Mommyz! and Daddyz! and Kaityz!!
okay i found out something that i wish they would have told us sooner...Sister Smedley, the mission presidents wife, has a blog that she keeps updated with all the mission stuff on blogspot.
http://calledtoserveincambodia.blogspot.com/
I'm so glad you're all doing well and having alot of sunshine! (heaven knows i get enough :P ) How is kaitlyn doing in school? is dad tolerating work better?":) What the-? Spanish? in Belgium? XD well i guess that's not as random as Vietnamese. Let me know how that all works out! :) Hey! i can tell you how i do my language study...do you think that would help? I set a goal for febuary that i would read better. Sister harlen and i read together a little bit in the Book of Mormon in Viet, so we decided that we would finish Moroni and all the one chapter books in the Book of Mormon before she leaves next month. so we pray in viet, we sing in viet, and then we read in viet. after that, I usually study a principle that we will be teaching the next day, or memorize some words from lessons. one thing though i've learned is that you have to study at least 30 mins to 1 hr every day, and no matter how tempted you are to use english (because maybe the investigator understands english) Dont do it! ...man that was a hard lesson to learn.
I've been learning alot of hard lessons lately. Suddenly out of nowhere i'll start to feel really down and yesterday i uttered the most vile words ever..."i can't do it." I regret that so much. We were meeting a referral from the elders, and as i was sitting there listening to sister harlen i was just overcome with this huge desire to give up and go home, i really wanted to cry right then. and sister harlen turns to me and i tried to speak, but i couldnt think at all, all i could manage was 'i cant do it.' it was the worst feeling ever. and i still feel really bad when i think about that. How did dad manage to go through his mission? How do you overcome feelings like that? I mean its not hard really, being a missionary, but at the same time you just get these really high highs..then really low lows and its trying to climb back up to the high thats really difficult. But then as i was pondering on this during personal study this morning I was reading in Mosiah 7:33...i think it was. where he says something like turning to the Lord with all your mind and serving him diligently til the end. After reading that i knew what i had to do. Turn again to the Lord. This is his work, even if i make mistakes the work still goes on. if i mess up when i'm speaking, if the person is truely ready for the gospel my mistakes wont deter them.
I dont remember if i told you before, but i will be training the two new sisters who are coming next month. I feel so inadequate...how do you train with only 3 months experience?? I've been working so hard and i know i'm not perfect, i just worry that i'll do something wrong you know? I think though...just a random thought just now...i need to have more happiness and enthusiasm for the work. Sometimes i worry that i'm loosing my enthusiasm because sometimes i want to go home so much. but i've already decided that i'm not going home, i'm going to stay the whole time, because i'm sure the guilt and the regret will be way more than i can handle....Just make today better than yesterday, that's all I can do. and serve the Lord with more diligent efforts.
So okay enough with the pity party, lets get on with the good stories from this week :)
So Sunday's are always interesting. We dont have time for our studies in the morning so every sunday i pray that i can feel some sort of good sprit in church. yes and my prayer was answered (kinda) by an older woman named Co Va. Co Va was baptised less than a year ago, she was Sister Harlen and Sister Vo's investigator. Co Va is... well...er... an interesting daughter of God. In sunday school we were talking about how we dont follow the law of moses anymore, we follow the higher law of Jesus Christ. and we got onto the topic of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. Co Va decided that that was the perfect time to admit to everyone that her husband was abusive (not uncommon here in Cambodia i'm told) and she tried to kill him 3 times with rat poison. (He eventually died of HIV instead). Co Va then nudges sister curtis (one of the senior couples) and points to Laviticus 11:39-40-something then exclaims 'hay qua! hay qua!" "So good! so good!"....yeah she's an interesting one alright...
Before church we went and picked up an investigator named Ba Hai. Ba Hai was a referral from Co Ba and we had taught her once before, but then she disappeared. Co Ba said she moved but then one day when sister harlen and i ran out of plans we prayed for guidence and we were led to where she lived and she was sitting outside crying. She shared a scripture with her and invited her to church the next day. I was so glad that she did in fact come to church! ^-^
We also had another mouse in our kitchen. We are out of mouse traps and we forgot to buy more. the little bugger was hiding under the stove, and we devised this ingenious idea to get it. I lit the stove, which scared it and it ran under the microwave. Sister harlen got ready with two shoes (one to throw and hopefully hit and stun it, the other to..i guess beat it to death with). I stood on the left side of the microwave, and we planned that if i shook the left side, the mouse would naturally run out the right side right? So i gave the microwave a shake and lo and behold the mouse must have read our minds because instead of going out to the right, or maybe even to the left...it came out right at me!! I gave a shriek of fear..no wait it was surprise...jumped back and the mouse came running down the side of the counter. sister harlen was just a split second too late with the shoe and the mouse got away!! curse the clever creature!
Okay i promise next week i'll send pictures via snail mail because the computer is retarded (i'm sure wendy has told you already) so i will print them and send them.
also isnt reading the Book of Mormon great! I'm learning so much more than i ever have before! Personal Study time is my favorite time right now ^-^
Hurray! a care package!! i will def let you know when i get it!
Okay i should go now.
I love you all and i miss you all so much! I pray for you all the time!
*lovelovelove*
Sister Holloway
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