So late on letters!!

To all those who follow elder Anderson's blog I am SO SORRY for falling more than a month behind! Here are the last 2 letters and I'll update his mailing address as well ASAP!! Alright!!! We’re in a big rush to get to the city today so I have to type Fast! Luckily there isn’t too much that went on this week! I am hoping to get some mail today in the mailbox at the mission home because the mail has been kinda dry for a while!!  Hint, hint everyone!!   I had a lot of exchanges this week, so I wasn’t in the regular groove of missionary work.. It was a lot of getting to know other elders in my district and getting to know the people we talk about over the phone.  And I had a good discussion with my zone leader about a cool zone meeting they had a few days ago..  It was about service, but President Smedly had a last second revelation and changed the whole thing into a discussion about baptism!  A few days ago, in the morning, we felt like we should go visit this inactive guy so we went there are he was home!  So, we went inside and was waiting for him to sit down so we could talk, but right then our branch president comes in.... surprise.. after him comes in the district president.. Surprise times 2 after him comes in President and Sister Smedly! Surprise times 5!  Ha, so we had a good chat with him about coming to church.... Do you think he came to church....  NOPE!  He did not..   I had to do 5 baptismal interviews this weekend and I have another one this week! I think that is my favorite part about being a District leader is that I get to Interview all these people for baptism!  I get to see the final product of weeks of teaching! It’s a super cool experience..   The other night Elder Blocker and I had a new experience that pushed us out of our comfort zones a little bit.  We had an investigator call and cancel our lesson and tell us he doesn’t want to learn anymore, so we were just doing some good ole contacting and we came up to a pathway and a girl on a bike turned down the path right before us and she stops us and says, there is nothing down here, turn around.  But I said, are there people down there to talk to.. and she said ya.. so I said, all we want to do is talk to people..  SO she says ok... follow me..  So we go down this pathway and its dark.. night time and we turn around these bushes right into the front of a house with probably 25 people in it..  We were trapped.. They ALL saw us already so we couldn’t just leave and we were like in the house already pretty much because that patch leads right up into the home..  So I said.. Alright Elder you ready for this....  NOPE! OK, I put on my best Khmer and we went in there handing out pamphlets, answering questions, inviting people to church, telling them we are not French we are American! They test our knowledge of the language and we invited them all to learn.. It’s just one huge family all living together.  When we left, we felt exhausted! Well I did, because I did most of the talking, but oh well! We are going to go back tonight to follow up with them to see if anything stuck!! It was weird and something I have never done before in my life!!    We had a nice Sunday yesterday and I got to spend a lot of time with our branch president.. He is a super cool guy!  He helped us get to know people that are inactive and such for most of the day..   Well like I said before not a whole lot happened this week so I don’t have many stories to tell or spiritual experiences.. My studies right now are focused on the Preach My Gospel and on the Bible..  I’ve read the Book of Mormon twice the Doctrine and covenants and Matthew, Mark, Luke and john..  I thought I would just finally tackle the Bible.. I just finished Leviticus this morning.. And as far as the Preach My Gospel study goes.... I’m just trying to get deeper into the teaching skills and how to help people feel and recognize the spirit and how to help people overcome addictions or habits! Like Buddhism and drinking!!  I’m having to deal with a lot of that!!  In the never-ending battle to better ourselves everyday it feels like we will never reach an end!  The search always continues! I’m glad to hear that there was some party going on at the house! Everyone doing well?    Thanks for sending yet another package!! That’s exciting to hear!! I know this email is kinda lame, but I think I will have more time next week!  I didn't get time this week to gather my thoughts on paper before I got to the computer!   So I’m sorry!!  Love you all   Elder Anderson..   Last weeks letter....... So for this week there are more and more experiences!  The stories just do not end. The things I see, the people I meet, the stories they tell, and the things that they do! It’s an interesting life as a missionary in Cambodia, you never know what is going to happen to you that day.  So far being a district leader in the city is way more busy than in Siem Reap! I thought I didn’t have a lot of time there, but here in Pochentong I REALLY have NO spare time!  At the end of the day I am making phone calls and making sure people are safe, giving reports, writing in records up until 9:15.. At that time I am way too tired to try to squeeze in anything else, so I just say my prayer and go to bed.  But it’s also kinda fun being a District leader over such a big group because I get to Exchange with all of them and go to their areas! I went on one last Friday and had a good time. I got to meet 5 people I get to interview for baptism. I am going to a different area next Tuesday as well.. I have also asked a few other missionaries to teach some of the district meetings so some of that load is taken off.    On Wednesday, we had a zone conference in which they asked me to translate.  So from 8 am until 2 pm I was behind a microphone translating the meeting as everyone else got to take notes and read along and participate.  I didn’t get so much out of the instruction, but I had a good time testing my language skills and I did pretty ok.. about 84 percent I would say..   A year ago I would not have believed you if you told me I would be able to translate an entire zone conference..    This area is fun to learn about as you spend time here.. I’ll tell you some of the things I have been dealing with or learning this last week..  In this area, Sunday is drunk day! In the ‘white handbook’ it says Sundays are the best day to get out and find those awesome families!  Sundays here are the days where the husbands get drunk and the wives get hit or forgotten about and the kids are just left unattended... well that is everyday.. But from what I’ve seen so far that seems to be the case.. The day off for most people, so let’s eat drink and be merry because there is no hope for tomorrow.   A Recent convert that I have been working with is very old! And his wife recently died.  He is just so confused and can’t keep anything straight..  He goes the a Seventh-day Adventist church and claims it’s all the same.. All Churches of Christ are the same.. So we have to teach him again and remind him about the church of god and the church of the Devil and then he remembers for about a week and then goes back to the other church again because he has forgotten.  He hasn’t come to our church for a month because he said he gets constipated on Sunday mornings.  One day when I mentioned Joseph Smith he said oh ya Joseph! I remember that guy..  I said, oh ya who was he? He replies.. He is the guy who parted the red sea and walked to America with the Egyptians! I literally said the words "what the junk" out loud as soon as he said that and my companion and I just put our heads down and laughed...     Another person I meet with frequently is a man named Sovann. He was in a motto accident 12 years ago leaving him with a huge dent in his forehead. He is blind and cannot use the whole right side of his body very well..     He is an investigator still because he is still attending the Seventh-day Adventist church and he is all mixed up with Buddhism!  Like when he prays he says.. Lord I have put a can of soda and a donut onto my shrine please take it up to heaven and give it to Jesus..  Can you believe that? That’s what this whole country does!! They buy stuff and put it on a shrine.. then they stick a gross smelling burnt stick into it and pray to their ancestors saying please receive my offering!!! After a few days it’s just thrown away..  So my investigator is all mixed up with Buddha and Jesus and he is trying to give Coca Cola and donuts to Jesus Christ!  The other day when we went to his house we had to climb a little stick latter to get to his room on the second floor of his house and when we get to the top, he says hold on a second, so we say ok and we just stand there watching him.. He goes over to a shelf and grabs a bucket and walks back over to us and puts the bucket on the ground. Then without saying anything he proceeds to drop his pants and he attempts to pee into the bucket.  Yet another moment where I found myself asking the questions... Where the heck am I and what am I doing!  Is this really happening right now? You have got to be kidding me....  After that happened, we had to explain to him as well that all other churches are the church of the Devil and that he needs to stop going to the other churches! SO at the end of the lesson he said, Ya! all other churches are of the devil except for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Then I asked him, so this Saturday when that Seventh Day Adventist church meets are you going to go?  He says, Yupp I have to go worship Jesus..  COME ON MAN!!! I get so frustrated.. We are working on him!!     In this area there are a lot of other people who have started their own Christian church so when you try to explain where the church is they will say, Oh ya, I know it already it’s that Korean place.   NO, NO, it’s not that one....  Oh ya its that Seventh-day Adventist place... NO NO, it’s not that one...  Oh, it’s that Jesus Christ charity place where they give out rice every Sunday if you go to church..  NO NO, it’s not that place either... And by that time they have totally lost interest in coming to the true church because there are so many other false ones..  its hard to deal with!!     I got to go visit a hospital the other day...  And let me just tell you... You do not want to visit any hospital in Cambodia!!!  No matter how great of care they claim to have..  We had a member get rear-ended on his motto by a guy driving a car... the car just took off and didn’t stop to do anything.  When we visited him, he said when he first got to the hospital he didn’t have a lot of money, so they put him into a room that still had old blood all over the bed from the last guy that was there. He just sat up in a chair all night long because he didn’t want  to sleep on the bed.  Until the next day when the branch president came and saw where they put him and so he paid them more money and got him into a better room.  The room consisted of a bed with one IV hooked up to him and that’s it... No monitoring equipment nothing.. he has his elbow all messed up and they had to put a screw in it and cast it for it to heal and once a week they have to take the cast off and adjust the screw..   It was creepy!!     Last thing of the week which is kinda just a funny story.  I have a new investigator.  He is like 25 probably and we contacted him and he said we could come back to his house which is one of those tiny rental rooms for 20 dollars I mentioned in my letter last week.  When we first met him, we went in and his wife is this 25 year old girl and the poor thing looked like she had been in tears.  I could see a huge pile of empty beer cans in the corner. So I asked if she was ok and if it was ok for us to be there, she didn’t speak but he said she is mad at me because I haven’t stopped drinking.  So I said right there... ok, we will come back another day but when we come I don’t want to see any beer here. And if I ask your wife, she will tell me that you haven’t bought anymore.. And he said ok! The next time we go back there was no cans and when I asked his wife she didn’t say anything but the look on her face said that he hadn’t bought any.  So we continued.. As we asked questions to get to know them I asked him what his wife’s name was and he looked over a her and said "Hey wife, I forgot what your name, what was it again?" Strike two buddy!!  Oh man.. my next question was, how long have you been married..  2 years!  So we talked a lot about the family, of course, and I tried my best to get his wife involved to try to make her feel the spirit because you can tell she is looking for something better!    Well that’s the updates from Pochentong city here in Cambodia this week.  As far as the work goes, its slow and I am quickly losing my patience with in-actives. Everyone reading this letter DONT GO INACTIVE PLEASE!!! (and if you’re not a member please go to lds.org and fill out the information to have elders come to your house. I promise it will change your life!) I hope I see some letters in the mail this week I am looking forward to hearing from people in the real world!  By the way..I went into a bookstore the other day looking for a book in Khmer and I was overwhelmed with the world!!!!  I wanted to pick up everything and read it all!!!  Missionaries stay out of bookstores!!! Trust me!                                                                             Love you/Thank you,   Elder Ryan D. Anderson