Monday, June 2, 2008

April/May 2008 Pictures

Elder Davis, 80-year old Cambo bicycle repairman Sook Ta Saak and Elder Miller. This 80 year man rides his bike 2 miles to church every Sunday. He had Gage lift the sides of his house up so they could put bricks under it to make it taller for when Gage comes to visit.





Gage and Elder Davis with their favorite member family in their home. "Our scripture class is turning into "teach Diimong's family from the scriptures class" cause no one but Dii mongs family comes haha. You would love them! Honestly they are probably goin to be the ones I miss when I leave here. The moms name is Kum lee, oldest daughter is Da lynn, then Diimong, then Da nite, then Pisset...Their dad was the branch president about 2 years ago but he got sick and died and that familly has nothing but the gospel, and their life is the gospel, it is amazing, they just have blunt faith, it's great."











Demong helps Elders out again!















Elder Davis, Gage's 1st companion gets transfered. Tough day for both! "Well, Davis is gone... He got transferred.. Man that was hard! I miss him so much.. We were like brothers... But I'll see him everyonce in a while."

















Gage lifts little Cambodian boy way high in the air!














To the Family of Elder Miller,
We have been happy to meet your tall and handsome son in his first mission area of Kampong Cham. He is a fine young man and you can be proud of him. He has made a good adjustment and has a comfortable, accepting attitude. He is a likeable, friendly person who can form good relationships and he and his trainer worked well together. He has another good companion in Elder Godfrey and they are united in setting high goals and in their willingness to do whatever they can to further the work of the Lord here. Thank you for providing the kind of home where he could grow up with the standards of the gospel being lived and where he could prepare to meet the requirements of full-time service. This is the most important work in the world that he can be doing at this time of his life--and he is prepared and worthy. What a joy that is to parents to know that! Elder Miller takes life in stride and is a great help in anything he is asked to do. He is humble about his language ability and continues to strive to learn more; nevertheless, he has been able to translate well for us in Sunday meetings. He is understanding more and more of what is said, even with the different ways of speaking heard among the members. We are completing our mission and will return to Utah tomorrow. We will miss your son but know he will continue to move forward and be a great strength in whatever part of the mission he is called to serve.
Sincerely, Elder and Sister Christensen




"The other day I got a Mountain Dew sent to me from Elder Davis my trainer in Phnom penh, and one thing about soda here is that they make it in Thailand, so its not really the same thing, so I put it in my fridge and I finally drank it! Well it was the best tastings thing that I've had in 6 months, but the worst tasting Mountain Dew I have ever had in my life! It was like a bitter-sweet moment. I didnt know rather to smile or cry haha. Oh well I'll just have to wait till I get home to have a REAL Mountain Dew..."







Elder Miller, finding an investigator.











Gage's new companion Elder Godfrey and Gage with Cambodian family they are teaching. "...now for the best part of the week... We had 91 people go to church! Yeah that's all I have to say! All the missionaries and the leadership in our distric fasted and well, 91 people came haha! 3 weeks ago we had 47, then 67, and last week 91! It was amazing! We honestly had more in-actives than active members come by far! And what was even better is that they all had fun! Sacrament was so fun! There was just a good spirit there and every one couldn't stop smiling! And we even had a couple of "laugh attacks" where the whole congregation couldn't stop laughing! It was so great! Anyway our branch is really waking up. The leadership, the members and now the in-actives. People are just ... I dunno... waking up haha! Hopefully Heavenly Father will continue to just flat out bless us!"












A shrine in somewhere in Cambodia. (All Gage said was "some shrine". Hopefully he will be more detailed next time.)





















Gage said he lost count of the stairs. Not hard to guess why!
















Gage and Elder Godfrey getting ready to brave the rain! "Its starting to rain a bit, its rained every day for the last 4 or so days. It starts at 6:00-ish and stopes at 9:00-ish... It's a pain cause every one here, well most every one has tin roofs, so it is impossible to hear each other even if we could understand each other perfectly haha. So when that happens we all just sit quiet for a while until it starts to ease up... Then we try to get some words in before it starts raining hard again, haha !"