Sister Stratford in Cambodia: ALMOST HALF WAY

Family,

ALMOST HALF WAY THROUGH THE MTC!! I am so excited to be able to get to Cambodia holy cow. I still have a lot to learn but I can't wait. I am seriously so happy here I love the gospel so much. This week was amazing, one of my favorites thus far.

Elder Oaks came last Tuesday night for devotional. One of our biggest challenges in life is to become as He is. We need to constantly be striving to become like Him and to develop Christlike Attributes. Christ should be the center of everything we do in life. I also loved when he talked about repentance being a daily thing and how we should be changing even our thoughts and our views to align with God's, I think that is so important especially as we are trying to become as He is. We need to give our all to the Lord and do the best we can to turn our lives over to Him and let him direct our paths. As we try to become more like Him we need to have real intent especially in our prayers. He expounded upon having real intent and that we need to have a commitment in mind when we have real intent, and need to follow up and commit to act upon the answers we receive.

We got a new teacher this week, Lookru Nuburger. He talks crazy fast and it is so hard to understand him, he also speaks differently than our other two teachers but it's good practice so I am happy about that. We also got a new investigator this week, Can. He is my favorite investigator thus far because he is always so involved with the lesson and has so many questions. This is so great but also hard because he speaks so quickly we sometimes don't know what he is trying to ask us.

Funny story about on of our lessons this week... we were teaching Can about prophets and priesthood and I was trying to explain to him what the Priesthood is. I accidently said that the Priesthood is the authority of Buddha in Christ's name instead of the authority to act in Christ's name. He all the sudden got so excited and I was so confused why he was so excited about the priesthood. I look over at Sister Eastmond and she is dying of laughter. It was hilarious, not our best lesson but it was a good laugh. So many of the words we learn sound exactly like other words so I will have to work on my pronunciation.

On a more spiritual note, this sunday was so amazing! Sister Eastmond and I combined with the Korean branch for relief society, since we are the only two sisters in the branch. The lesson was about recognizing the spirit. I feel so blessed that the Lord trusts me enough to help assist in His work with the people of Cambodia. I love in the hymn Come unto Jesus where it says "Oh know you not that angels are near you." The Lord always has his arms open and he sends angels to help us and direct us in all that we do. Sometimes it is difficult to recognize the angels that surround us and sometimes its difficult to recognize all the blessings that the Lord gives to us, but we are always surrounded by God's love and he is always providing help for us even when we don't realize it. We can't go through this life alone, we need divine help and He always is willing to provide it.

I know that it is important for us to change not only our behavior but our nature to become more like Christ. The Lord doesn't expect immediate perfection from us, but he does expect immediate progress. Striving to become like Christ is a daily thing. I love Moroni 7:33 "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.' I think this is the coolest promise!! We need to trust that the Lord will guide us and go forth with faith!

I love you! Have a good week :)

Love Sister Stratford

SISTER EASTMAN AND SISTER STRATFORD