Oct 29th, 2008

Dear Everyone,
Here’s what’s happened this week in Cambodia: ( you can send this out to the ward newsletter if you like) Well, this last Monday we went to visit two investigators who live about an hour away or so. Elder Stagg, the senior missionary, usually takes us because he has a car and the bike ride takes forever. This appointment is at a member’s home, however they aren’t active because the father got in an accident and they lost their motto (their ride to church). So when Elder Horton and I get there and the father called us over and started to talk to us, but once he started talking to us, Elder Stagg, who knows no cambodian, called me over to help translate. So I went over to help with that. The father of the house is offended because of the way the Church runs its welfare system in Cambodia, so he complained to Elder Horton about that for the next hour or so, while I had to take care of the lesson. The lesson started out great, it was me and Elder Stagg, and about 10 other people, most of which were members. Then out of no where a guy from the road sees us teaching this lesson, instantly knows we are Christians because we’re white, we are wearing nice clothes and we are talking to these very poor people. So he comes over, or should I say stumbles over? He was quite possibly the most drunk guy I’ve ever met. He was wearing cross country short shorts and a long-sleeved flannel button up shirt, with an Indiana Jones Fedora-type hat. And by the time he got to the table we were gathered around, I could tell he was angry. This guy came right between Elder Stagg and I and started yelling and shouting the most crazy Cambodian phrases I think can possibly be uttered. I still don’t know the language that great, but man, when you take a young missionary like me, and throw at me a drunk cambodian guy who can’t tell left from right, and ask me to understand what he’s saying... yeah it’s a lot of trouble, especially since he looks like he wants to kill someone. I listened as hard as I could I really did, he got more and more angry the more he realized I couldn’t understand him. But eventually I understood what he was talking about. He had his older sister just pass away, who happened to be Christian, and he wanted to know why I was spreading the message of a loving God when God didn’t care about his sister. Eventually one of the bigger guys of the group grabbed him and took him away. But it was one of the scariest experiences I’ve had here. Even though I didn’t get the chance to answer him directly, I took the opportunity to explain why supposedly bad things happen to us in this life, a lesson on the Atonement. It was easily one of the best lessons I’ve taught. I felt the words come so much easier than usual on that occasion. I felt the spirit and the Lord help me during that hour.
Another interesting experience I had here was with a family we have been teaching. Elder Horton and I biked to this guy’s home after Church. His name is Veet. We were hoping his wife would be there, but she was busy washing clothes. And just for some background information: this guy sells ice cream for a living. He has a bike and a cooler that he has tied to the back of it, using elastics and a small rack. He is terribly terribly terribly poor. Well anyways, we got there and he took us in as usual. We then started our lesson and then about halfway through our lesson that he had been in a bike accident four days earlier and that his bike was no longer usable. He had sold half of his bike ( I mean he literally cut his bike in half and sold it to a recycling organization) and has sold all of his chickens in order to feed his wife and child. He then pointed to a small pile of chopped wood and pointed out that he had been chopping wood the past few days in order to just get by until we came. He said he was so happy to see us, and knew that if anyone in the world would help him, we would. It was one of the most heart wrenching moments of my life. This man had no where else to turn, his family had only a few days of rice left before they would have nothing else. I had such a hard time following our mission rules which are to absolutely never give any money away. We explained the rules and why we have them, but it was so hard to see his sad expression when he realized that he had sold his bike in expectation of us being able to help out. I mean all I had to do was to pull out 20 bucks and all of his issues would be over, he could get a new bike and go out and sell everyday and he would make it. But it was not so, we have both been praying for this man, sometimes life is tough. We both testified that if he did his best, and trusted in the Lord that he would be ok. I haven’t met him since, I’ll let you know how that goes.
But I do have some happier stories too. Tuen is very close to baptism and so is Maly, who has now finished the Book of Mormon, read all of the pamphlets and has started it again. She has done all of that in just a few weeks. She’s also getting baptized in the next few weeks, most likely the 8th of Novemeber. (End of General Letter)
To Mom:
Hey one thing I think you might find this interesting. The most popular brand name over here isn’t Nike, Reebok, American Eagle, Dolce,etc. It’s Playboy, except no one here knows that it’s a pornography company. Everyone here wears it like it’s the coolest fashion in the world. Pornography isn’t as big of a problem here as in America, but Satan sure is preparing the way for it to come out widespread.
Well anyways, that’s all I’ve got for this week. I’m so happy though to be serving among these people. Thank you so much for all you do and for your support. I love you and I love the Lord. Have a wonderful birthday!
Elder Ormsby