Another transfer in stinky, wonderful Stung Meanchey

Hello everyone!!:) This week has gone by in like 2 blinks it feels like!! So I don't know where in the world January went but it seems crazy to me that we are already in February!! I'm not going to lie to all though this week was just one of those weeks where not a whole lot went down!! Honestly, I was pretty grateful for it!! The last couple weeks there have been some crazy surprises and curveballs that I did not see coming! Ha so having a week with no AP calls and just me and my companion doing missionary work was pretty nice!:) Except at the beginning of this week we were not really allowed to do a whole lot of missionary work because my comp had a whole bunch of doctor interviews as well as interviews with the Australian embassy so that he can get a visa to go and serve the rest of his mission in Australia!! I was super happy for him that he is close to being able to go and serve there, but as far as the beginning of this week went, we did not have a whole lot of time to meet our investigators which was kind of a bummer, but luckily later in the week we were packed with lessons every hour! That's always a good feeling!! :) Also- I almost forgot! This Sunday was transfer calls! This was like the fastest transfer ever!! So the Zone Leaders called me on Sunday and told me that my companion and I would be staying here for another transfer! I was obviously super excited about that news because I love Stung Meanchey!!!!:) I am hoping I can at least serve here a couple of transfers more! I really would be not mad at all if I spent the better part of my mission here!! It's the stinkiest smelling place in Cambodia, but you cannot find a better group of people in Cambodia than the people in Stung Meanchey!!:)

Anyway, this Sunday was a pretty good Sunday! We had a few investigators at church, which was good! Not as many as we were hoping to have, but hopefully we will have some more next week!!:) This week I also got to give a talk in sacrament meeting! They asked me to talk on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the importance it has played in my life!! Well obviously this was like the easiest topic ever to talk about for 10 minutes because my knowledge of the Atonement has changed my life in pretty much every possible way you could imagine!! I cannot even imagine where in the world that I would be right now without the Atonement of Jesus Christ!! I was able to share some of my favorite scriptures about the Atonement and also share some spiritual experiences that I have had in my life personally as well!! Overall, I expressed the importance of using the Atonement of Jesus Christ every single day! Sometimes we can feel scared or we can feel like we don't have a good enough reason to use the Atonement, but in all reality all of those thoughts are coming straight from Satan!! Jesus knows that all of us will do wrong and make mistakes and whether they are big or small he wants us to come to him each and every day and ask him for forgiveness so that each and every day we can feel clean and free from all of the things that we have done wrong in that day! Another part of the Atonement is also comforting us in times of difficulty in our life!! Jesus is the only person ever who can know exactly how we are feeling and exactly what we need in order to feel comforted! If we ever feel like we are alone and don't have someone that we can turn to, once again, this is Satan trying to convince you of something that could not be further from the truth!! So show him just how wrong he is by getting down on your knees and find out just how much someone really does know how you are feeling! I promise if you do this that whatever you are going through, you will start to gain a knowledge that you are not going through your trials all alone! There's always at least one person that's by your side for every single struggle that you have! He is always trying to help you keep moving forward and as you pray, you will be able to better hear that still small voice that will help you and bring you comfort!

Anyway, I also had to teach third hour about fasting! I didn't know that I was going to have to teach beforehand, but it ended up going super good!! I shared one story in my life that I have never forgotten of when my family and I were able to see a miracle when we fasted as a family!! I remember that when my mom had my little baby brother Luke, she was in the hospital and she had a problem with her leg and was not able to walk. When she went to the doctor they told her that it was going to take quite a few months, and could even take a year, to be able to fully heal. When we heard this news, my dad decided that we were going to fast as a family for my mom that her leg would be able to heal quickly! I remember that this was the first time in my life that I fasted and had a real desire to see a miracle happen and truly believed that through our fasting we would be able to see blessings come from it! I think up until that point in my life, I fasted because I had to and my parents told me I needed to, but that fast I did it because I wanted to and I truly did believe that it would help!! Anyway, I remember that it was only a couple weeks after we had fasted that my mom was able to walk and then a couple more weeks and she did not have to wear her brace that the doctors had given her! Looking back, this truly was a miracle that Heavenly Father gave us and I believe with all of my heart it was because we fasted and we fasted with true desire and faith as well!! The reason we fast is to show that our spirit is stronger than our body and when we don't eat, we humble our physical body and our spirit is then strengthened! I am so grateful for this commandment because basically this commandment is just a reason for Heavenly Father to pour out blessings upon us! So that lesson went really good as well and the Spirit was super strong!

Other than that I don't really have a whole lot to share this week! I am sorry that this week was not very exciting… hopefully something a little crazy (but not too crazy) will happen next week so I will have a little bit more of an exciting letter for you all!!:) I am so grateful to be able to be serving a mission right now at this point in my life and I would not trade the experiences that I am having out here for anything in the world! I know that the message that I go out each and every day to share with the people of Cambodia is a message from God and I feel so very honored that He has trusted me to go out and share it with the wonderful people here! I could not imagine wanting to be anywhere else in the world!!:) I love my mission so much and I love the person that it's helping me become as well! I love you all as well and am so thankful for all of your support that you give to me each and every day through your prayers! I love you all and hope you all have a great week over there in the land of the free!:) Much love headed your way from the Kingdom!!:)

Elder Steadman

Soccer with Elder Q & the other missionaries in Phnom Penh