We had another baptism this week!!!!
Everyone in Cambodia is tiny. Everyone calls me Elder Palm Tree. Or Elder Uterus because apparently that's what my name sounds like lol.
The girl we baptized is Srei Lin. She is 13 and is a cousin with 2 RM's in our ward ( = fish in a barrel ). She speaks fluent Khmae and Vietnamese but she can't read either language. She has a lot of faith though and a great support system so she'll do great in the ward.
The water for the baptismal font wasn't working so we had to reroute all the water from the bathrooms to the garden hose outside and then stick it through a window into the baptismal font. By the time Elder Berger got in the water it was almost to his upper shin. Good thing Srei Lin is short.
This week it was the King of Cambodia's birthday so everyone had the whole week off. They love their holidays here. A lot of people went out of town so we didn't get to meet with Om Ai. But I'm sure he had a fun week in the provinces.
Li is our trusty member help. His bike broke.
Last week for Mothers Day I was preparing for a nice fast and testimony meeting. I walk into the chapel and see there are many more people there than usual, including a bunch of our investigators. Good day. All the youth are gathered on the stand for a special musical number. Everything is running smoothly. The sacrament ends and the Bishop starts his testimony about mothers. And then everything turns real Cambodian real fast. The Bishop asks Elder NB to come up and take pictures. Oh no. The Bishop then proceeds to call every family with a mother up to the stand 1 by 1. He gives the kids a gift bag and a rose to present to their mom. Then they pose for a picture and awkwardly walk back off the stage. This goes on for the duration of the hour and some, leaving no time for anyone to bare their testimony. That's what I like to call "bodia".
Out for a stroll:
The new guy in our house, Elder Hall, has a lot of tricks up his sleeves. He is actually the best debater in Utah and one of the top 10 in all of America!! All week we just give him a topic to talk about and then listen to him talk for 20 minutes straight. He knows everything. He has also lost 80+ pounds on his mission so far. He's a straight baller.
These guys went to a lot of work to find some decent water pressure to take a shower.
Happiness is a choice. I'm happy here.
Shpeel: The music of the gospel is definitely an instant classic. Mostly because the alliteration in that talk is legendary but the message is good too. Sometimes we go through the motions of life, going to church every week, reading a verse a day, praying for our food. But we don't really feel it. It's just something we do. There were some times in my life where this was the case for me. I look back and see that I wasn't putting in the effort that is required to actually hear the music of the gospel. It takes effort. I hope we can all learn to tune out the "screamo" of the world and focus on the sweet tunes of the gospel.
Love you.
Love,
Elder Osborne