Dear friends and families,
Thank you so much for the support, emails, and letters. I love you all. I want you to know that the email list I've created includes everyone who touched my life in various ways. People who happened to be a fellow traveler on my paths :) as my friend David had said. People who have changed and inspired me for the better. Please forgive me for not responding to some of your emails, as I do not have much time. However, I have read all of them and I loved them. Thank you! I love you all!
Also please forgive me for my grammatical mistakes from the previous letter. Also I had to take some time write my mom,dad, and branch president. Also the format is weird because I had to copy and paste me letter from my ipad.
I am learning so much here, even in just a few days of my stay. I absolutely LOVE MY COMPANION!!! Everyday, I feel that I am becoming closer to Christ. I can absolutely see the progress in my classmate's conversion. Everyday, we've gained more and more of an understanding of true conversion unto Jesus Christ. Everyday, as we are assigned to teach people who came from different walks of life, we grew to love them more and more. There have been a few lessons where my companion and I felt like everything else in the room would disappear and the focus became singled on the investigators, where the focus is bound by the ambiance of God's Spirit.
I've had a powerful experience this week. It was an experience that not only brought a change of heart in me, but most importantly, for my classmates (district group). Well you know how from the previous week, I had told you about how all of my classmates are from different parts of the world and how they are paired up with each other, but they all speak different languages. Almost all of us are serving in different missions. Well during our last class of the day, we were learning the doctrines of Christ. Man, my companion really struggled to understand the teachings in English. I could not imagine the struggle she was having. Then our teacher pulled both of us out and went into a different classroom. She sat with us and we talked for a while about the struggles our class is also having.
Then she decided to pull everyone together into the classroom we sat in. She said I know we have training to do, but I want you all to sit in this room and bear your testimonies in your mission languages. The power that came from each of us was absolutely inspiring. Some came to this country with barely any money and clothes, some had lost close family members, and some were disowned from their parents. Most of us are converts to the church. They gave everything they got to serve God's children. It's amazing how God can change people's lives.
I believe in the power of diversity. Though the definition of the word diversity deals with our differences, it's power can strengthen the knot of unity in this world. I believe that diversity unites our love to serve God and his children.
I speak of this topic, because my zone is the pearl of diversity. Though, we are serving in different countries of the world, the unity lies in the fact that we are coming together to accomplish God's will. We all strive to be an effective disciple of Christ. We embrace our differences to foster an inclusive learning environment in that one unified hope of sharing our message with the world, in the hope that we will become closer to Christ.There are words that someone of us cannot speak when sat together in that circle, but through the power of Christ and his Atonement we are able to translate words that are utmost seemingly difficult to explain and miraculously, the love became so simple and sweet through the power of Christ. There were words that came out of my mouth that I didn't think I could say in the Khmer language. But brothers and sisters, as said from a good friend of mine, love needs no interpreter. Though I could not understand what my classmates had said, I could seek and sense their sincerity through the reflections of their hearts, their love and the divinity of Christ, their rawest desire to serve God.
My purpose not only lies within the commitment of helping the investigators be baptized unto Christ, but to help them be converted unto Jesus the Christ in the pursuit of helping them endure to the very end. I realized that a few members would get baptized and confirmed, but some would also fall away from the church. I've re-directed my purpose to help them put forth their faith in Jesus Christ, because this is the only way to endure to the very end. I've also learned in Enos and from my classmate that no matter what happens in my life, I have hope and a sense of surety that I have a place to rest. I have hope that if I die, I have a place to rest in the presence of God. In Enos 1:27, " And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him;l then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father, Amen." I am highly excited to go back home in Cambodia and to serve the Khmer people there. I have so much love for the people in Cambodia even if I have not met them, yet. I can testify that Jesus is the very Christ and He knows my name.
I can testify that God created people of different languages, different skin tones, different characters so that we can have the opportunity to accept and love one another. I am sincerely grateful to be a part of my district. I get to see the world through different lenses.....even for a short period of time here. I got to see the unity in each of our diversity. I am starting to realize the comparison of the missionaries in my classrooms to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church is a world religion. It is found throughout the the world. The Latter Day Saints strive to share God's true message, a message that brings us closer to Christ.
My companion and I got assigned to teach two international people who wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ this week. One came from Germany and the other came from Korea. It's pretty cool to be able to teach real people who sincerely want to know about Christ at the training center.
Though the work is difficult, I love the challenge, because God is providing me the opportunity to grow. I sometimes find my tears streaming down on some nights as I pray before bed because I want to work hard, but felt that I have not given enough.
However, as I read the passage in 3 Nephi 11:13-15 " Arise and come forth unto me, that he may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come." No matter how hard the work will or may be, nothing is as painful as what Christ went through. However, I take joy and hold gratitude in the fact I was able
to feel bits and pieces and even at the tip of an iceberg, the Savior's prints, his sufferings. To witness the Lord. I know I can still find peace in doing God's work and in both my endeavors to help better others' lives and to become a better human being, in the best version of myself. That is more than enough. No matter what happens, I have a place to rest, a place in my Heavenly Father's home. aaaahh I'm out of time!
With much love and gratitude,
Sister Sok
Some members of my zone. This week we got to meet sisters from
Romania, Spain, and France in our Zone!
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