Wow, what a week! Ok, where to start....
Since
there is only one other Cambodian speaking sister here in the field, my
companion Sister Walker and I are now in a trio with Sister McQuivey
who has been out for about 6 months and is training for the first time. I
love sister McQuivey, and there is never a dull moment with her! Since
we are working with Cambodians we don't really have an assigned ward or
district, but we live near the other sisters in the ward of our area so
there are about 7 missionaries in this ward until ideally we Cambo
sisters get a group started that turns into a branch where we would
attend. For now, we're doing pioneer work.
From
what I understand about the history here, eight years ago there was an
Asian branch or 200 members which fell apart due to the members not
wanting leadership positions (they came from Cambodia where leaders were
being killed) and now there are no active Cambodians. So our job for
our first week and a half here has been to pass our fliers inviting
every Cambodian or Asian we know to a reunion which will be held this Saturday for everyone to come, eat, and meet old friends and hopefully rekindle an interest in the church so we can start a Sunday
school group which will hopefully evolve into a Branch. For a new
missionary this seems like a really daunting task, but with the whole
mission as our district, and with Sister McQuivey's amazing attitude,
I'm not freaking out. I have learned so much this past week from my
companions as well as from the new experiences we've had so far!
Day
one we moved into a whole new apartment where our furniture consisted
of wrapped mattresses and boxed bed frames, and nothing else, so the
first thing I did when we got home was start setting up our beds (which I
discovered assembling simple bed frames are a piece of cake) and near
the end of the night the Bishop, Elders Quorum President, Relief Society
and another member of the ward came and gave us all the necessities;
cooking pans, utensils, a table, chairs, ironing board, blankets,
pillows, food, - you name it, they brought it, and I was touched at
their efforts in making us at home our first night there.
The
rest of the week is kind of a blur, but we found some Cambodian
families who we have return appointments with, and though we have yet to
have our first lesson in complete Cambodian, it will be coming soon.
One of my favorite experiences was when we tracted into a Filipino
family who actually invited us in! They had the cutest little family and
wife was making dinner so the father invited us in where Sister
McQuivey told the First Vision. I had not yet had a real sit-down lesson
so Sister Walker and I didn't say much, but we invited them to have a
kneeling prayer with us and asked the father to give the prayer. As most
people are, he was hesitant to say it, but they're Roman Catholic, so
he was familiar with it and said one of the greatest prayers I've heard
an non-member say (which isn't saying much just yet). They were
interested in coming to church and promised to go on Sunday.
They were such a perfect and happy family (looking for another religion
too) I really hoped they would remember and come to church on Sunday.
Unfortunately I got a sore throat and Sister McQuivey got sick, so I
stayed home with her while Sister Walker did splits with the other
Sister missionaries in our district (Sister Packard and Cassell). She
said she didn't see the Filipino family there, and we had to give them
up to the English speaking sisters to teach, but I really hope they are
still interested in learning more.
The
other day we visited a Cambodian lady Sister McQuivey has visited
before where we spoke the most Cambodian we ever have in an hour as
this woman spoke straight Khmae. Sis. McQuivey said most of her
appointments went like this when the woman took the lessons; she would
listen, then when a questions was asked, avoid it, and begin talking
about the bad health of herself and her family. We would direct her back
to the gospel and she would take out her medicine bottles, have us read
them, and when we asked her to say the closing prayer she would resist
until we would help start her out and she'd end up repeating everything
we said right to the "amen". This being my first experience trying to
understand at least the gist of what this Cambodian woman was saying I
couldn't feel anything but the Spirit and God's love for her as we sat
there and listened. I wished I could speak more, but I bore my testimony
about the Book of Mormon and prayed in Khmae before the woman repeated
Sis. McQuivey's closing prayer. I don't know how much I'll be able to
communicate to these people, but I have to keep reminding myself that
this is God's work and if we do our best God will make up for the rest.
It's so good to hear from everyone, and I hope you have a great week!
No comments:
Post a Comment