The Lord will prepare the People

HEY FAMILY! It's that time of the week again. This week went by really fast. I don't even know why but it did. It doesn't feel like December here at all. It has gotten kind of cool here though. Mornings are almost borderline cold. The funny part is it's only like the low 70's probably but I want to go get a sweatshirt because it's cold. It just made me think of how tough it's going to be when I go back to college and go through a Utah winter again. For Christmas we get to go to the Branch 5 conference building and watch the conference Christmas special thing. On Christmas we open up our Christmas present packages. Anyone who doesn't get one the Smedley's put something together so everybody has something to open up. Besides that everything is all normal in Cambodia. It hasn't been raining really the rain is basically done, it looks like. Sometimes tons of lcouds come in but doesn't end up raining at all.

Here they take "ice cream sandwich" a little too seriously, haha.

This past week has been really good. I've learned so much I feel like this past week. I'm finally starting to be able to understand what they are saying and it is making it so much easier and so much more fun. Every now and then you have a lookpuu come up to you and start talking to you. Usualy when they have a little bit too much to drink. By a little bit I mean tons. And they get super talkative. For some reason this past week it happened twice. The first one we talked to was super funny. We were talking to him and then all of a sudden under his breath he asked what did we do to get such white skin. The second one asked us if we were French or Japanese. Elder Jorgensen told him we were Japanese, and lookpuu is like what? No way?! I don't believe you! So funny sometimes. But it's fun now to at least be able to understand what they are saying to me. It also makes me feel more connected to my investigators and what not. Now I feel I can teach more according to his needs.

This last week we met a Lookyiay. A grandma basically and her husband. We met them because they were the parents of these possibly investigators we have sent us to their house so we could teach them there since we were super busy but they never showed up beacuse they have a whole bunch of people at their restaurant. But we talked to them and basically were talking about how the lookyiay is curious as to why there are so many churches. So we are planning to meet with them today. It's just crazy how the Lord wil always be guiding you to people. Being in the country really shows me how the people have th be prepared by the Lord, they have to be ready. You can say whatever you want, you can have the room full of the spirit, where the spirit is just so strong, but if they don't have an open heart, if they aren't ready, it won't change them at all. And when you see them let that spirit in and start to change, they almost become all new people. Something I learned this week as I was geting down on myself as to why we weren't getting any investigators. Another funny story I just thought of. Teaching a new possible investigator Pheak. We taught him about God and how to pray. He's about 18 years old. We explained prayer and he understood it pretty well. We asked him if he'd pray and before he even said yes he bowed his head and started praying. Haha it was so funny, he just went for it.

So thanks again for all the emails and all the love, it makes weeks so much more fun when you open the mailbox to a dearelder, your email inbox is full, or show up at the mission home a see a package with your name on it. Glad to hear you are all having fun too.

So what's going to go on for me this week. Friday we are doing a little Christmas party, with a talent show, white elephant gift exchange, a slideshow, and on Saturday is zone conference, and all the missionaries from everywhere are coming down for it. Going to be so fun. We will also watch the general conference Christmas program thing too.

This last week was super good. We have a new family, don’t know how they are going to do so far or where their motives are but they still want to learn with us so can’t really ask for much more than that. They have 3 kids but 2 of them are mute. They say they can understand but can’t talk, but I think it’s something mental for sure. Either way they are super cute and awesome kids. They are quiet and just sit there and listen. When we show up it’s a non-stop waving fest too. Also, miing puo and chandii both came to church! Only 2 weeks until Chandii's baptism. He's super awesome. This last week he told 2 stories. 1, how he originally started learning with us so he could learn some English, but know he wants to learn the gospel. Like before he would read when he had time. But now he makes time to read because it’s so important. He hasn't turned on the TV in weeks because he uses that time to read the book of Mormon. Then for yesterday when we were teaching enduring to the end, he just went off on how we have to keep doing what we need to do, like go to church read and pray, or we will go away from God and to stay close and have the Holy Ghost we need to follow the commandments. That’s what he is the most excited about, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Every time he tells us it’s like he can feel it on the outside of him, but once he gets baptized it will be in him to help him learn faster and follow the commandments.



That is me, Elder Nico, and chandii. So now you can put a picture to his face. This last week he came to church so he is still on track to be baptized on the 1st. Miing puo did not go so she will have to be postponed. But today we teach Sabbath day holy in lesson 4 so hopefully she will get back on track, keep them in your prayers.

Another cool thing that happened was yesterday we were stopping place after place to find this water bottle, and the 3rd place we almost didn't stop but we thought what the heck why not. 1st, they had the water bottle, 2nd an older man who lives there is just like "hey... I want to join your church, can I join your church?". We told him he can but needs to learn some before he can be a member. He told us "ok well I’m not that free because I work a lot and I’m only here sometimes, but my wife is here all the time, she never goes anywhere, so teach her". It was super funny. It’s really cool when God blesses you and helps you find the right people.

Well that’s about it for this week. I love you all so much, keep up the good work. I know that this church is true and it this is the work of the Lord. It's the most important responsibility we all have as members, missionary work. It’s why we were born in these days.

Love always, Elder Rucker

Transfers and Investigators

So awesome news for this week. Neak Miin puo is a lady we are teaching. She learned before with the elders and learned all the lessons for months but never went to church. That is the only thing keeping her from progressing. She is super poor and works at one of the factories here, they make 2$ a day btw an if they don’t go to work one day even if they are sick or hurt or something they get their pay cut 10$ super corrupt, but anyways she came to church this last sunay with her little boy, it was so awesome. She is so nice and prays everyday and reads. She gets everything pretty well, an what’s super awesome is as soon as she doesn’t understand something, she asks right away, doesn’t wait, but wants to understand. She told us about a dream she had before we started teaching her again about how she didn’t see a god or anything but she saw the Elders.


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lookpuu lii's house sawing this wood in half for him,

super fun I've never sawed anything like that, where it's

two people pulling back and forth, nor have I ever

sawed with a homemade saw

We did the apostasy and resotration part of Lesson 1 for Chaandi. When we finished he told us, now I understand, we had them read the 1st vision in the pamphlet, and he said he read it before in the Liahona and didn't understand what they were talking about, and he said now he gets it. We even were able to establish dispensations with him. It was super awesome. He got it all. When we were done we committed him to pray about what we taught him, whether or not it's true, specifically whether or not it's true, specifically whether or not Joseph Smith is a prophet or not. He said yes, then he said I already bleive he saw God and Jesus, and I think in order to know I'll have to pray more than once and I'll have to keep reading, studying, and learning. He is such an awesome investigator. We told he's totally right and how we even still pray to know to strengthen our faith every day.


So transfer calls came in last night. I will be staying in Kian Svay. Elder Nico is leaving though. He's headed to serve in the city to be with Elder Stokes who was in my group from the MTC. Elder Ballard and Elder ann are staying. I am getting a new companion. He is coming from Batnambong, which is way north a little to the east of Siem Riep. The crazy part is, he is only 1 group ahead of me! I don't know anything about him other than he is a red head. It's gonna be crazy to have two rookies together like that. Usually doesn't happen because both would be too young to know Khmae well, so its gonna be fun. I guess I'm just gonna have to learn real fast :-p. So I'm excited to have Elder Jorgensen come, but sad to see Elder Nico go, he was definitely one of those really good companions that you don't forget. I make fun of him because now he's gonna go to the city and not be biking a million miles a day and get fat. Besides that nothing too big, other than December starts tomorrow! CRAZY! So excited for Christmas.


Anways, new companion, Elder Jorgensen. He is super awesome. He is from Idaho and has 1 younger sister who is like 2. Funniest thing is he is super good with the yo-yo. This last week was a little tougher, 1st time I've had a companion switch while in the country. Went through the new companion blues a little bit just because everything is new and you no longer are best friends with your companion blues a little bit just because everything is new and you no longer are best friends with your companions and all that fun stuff. But so far it's gotten really good though. Our contacting is better than ever, which is ironic because we are like the youngest companionship in the mission. It's actually better, because now that I know I don't have anyone to really translate or talk its forcing me to do a lot more. I'm learning a ton with the language and with missionary work.


It's wedding season here in Cambodia and there are weddings everywhere. Weddings here are super expensive, just as expensive as American weddings, like at least 5k usually 10k dollars. Granted most of that is buying the wife, 2k for poor 3k for average and 5k if you are rich. That's what you pay. But how weddings work is they set up tables and this cover thing and they all eat rice all day, for as many days as how rich you are. Live bands and Buddhist ceremonies. They all erect these little megaphone speaker towers that blast music throughout the neighborhood they are in. It's so loud sometimes you can't even talk to your companion walking by one of them.


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Me and Elder Nico with neak miing puo's 2 kids: Hang and Bannaa.

They are so funny. They are classic little boys. They will like

fart on each other and cough in each other's faces, they always

Go biking together and everything. They aso funny. You probably

wouldn't notice but what bannaa is doing is showing the bottom

of his foot to the camera which is super rude. Like the rudest thing

you can do. When his mom found out she yelled at him ""why did

you do that!". so funny.

The most fun thing is teaching progressing investigators. This alst week was good and bad. It was super good because Chaandii has a baptismal date now! January 1st. He came to church last Sunday and he brought his Dad! He was telling us how much he love sand wants to share the gospel. He wants to be a missionary and don't have the heart to tell him he can't because he has a baby. But he also said he wants his little baby to be a missionaryand someday, which is SUPER awesome because he is already planning on converting everybody in his family. I love teaching progressing investigator and watching them grow as they learn and apply the Gospel in their lives. Recently I've really realized the power of this gospel in helping the lives of people. You can literally see them become better off money wise as well. They aren't rich and still have problems, it's just their lives are 100% better in so many ways.

Elder Nico and I in front of the house waiting at a member's

house for her to come back so we can go teach an

investigator. Her house is so small it's crazy

Another really fun thing to do here is contacting. It is not like America, which is good and bad. More often than not they will always invite you to sit down with them and hang out, they will pull you up a little plastic chair or you will sit on one of their bamboo table/bed things. It's against their culture to not. They reason why it's bad beacuse it's different is because they usually think you are there to give them money or rice or something. And when you mention Jesus Christ some of them get real awkward and shut up, sometimes just walk around somewhere so you can't talk to them. But honestly, they are the friendliest and nicest people in the entire world and they are so easy to love. Even the super Buddhist ones that get awkward will still try to give you water or something.


 Everything is going good here and I'm feeling more and more like a missionary every day. I know that this is hte Lord's work, it is the stone cut out of the mountain. Nothing can stop it. One way or another everyone will know Christ. Every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Christ. I know that Jesus is the Christ our King and our Redeemer.

I love you all family keep up the good work.

Love, Elder Rucker



A huge group of people from a family home evening with
a lady and her friends and family who just got baptized.
Everyone in that picture is a member or an investigator.
 It was the most fun night ever. We explained to them what
Christmas was and about hte birth of Jesus and how he
was born and all that Then we took pictures, played a game
 where if you lose you get white powder rubbed on your face,
 and ate a bunch of fruit and a little Khmae dessert
 fruit thing. It wasn't that good.








New Haircut and New Investigators

Hello again!

So big news in the Cambodia world. It’s officially been announced so I guess I can tell it now. President Smedley has received revelation that by June 24th Cambodia could not only have a stake, but could have 2 stakes! This last Sunday was district conference and president Smedley announced that to all the members present. It’s so insane to me that this country could go from 0 to 2 in less than a year, almost half a year. So crazy.

I just read the Liahona story in my Khmae book of Mormon. I just want you to know how they described heed and diligence was this: taam seckdei camnua nung seckdei pyiayiam robah puak kee. camnua means belief, and pyiayiam means to try, and seckdei makes it a noun. So it means it was according to their belief and whether they would try. So something interesting for you guys. So next time you teach that lesson feel free to go ahead and through that in there. We need to have a belief, and we need to act on that belief.

As for this week funny stories are:
1st- Lookpuu Lii, who is the person asleep in this picture I think, tried to give me a kiss during the lesson the other day. He is so weird but he is so funny.
2nd- As you can tell from the pig picture I got a haircut. Elder Nico shaved my head. First time I’ve buzzed my hair forever, this country is so much colder now. But anyways the funny part is everything here loved it. This older lady we teach, who is a recent convert, said it was cool. It was so funny to hear it. It would be like hearing a 70 year old lady saying awesome haircut instead of nice haircut. I don’t know it was just funny. Lookpuu Lii liked it too because he said I looked like a monk.

Spiritual Story.
Chaandii, a guy we contacted who hadn't even learned a lesson yet, came to district conference on Sunday. He is the same guy who told us he couldn’t stop thinking about his conversation with us. When we met with him to teach him his first lesson he told us at first when he showed up it was super weird and he was nervous. But as he went in and listened, he didn’t really understand what they were talking about but he just felt really happy, like his body was super light. From there it went to him basically asking us where am I from, who am I, and where am I going. Which is soooooo rare to have a Cambodian with questions like that. We taught the whole 2nd lesson with him and he understood it all and it just makes sense to him. Oh did I mention he waited from 10-12 for us and just read a member's (sokhnaa the one who got baptized recently, they are cousins) copy of the Liahona. And he said I really like this magazine if I read this will I understand better? It so unbelievable how prepared he is for the gospel it’s so awesome.
ps. water festival starts today so no proselyting until Friday night at like 5, it technically got cancelled because lots of people died last year but I guess the people are doing it on their own or something. All I know is the whole country basically goes to Phnom Penh so it’s too dangerous for us to proselyte

Why hello again. So the water festival is officially over now. It was sooo fun. Last Thursday was cleaning the house day and CBR work. Friday was sports day. We biked all the way to northwest Phnom Penh to meet with all the Elders and play basketball and hang out. It was so fun to talk to all my MTC Elders and talk to them about what's going on in their areas. Sunday was really cool because Sokhnaa received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Monday was zone conference. We went to 5th branch in the city and were taught/instructed from 8-2 with a 1 hour lunch break of course. It was awesome. Catered food, with ice cream and cake! But seriously the conference was really good. It was mostly good because they really broke down tithing for us, what we need to have a stake, what we need to do, and how we need to do it. So it was super good to just give us that focus to get what really needs to be done. They also did a little follow the rules session because it's gonna take so much focus to finally get Cambodia the stake it needs. It would just be so cool if this country had a patriarch. I just wish these people could experience a stake just so they would know how awesome it is.

So to exzplain the pictures, one is a picture of just some member's kids, one is me in front of our church. Yes that is our church out here in kian svaay, it's actually a pretty nice building, it's a rented church so its super weird, but it's nice. Plans are already undder way to get a church out here and once ther eis one its going to explode out here. The third picture is me and Elder Nico in Lookpuu Lii's tree house eating some grapefruit that he gave us for digging some dirt for him. He is so funny he was so excited that day becasue he just bought these 2 new orange trees to plant. I told him my dad grows oranges and then he just starts going off on like what kind of oranges, are they good, are the like Cambodia oranges, I dont even knoww hat he was saying, he talks fast and has a weird accent so it's super hard to understand.I think he is starting to like us though because he prayed for us to be rich when we grow up, have beautiful wives, smart kids, and an airplane so that we could visit him. Which is better than his usual prayer like, I know these elders taught me to forgive today but I'm sorry god I just can't do it I get too angry, amen.

So cool spiritual story this week, chaandii. The super awesome investigator we have. We taught him about Jesus's life, and he went off asking if it’s true that he was born in a manger, the three wise men, all that stuff. He asked us if that was true. He said he saw it in a movie a couple years ago. That was so insane that he knew all of that. I bet most of the members don’t even know about that part of Jesus life yet. He's just so smart and everything just makes sense to him, and he has such a desire to learn, he just has a good spirit about him that is just so rare out here in Cambodia. I can just feel it in him. He has a good heart. In fact when we told him we wouldn’t be able to come Monday because we are going to the city for Elder training he asked if he could come. Also when we told him we will be back on Friday at 11:00 he said he will start waiting at 7am. We told him we can’t leave earlier than 10:30 but he still is gonna wait "just in case". Haha he is so awesome.


 Not much this week because of all the festivities so that's all I got. I jsut want you all to know I know that this is the true church of Christ, and the only thing you have to do to know that too is to open the Book of Mormon and read it. It's amazing to see the sacrifices the people go through to be members and I know the only reason they do it is becaue they know it's true. Jesus is the Christ and our Savior. I love you all, Elder Rucker

First Baptism and New Clothes

So this last week was pretty fun. Friday and Saturday were dreadful because we had no electricity for that whole time, it was sooooo hot and I got eaten alive by mosquitoes because we had to open all the windows. But besides that all good. We got the new Elder in the house, Elder Aan. He is so funny. He is soooo Khmae. The Khmaes have this weird idea in their head if you eat bread you become weak, and you get strong and big from rice. And whenever they talk to us they ask us if all we eat in France is bread. 2 things wrong with that, they think we are from France but try to talk to us in English, and they think all we do is eat bread. Its kinda funny. So when I say Elder Aan is Khmae, when we ask him if he wants some bread he says "no I don’t like bread". But he is honestly the funniest kid ever. He is smaller than you mom. He is a little over 100 pounds and like 5'2'' ish. He is so cool.

Sokhnaa got baptized on Sunday. It’s so crazy to finally have had my first baptism. He is such an amazing guy. He understands so much. He had been learning from the Elders for 1 year! Yeah they have to learn for a long time otherwise if you baptize then you get inactive members like Lookpuu Lii, who was baptized after 2 months and thinks the branch president is jesus. But no Sokhnaa is super awesome, and he is so excited, and he told us he wants to help us. So now all we got to do is get him off on a mission.


I got my new Khmae clothes last Wednesday and they are soooo nice. They fit me sooo good. The shirts I have already aren't too much hotter, they are just super big, but they are fine, but the pants, the Khmae pants are soooo much cooler and like half the weight its insane Tailored they are like 8 or 9$ each. I'll attach a picture of me. It’s with just some random Khmae that I asked if he wanted to take a picture with me. Hahaha he was super shy and embarrassed because he thought his clothes were too dirty. It was super funny.

This last week we got a call out of nowhere from some random person. It was a 19 girl who got the pamphlet that we handed to her dad and she wants to learn. That’s saying a lot because phone calls here are suuper expensive, she spent like 1$ to talk to us. So we visited her house and her sister mom and dad all want to learn, and while we were teaching her like 20 people around her house, all her neighbors, came to talk to us. We got attacked with question, it went from wow you know Khmae really well, you speak so well, to wow you are so pretty, to look at my daughter she is pretty white do you want to take a Khmae wife, to will you teach me English, then we brought it full circle by turning it into a, no sorry we only come to the house to teach about Jesus, do you want to learn? It was crazy though they were all super nice and I have such a good feeling about that village back there. I feel like it’s just ready to explode. I'm hoping we will have a lot of success back there.

So last Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Ann, the Khmae elder. That was possibly the hardest day of my entire life. And not in the way you would think either. I didn't get dehydrated or tired, in fact when we got home Elder Ann instantly laid on his bed and passed out, clothes on and all. Haha the entire day I was asking him if he was tired yet. But it was super hard because he is SO quiet. I literally had to talk to everybody and say everything! It was so amazing though, I felt so blessed because my ability to talk and understand was so great. If that wasn't gift of tongues I don't know what is.

So there are 2 investigators that I want to talk about today. Both came from contacting and they are new. First you already know a little bit I think, not sure I forget. Anyways, her name is ceentaa, she is 19 years old and called us after finding our phone number on a pamphlet we gave to her Father. She is super excited to learn, we only stopped by her house once, last Friday, asked if she wanted to learn, and she said yes, we did the intro to teaching where we kinda just got to know each other, set up a return appointment and left. She went to church that Sunday! Which is super rare for khmae's. And she walked! She absolutely loved it. She said the last Jesus church she went to all laughed at her for coming so far and were rude and unfriendly because she was new. She went to church and said everyone was suuuper nice to her, and somebody even drove her home on their moto. She is super excited to learn and so committed already.

The next is Chaandii. We contacted him one time, and found out he is Sokhnaa's cousin. He didn't have a phone number so we told him we'd ask Sokhnaa where is house was and we'd go find him one day. He didn't seem that interested. Well right after that the road flooded and the only way you could get to his house was by boat which is against the rules for us because its they super sketchy makeshift boats that I don't even understand why they float. So anyways after 2 weeks it all went away. and we went to talk to him. He told us he was super bored when he was talking with us. But he told us he couldn't stop thinking about it for days. And he started finding and noticing people who were doing the Jesus thing and saw how much better their lives were and he said he knows he has to join. So he asked us how to join and we told him he can always come but to be a member you have to learn and be baptized, so he is super excited and ready. it’s just such a testimony builder about how the lord really is out there preparing people for you. It's so nice to talk to somebody like him after talking to countless of hardened Buddhists who ask for medicine or money, we tell them know, and they tell us our church doesn't help anyone and isn't a real Jesus church.

So anyways, I love you so much family. I know this church is true. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, his only true church. I know it was restored and that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I testify with all my heart that we have the restored gospel on the earth again, and once again we have the saving ordinances that allow us to return to our Father in Heaven. I love you all, and keep smiling.

Love, Elder Rucker

Elder Nicosa, Ryan's companion is burning
his pants to commenorate his year and a half
on a mission.

Killing Mice and Giving Service

Killed a mouse in our room, haha we were running around and screaming like little girls

Well another good week everyone. We are starting to get new investigators which is super fun. Our area is starting to turn around. We just got 2 new families to teach.

Saturday morning we woke up and left for the city for conference. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the conference center for conference and during the breaks me and elder nico rode around the city and ate food. Conference was soooo cool. I loved conference, it was amazing the amount of Cambodians that showed up though, it was awesome.

One of the coolest things of conference was when President Monson mentioned the welfare fund for families to go to the temple for the first time. I can think of so many families where that is literally all they want to do. Miing Saaveet, a like 40 year lady, who is a member with a husband a kid, asks us everytime we come over "Whats the temple like?" or "Tell me about the temple". For them the closest temple would be Hong Kong. And for the average Cambodian, you make like 2 dollars, or 3 on a good day, saving up for the trip takes them years. Its so cool though when you talk to the ones who have gone, and they thought it was the greatest thing they've ever done in their lives.

The other thing that sticks out in my mind from conference was Mosiah 2:17. The when you are in  service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God scripture. I don't think a single session went by where that scripture wasn't quoted. I think in 1 session it was quoted twice. Coincidence? not! Apparently god wants us to get the message. 2 days ago, we showed up to a house, miing ph>laa. the last time we went we taught her about the restoration and how her jesus church was good but not the true one. Elder Nico kind of got in her face too much and got a little over aggressive. So 2 days ago when we showed up she was laying in her hammock looking like she was super sick. We kinda start talking to her and she's barely talking to us, and when she did all she would talk about was how she was going to her church that night. So we looked over, saw she had a ton of dishes dirty, and we just stood up and started doing them. They never want us to help them so she tried to stop us but we just kept doing it. After we finished she had the hugest smile, she looked totally fine, and she was just laughing saying "haha, Elders ceh liang caan". which literally translates to they know how to wash dishes. She just couldn't stop laughing about to white guys from america and shirts and ties washed her dishes. So after that we were able to teach her. Then we just shared 2 Nephi 25:26 which is we preach of christ, we write of christ, etc.. just to basically show her all we do is teach about Christ, and all we want to do right now is just teach her. She was so happy when we left and she said we could come back. Service is so important and it really is the way to people's hearts, I truly believe that.

It's quite crazy being in a non-christian culture though. You literally can't notice a single difference between Sunday and the rest of the week. The only days when it's different is days like today, where everybody heads to the local Watt to give food and money. There aren't any jobs that get a break on Sunday. So usually when it comes time to get them to come to church, 9/10 times they literally have to quit their job. Some don't. But the ones that do, they are so extremely blessed, as they take that first leap of faith to following, and trusting in Christ, you can see such a huge change in their lives.

Transfer calls came in last night and i'm staying in Kian Svay with Elder Nicosia. The other compionship in our house is changing though. Elder Sprinkle is leaving to kampong thom and he is being replaced by a native Khmae, Elder Aan. So its sad to see elder sprinkle leave, he was super funny and stuff, but its gonna be cool to get a native who knows no English come in, maybe he will teach me something.

So besides that this week was good. One thing was we got 3 less actives coming back to church now. They all showed up to church and 1 stayed for the full 3 hours! which is saying a lot because some leave after sacrament and most leave after sacrament meeting. It was really fun talking to one of them, Om Roodthaa, i guess that's how you would spell it in English. We were talking to her and we were teaching book of Mormon and she went off for a while about as she has started reading again she has felt so much peace in her life. She said its the only thing she can really do to feel peace.

We had to wade through water up to our hips in like a jungle to get to a house at 7 at night. Kinda sketchy, not doing it again. Always love going to that house though because the mom there always gives us super good, real Khmae food.

As for spiritual things though this week i really learned the importance of doing small things. Reading your scriptures, praying, going to church. You can see such a huge difference between those that do and those that don't. It was one of the most amazing things ever to teach an investigator, Sokhnaa, who is getting baptized this sunday, share a scripture with us from his personal reading about how important it is to stay faithful after baptism. He was reading in Mosiah about how doomed you are and how much suffering you have if you fall away, but it only made him want to more faithfully follow the Lord. In his prayer he actually prayed and asked God to help him be a good member for his whole life. Its so cool because he's just doin it. He's starting to receive personal revelation from the Book of mormon and apply it to his life without the help of Elders.

I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is an endless gold mine of information. I dont think i've ever read the book of mormon and not come away wanting to be better, or having more love for my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  I know he loves us all, and all he wants for us is to come back to him. I testify that this gospel brings true lasting happiness.

I love the gospel and i love serving a missions. I remember somebody telling me this is probably one of the hardest missions you could serve. I didn't believe them, but now i do. I thought by these people being poor would mean they would accept the gospel, but that's not true. It's just so extremely hard for them to understand the concept of a God, or the concept a trusting in Christ. It makes me so grateful to have been born in the church, in America, with an amazing family and parents. It's hard, but seeing the difference this gospel brings into their lives is what keeps me working, even if its one family. I know this church is true with all my heart. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it truly testifies of Christ. I know Jesus Christ loves each and everyone of us. I know God answers our prayers. An almighty being who knows anything and everything, who can create worlds, and destroy them, who is all powerful and all knowing, who is 100% perfect, who perfectly designed everything so that literally everything in the world has its place, actually listens to our prayers. And its so amazing we even have to opportunity to even talk to him, let alone have him answer them, and care about us. Its amazing how much he loves us. I love you all so much family.

I love you so much family, i pray for you always..... Love, Elder Rucker

Kien Svaay, broken doors, and mud puddles

Well it’s finally here and even though I knew it would be super crazy... it’s even crazier than I imagined. But it got really fun when we showed up. We got off the plane, did our visa stuff, and walked out and it’s just insanely hot, we were all in suits and long sleeve shirts and it was just insane. We took pictures and just hopped in the car to head to the mission home. The car ride was insane. The most insane thing I saw though was this scooter, these motorized scooters they all drive here, which would fit 2 people, maybe 3 if you're pushing it for American standards. This moto had 8 people on it. And one lady was holding a bucket... with a baby in it...... Insane.

I got assigned to Elder Nicoscia in Kien Svaay. It translates to fresh mango. It’s the most awesome area ever, it just east of the city of Phnom Penh right on the outskirts. The only thing that sucks about it is it’s like the most biking district.... on Saturday I biked like 30 kilos. It’s very sad to see how poor some of the people are, but it’s nice riding out there because it gets very country style and very beautiful. That’s a bonus about this area it’s also the most beautiful. The temples are super cool they look just like Buddhist temples out of a picture book. It’s cool too because this weekend is some ancestor holiday or something and all the temples are blasting music and all the people are pulling out their incense and what not.

So that Friday I got settled in and as we were leaving Elder Nico kind of opened the door handle and it kind of made a snapping noise. He went out and closed the door and couldn't open it. 1.5 hours later the landlord chiseled the door lock and I was free, so then we finally left, taught 1 lady, and came back. The lesson was just absolutely ridiculous; I didn't understand a single word. Saturday was a fun day too, it was super busy and we biked 30 kilos like I said, but we taught tons of lessons, and the best thing was we went out to this lady's house, which is about 5 feet wide and 6 feet long, and gave her a blessing, and she asked ME to do the blessing. Then asked me to give her daughter a blessing too cause they were super sick. Oh man that was crazy. Let's just say it was a little rough but it worked.

Because of the festival going on here there is always music playing here, that crazy old school music from all the temples (which are as common as churches in Provo) and it sounds exactly how you could imagine it. It’s cool because it always just makes me think wow, I’m in Cambodia. The food here is really amazing, as long as somebody who can cook does it; it also depends on the ingredients too. But of course they have this nasty stuff like pickled unripe mangos with chicken flavored salt stuff that you get in like ramen packets, its super nasty. No tarantula yet, I’m not going to do it because it’s against the rules and about 90% of the time you get super sick so I don’t think I’m going to be doing it any time soon. But they do sell these duck eggs where the duck has developed inside of it to where it’s like borderline hatching, super nasty, but you know you gotta do it sometimes

All the kids are funny though whenever they see us coming they say "barrang mook, barrang mook!" which means the white people are coming, white people are coming, and then when we pass they all scream "Hello!" and if you say hello back they all start busting up laughing, and if you don’t, they bust up laughing anyways, so there is no winning with that one.

Funny story this week, we were teaching lookpuu Lii. He kind of lives in a jungly area and it was somewhat flooded, and he was having us help him move some plants around for his "garden". which wasn't really a garden. Elder Nico was being super careful to not step in the mud, when all of a sudden he steps on the edge of a puddle, his ground gives out and he goes straight into muddy quicksand. By the time I stopped laughing about it he was already in the mud to his knees. Lookpuu Lii couldn't stop laughing either. So he went the rest of the day with muddy, super wet shoes and pants, he is such a good missionary and so good at the language.

One of the funniest things here though, kinda cool for me though, is when they don't know my name they call me Elder S?aat, or Elder Sanghaa. Which is Elder beautiful or Elder handsome. They always love my nose especially too. Haha it's super funny, I always ask them if they want to trade.

I love it here; our district is 4 Elders all under the same roof and it's super awesome. It's moments like this where I'm in a house with 2 little girls, sokh cia thaa (12) and srei naet (15), teaching them how to pray when I'm just like Cambodia is so awesome I can't believe I'm here. This country is insanely beautiful and hot, the people are the nicest people I have ever met before in my life. I love this gospel and I want to do everything I can to share it with these people. I know this is the true church of God. I know the book of Mormon is the word of God and testifies that Jesus is the Christ and He lives.

Cambodia Bound!

Elder Rucker has finally left the MTC and is now in the field. He had a long flight from Salt Lake to LA to Hong Kong to finally Phnom Penh, over 18 hours flying! He is very excited but loved his time in the MTC. More pictures from his last days in Provo:

Old friends meet again!

 Elder Rucker (Cambodia), Elder Liljenquist (Argentina), Elder Combs (Brazil), and Elder Quinn (Ukraine)

 Cambodia T-shirts

Loving being a missionary!

Elder Rucker with Elder Quinn and Elder Dubious (Las Vegas) and Elder Combs

Soon, Ryan says, his emails will get interesting and worth while to put up on the blog. We will post his address as soon as we know it, every missionary loves letters!

More pictures from Elder Rucker!

Here are some new (and some goofy) pictures of Elder Rucker in the MTC. He's doing great and working hard!

"The common MTC 'pointing to your mission' picture"

"Yum, Vanessa's cupcakes!"

"Fun games after hard studying. I love this game!"

"The soccer team!"

"My district"

"I spend a lot of my time learning the language. TRC was really awesome again, we taught Isaac, who was a really great guy and a talker, he basically talked for the whole 40 minutes...His Khmae was really good. I understood basically everything he was saying. So I was feeling pretty cool after that like I had a handle on the language. Then at dinner that night we ran into the 2 Elders that just came in from Cambodia going to San Bernadino California English speaking mission. They asked us 1 question and I have no idea what they said, their accent and their speed was just unbelieveable. Excited to get to Cambodia though to start learning."

He also said:

"It was funny yesterday because Elder Gibson said to Elder Edmunds khnom nung sl>b pria you, what he meant to say was khnom nung sl>p you. He said "I'm going to spoon you" instead of saying "I'm going to kill you for stealing my pen." Haha, stuff like that hapens all the time, we have our fun and silly games and what not but we focus when it's focus time, everyone here is so dedicated, motivated, and focused its awesome. I love all of you and I know this church is true and I know that christ lives. Love always, Elder Rucker"

Remember to jot down something and send it to Elder Rucker, he LOVES letters! He is such an amazing missionary!