at the church all the time too so we see him and have a good relationship with him. The baptism was super awesome and we had a bunch of people show up and watch. 30 seconds before it started I was asked to speak about the Holy Ghost for a couple of minutes. I kinda wanted to die for a sec but then I remembered the gift of tongues and I was like - bring it on. So I got up there and I read 2nd Nephi 32:5 and bore my testimony for a few minutes and it was super cool. The power of the gift of tongues definitely took a hit because of my fear but it worked out alright nonetheless.
Elder Sok and I went on an exchange this week. Elder Sok is the coolest. He's super chill and humble and sincere. It was a good day. The highlight definitely was going to a blind dude's house and talking with him (well, it was actually just him talking the whole time) about the atonement. He's blind and his arms flail around when he talks so elder Sok got a nice smack to the face because he got too close. It was totally worth the pain though because I got the best picture of all time while he was in mid sentence: 
I love blind people. BTW Cambodians are super touchy so that knee grab right there is normal. Actually its way tame. I won't go into any more detail.
Shpeel: "Cake is tasty but the gospel is tastier" -Elder Neuberger 2015
So in Cambodia there are a bunch of Christian churches. All around the city and especially out in the provinces. They are all doing good for the people of Cambodia I'm sure. But sometimes they make it a little bit difficult for us. Many times when we contact people they ask us how many kilos of rice we give every week because most denominations do that. This week we met an older guy and he said he had learned about Jesus before. He said he loved it because they would hand out candy and cake every week to the people and the kids. They stopped going when the church stopped handing out cake. That's when the Big Berger came in and dropped the line "Cake is tasty but the gospel is tastier". I almost busted up laughing right then but I started thinking about it and its actually a pretty true statement.
Are we members of the church for the "cake"? The girls, the fun activities, the lower tuition? Yes, those things are good and we can totally take advantage of all the good things this church has to offer. But if our testimony is not centered on Christ and the gospel then we should probably rethink things.
Just a good thing to think about.
I love you all.
Love,
Elder Osborne