A MUST READ BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

In Cambodia here, sadly it doesn’t feel like Christmas at all. In fact yesterday at our district lunch, it was discovered that Christmas was in only 5 days. We had all completely forgotten. It’s sunny and hot and so my mind wants to keep telling me that it’s still summer and fall hasn’t even happened. That, and I’m pretty sure they only deliver packages every Monday to the mission home. So I think my boxes won’t make it in time.  We have our "Christmas" on the 23rd in the city. Then we stay the night and have an area conference in the morning of the 24th. Then it’s back on the bus and back to regular schedule..until who knows when? The Cambodian New Year in April I think…  Anyway I don’t know what will happen. I’ll get them eventually. I might get luck and have a Senior come visit Siem Reap soon and they can bring them with them.
I’m not worried. 

I have been thinking about an aspect of Christmas lately, however, that has made me reflect on my own life.  The kids here have no toys. Never have and never will. They play with garbage and old food as their toys. Specifically Styrofoam, that is their favorite.  I’ve watched kids over the months play with rocks, dead bugs, shoes, garbage, bike and car parts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Legit toy! This last Sunday there were a few members from America that came to our branch and they gave each kid like a 15 cent toy and it was the greatest thing in the world to them…and for me I’ve always considered that garbage.  It’s made me think back on my life and all the things I have had and how maybe I should have appreciated more things than I did! To see a little boy treat a tiny toy Dinosaur like his most prized possession he has ever had just makes your insides turn to mush. And you just want to find all those things you overlooked and give it all to him! This Christmas for me has been focused on appreciation and recognizing major blessings that we don’t see as blessings at first until we see the bigger picture, until we get a larger, wiser understanding. It is a part of life! Everyone must learn it from childhood to adulthood and this is just another step in my learning experience of learning to appreciate. And it’s been a big lesson.

Anyway, not much progress in the area this week. We have made a lot of progress contacting lost people and inviting them back to church and we are being patient with finding investigators. We have like 4 and one came to church last week.  Chin up! Press on! No effort is ever wasted! That is my and Elder Phans motto for this transfer.

I’m still getting organized and planning an attack on this area! Right now I’m still gathering Intel and learning the streets..  Finding out who is in to help and who is not.  We have an area right by Angkor that we love to go walk around in because its filled with people who have lost their mind. Like last week I mentioned a woman who calls us her children and we have to call her mom or she gets super upset!

There are several people like her who have drank so much or have experienced so much famine that there is nothing left of their sanity. You never know what is going to happen when we go there to try to teach a few people. They fight, they dance, they sing, they freak out, who knows.  Um, I don’t have much else, I want to have something to talk about when we Skype! By the way I’m afraid to skype! I don’t know what to talk about! I don’t know if I’ll be happy or just bust out crying because I miss all of you so much! I have no idea! Nervousness fills me. I’m doing well another week…only like 65 more! Make the most of it while I can!

Love you,
Elder Ryan Anderson

FINALLY transfered!

December 3rd

Dear family! 

A lot is about to happen and I am excited!

But I will wait to tell you. First of all, my birthday went well. I waited patiently to open the package I got from all of you! I opened it first thing in the morning! Calendar, perfect, smell goods, awesome, Rain jacket AMAZING! And will be perfect for the rain here! chocolate, to die for! Thank you very much! 

Elder Wright and I had the baptism of Bennion and a family of 5 I have been teaching out in Bakuu forever!  What was really cool was that we got members to do most of the baptisms! Which means they feel friend-shipped and close to the other members! score. Elder Wright and I still were able to get into the water ourselves so we had ten people in white that day! After that we went to the city where the Elders in the city put together a music performance and invited anyone and everyone to come and listen. And that pretty much took up the whole day! So I had presents bringing wonderful amazing people into the gospel and I went to a music concert. Sweet 21st Birthday if you ask me. 

OK so from there all you can think about it transfers! We have spent the last week making predictions on where we were going to go and with who and in what position! It’s very stressful!  I have to tell you, like 90 percent of my predictions were correct!  So here it goes. In Takhmao, Elder Ott and I have been here together for the last 6 months. We have grown super tight! He is a big influence for me and has been an awesome leader! He has been serving in south zone for a year and he got called to 5th branch which is still in south zone. He will be zone leader over south zone and he will be training a new missionary AND whitewashing aka starting from scratch. Super cool and he is excited to take the challenge.  I predicted all of that. Besides the white wash part.

As for me, the President called me (which means something significant)! He says the Lord would like me to go to Siem Reap West! I will have a native Khmer Companion and he also asked if I would be the District leader for him up there! Without even thinking I said, YES I WOULD LOVE TO! After I hung up the phone, I sat down and thought wait a minute... WHAT!? Oh well, I’m excited to take up the challenge. To have a native companion is hard, but you learn a lot of Khmer! Siem Reap is super far away, and you never come to the mission home, and you only get mail once a transfer!  District leader shouldn't be too hard. The only thing is doing paperwork and baptismal interviews! Not excited for that!  So I go from the farthest south area all the way to the farthest north! Angkor Watt is in my area apparently as well. I have heard its more expensive to live there though. Major tourist location, so they like to rip off the white people. A lot of places in Cambodia have two prices for everything. The price for a Khmer and the price for the white person. I don’t know in the next few weeks to come I should have a lot of news for you!

This Friday I leave Takhmao and ride a bus for 6 hours! up to Siem Reap! I’m going to be left out in the middle of nowhere for the next 6 months! It’s going to be fun! As far as leaving Takhmao, I am left very, very sad!  I remember when I first got here and I would come into these people’s houses and sit on the floor look at them all and feel so out of place! They barely even felt like people to me!  But now as I have started to say goodbye to my convert families, I die on the inside because I have to leave them and just pray that they will be taken care of after I go.  Bennion even calls me his son. The Son he wishes he had but never did.  On a mission you really do make friendships that make a lasting impression on who you are and who you will choose to be for the rest of your life!

Anyway that’s all for this week. 
With love From Takhmao for the last time, Elder Anderson

December 10th

Dear family,

Wow wow wow is all I have to say.

This is quite the change! I spent so long in Takhmao doing the best I could to fix it and leave it as a place where it had success, now I’m going to have to do the same thing all over again here in Siem Reap.  It is a really cool place! Even though it is super far away from anything else its super cool! I ride my bike past Angkor Wat everyday and meet people in their houses that live right around it. My Area is huge but only has like 15 members in it. I have no idea where they are yet because, 1. My Khmer companion, (who is sweet) has only been here 6 weeks and wasn’t trained in the area very well. And two, ALL of the paperwork for Siem Reap is a mess! The CBR Member books are all over the place, there isn’t anything useful in the area books either. Looks like I have got some work to do. We don’t have many investigators or really any direction or schedule at all right now, but I am hoping to get through all the paperwork because there are a ton of former investigators that could have potential.  Already I can see the wisdom in the Lord in sending me to Siem Reap. There are clearly different types of missionaries and the Lord needs certain types in areas at certain times. Right now It’s my time in Seam Reap. I am going to turn this place around and start making stuff happen!

In order for Siem Reap to become part of a Stake with Battambong in the future, Sieam Reap needs to split into two units. Right now it’s far from it! Because it’s so unorganized! Give me a few weeks to get things organized and to get to know the area and we will have something to work with.  Being a District leader in Siem Reap means nothing because there are only 4 of us in the entire zone.  We all put our heads together and are currently making plans to shake things up. My new companion Elder Phan is super sweet. He is like my best friend Andrew Fonda, but in a Cambodians body!  It’s creepy sometimes!  It took a few days for me to get used to speaking the language constantly but it’s getting better. I still get frustrated because I can’t explain things very well sometimes, but it is a work in progress.  It’s a whole different style of missionary work having to speak the language 24/7.  He doesn’t know any English. Usually after a lesson I would talk to my companion about whatever in English until the next lesson, then we would switch back to Khmer. But now there is no switching. I have a lot of time to myself to think! Especially when the other two elders aren’t around. Speaking of which, the other two elders in our zone/district right now are Elder Christian and Elder Kuhn. Sound Familiar?  Christian was my Companion in the MTC the first time I went. And Kuhn was my MTC companion the 2nd time I went. Weird huh? 

OK, couple of stories. I’m teaching a guy from England. His name is Andrew and he has a super heavy accent. I teach him alone because we teach in English. He owns a school that teaches an all English school curriculum so that when kids graduate they have actual certificates they can use to get jobs. The school system here is super corrupt and this guy has sacrificed so much and spent a ton of his own money getting his school going. Apparently just recently he got a huge grant of money from the government to expand. Anyway, He knows everything already! He has read the Book of Mormon already and teaches me the lessons pretty much. He has a Wife that is a return sister missionary she is Cambodian. I’m not sure what to do with him really but I’m being very cautious!

Second story. I have a recent convert here who lives in the coolest house!~You ride your bike through the jungle and across a rice patty and it’s in the middle of nowhere. We teach her at night using flashlights and she is amazing. However, Elder Phan didn’t warn me that there was an incredible amount of Mosquitoes at her house. That night after I showered I had so many bites on my legs you couldn’t tell where one started and another ends. I had hundreds!!!   Bad news, Siem Reap is Expensive! Since I’ts a tourist place everything is more! Another bad, I wasn’t able to take my bike with me, so I had to take the one that was already here. And to no surprise it’s falling apart! It’s terrible! And it’s stuck in a super high gear! So it’s impossible to pedal! My legs and back ache every night because of this thing! I’m afraid I’ll have to buy another! new bike! The bike policy in this mission needs to be changed, it’s a joke. 

Dad I love the Jacket! It was a perfect idea! I have not had a chance to test it out yet though, however. It’s out of the heavy rain season and up here in Siem Reap it’s actually a great temperature! It’s nice and cool right now!  That’s all I have time to tell you this week family! I m glad to hear that you will all be home for Christmas! I haven’t heard back from president on what is going to happen with the Siem Reap Elders Yet. I have put in a request to find out. But I think we won’t have any huge problems other than the fact that the computers in this country suck! If I can make a request. Can I get photos of the Basement and the outside of the house. I don’t have a picture of my home at all.  For Christmas, I have no idea what you can send me. The only things I can think of are, new music player that plays music by removable microSD cards like my last one. Music because I lost all I had on my last player, Mom any research on Electronic Dictionaries? BLUE POWERAIDE DRINK POWDER!You know what you could do that would be really nice is get something for my companion. HE has nothing and his family has nothing. Nothing to send him at all. He doesn’t even get to Skype them because they can’t afford the 2 dollars to use the computers. Maybe go to a skate shop in the mall and get him a Cool tie accessory or a cool wallet. I dunno. That would be nice. I think that is all I have. If I remember anything else I will bring it up next week! Love you all! I’m doing fine! Thanks for your prayers and support! 

RYANS BIRTHDAY!

HEY EVERYONE! We have a BIG favor to ask you! Ryans Birthday is coming up so we asked him what he'd like us to send him, you'll read in his letter that all he REALLY wants is LETTERS!! Writing Ryan is really easy! You go to dearelder.com, enter the Cambodia, Phnom Pehn mission, press "write letter" and then enter in Elder Ryan Anderson, write Ry a letter and then press send! It's just like email but the church prints it out and puts it in the mail for you!

 For Ryans Birthday would you PLEASE take 5 minutes really quick and write him a quick letter?! He would love nothing more than to hear from those who support him! I'll make it REALLY easy! Just click the WRITE RYAN button on the side of his page and it will take you right there!!

OCT 26 2011

Hello Family!

Natalie thanks for your dear elder!

Natalie I think today is your wedding anniversary! Hope it’s a good one!

Sounds like things are still changing at home! and again I wish I could help out! it seems like the basement will be awesome! I’m glad Aaron made it to his destination ok as well! I remember when I had trouble in the LA and Hong Kong Airports and it was scary! I was the travel leader for a lot of people! And none of us had cell phones of course!  This week was a huge success for my companion and I. Since we are both un- seasoned missionaries, we are learning everyday better ways to do this missionary work thing! It’s amazing how just by getting out there and doing it every day slowly broadens your vision on how to do missionary work.  This last week I have made even more progress on my ability to work through the members and the branch to help out the church here. We are part of a revolution in Cambodia missionary work right now. We are working as hard as we can to get branches self-sustainable and running without missionaries. Especially Priesthood holders! The Mission Pres. has asked all of us to strive to find adult males to teach and bring back into activity and whatnot. Also, to teach all members about the blessings and tithing. And with Priesthood holders and tithing you know what that means? A stake, and then someday a temple! The church will explode in Cambodia if it had a temple!

We have a bunch of investigators that are progressing right now and we are learning to do other aspects of the work rather than finding and teaching. And I enjoy it. We get to prepare lessons to help members! I was reading about my responsibility for members out of the Preach My Gospel the other day and an example came to mind. It goes like this: Working with Members and less actives is like bowling. The lane is life, the ball is the person, the pins at the end are heavenly father and eternal life. The gutter is Satan and hell! The Missionaries/other members are the Bumpers! The job of the bumpers are to keep the ball from falling off into the gutter. However, the bumpers do not guide the ball all the way down the lane, they simply bump the ball in the right direction away from the gutter. Make sense right?! I thought it was pretty cool!

I have been in TaKhmao for almost 6 months now and I think I only have a few weeks left! I feel like I am just now getting to the point where I can talk to these people enough and we know each other well enough we can start doing some real work! I love all my investigators here too. Visiting a family three times a week for six months, ya kinda get attached. It’s super sad! I don’t really have much to say about the area other than that! The rides to Bakuu are fun, Elder Wright and I are having a Blast! Probably going in the top three favorite companions of the mission already! We get along so well and both are learning a lot!

Dad, I don’t know how you want me to label or mark my photos?  I don’t really have a lot of time to fuss much with anything, so I dunno?  I have had a few white shirts get ruined already so I am down to like 6 shirts. In your next box will you send the extra ones at home I had. I can get shirts cut and made here for 6 bucks a piece in the future. I don’t know what your status is for your package sending but I did have an idea for like a birthday package. You can just put the money you would send for a huge box on my debit account and I can get myself something here! Other than that, all I would really want for my birthday is mail from people at home. What do you think? Jared I heard that there is no NBA season this year! What are you going to do?!?!?!?!?  Sorry it’s short, but I’ve been trying to backup photos and every single computer in this country is a piece of garbage! I’m doing better at photo taking so the next card home should be more full! PS - what is the status of music?

Elder Ryan Anderson

OCTOBER 19TH 2011

Hello Family! Sounds like another fun week at home! Grandma Vincent I got your Letters! Thank you! 
As soon as someone finds our Aarons LDS Email please give it to me!   I wish I could be at home to help out! It seems like you are going to enjoy having an empty house but at the same time find that all your help is gone!  Mom, I loved your experience with personal revelation and how you may receive some for another time and may not know it!  It’s super cool as missionaries to hear actual experiences of revelation and being guided by the spirit!  It’s more strength for us to press on and keep pushing through those hard days and be patient with the Lord. Well, this week I don’t have very much exciting to share but that’s ok because I have my Quotes from Conference I wanted to share!  I’m not going to take much time to write down who said them and when, but I’ll let you go find and read about the ones you like.  Here we go:

General Conference:
Pondering on the scriptures are the key to unlocking revelation.
We have a great responsibility and opportunity to serve others in this life.
Young people today are being raised in enemy territory.
You will never make a major mistake in your life without first being warned by the Holy Ghost.
Man is nothing!
Combine all the currency in the entire world and it will still not be enough to buy even one loaf of bread in heaven.
The lord uses a different scale than man to measure the worth of a soul.
We have a covenant responsibility to seek out our ancestors.
Families and raising children is a commandment not just something we do if we have to time to do it.
Where is your faith?
Time is never for sale, its value is immeasurable, we all have the same amount of time as everyone else. (what are you doing with yours?)
Cease to be idle! And make sure that to be busy means to be productive!
It’s better to look up.
We must look up and step up, and in doing so we will cheer up!
It would be mocking the sacrifice of Jesus Christ if we expected to be forgiven without any effort on our part.
Each individual can and must share what they know by letting their light shine and speaking up!
Don’t let fear keep you from helping the ones you love.
Stand as witnesses of the name you took upon yourselves at your baptism.
Satan is real and his motives are Malicious!
We are all at war!
In this battle you cannot play for Satan and then in the championship game trade teams to the saviors side!
Be active in the church and be clean, If you’re not, Then get active and get clean!!
Men serving in callings in the church are as capable of fulfilling those callings as they are expected to be.
No other labor in the world compares to missionary work!
This very hour there are members of the church who are suffering. Do not think that this is someone else’s responsibility. We are all in this together!
There will never be enough experts to solve all the problems.
Any man within the sound of my voice should not have any doubt on what is moral and what is not!
Wherever we go, our priesthood goes with us.
Morality is not old fashioned! We are still responsible for our actions!
Our code of conduct is not negotiable.
Decisions determine our destiny, in everything that we do, are we choosing eternal life?
In reality in this life we have 2 choices and 2 consequences. Eternal life, or, a life of captivity.
Its never too hard or too late to make correct choices, your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance, but of choice.
That’s all I have! I hope you all enjoy my notes and find one that will help you!

Some other exciting news is that my family of 5 that I have been teaching was baptized this last Sunday and they are doing really well! That,  and we had transfer calls yesterday and we thought Elder Ott and I were being moved but we are both staying in Takmao for another transfer! The only one leaving is Elder Khan. He is the best Khmer Elder in the whole mission! I’m going to miss the guy!  That’s the exciting news! Mom you’ll be happy to know that I am trying to take more photos and such! I hope you will all continue to do well this week!
Love Elder Anderson! 

10-11-11

I knew you would be disappointed with my picture taking! I’m sorry! They have made it clear that we are NOT in any way supposed to look like tourists! And during the day when we are out doing some work I don’t even think about my camera! But I will try to do better! Mom I don’t have my Scriptures on me at the moment but what comes to my mind is Doctrine and Covenants 130 vs's 19-21 or something? I do have a few more things that you could send in a package. Small English Book Of Mormons like 4 of them. like tiny, tiny- a few inches by a few inches. They had them in the mtc but they don’t have them here.  I’ve already mentioned a calendar for next year probably! One with cars on it if possible, Jared knows what is up. The rain jacket you explained sounds perfect! Thanks so much for tracking that down. For whoever is helping out with music for me, I would love it if I could also get ALL the conference talks from this conference! They were all awesome! Powder drinks were good, but pink lemonade gets old fast! Can you find blue power aid?!  Sunflower seeds were awesome too!  The photos were great too. More family photos are always sweet but make sure they are regular size so I can pack them with me to lessons and stuff more easily!  A few of the missionaries here have bought electronic dictionaries that can speak words to them in khmer. You can also type in words in khmer and English to look stuff up! That would be such a time saver for me, but the ones they sell here, they try to rip us off. so maybe mom you could use your amazing online shopping skills and tell me what you find! Just an idea.  That’s all I could think of. Everything else in the last package was good!  As far as the bike goes I’ll take a video tour of it and tell you all the problems I had with it! My new bike, after fixing it 15 minutes at a time everyday, is finally up to standards and ready for full service!  My new bike I bought I needed to raise the bars on them since it’s previous owner was smaller than me. But upon trying to fix that the bars were stuck! They couldn’t do it. Great. So after a few days and thinking I went back with my old bike and the new one and I showed them very specifically that I wanted to cut this bike here and put this piece here so on and so forth. Long story short I had them take parts off my old bike and throw it on the new one. Not long after that I was riding down the street and suddenly both my tires were totally flat! Two holes in the front and two holes in the back! These bikes are money pits!! All of it has to come out of personal funds too. So right now it’s doing well. We did a full trip to Bakku and back yesterday and had no problems. Dad, its funny that you mention the basket and the bell on my bike. I can honestly say I would not be able survive without them! The Basket is to put your bag in and cover when it rains which is every day, and the bell is for my personal defense! Everyone here drives scooters and there is no drivers education! SO it’s crazy! You have to keep your eyes open at all times and ring that bell when someone isn’t seeing you! I’ve seen so many crashes already! Anyway.  I’ts so cool to hear about all the change going on at home! New callings, new Neighbors! New adventures. Mom I think an American history trip for Jared sounds cool! I just hope he'd be down for something like that. Anyway. This week went by super fast because of conference! We spent all Saturday in the city at branch 5 where they have an English branch and we watched in English! It was the first time I had ever watched all 5 sessions of conference! I have a ton I want to share with you about it but it would take me to long to do it right now. I plan to take personal study time to organize myself a little bit more in my study notes so maybe next week I'll share with you. All I have to say is that. Like always Elder Holland never lets me down. "WE ARE AT WAR!!!" Sent chills down my spine! The entire conference I had all my investigators running through my mind and even some friends and family back home. I would think, I hope this person is listening to this talk right now because it just answered a question I know they have had. It was a good break from the normal for a few days but then soon it was Monday again and its back to work. Elder Wright and I are the YOUNGEST companionship in the mission. Meaning that every companionship has someone in it that has been out longer than we have. It’s pretty cool. Believe it or no,t I had my Buddy from High School, Sam Elder come and proselyte with us. He can do that because he is AP right now. We had a ton of time to talk about the good ole days and how much things have changed! He stayed at our house that night and the next day gave us a report on what he thinks about our area and our work. Almost perfect tens across the board. He said for being so young we are doing great work and we teach well! It was a fun time! 

Other than that, nothing out of the usual happened! The usual stuff..OH! this Sunday I have a family of 5 being baptized! If they pass the interview! So don’t get your hopes up! I’ll let you know more about it next week. 

That’s all I have for this week family. Dad, you better leave some stuff for me to do when I get back! Don’t wear yourself out when you have two young boys who can do that! 

Love you all! Hope all is well! Love Elder Anderson

OCTOBER -4-2011

Well Family another week it is! How is everyone doing? Good I hope!

 This week has been tough! In the mission the more busy you are the easier! And for some reason this week we had a lot of stuff fall through and time we just couldn’t fill! Elder Wright and I would do our best everyday to put our heads together and think of meaningful things to do to use the Lord’s time.  We had some success but not much. Both him and I are "new" to the mission, so we are still learning all this as we go! For this next week we are going to use some of the weekly planning time to think of things to do to get more investigators and to fill in time where we don’t have appointments. Mondays from 1-6 are the worst! Nobody wants to meet us at that time and nobody even wants to talk to us! We feel so ineffective! However, it’s not just us. Talk to anyone in the mission and they will tell you the same thing. Everyone has trouble filling Mondays!  Wel,l this week we had specialized training in the city and I decided I would finally get a new bike! So I took my buddy Elder Khon, a Khmer (Cambodian) Elder who is freakin’ sweet and I wish I could take him home with me at the end of my mission! Anyway, since they love to rip-off the tall American with golden hair wearing a shirt and tie, I sent him in to do the deal. 28 Dollars baby! they were asking me for 45 a few weeks ago for the same bike! I picked it up and on my way back home after training it broke. Just like I said it would. But I got it fixed pretty quick and it hasn’t had a problem since; which is a miracle, because we rode to Bakuu as well yesterday and, of course, it dumped rain the whole way home again! Small miracle happened last night too. When it was dumping rain, we were in the dark, Elder Wrights bike has his chain fall off and it gets stuck! We are trying to fix this thing and like 15 minutes go by. We were about to give up when Elder Wright says a little prayer to himself to help us! And right then, pop I got the chain loose! His prayer then changed to THANK YOU! Now please help us to not have any more problems on the way home! And we didn’t!

Hey Mom your email just came in! I’m sorry to hear about your computer! That’s a real bummer! Jared what were you thinking hitting a hill like that before you let your big brother look over your gear first! Silly kid! Maybe a helmet next time bro? But I’m proud you had the guts to go big! That’s also important. I’ll do my best to send home hand written stuff! Next week I'll have a little list for you for the next package! I’m in need of some things you just can’t get here. Any sign of my memory card yet? I sent it a few weeks ago! I hope it makes it to you alright!  Sounds like you all have enough to keep you busy with life for the next while. 

We have actually not seen conference yet! We get to see it this weekend. They take a week to translate it into khmer so we have to wait. But on Saturday we get priesthood session and Sunday the usual. We have to ride into the city and meet with our entire zone to watch it in English. So next week be prepared to be blown away with my thoughts on conference. 

I think that’s about all I have for this week! Onward and upward Family! Brandon you’re the man! Way to stick with it and get that big 27 on the MCAT! whoot!  Love you all!

Elder Anderson

Playing Catch up!

SORRY!

I am so far behind on letters!

Getting on the computer for more than a few minutes is a real task for me right now.

Here are Elder Andersons last 3 letters, all are definitely worth reading!

(If you are going to skim read any of these letters at least read that part that is underlined 

he's a wise man)

SEPTEMBER 23RD

Dear Family, 

I have not gone to the mission home yet to see if the package you sent has arrived! So you won’t get to know if I got it or not until next week! Sorry. But I am super excited to go see if it came!  Again I’m super sad that I am missing out on all the fun parties going on at home and helping out with the projects.  Sounds like you all have enough to keep you busy! 

Shout out to Aaron Vincent, I kick myself in the butt every single day because I didn’t study from my scriptures and from the Preach My Gospel before I came out here!!!! You HAVE to have those books Memorized front and back in order to do this work.  Wise word of advice, if you haven’t already started to train yourself on getting up and studying and reading, I would start.  You would be doing yourself a Favor. Ask any missionary. Love You! I’m excited for you to leave soon! 

Jared I am way excited for you to be out of primary! Now you get to be a real man!  Dad mentioned that you have been learning a lot about priesthood this week I hope you are paying attention!  Priesthood power is real and is something that will help you everyday if you let it.  Mom I hope with all the organization you are doing none of my stuff goes missing. I know how you like to throw things out!  Ha Just kidding I trust you! I love organization! In fact this week I don’t remember if I told you this last week or not but Elder Wright and I have been moving around the stuff in our room to make it way more ummmmm... Cool?  Before it had bed frames and closets and desks in there that weren’t even being used. We took everything out besides our desks and our closets, Cleaned up the place and have started to turn it around into an awesome study area! (and a movie theatre for p day). Anyway! Its super fun and we like change, it helps make life more livable here. 

Mom I have to say you would NOT like to live here.  Since I got off the Airplane In this country I have been wet. Wet from sweat and rain, you are never dry!  And you know what else is crazy, The people here are so super afraid to get dark skin! Especially the women.  They will wear a knitted hat with a jacket and sweat pants when it’s over 100 degrees!  It’s getting into the middle of Rain season here so it just pours buckets everyday! When it rains the world stops for Cambodians. They don’t go anywhere, do anything, visit anyone, don’t go to church!!! They avoid it like the plague!  It’s the funniest thing!  Elder Wright and I right now are facing some difficulty, a lot of the recent converts we are supposed to visit refuse to meet with us. TO the point where they run and hide!  So we only have our investigators to fill our time.  We need more investigators!  oh ya and we have a part member family that I have been teaching since day one that will have 5 more people baptized in the next few weeks! we will see how it goes.  It’s super hard to tell if these people are really, really ready for baptism or not. Ya just have to go by the spirit. 

A few weeks ago I wrote home talking a lot about Receiving Revelation.  I have been doing a bunch of studying and Experimenting on the matter and I must admit. It’s hard!  Even as a Missionary where you live a lifestyle that is so closely in tune with the spirit as you can possibly be. Sometimes I look at a teaching record and I think about the family and pray for the inspiration to be able to discern their needs and teach the right things. I get stumped! And sometimes I get impatient and irritated.  I’m saying to myself, Father these are your children right here with your missionaries, why aren’t you helping me help them by giving me anything to go on?  I have been missing something however.  The link between Revelation and Faith.  As you also remember I have talked a lot about faith and how it’s a principle of action! It’s one of my favorite things about the gospel!  Well, through some experience and trial and error it came to me.  Our Heavenly Father isn’t just going to give us all the answers. He wants us to give it our best first, moving forward in faith.  Then, if additional guidance is needed, he will give it. That is where the revelation comes in!  After we have shown our faith and put forth action, revelation follows. It’s a promise from our heavenly father.  My whole life I have been learning about the gospel but never really applied many of its principles like this one.  My hope is that as I write home what I learn and I gain a Testimony of, Anyone and Everyone that reads them will take the time to ponder about it, but then act. Actually pick some things to change or start doing. I love the quote that says. “If you keep doing the same things you have always done, you’re going to keep getting the same things you have always gotten.”  As children of our heavenly father, we have a great opportunity on this earth to 'never settle', and to always continue to improve ourselves.  Sometimes we get too comfortable and forget how short this life really is and lose sight of what is most important. Which leads me to another quote. 'Don’t sacrifice what you want most for what you may think you want right now'.  Family and friends I challenge you all to take some time and think of some things you can act on! Stir up some dead spots in your lives and change! Always strive to see the broadest perspective you possibly can! I promise anyone who does will find greater joy and happiness in their life.
                                                    Elder Anderson

SEPTEMBER 14TH

Dear Family,

Thank you Natalie and I think I got mail from Megan this week as well, I can’t remember it all runs together!  Mom I would say don’t worry about the photos for right now. They sell a photo book here in the city that is perfect for teaching it’s just a little big but I can deal with it for now. Thanks so much for letting me know though. What is the status on the other things I’ve written home about? Anything else to report?  The news about that package is super exciting! I’m very very excited for next Pday now!  When I read your emails from home, I so wish I could be home for all the fun stuff going on at home! Like forget the pool party, I want to use the big tools to rip apart the basement!  That reminds me of a thought I had the other day while riding my bike.  Every single person that we talk to we always ask if they have anything that we can do for them. I’ve done everything from moving tons of dirt-  one basket at a time, to wiping off palm tree leaves so they can use them to make numes. A nume is the name for anything that is a baked good. Like a cookie or something.  However, they only use rice for EVERYTHING!  Anyway my thought was, I ask people so much if they need our assistance that I bet that habit will carry on even after my mission.  I thought, this is one of those attributes that the Lord helps you develop on your mission, and then I can use it after my mission to bless the lives of others as well as my own.  

NEWS: Elder Conway is transferred to the north zone! A place called Kompung Jam.  And my New Companion is Elder Wright.  He came to the country one group before I did. Meaning, I’ve been on the mission for 6 months and he has for 8.  Right at first the change was very weird, but after a few days and a few trips out to Bakuu we are totally good with each other.  The last few days we have been setting goals and making a vision for the next two transfers and I’m excited! This mission is still very new so young missionaries are really pushed to the limits and are expected to learn fast!  That’s what both of us plan to do! We have plans to keep the work fun and enjoyable so we do work and grow together!  There are a lot of details that I won’t bother to tell you, but I’m optimistic.  I know there are going to be a lot of terrible lessons, contacts, and mistakes to be made ahead.  But that is how ya figure this thing out!  Towards the end of my last transfer, I couldn’t really see every day my growth. But now after this change, I am put into a clutch situation and I can see growth again. This is definitely the hand of the Lord working with us missionaries!  Everyday like I have said before, I think, “Don’t take counsel from fear" and don’t worry. Move forward in faith, don’t doubt yourself!!!!! Anyway that’s my soapbox again.  

I lied last week; I didn’t get that memory card in the mail. We ran into some problems in the city and we couldn’t make it to the post office.  But I have it all ready to go right now for today! Oh and I’m not District leader by the way thank heavens! You have no time to do anything and you don’t even get to study what you need to study for your personal study because you have to prepare lessons for district meeting!  That would kill me!  

I want to give you a little insight on what a few of my goals and plans are for the next three months.  Branch: All callings are filled out and leaders are trained in their duties. All priesthood holders are taught and trained on how to use their priesthood and what their part is in the branch.  Train all members how to share what they know and to be member missionaries. Cambodia has one of the Highest baptism rates in the church in Asia, but has the lowest retention rate! I, we are all trying to build stronger foundations to hopefully get better retention and reactivation.  I am trying to work through the branch to get home/visiting teaching started both in the city and Bakuu. There are many other things to do, but we can only do so much and a lot of it depends on the help of the Members and leaders. 

Personal/Language: At the end of the next two transfers I want to be able to use only my Khmer Book of Mormon and not even have to use the English. I want to become a way better teacher! The last three months I hardly taught at all but now I will get a lot of opportunity!  I want to have finished the New Testament (how do you spell that?) and get to Alma in the book of Mormon (I’ve already read the whole thing once, I finished like a month and a half ago).  I want to be a much stronger teacher from the scriptures! I want to be a Book Of Mormon Missionary.  I want to be able to teach all the lessons in the language, probably not very good but to know the words to get the message across. For example, I don’t know ANY words to be able to teach Chastity or Modesty!  Basically prepare myself to be ready to get a companion younger in the mission than me be the time the next transfer comes around. It could very well happen.  My main Topic for the next three months is Confidence! Confidence in my Language, Confidence in my ability to receive revelation for my area and investigators and then act on it!  Get this thing under the belt so we can start doing some real work!   

That is kinda the only highlight of this week is transfers. I now have to spend a lot of time getting my new comp up to speed on the area so we can work together to do this thing.  We will see what happens; next week will probably have a good "epic fail" story for you who knows.  Love you all!

Your most favorite Elder!  Elder Anderson!  

NOTE of explanation for photo –

During the genocide and coup by the Khmer Rouge Regime, many thousands of acres were sprinkled with land mines.  There are a lot of Cambodian people who lived through that horrible era, but have some part of their body missing due to the land mines.  While many of the known mine fields are marked (as shown in this photo) the Elders have been encouraged not to venture into areas that are not clearly known as safe or not.

SEPTEMBER 7TH

Oh boy, I have a lot I feel like I have to say this week! Natalie and Aunt Becky thanks for your dear Elders! 

Dad you can tell Grandpa that I have three Pairs of Shoes. One only for church on Sunday.  And the other two I rotate through. I wear one and they get wet and muddy during the day, so that night I put them under a fan. The next day I wear my third pair and those get wet and muddy so I go back to number 2 pair that is now dry and I polish them up and wear those while pair number 3 gets dry. Easy right?  Your weekly letters are great. They are perfect length. I’m interested in things happening in the news and sports! I love to hear stuff like that. 

Mom thanks so much for getting a package together I know it will be sweet!  I look forward to when I get it in three or so weeks?  As far as other mail? The Dear Elder thing seems to be the most reliable method to get me mail. Anyone that wants to write, just use that. And if you have something very long you want me to read send it via Dear Elder. 

Hey and sorry about those photos!!!! I tried and tried for weeks to get them to you but every week it wouldn’t work.  I’m glad Becca was able to get them to you.  Please forgive me! Dad I plan to send pictures home today! I have them all backed up on a flash drive, so if the card I’m sending you in the mail gets lost... I have them all safe and sound.

News!!! Big news!!

As of Friday I will have a new companion... Sad day! Elder Conway has been my trainer for 12 weeks! And now he is being transferred up north as predicted.  Which means I lead the area. But wait, the new companion that I am getting came to the country only 1 group before me! So he has only been here for a few months more than me! I think we are both going to be learning a lot of Khmer the next few transfers! But wait, it gets better! They haven’t called the District leader for our area yet! There are 4 Elders in our area. One is a new Khmer Elder so it won’t be him. The other, my new comp. doesn’t know the area at all so it probably won’t be him. Elder Ott the other Elder has already been a District leader once.... So who is left?  Shoot. ME!  Ha, we don’t know who it is yet but we all have our guesses. I’m not worried at all, however it goes down, that’s how it is!  I don’t feel as much panic as I thought I would.  I know it’s going to suck and for a while it will take a lot of work to get things going but we will make it through!  As long as you learn everyday and are having fun!!! Fun is so super important for me in my mission so far.  It helps to make the time pass, helps you learn, helps you make better relationships.  Anyway that’s news!

In other news, It’s my Brothers birthday soon! I wish I could be there for his Primary graduation! I’m sure it’s a day he will never forget.  I also hope he fully understands the importance of his role as an Aaronic priesthood holder!  I sure didn’t when I was his age and I wish I had taken the initiative to take up more responsibility. And taken time to learn more about what it actually means to hold the priesthood.  Anyway, happy birthday Little Bro! Enjoy being twelve while you can, you only get to be a Deacon for 2 years. Take advantage of every moment you get to serve! 

Okay, so I had some notes on a spiritual thought for all of you but I left it back at the house so it will have to wait for next week. But I do have a story.  Last night we were in Bakuu and Elder conway was saying goodbye to some people because they won’t get to see him before he transfers and a lady, one of my favorite members, said Elders you must eat the dinner I made you can have it. We protested for like 15 minutes but just gave up.  We should have held our ground.  Dirty rice, soup with baby shrimp, and other mysterious items. These were whole baby shrimp too, eyes, head and everything.  She had some weird Egg thing that was cooked with bad water. And last but not least, she had "chiam" which in Khmer it means blood.  I was shocked! Apparently they take blood and let it turn into a jello somehow and then cut it up and eat it with rice.  It looked like liver!  She made us eat and eat! We were both about to barf so we had to leave!! It was crazy! Right when I got home I had like 4 Oreo’s to make myself feel better! 

Love you all

until next week

Revelation & OUR FIRST PICTURE!!

Note of explanation:  Ryan completed EMT Basic and Intermediate training before his mission, so that will help you understand his frustration with not being allowed to properly assess the lady in the story he tells.


Hello again family!
Thanks Megan for the Dear Elders and I did get an email from all of you even though the internet was not working well.
Jared, I’m so proud of you for taking first! My entire life in soccer tournaments I only got 1st once and took second so many times! It made me so mad! If you don’t believe me we will go through all my trophies when I get home and I’ll show you.  I wish I could have been there for the baby blessing, it sounds like it was a pretty special experience.
That, and it also sounds like the house is getting very quiet. Adam and Matt leaving? I wish them the best and pray that god will bless them at this time in life. It actually goes along with what I wanted to share with all of you today.

Everyday, as I learn more and more about missionary work and how to help people and really pay attention to things, I’ve had a lot of experiences with personal revelation.  My whole life I have had this idea of personal revelation being something that only happens once and a while to people in the church who are making big decisions. Like Jobs, School, People, Wife.  But in reality it happens every minute of everyday, if you’ll let it.  As a missionary, you are assigned to a country, and in that country a city, and in that city an area. That area is yours! And with that trusted assignment from the Lord he wants us to come to him for direction on how it should be handled. So far most of the time I have been looking for the answers to questions about my area in my companion, the Preach my Gospel and in other missionaries. While these things are very good and have lots of good advice.  It all still comes down to me.  Everyday, in every prayerful moment, being able to listen to what the lord is telling me to do, what to say, or who I need to visit. It’s still something I'm sure I'll be working on for the rest of my life, but I have definitely made a lot of progress lately. So applying it into all of your lives is up to you! You all have your own areas, your own people, problems, obstacles. Seek that personal revelation straight from God. As members of the church of Jesus Christ today I think we, a lot of us, all go to the wrong places for answers first. Instead of first getting on your knees and asking Heavenly Father. We overlook it and seek other places for guidance: Friends, books, ward members, doctors, counselors, people on the radio, Oprah, Dr. Phil. Though all these are great places and usually don’t have any harm in them.
They should be 2nd after our Father in Heaven.  We should do all we can first, to seek the personal revelation for us!  God knows us better than anyone else and only he fully understands the complexity of each individual’s life.
Seek Personal Revelation!

This week I had an experience where during our weekly planning session we have on Thursdays, Elder Ott comes into our room in Panic! He says I need your help casting out a demon from one of my recent converts!
We got on our bikes and on our way over he was telling us that she was sick and he gave her a blessing and as soon as he ended she fell on the floor and started screaming, crying, and yelling! We get there and sure enough she is on the floor hitting herself and calling out for god to help her. There is nothing in our handbook about these situations and we aren’t allowed to give any medical assistance. Which sucks for me! They were all making phone calls to ward members and leaders to see if they could find someone with a car to take her to the hospital. During this time I was watching her and gathering what information I could to figure out what is wrong.  In my mind her signs and symptoms just didn’t add up and it didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t allowed to take her temperature or get a pulse or anything so I couldn’t see if her condition was real or not. But I continued to monitor her anyway. Like three hours later we finally got her into a hospital. Elder Conway and I left while Elder Ott and his comp. went with her. For the rest of the day I was telling Elder Conway, I think she is faking it, so she could have someone take her to a hospital and pay for her. It was a legitimate option but we took precautions anyway.  Later that afternoon we were told she was already returned home, just fine, and the branch had to pay 20 dollars for her. GO ME!!!  I knew it. But we had to do what we had to do anyway.  It ruined our whole day and made a mess of the branch members a little bit, but we got it under control.

Dad, our living conditions are way good compared to the rest of the city! Our water goes out and the power does too. Which means some days we don’t get showers and some days we can’t make very good food. I think you’ll get a good laugh when I tell you our water bill each month is 6 dollars and our electrical is like 14 dollars.

 I’m attaching a photo I hope will work. It’s a photo of me and one of my investigators at their house. His name is Benion and he is deaf. So we have to teach him by writing things down! It’s very cool. The lady is his wife and she is a member.

Love all of you and wish you the best this week!
Do the hard things, seeking revelation along the way! That’s your fortune cookie.

God gives all men weaknesses

LAST WEEKS LETTER


 Recently, as my thoughts have also been on life and all the changes we must have in order to grow. And I got the answer that me being away from home and my family not being able to help them, will help them. It’s a change, and with that change we all need to learn how to adapt and overcome challenges that are presented. I won’t give any specific examples, but I can think of some things that each of you can learn to overcome.  I just pray that your hard times won’t be too hard and your trials won’t be too huge! But, like it says in Ether, God gives all men weaknesses so that if men come unto God and trust him, trust in his vision, trust in his will that he will make those weak things strong! My whole life I’ve been looking for the way to become "strong". I have always been afraid of change and new things.  Being on a mission has opened my eyes to the beauty of trials, to the way we progress as human beings in the gospel and in life. Changing, Doing the hard things!  While at the same time never forgetting our purpose for living this life and remembering our Heavenly Father and his son our Savior and Redeemer, trusting in them through EVERYTHING no matter how hard it may be.  The days here are hot and wet and you do a lot of work for almost zero return. When you wake up in the morning it feels like you didn’t sleep at all. There are so many problems, so many things to do that it feels like you’ll never see it done in the time that you’re in that area (and you won’t). But, it’s alright!  There is God’s will, our will, and other people’s agency. Family, as long as we try our best to align our will with the Fathers, use our agency to do so, trust in him, and ACT, move, work! We are ok because we did everything we could, we are not perfect and all God expects is for us to try our best. The will and agency of other people doesn’t matter.  My Senior Companion/Trainer/ now District leader always gets way stressed!  He feels personally responsible for everyone. All the inactive members, all the contacts. I have to keep reminding him that they have their agency. We do our part, what God expects from us to call them unto repentance, what they do after that has to be because they chose it.  I don’t know if this is making any sense at all it’s just what has been on my mind and I don’t really have much else to share this week.






THIS WEEKS LETTER

This week I am starting my 2nd transfer in the mission. Elder Conway is still my companion, thank heavens! It is predicted that in 6 weeks, at the end of this transfer, he will leave to another area and I will have to completely take over our area! Who knows who my next companion will be? It could be anyone at any level in the mission. Possibly even a brand new missionary.  I’m feeling the pressure now to make sure I can do this thing by myself! Plan the days, make the phone calls, meet with the members, run church on Sunday, meet with our investigator, teach lessons, visit the less active, make sure I know where all the houses are! There are no addresses in my area, so it all has to be memorized! I’ve been in the country for a little over one month, think I can do it? I don’t really have a choice. So this week, at the start of the transfer, I have been setting goals and action plans like crazy to be as prepared as possible!  (Note all this stuff has to be done in Cambodian).  Feel the stress yet? 

Life is great though, we have a good time. There is a new Khmer Elder in our house now like I mentioned last week, so I have someone to really help me with the language. We help his English, he helps us!  This week he also helped us figure out we have been overpaying for things! We know most of the time when people are trying to rip us off, but for a few things he has helped us save money!  Khmer like to help out their own kind. They love to use a phrase here, they say "Sroak Khmer yeeng" the literal translation is ‘Country Cambodia us’. It’s like saying, ‘well here in Cambodia’ or ‘GO US’!  To answer your questions about food and P day, every P day we always go and get rice, vegetables and pork. Pork comes right off the animal. You get to point at what piece ya want and how much it weighs. It’s pretty gross not going to lie. We get pork because it’s the cheapest and it doesn’t have bones. I’ve only eaten chicken here once so far. My companion and I eat 40 eggs a week! But it's only like ten cents an egg.  You can put egg in anything they make in this country! When we go into the city, we go to a grocery store that is more modern and has American stuff but it is Way Expensive! So we only get a few things we are craving. We get 30 minutes for breakfast and 1 hour for lunch and dinner. We usually always make our own food to save money. However, when you go to a restaurant here, it’s only 2 dollars for a meal, a drink, and an ice cream! My favorite thing right now that I like to grab if we have a busy day and decide to skip a meal is fried bananas! They are big and are 15 cents apiece! I get 4 of them and it gets me by. On Pday most the time we go into the city and check the mission home for mail and announcements. Last week they gave us a portable DVD player. They issued a DVD player to every single companionship for every mission in the world! It has many rules, of course, and is for training purposes.  Anyway, then we usually go to the markets and look at all the movies you can buy for a dollar.  You can get a box of 40 Disney movies for 20 dollars! 50 cents a DVD! They have everything super cheap it’s awesome.  After that we usually head home with just enough time to watch one movie! I love the fact that we get to watch movies! (only approved ones of course.) 

So that’s food and Preparation Day for ya! 

This week we had a family that was supposed to be Baptized! Three people. However something wasn’t sitting right so we postponed. And it turns out on Sunday it rained so hard so hardly anyone came to church and there was no support there from the branch for these people. Also a lot of our investigators with baptismal dates didn’t come because of the rain. So it turned out to be really good that we put it off. We still meet with them and they should be baptized in the next few weeks. Right now Elder Conway and I have 5 legitimate families lined up to be baptized!

My thought for this week ties into my thought from last week. In our district meeting, we talked about setting goals to accomplish hard things. So far on my mission I am really grateful for the skills I have learned to use to get things done! One of the biggest things I took away from our meeting is a quote. "Don’t take advice from fear"! As I think about this next transfer and how I MUST try to prepare for the challenges ahead. there is no way I can let fear slow my progression.  I won’t bore you with all the details but I know with that mindset my progression will increase - In the language, as a missionary, and as a teacher.  In future letters I will follow up with this and let you know how it’s going. 

Well family on the 30th of this month is my 6 month mark. Can you believe it?   I hope all of you are learning a lot from your adventures I hear about!

 Love Elder Anderson

How To Write Elder Anderson Now That He's In Cambodia + new letter

NOTE TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY

I would suggest you those who want to write Ryan do so through www.DearElder.com.  I signed up for it this week, and it is super easy.  All you have to do is put in some personal info to register for FREE and then you can write your elder.  You choose his Mission, Cambodia Phnom Penh and input Ryan’s name and then just type in your letter and push SEND.  This service then prints your letter and delivers it to the pouch department in Salt Lake City and they include it in the weekly pouch that goes to Cambodia.  The Cambodia pouches are sent out on Mondays, so be sure your letter is in the cue by Sunday night to get in included.  It takes three weeks for Ryan to get the mail, but it costs you nothing for this service.  You don’t have to worry about envelopes or stamps.  The pouch is sent express mail, so it is faster than sending it by regular mail to the Mission Home in Phnom Penh.  It is FREE and SECURE, give it a try.  Please don’t write Ryan on the myldsmail website, he only has a few minutes to read and write on that site on his pdays and we want him to spend his time writing to us.  Thanks for all your prayers and support of our missionary.  Also, I have asked Ryan to put a list of those he has received letters from in the first sentence of every email he writes home, that way you can know your letter was received by him.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEND IT DEAR WITH DEARELDER.COM
(this is if you want to add photos to your letter or other "goodies")

Elder Ryan Anderson

House 2B, Street 222 Off Nordham Blvd.

PO Box 165

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Or

(Mission Pouch Mail):

Elder Ryan Anderson

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

Heres Elder Andersons most recent letter as well

Dear Family

To answer questions. Right now my area is on the edge of the city so living conditions are still moderate. It’s a very nice place compared to everyone else.  Very primitive compared to America. I sleep on a mattress that’s on the ground in another companionships room because it’s the only room with air conditioning that we are only allowed to use at night. A lot of the time the power doesn’t work and the sometimes the water won’t turn on either.. So you have to work around that.  The food so far for the most part isn’t bad. Since I’m near the city on p day we go to a grocery store and get a few expensive American things that keep my stomach happy. Other than that we go to a market by our house that looks like a horror film!!! I almost can’t stand it! We run in, grab what we need and get out fast! The spirit is just not there. That gets us by for the week pretty much. Haven't eaten anything too scary yet! I have seen dog and snakes and bugs and rats! But haven’t had any yet.  Speaking the language, I do with the Khmer, but not with my companion. All the American elders like to have a break from Khmer because it can literally give you a head ache. The average elder gets the language down between 6-9 months not including the MTC so I still have a long way to go but it’s coming along! What’s hard is that I only have 30 minutes of language study a day. But oh well.  

Ok stories!  Last week I had to get a haircut! And it was awesome! The place looked terrible! I wish I knew how to explain it! Anyway I go up there and take off my helmet and as soon as they see my hair there are like 4 guys that stand up and want me to sit in their chair! I picked the one that looked the least scary! So I sat down and without saying anything he just starts cutting.. and while he was cutting my hair he kept saying ''sok poah      sa?at.. Which means hair color pretty! He took a long time but he did a way good job! He only had a blunt pair of scissors and a dirty comb. I then asked him if he would shave my face because I saw another guy doing it. That was fun! Long story short I got a haircut shaved face, neck and shoulder massage all for one dollar and fifty cents!!!

Yesterday was probably the worst day yet, but it was so funny! It’s the day we ride out to Bakuu. And apparently President Smedley wanted to ride out with us and visit. So he did! He got his bike and everything. Here is how it went... It poured rain so we left late, my bike broke again, we were more late, Elder Conway’s bike broke, more late, I had to pull my companion on his bike through mud for miles! My bike gets a flat front tire, more late, more tired, finally get into town with the mission President pulling my comp and I’m riding on rims!! I ditch my bike and we miss our first lesson. In our second lesson we have members show up and ruin the lesson.  Next lesson was good but we were all so tired and muddy! Going back our investigator gets his brother to give us a ride back to our house and hour late. President Smedley was such a good sport for all of this! 

The work here in Tak Khmao is interesting, it’s very hard to explain.  We are basically building the kingdom of god from scratch like I mentioned last week. It’s hard because everyday you don’t see the immediate results from the work. You just have to have the faith that this is what we need to do in this area.  The members are a pain to work with along with all the branch leaders because they have all lost the vision and the spirit of missionary work! Sorry I don’t have very much Gospel news to share but that’s because it’s just very slow right now.  

I’m out of time and have to go into the city and get back before our P day is over!

I love all of you and please send me more suggestions on how I can make my email better!

Elder Ryan Anderson!