Prayers please

Hello everyone!!:) So this week has gone by especially fast!! I cannot believe we are already to another Monday!! Time is flying people!!! :):) So this week was definitely a weird week!! Ha one of the main reasons was because this week we had New Year’s here in Cambodia! Here they have 2! The first one is the regular one that we all celebrate where we enter into a new year, but then here they have another one that is based off of Buddhist religion and it's 3 days long! It was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday!! So on those days this week it was next to impossible to find lessons because all of the members were with all of their families! And not just their families that they live with!! This is the biggest holiday in Cambodia and so even extended family comes out for a week and they all live together and get super super drunk for like 5 days solid and then they have a 2 day hang over and then they get back to work!! That's the tradition for the people who are not members at least!! Haha the members just dance and play cards and do other fun things that they will actually remember afterwards rather than being so drunk you forget that New Year’s already happened!! Haha so even though technically it's just a three-day holiday, really it's more like a full week holiday!! So on Wednesday we actually were asked to stay in our house for the day because it's not safe to be out on the streets because there are A TON of drunk people trying to drive their moto's. They did not want us out riding our bikes in those conditions ha so instead we just cleaned up our house and then they also gave us a movie to watch!! We watched Ephraim's Rescue!! It was super good! For those who have not seen it, it's a must watch!!:) But I'm not gonna lie, it felt suuuupppperrrr weird being in the house for a full day not doing anything really important! Haha I did not really like it to be honest!! But then Thursday we went to the city to go to the Physical Therapist so that was fun, and then Friday we got back to our area in the afternoon and for like the first time this week, we were actually able to go out and proselyte!! It felt good! Even though it was blazing hot this week, I felt like I was back to doing what I was comfortable doing!:) Then Saturday was a super good day! We were able to meet and have 5 lessons!! Usually in some of my old areas that would be very average but in this area, taking into consideration we only have like 35 members, I was super pumped!! Our new investigator is doing super good… she is really trying to understand what we are teaching her and always repeats what we say right after we say something so we know that she is trying haha :) It's super cute!!:)

On Sunday we spent our entire morning going to literally everyone’s houses to remind them that we had church that afternoon at 2:00 and telling them we hoped to be able to see them there!! We had high hopes going to the church and when 2 o'clock came around we were a little bummed to only see 10 members that had made their way to church! I kept praying super hard that more of our members would try to come and be able to take the sacrament and sure enough, as Heavenly Father always does, my prayer was answered!! By 2:20 we had 30 people at church! I was super pumped!! We had one of our investigators there, as well as a potential investigator, and at the end of church that potential investigator told us that she has gotten permission from her parents to start learning with us!!:) We were so excited when she told us!! So we now have another new investigator!!:) During church we watched one of the sessions of conference! None of our members here were able to watch it last week because the place that we watched it was super far away from our area, so today they had the opportunity to watch one of the sessions! It was super good, but the church over here does not have AC so needless to say by then end of church I was soaked in my own sweat...it was an extra hot day on Sunday!! But it's ok! I was just happy that we had so many of our members show up to church this week!!

Let's see… other than that I did not really have a whole lot happen to me!! Oh, but I do need a small favor from all of you back at home though!! So on Saturday we were out teaching and we decided to go to a house of one of our less-active members randomly and when we got there I was shocked to see that half of the husbands face was super badly cut up! Cut up would definitely be an understatement though! He was on his moto and for some reason he fell (he doesn't remember the experience) and he was going pretty fast and not wearing a helmet. Anyway, he had a huge gash where he had torn open the side of his mouth and probably like 50 stitches above his eye; he had literally skidded on the road on that side of his face! I just wanted to cry when I saw him! If it happened in America he would still be in the hospital, but here he was back at his house and didn't even have any medicine! Luckily he said that whole side of his face was completely numb so he couldn't really feel anything, but I'm just worried for the day when it stops being numb!! He had a gift bag that the church had given all the members a few years back and in that there was some liquid that he can use to clean his face everyday so he will not get any infections! Anyway, what I need from all of you are your prayers!! His name is Pu Teang! When I was there we gave him a blessing that he would be able to quickly heal from this injury, but we really could use all of your faith and prayers as well so that he will be able to have a quick and full recovery!! I never like having stuff like that happen to people that I care about so much!! But I also think that this is something that could turn out to be a blessing as well because before this accident, he was not the biggest fan of the Elders and would not really talk to us, but we would try to just go over and make him feel loved. However, since this accident has happened, he has called us over to his house and also allowed us to give him a blessing, so I think that he is also finding a lot of humility and realizing some of the things that he has been missing out on for the last year of his life! I know that all of the things in this life happen to us for a reason, but sometimes we are just too close to the situation at the time to be able to understand right at that moment, but if we are not able to figure it out at that time, Heavenly Father always reveals it to us at a later time in our life and we can look back and give thanks to Him for the trials that He has given to us!! That is because they are only given to us for growth and for our own spiritual benefit! Anyway, I'm sorry to leave this letter on a down note!! Just so you all know, he is full of smiles and does not complain about what has happened to him! As a matter of fact, he kept on telling us how lucky he was because while he was at the hospital he saw people a lot worse off than he was, so he really does have great perspective on the situation!! Just keep him in your prayers if you wouldn't mind!! I think for this week that's pretty much all I have got for you guys! This week will probably be a week full of regular, normal missionary work, which is what I love most so that will be awesome!:) Hopefully I will have a cool crazy story to tell you all next week!!:) But for now know that the Elder from Cambodia loves you all and hopes you all have a very happy and safe week!!:)

Much love!
Elder Steadman:)
អ៊ែលឌេីរ ស្តេតមិន