Perspiration & hastening the work

Hello everyone! :) So first off, I just want to apologize for the technical difficulties I had last week! I feel super bad for my poor mom! She just wants to hear all about my first week in a 3rd world country and all she gets is a paragraph saying that I am alive and doing well! Ha Sorry mom!! This week the Internet seems to be doing a lot better so I hope to be able to give you all a decent update of these last two crazy weeks!! It's hard to pick a place to start, but I figure the weather is as good a place as any. One thing I'm starting to wish I brought with me is a coat!! Man, it's so cold here! It's so cold it almost feels hot!! It sometimes feels as if it's 90 degrees with 100% humidity... oh wait, it is! haha So pretty much I sweat around the clock here! I sweat in places that I did not even know I had! And when I am not sweating I am... well actually, I don't know yet. I will get back to you on that! haha So yeah, it's super hot, but all the white people sweat here so it's all good! ha

No he didn't just splash his face with water... pure sweat :)

This last week has been so awesome! I have to tell you about a few people who are in the pictures I sent. The one with just a guy and me making weird faces is Simong. He is so awesome! We are best buddies and he is so funny! He always wants to teach me Khmer but he knows very little English so we run into a bit of a problem when it comes to learning so we end up just playing a lot of charades :) haha The other pics of the cute kids are the Bong Narit family! Holy cow they are so cute and so fun to be with! They always make fun of me because I don't know a lot of Khmer, but I am starting to catch on to what they are saying so now they have to be careful about what they say! ha They are the cutest kids and when they are not joking around with me, they are feeding me mangos! ha They freakin love those things here!! To be honest, I am starting to enjoy them as well!! :)

As far as investigators go, we are teaching someone named Bonyaa and she is a rock star!! She was so ready to hear what we had to say and accepted the invitation to be baptized on June 29th!! No one in her family is a member of the Church and they don't really want to learn either, but she told us that despite some of those trials she is going through at home, she has prayed and knows this is what she needs to be doing. Her faith is amazing! Some of the things that she is going through and choosing to change in order to receive baptism are truly unbelievable! She is a confirmation to me that if she can do these hard things, then so can I! Another opportunity I had this week was to go read to a member named Ohm Nara. He is completely blind so we are his only way for being able to read the scriptures. He is so nice and super funny! He loves using his hands when he talks, which means you have to be on your toes at all times because he cannot see if he is about to smack you in the face or not! ha But he loves hearing the scriptures and he knows them super well! He can help me with words while I am trying to read without even seeing them! ha It's pretty amazing!

Ok, so one funny story before I get to the exciting news! So I forgot to mention this tiny little detail last week, but the second day I was here I was sitting on the toilet and then I noticed that we were out of toilet paper. So embarrassed, I yelled out to my new companions to toss me in a new roll of toilet paper. They both started to laugh and then continued to tell me that the hose to my right was my new form of toilet paper for the next 2 years. The hose is the exact same as the one that you probably have to the right of your kitchen sink faucet. Needless to say I was quite hesitant at first, but there was no turning back now! Long story short, I quite enjoy the washer now! I can't really see myself ever going back to toilet paper! :)

Ok, big news this week! TWO NEW STAKES IN CAMBODIA!!!!! Elder Funk from the Presidency of the Seventy came to set apart the first 2 stakes in Cambodia, and he spoke on how Cambodia is the definition of hastening the work, which is so cool and so true! Next week we celebrate the Church being in Cambodia for 20 years and we already have 2 stakes!! It truly is a miracle, but it's only going to get better! The people here are so humble and so ready to hear the gospel! I bear testimony to you all that these people are some of God's most chosen children! They have been given almost nothing, and yet they thank their God for everything! I truly cannot yet comprehend how and why. The only thing I can come up with is that they can see the big picture so much better than I can. I love these people so much and I have no idea what I did to deserve such a wonderful and humbling experience as this, but I am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for it.

I bear testimony to you all that this is the Church of Jesus Christ again restored on the earth today. I know this with all of my heart and I know that if you listen to what the missionaries have to say, it will only make your life better! I know that Satan will do everything in his power to stop you from discovering this TRUE form of happiness. Don't buy into that! God has a wonderful plan for all of us and we can all learn about this plan through God's messengers. I challenge everyone to try and find a time where the missionaries can come over and teach you! Whether you are a member or not, I know that the message they have to share with you will bless your life! I know that the message they will bring to you is from God! I know this because I receive a confirmation of that every time I teach! I love my mission and I love being able to spread the work of the Lord! I miss you all so much, but I would not want to be anywhere else right now! I can't wait to tell you all about the 20th Anniversary next week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Steadman

P.S. (from Mindy) There are a bunch of new pics posted under More Pictures on the blog :)

He's been able to see Elder Q a few times... so cool!