Crazy transfer news

Hello everybody!!:) Well this transfer has gone by super crazy fast!! We are already at the last week of this transfer and it seriously seems like it was yesterday that I was coming into this area!! So on Sunday we had transfer calls and of course I was super antsy and nervous!! Haha I don't know why! I pretty much knew for certain that I was going to be staying in my area, but I always get excited for a little change!:) I also pretty much knew that this transfer I was going to be getting a new companion because my companion has been here for a very long time so I knew it was time for him to go!:) Anyway, on Sunday night I got a call from President Moon!! Usually the APs are the ones that call so my heart started beating kind of fast when I saw that he was on the phone! I answered it and he told me about the transfer! I have to say that I was pretty surprised when he told me that I was going to be training! Not only that… I was going to be staying in my area, but he also wanted us to work in another area as well! Haha I guess we are like low on missionaries right now, so I now have two areas that are a 45 minute drive away from each other and I have to be able to teach people from both areas at the slotted times that I am actually physically in that area!! Haha it sounds kind of crazy...and that's because it kind of is!! Haha So I also will be living in two houses, which means I will have to split up my clothes and keep half of them over in Kampong Cham and the other half of them in my current area of Brae Choe! Oh and President also asked me to be district leader for branch 3 in Kampong Cham as well!! So I am training a new missionary, district leader in Kampong Cham, and running two areas at one time! CRAZY!!! But I love it:):)

The name of the kid that I am training is Elder Palmer! He seems like a super cool kid! He has been here for a couple weeks already, but I am going to be training him all the way until he is done with training. He is very excited about missionary work so I know that we will be able to do some serious work even though we are going to have to share the love in two different areas!! It definitely was a crazy transfer call because since I have been here, I have never heard about anything like this happening! Usually they will just collapse an area down for one transfer and wait until the next group of missionaries come in and then open it back up again, but I guess this transfer President wanted to keep it open and trusts that we won't sink both of the areas into the ground!! Haha I think it's going to be super good though because my area right now is currently growing a ton and the new area that I will be going into is also growing quite a bit as well, so this is going to be one incredibly busy transfer that I have got ahead of me!! I am super excited for the challenge!! I know that this will be a great opportunity to be able to show this new elder just how hard missionaries can work...and have fun at the same time!!:) So yeah, that was transfer calls!! Pretty crazy!!:)

As for some other things that happened this week as well… we had a baptism!! :) Ohm Nuuan was baptized this Sunday and it was seriously awesome!! Everything went super smoothly and her husband even showed up to watch! He used to be an investigator, but he could not stop drinking. Now he wants to learn again and we are hoping that him seeing that experience that his wife had really will spark a desire in him as well to stop drinking and get baptized!!:) We also had 3 investigators show up to church, which is super good because we had church in Kampong Cham this week and so usually no one from our area will show up because it is just too far away and they don't have enough money. We were pleasantly surprised when 3 of our investigators showed up to church this week!!:) It really shows their faith and desire to follow Jesus Christ!!:)

Also, we are hitting record highs in our English class as well!!:) Right before we got into this area they had 0 students showing up for like 4 weeks in a row, but now just a month and a half later we have 12 students coming to learn… with 1 investigator and 2 potential investigators all just from English class!!:) Pretty cool stuff man! This week we also got another referral from a member in our area of a person that wants to start learning about Jesus Christ! As soon as we heard about that we went over to her house that next morning to visit her!! She is super awesome! Her name is Bong Lean and she used to live in one of my old areas (Stung Meanchey), but she moved to here because her husband found work here! Before she had gone to a Christian church and when she came here she found out that we taught people about Jesus so she asked if she could learn with us! Of course we said yes! That same day we taught her about prayer and invited her to pray and practice for herself. She did awesome for her first time and we have met her a couple of times since then and she is doing super awesome and accepting all of the commitments that we have been extending to her! She has a baptismal date set already for June 5th!!:)

Anyway, I think for this week that is all that I have got for you guys!! I can hardly wait to see my cute mom’s face in one week from now!!:) Only one more week and I will be able to see all of those faces that I love!!:) Wow, time is flying!!:) I love this church! And most of all I love my mission!! I love the person that it's helping me become!! I am so grateful for all of the challenges and all of the rewards that come from a mission and I know that these experiences that I am making out here everyday will be experiences that I will cherish for time and all eternity!! I love you all and I want you all to know you’re in my prayers!! Don't miss me too much I am having way too much fun for you to do that!!:):)

Much love headed your way!!:)
Elder Steadman