Elder Johnson's Mission Blog: Week 21/ Week 13 Cambodia: Land of MOTOS WATCH OUT!!!!

Sunday, August 18, 2013 8:51 PM

Dear Family and Friends,

So in case you couldn't guess by the title there are so many motos here. Probably 80% of the traffic is motos and motorcycles. You should see what they can fit on them. I need to take more pictures of them. Some moto drivers are really good...and some are really bad. Like the one that hit me :D. Haha yes I got hit by a moto. I was crossing a street I had enough room to cross. I was just watching one car to make sure it slowed down from me. And from the other direction a moto hit right into my front tire. I flew off my bike but miraculously landed on my feet then stumbled to the ground. The biker saw he hit a white person and kept going hahaha. I was fine. Nothing was hurt except a bag of flower and my basket on my bike. It was thrilling :D.

Before I get too far I want to thank Uncle Neil for the wonderful email. It was so nice to get it. I think Singapore has about the same temperature as Cambodia right now actually. So we both got it really hot. And Aunt Karen thank you so much for the package with the Provo tie clip and twinkies. I didn't have a tie clip of the temple till now and the twinkies :D SO GOOD!!! Thank you!

This week was interesting to say the least. On Tuesday we had Zone conference and President came to teach us. We focused on helping the members grow stronger and help them invite others to church. I especially loved his talk about the Atonement and the Sacrament. We can use the power of the Atonement everyday but we need to renew the power of remission of our sins and that is by taking the Sacrament every week. We offer our sins every week at the feet of Christ as our sacrificial lamb. The Sacrament helps us prepare for the Temple and the laws and covenants found within. It is such an important, eternal ordinance. I know it and I testify that we can become clean through the power of the Atonement by taking the Sacrament. I loved it.

We taught a few lessons this week and contacted a lot. I am becoming so comfortable contacting. Some days it is still really hard but a lot of the time I don't have much of a problem just talking to people. My comprehension still isn't high but I am comfortable at trying.

So this week Elder Noot got a new trainee and I got a new companion :D. He is Khmae and his name is Elder Vout. He is 26 years old and comes from Kompung Thom, the heart of Cambodia. He is awesome and has the missionary spirit. He also knows how to cook! I have eaten rice for pretty much all but one of my meals since he came but I'm excited to eat good food. Having a tripanionship is hard. It is difficult to teach but we are still learning. I will learn a lot from it.

So about contacting. Contacting questions is really different from Stateside missions. Here in Cambodia typical questions consist of: How many kids do you have? Where do you live? When are you usually home? And so I have come to realize that missionaries are stalkers in a sense. I am sure if we asked these questions in other places we would probably get the police called on us :). But Cambodians don't care so we do.

Well, that's all folks. Until next time may God hold you in the palms of His hands.

Love,
Elder Johnson