Sunday, September 28, 2014

A week full of miracles!

Hello everyone! Man this week was another week full of miracles! I don't really know where to start but I guess I will just start from Monday and go from there! ha So on Monday we were just having a regular p-day and then we got a call from one of the members and he told us that he had a referral for us and wanted to know if we could meet him later that evening. We agreed that we could meet at 4:00 and we would just end our p-day a little bit early! So at 4:00 we went to the member's house so he could take us to the house of the guy that wanted to learn with us and when we got the the investigator's house, he and his 9 OTHER RELATED FAMILY MEMBERS were all sitting down waiting for us to come and teach them! This was definitely one of the cooler pictures I have seen while in Cambodia and I will never be able to forget it! Oh and when I say 9 other related family members, I am referring only to adults! There were 7 kids and 2 or 3 are above the age of 8. It was the first time for some of the kids being up close to a white person and so they all just wanted to touch my skin haha and I think it was everyone's first time hearing a white person speak Khmer because for the first 5 minutes they all could not stop laughing because they thought it was so incredible haha. It's weird to think about, but up until this point in their lives they have never even been able to have a real conversation with a white person! So this was a cool new experience for them! Anyway, we taught them the first lesson and they were all so attentive and wanted to learn more! We invited them to be baptized at the end of the next month and they all accepted! We taught them 3 more times this week, including the Word of Wisdom because all of the 5 men struggle with drinking or smoking, but when we committed them if they would start to obey the Word of Wisdom they all said yes! SO AWESOME! They are all very poor and don't have transportation to get to Church but we explained the blessings of coming to church and invited all of them, including their kids, to come to church. Sure enough when Sunday came, not only did they come, but they came an hour early! haha So awesome!!!! They are all so ready to hear the gospel and with the faith that they have I know that they can overcome some of the addictions that they have right now! So that was the first miracle that happened this week! 

The second miracle that happened was that President Moon showed up this week for church and announced to our great surprise that Stake Siem Reap was going to be splitting into 2 Stakes!!!!!! WOW!!!!! We were all so shocked! Needless to say, none of us saw it coming and it was very well hidden! This was just another confirmation that the Church here in Cambodia is getting bigger and bigger every day! It's going to be a lot of work the next couple of weeks figuring out where we want to split it and making sure there are enough people in each stake, but it really is going to be so awesome and I think that it's going to help both stakes grow even more! 

I know what you're thinking right now... Elder Steadman, that's enough miracles for one week! Sorry I have one more! :) This week President also told us that in 2 weeks when this next transfer ends, we are going to be opening up 2 NEW AREAS!!! hahaha The names are Pursat and Prey Veng! I was so excited to hear about this!! It's going to be a lot of work opening up a new area, but also tons of fun as well! Lots of contacting and starting from scratch!!! How sick! :) I hope I get to go and serve in one of those Areas while they are still super new! :) Wow, this week has been so awesome! I try to express how happy I am in emails but it's so hard! You're only getting a small portion of how happy and excited I really am! We have some awesome investigators right now and I also get to see huge growth happening in Cambodia! I'm so very lucky to be serving here at this time! :) I love all of you so much and I hope that you have a great upcoming week! You are all in my thoughts and prayers! :) 

With love!
Elder Steadman

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