RIDING AN ELEPHANT

We had a really busy fun week this last week! We went to Siem Reap for our going home trip and it was beautiful. We woke up at 4 am to get our tickets in time to watch the sunrise over angkor vat. It was so beautiful and such a fun trip - got to see lots of cool temples and ride an elephant! We also went to a buffet and saw some Khmer dancing which was cool.

We had another exchange this week which was really nice to have 4 people working in our area we got a ton of work done and caught up from the days we missed being in Siem Reap. 

Jetra and E accepted baptismal dates this week which was exciting. They asked so many good questions from the book of mormon. Some of my favs were "why do we need to get baptized?" and "What is the atonement?"   Nothing crazy happening with investigators they are all just slowly progressing towards their dates and doing well. Pov and Chinda got confirmed this week and they were so excited!

We did a nativity role play for a big english spiritual thought which was fun - hopefully pics will be coming soon. 

I have grown a new appreciation for air conditioning this week because ours decided to stop working one night. I was saying my personal prayers holding a baby fan next to my face and then as we said comp prayers sweat was just dripping down my face. We got in bed and about every 30 minutes the AC just turned off and we just woke up in a pool of sweat and got no sleep. I was just holding my fan on my face and then it died and anyway it was a hot night. We got up in the morning and turned the AC on again and it was just working like normal. Super weird. So anyways all I know is as long as I have air conditioning and cold water I can do anything.

Something interesting I read in a talk on our bus ride to Siem Reap I want to share:

" As we go through life, we ofttimes build a rock wall between us and heaven. This wall is built by our uncorrected or unrepented-of mistakes or actions. For example, in our wall there may be stones of many different sizes and shapes. There could be stones because we have been unkind to someone, for we place a stone between us and the Lord when we are unkind. Criticism of leaders or teachers may add another stone. A lack of forgiveness may add another and another. Vulgar thoughts and actions may add some rather large stones in this wall. Dishonesty will add another; selfishness another, and so on.

As we build the wall in front of us and we cry out to the Lord in heaven, He still sends His messages from heaven, but instead of being able to penetrate our heart, they hit the wall that we have built up and they bounce off. His messages don’t penetrate, so we say, “He doesn’t hear us,” or “He doesn’t answer.” Sometimes this wall is very formidable. The great challenge of life is the experience of destroying this rock wall or, if you please, of cleansing ourselves, of purifying this inner vessel, so that we can be in tune with the Spirit.

I think it is so important that we try to work on cleaning the inner vessel first and really try to look inside ourselves and see what needs changing so we can better access the powers of heaven. Something that I have found really helps is just praying and pleading with Heavenly Father to help you know what is keeping you from progressing and I promise He always lets you know what you could change in order to help us destroy the walls we build to have a stronger connection and relationship with Him. 

Love Sister Stratford

SIEM REAP

Hello Family, 

This week is going to be a quick letter because.. We are headed to Siem Reab today :))) Towards the end of your mission all the missionaries get to take a Siem Reab trip before they go home to see Angkor Wat. So we are headed up this morning and I AM SO EXCITED!! 

A few highlights from the week

-We had 2 exchanges which were a blast

-We had the worldwide service day and we got to go to a high school and clean up a bunch of trash

-We met with President for transfer discussion (how is this transfer already almost over?)

-Chinda and Pov got baptized this week!!!!!

- Tola, Yay Bon and Ming Theare all accepted a baptismal date this week and are doing well

Other news

-Phearoms husband wont let her get baptized :( We are trying to help him understand but he and his wife don't get along and he is making her life miserable on purpose and its really sad

The work is great and I love being a missionary! 

Love Sister Stratford

THANKSGIVING

It was an exciting week over here in the promised land. We had a water festival for a few days this week and lots of our investigators went to their hometowns to meet with their families and spend some time together. We had a thanksgiving zone conference, and had a great feast!!! (spiritually and physically) We just have so much to be thankful for God has been so good to me and I am so thankful for the many wonderful blessings I receive daily!

I went on an exchange with Sister Dy this week (old companion) and we had a blast! She is hilarious and we had a great time working together again. We also had a stake conference this week where the leadership urged all the members to get on the south stake boat and help save all those who are drowning around us and to get ourselves and our families ready to go to the temple. I can't wait for the temple to come to Cambodia it is the biggest blessing and as a result of it's announcement the work is just exploding right now. 

We got 3 member referrals this week and they all seem really excited and ready to receive the gospel. We have ming veancheangchan who is vietnamese who has been to every christian church here in cambodia but said she just is having trouble finding the right one. We had a member come with us and bore powerful testimony of the truthfulness of this church and the power of prayer. Om Bon came to church this week and said she just feels so much peace in the church and said she wants to come every week. Sitha is the niece of our relief society president and is constantly surrounded by good influences and also has a little christian background. 

We have Phearom and Srei Pov lined up for baptism this week and hopefully Chinda. It should be an exciting week!

We have a recent convert Sok Khim and she has such a powerful testimony. She has a son who is 3 and can't yet walk or talk and is really hard to control but she just said "Sisters I know that Heavenly Father is blessing me, I pray everyday for help and even though I know a miracle won't happen in just one day I know eventually the blessings will come as I am faithful and continue to ask in faith." This reminded me of a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 58:3-4 

"3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand."

I love this scripture and I know that God has so many miracles and blessings to give us as we push forward with faith through our tribulations!!

Love Sister Stratford

GOD IS GOOD

So basically I have no idea where all the time goes but this week was the fastest week of my life. We are super busy and always running around. Well Chinda, Phearom and Bong Pov are all progressing toward their baptismal dates. We had some great lessons on faith this week with Borey. Tola and Sok Nai came to church (new investigators) and just talked about how much peace they feel the second they come to the church. 

We picked up 3 more investigators this week from english class and a member referral. Hopefully we can keep up with all these people and help them to enter into sacred covenants with the Lord. This week really just feels like a blur. BUT it was annual photo week this week so I have some good pictures coming your way. 

We did a mass english class flyer handout this week with all the missionaries here in SMC and we could not have chosen a hotter time of day. It is supposed to be the cold season right now (it is literally NEVER cold here) I am still sweating to death but I love it!!!! Luckily Sister Sok brought an umbrella to keep the heat off a little bit. The poverty here and the circumstances I see and hear about daily breaks my heart. I know that this gospel is truly the only thing that will heal these people. 

We had an impression to go and visit Phearom right after church and a member walked up to us and asked to come. We walked to her house and caught her right as she came back home from buying some medicine. She is having a really hard time with her husband and was contemplating suicide. We got there at the perfect time, the Lord really does lead us to those in need. Long story short there are a lot of hard things out here but in the strength of the Lord we can do all things.

Random note - two of my recent converts from way back in my first area are finishing up their mission papers to send in this week! I am so excited for them :))

It was a good week as always here in paradise. I love being a missionary and being able to see change happen in the lives of those I am blessed to teach. God is good!!

Love Sister Stratford

SMALL AND SIMPLE THINGS

Good week this week. Literally feel like investigators were just falling into our laps all week. Srei Noic walked into church and wants to learn, srei Nit was at one of our investigators houses when we visited and said she wanted to learn as well. Ming Soknai just walked up to us wanting to learn. Ming Theary came to church last week and so we went and found her house to follow up and see if she was interested in learning more. We caught her right before she was about to go back to her hometown. Her older sister got hit by a car and passed away this week and so she was going to the funeral. We told her that she would have the opportunity to meet her sister again and bore testimony of the plan of salvation and she just got so excited and you could see this light in her eyes. She says "Wait what really? I just have goosebumps all over, are you serious?" She was so excited and we are looking forward to meeting her again this week when she gets home. Tola who we meet last week asked if she came to church 3 times if she could get baptized. It is so crazy to me how many people are wanting to learn here. 

The sad news of the week is Bong Borey. She is our investigator. She has a rare disease called myasthenia gravis and basically there isn't a cure. We don't know how much time she has left to live but she has so much faith. We went over (not knowing before of her disease) and planned to teach about the hope that comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She just started crying and telling us how she is losing hope because she is too weak to hold and take care of her kids anymore and she can barely even walk around. Despite her weakness she came to church for the sacrament. My heart breaks for her and I hope she can find more hope as we continue to teach her about the amazing healing that comes from the gospel. Please pray for her and her cute family!

Phearom and Srei Pov and Chinda have baptismal dates and the work is really progressing over here. 

We had MLC this week and we taught about our next spiritual step. There are so many spiritual steps being made in the church with the changes to 2 hour church and ministering. There are some big steps we are trying to help make with our members here. We focused on the next spiritual step for our mission and specific zones and what we need to do. I shared in ether about the story of tightening the ship like unto a dish. And talked about some things we need to "tighten" in our mission and asked them to prayerfully consider things they need to "tighten" in their lives. 

I also was asked to speak in sacrament meeting and I decided to focus my remarks on alma 37:6 "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." I know that as we are focused on doing the small and simple things consistently and continuously we will see great things happen in each of our lives!

Love, 

Sister Stratford

40 COCKROACHES CAME RUNNING OUT

Well another crazy week out here in paradise! 

We had transfers this week and I was really sad to see Sister Clark go back to America but also way excited for her! We had a leadership meeting the morning of transfers and taught all the leaders about how important their example is, as well as exact obedience. After transfers were all finished we had a sisters conference which was really fun that lasted until the next day. Sister Sok, Sister Clark and I all taught about how to be an effective missionary as a training segment during the Sisters Conference. It was really fun and it seemed like all the sisters enjoyed it!

We had a short new missionary training for the new sister from Cambodia and I finally headed on over to SMC. The first night we were there I saw a cockroach and so I sprayed it and it ran into the cupboard. To make sure it was going to die I opened up the cupboard and literally 40 cockroaches came running out, we ran outside to buy some raid and came back and raided the whole apartment complex out. So very thankful for Raid, it saves lives out here. Good news is haven't seen any ants yet!

I still haven't met all of our investigators, but Pirom and Bong Pov are way cute they both came to church this week. When we were out contacting we found Tola who came up to us and said she wanted to learn and then came to all 3 hours of church, miracle! 

The people here are so funny I have had 6 or 7 people come up to me and ask to take a picture because I am white and have blonde hair pretty funny. There are more dogs than people out here. The wards are great and I have a lot of missionaries from my MTC group in this area so it should be fun!

I have been thinking a lot about the importance of the sacrament and how important it is that we have it every week, so that we can remember. We need to be coming to the sacrament table hungry and prepared for the feast. No matter how monotonous the speakers are or how crazy the children are running around, as we come prepared we can feast! 3 nephi 20: 8 says "He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled."

I also really love 2 nephi 26:24" He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation." 

As we partake of the sacrament we can truly feel the draw pulling us closer to our Father in Heaven through His Son. 

Love Sister Stratford

MASTERFUL HANDS

Man quite the week this week I don't even know where to start. 

We had our last exchange of the transfer and got to call out transfer calls with President which was kinda fun! I am going to Steng Mean Chay 1/3 and will be companions with Sister Sok, we will be SSTL's. We couldn't move her to this area because it is too close to her home. I will really miss the area that I am in right now but am looking forward to it.

As far as our baptisms go this week it was quite the process but we made it! Bong Ny, Canly and Lina all got baptized this week and it was the happiest! Towards the beginning of the week we weren't so sure we were going to have a baptism. 

Canly met with us on wednesday and said "Can I just learn and not get baptized I am so scared and I just don't want to do it anymore" Luckily we got a member in on the lesson who answered all her concerns and helped her feel more comfortable about baptism, after that it was smooth sailing with her and she was so happy the day of her baptism! That member was vital!

Lina had an interview scheduled for wednesday but when we called her, her mom had come to phnom penh and took her out to battambang and they were heading to thailand on saturday the day before the baptism. She barely made it back to phnom penh at 4:30 on sunday, got interviewed and then baptized at 5 - it was crazy and stressful but so happy! She just could not stop smiling the entire evening. 

Srei Pov is literally the smartest person I have ever met. She is crazy, we were teaching the 10 commandments this week and she was like "Sisters this is so easy I have already read this in the Book of Mormon" and she then explained it all to us. She is already in Alma and is right on track to finish the book of mormon by next week. She is very smart and it is so fun to teach her.

We had Tad R. Callister come to speak to us this week which was way cool.  He taught us how to better teach the Plan of Salvation.

I was reading in Jacob 5 this morning and I loved verse 47 "But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned. Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard?"

I know that as we are laboring in the Lord's vineyard He is laboring with us and walking right beside us. He is doing absolutely everything in His power to help us and to save everyone but ultimately it is still up to us to choose to accept His help and His refining. This reminded me of something I read recently.

"Our Lord is like the dentists...dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of...Well He will cure it alright: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if you once called Him in He will give you the full treatment.

"...'Make no mistake' He says, 'if you let Me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it cost Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect - until My Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said he was well pleased with Me. This I can do and will do. But nothing less.'

"...You must realize from the outset that the goal toward which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal. That is what you are in for. And it is very important to realize that."

There is no one in the entire universe that can rob us of perfection, except ourselves. The Lord literally is doing every single thing that He can to help guide us to perfection and our Heavenly home, but it is up to us and our agency to put ourselves in those masterful hands and let Him shape and mold us into who we need to become to enter into His presence. It will not be easy, life is never easy but it will be worth it. Let us all choose to put ourselves in His hands and allow Him to shape us into the Heavenly beings He knows we can become!

Love, 

Sister Stratford