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.