Hello,
I hope and pray that you are all well. This week has been crazy good. We went to visit a member who needs some spiritual uplift from the missionaries. (The members love to give us food for the missionaries. They are so kind). Her house is literally in the middle of nowhere and we always feel so bad when she gives us food, because she is so skinny and her house is so poor. However, it is very rude that we don't accept the gifts or food they give us. Most of the time, they don't even ask us if we wanted the stuff, they just give it to us. hah. Anyway the lady gave us live fish and hah she bagged it up. So they were moving all over the bag while I was riding my bike. It was a very hot day and we parked our bikes to teach one of the recent converts at a school. We heard some noise in the back where we parked our bikes, but did not bother to pay any attention to it. We went on teaching. After the lesson, we found our bag that was full of fish to be half full with fish and a huge hole in the bag. We only had 2 fish left. The rest escaped. Then we went on with the rest of the day, biking and teaching at peoples' houses in the hope that the fish would die. We got home and one wouldn't die. So we had to wait until its last breath until we cook and eat it.
This week, we wen to visit a less-active. She is very sick and we were so grateful that God has prompted us to see her that very day. We rode to her house and her neighbor asked if she was even inside at all. She locked the inside of her house and we couldn't get in to see if she was OK. The whole village crowded to find ways to get inside. My companion opened her windows and saw her laying half conscious on the bed. She could barely open her eyes. We quickly called the branch president and the elders to come to help. She is now a bit better, but that experience was pretty scary.
Things are going good here. I really enjoy my Khmer companion Sister Sung and her presence again. She was my trainer, but now is just a regular companion. So weird and interesting. My Khmer vocabulary has increased and it feels different when people actually think I live in Phnom Penh and I am not an American. So I am adjusting to the culture pretty well. One of the memorable things Sister Sung has taught me about the Khmer people is that the idea of religion and the concept of "doing good will give you good" is very predominant. However, yes any religion has its good part, however what the Khmer and the way of the Khmer Buddhism is missing a part of is the crucial TRUTH of SALVATION. That yes in terms of the natural law of the land, if you do bad, there will be consequences and such. However, the pursuit of reaching higher, higher truth is skewed in their religion here. They are missing that ascending truth that they can be saved for eternity through Jesus Christ. The idea that they can be saved.
Things are still good, hard and exhausting, but I am doing OK and I am healthy. Thanks for all of your help and love. There is much for me to learn and I'm trying to take it in and accept it. I am trying very hard to keep the spirit alive and to do all that I can light up the purpose of why I am called here, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
With love and gratitude,
Sister Sok
Below are pictures when Sister Sung first trained me (and when I was fresh out of the MTC) and hah now together again.
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