Pochentong-Service

Hello!
So I've come to a conclusion that one of the many miracles that happen in Cambodia is to not be hit by a tuk tuk/moto/car in our mission. It's so crazy at times, but the good thing is everyone drives relatively slow so we are pretty safe.... I think!

Monday:
We went to go see Bong Amy, Bong Amy is a recent convert and is super amazing. She always wants to help us when we go out and teach! She has such a strong testimony! I swear every time we bring her to a lesson I learn something from her! Today was also P-day we literally went to like a mall, and then ate KFC... I felt like I was in a somewhat different verison of america... it was strange. You know a version where they don't speak any english and everything is just slightly different, and by slightly I mean quite a bit different but you know... 

Tuesday:
We did some service for Ming Po today. We planned on moving dirt, but we ended up smashing rocks for her instead. I was going at those rocks so hard in fact that I broke the axe... I felt so bad, but she was okay with it. I still felt bad though... Ming Po is so nice though she just laughed and said that it was okay! We then went and taught our new investigators we taught her about the restoration of the gospel. She understood it really well and asked really good questions, we had Bong Amy go with us. I think she could teach the lesson on her own actually! haha she helps us so much. Then we had plans to go to some other house but when I was "dopping" ( which means-Sister Christensen was riding on the back of my bike) the tire popped so we had to get that fixed. Actually kind of funny because right before that Bong Amy's son was say how I was fat and Sister Christensen was small and then we popped the bike tire... Haha pretty funny actually. 

"This nice little puppy before service"

 Some Service Smashing Rocks

 Still smashing

Wednesday:

We had one student in our english class who knew a ton already. She was only like 15 years old but she could read and speak it really well. I gave a short 10 minute lesson on faith and then we taught her how to pray when we asked if she wanted to try she said yes but in her heart. It was so cute I loved that. Then I gave her an english Book of Mormon and a Cambodian Book of Mormon. Then she came to church on sunday!!! She bought her friend with her. She is super cute. They seemed to enjoy it to, so we will see where that goes!

View from our farther area

Awkward skirt and bike picture

Thursday:
We had our first zone conference. It went really well. President and Sister Christensen are so awesome! They talked about how the vision in the mission is us they want us to become the best missionaries that we can be. We have to be the first converts! If we become the best missionary that we can be then everything else will just fall into place. They really are the best though you can tell how much they love us and love the mission! I'm really excited that they are our mission presidents, and that I will have them my entire mission! We are going to have a cleaning day of our apartment to for all the missionaries. We get an entire day to clean it. That'll be so good because well our house struggles in some areas. We are going to have annual checks to make sure they are clean. So that will be good! After zone conference we did a little contacting Sister Christensen acted like she didn't know any Cambodian haha... so I contacted like 4 ladies, it actually went pretty well we had like a 5 minute conversation. When they found out I spoke Cambodian, they pulled up two chairs and just wanted to talk to us. Cambodian's are just super friendly they always do stuff like that.

 Its just a little rainy

Friday:
We got to teach Srei Neak again! She is seriously so amazing we read from the Book of Mormon and then we shared our favorite scriptures with her. She told us that she wants to read the entire thing. She already prays everyday. She is 19 years old and going to college right now. When we taught her she was like you're coming back tomorrow right, and so we went back on saturday. We also had a Relief Society activity that night. There were only like 4 people that showed up at first but after they had finished cooking and everything we had about 10 people I think... we taught a lesson on unity and then everyone just ate together. Everyone was making a joke about the food they were like don't put anything in there that the missionaries don''t like or else they will say it's "coh cbab" or against mission rules. We all just laughed but hey I say that's a good idea when you need to use it. 

Ponchos and rain

The rain started like 10 minutes before this

Saturday:
We taught Srei neak again this time we taught he lesson 2! Again she is so awesome. She is reading the Book of Mormon, and really just wants to learn more and more. I'm so excited for her! After that we went to some less actives houses, we are finally starting to find everyones houses. Wahoo!!! We also did some contacting on our bikes on the way there it is the best contacting while riding bikes haha like seriously it is my favorite. 

One of the "Pshaa"

Sunday:
Yesterday we went to church and the after we went to our far area to find some houses we haven't seen yet. Then we went with the Relief Society to some less actives houses. I love the ward here in Pochentong they really want that unity and love within there ward. It's so awesome! They always want to help with missionary work and are always trying to strenghten the ward! Their heart is in the right place and I'm excited to see what is going to happen within the ward.



My comp is great ! Super humble and a super great example. She HELPS ME TONS! Hahaha but yeah the language is rough, but I know with faith and time it will come. I love love love the people here and I love Cambodia! 

love,
Sister Schwab

One week in Cambodia!

Hello Everyone!

Alright so after we got done writing on monday we went to this super market here in Pochentong, it is seriously so nice. I was literally amazed! After we finished our shopping we went to the Russian Market we did get lost on the way there though so it took us like an hour to get there. Hahah we are always getting lost. So I bought you guys some ties and stuff there, but I figure I may wait to send it because I will just do a big christmas package or something... After we went to the market we Ming Samaay's house to see if she could show us some of the members houses. She told us that her knees were sick...literal translation there. So we went over to Ming Po's house. The Elders were already there but we helped her move some rocks and then before we left her little daughter sang to us in English "YOU RAISE ME UP" haha it was like the cutest thing ever! After we did that we came back to the house and cleaned up all of the mice poop that was literally everywhere!!! EVERYWHERE! We took the rest of the night to clean and then we set out mice traps that night.

Did I mention the mouse in our Fridge!!

Tuesday:
Remember those mice traps yeah well we woke up in the morning... 8 mice, 8 mice were on that mice trap, no wonder we had mice poop everywhere! haha it's all good though now the house is clean and the mice on stuck on the trap! Anyways we went to go to Bong Teary's house, an investigator, and she wasn't there so we ended up doing some contacting which was good, then we went to Bong Koontii's house and she said "kom mian peel"or i don't have time, man I'm beginning to hate those words. Everyone seems to say that. So we went to do some more contacting. It was really great when we had been rejected by like 3 people for teaching them the gospel Sister Christensen goes "doesn't it just feel good testifying of christ?"and I was like you know what it totally does even if they don't accept the gospel it''s just great sharing about the gospel!

Trying the cross the street in Cambodia

A cute random little girl

Wednesday:
So we taught a referral given to us from Ming Po today, her name is Soneata she is 15 years old, and oh my gosh I love her! We taught her about prayer and about how we are all children of god. The only thing we worry about with her is that her aunt is a pastor for another church, and both of her parents are not members, so if her mom doesn't learn with her we may not be able to keep teaching her... So pray for her family because she is sooo awesome. Also I've decided that all my investigators just better get baptized because I love them so much so fast! Even though i can't understand them I just love them! I want to see them all in heaven after this life. Seriously I love the Cambodian people! After we went to Soneata's house we went to Ming Somaay's house and we planed on sharing a scripture with her. We went in and she told us about a dream she had had. That her husband, who had passed away, was on a boat and he was telling her to get in with all of the kids and hang on tight and never ever let go, that boat was the gospel. It was really amazing to hear her talk about it, I mean I didn't really know what she was talking about when this occurred but I still felt the spirit. Then Sister Christensen translated for me! Love her she is the best! It was a really neat experience though! 

Ming Somnaay

Just chilling at church

Thursday:
On thursday we went to the mission home for an interview for me, and then after we did that since we were in the city we just decided to stop and get some DQ and it seriously was like the best thing ever! It was the way we celebrated one week in Cambodia! Then we came back and did some weekly planning for awhile. After planning we went to see Someat and Somnaan, someat got baptized this sunday. We tried to find their house and we got lost and it was raining and sooooo muddy haha. But we did eventually find her house and guess what she wasn't there! It was all good though we went and saw MIng Naroon who is an older lady in the ward that is sick. We shared a scripture with her about the ressurection, and it was good. She is super sweet, but just hates feeling sick! After that we made our way home I was actually cold when we went home! Never thought that would happen but it was dark, raining, and muddy! I was like what the?! It was all good though we made it back! 

The picture doesn't do the bug bites justice

Chilling in traffic

Friday:
We had our zone training where I got to see everyone again! Everyone seems to be doing really well! We did our training and got to know the mission presidents better! They are both so amazing! Everyone is for sure in good hands here! 

Random picture. . . haha I didn't really eat that! 

Saturday
Today we taught about the restoration of the gospel to Soneata she took everything really well and seemed really excited about the book of mormon! She is praying everyday! It is so cute! I love teaching her because she believes so easily and just absorbs it all! When we finish teaching her we help her with english! Which is so fun to be on the flip side of that! Anyways i love being in lessons because i actually know what is going on because i know those words! Sister Christensen is an awesome teacher! I love listening to her teach! So after we taught Soneata we met Someat and Somnann at the church and prepared her for baptism! She is so sweet! She was definitely ready for it! 

Baptism and some of our ward

Bishop

Sunday:
Well I don't understand like anything when I go to church. Seriously it is rough, BUT i love the members and I know that with patience, faith, and some hard work the language will come. We had Someat's baptism and it went really well, after she shared her testimony and is was great, she has a sweet spirit! Then after church we went to some houses with the relief society. It was really good! This week I've felt pretty inadequate at times, BUT we all are inadequate, it's awesome to really have to rely on the savior so much, because there is no way we could do this without him. It's amazing the miracles that can happen when we rely on the savior! I love it here this week has been so good! I'm so glad I got to email you! Seth kick some trash this week, you're a stud! Love you all
Sister Schwab

Pochentong Week-1

OH MY!!!

Can we just talk about how last week I was in america and now I'm in Cambodia! So everything went well on the plane ride we entered into Cambodia at like 10-ish in the morning here. So we came in and quickly met the Mission Presidents who then brought us to meet our new trainers! My trainer is Sister Christensen she is awesome! She is super amazing with the people and the language, oh my goodness she is so good at the language! I'm seriously so lucky to have her as my trainer! Yeah she is sweet!

Outside our apartment, actually a nice day

Sister Schwab and her Trainer

So after we met our trainers we went and got some Cambodian style lunch. Which consisted of rice, pork, and eggs, what kind of eggs you may ask... well probably not but I'm going to tell you anyways a duck egg. It pretty much tastes the same as a chicken egg. We also had some Milo which was pretty dang good. They also have it in America so hey go try it sometime. After we had lunch we went back to the mission home and had a quick interview with the mission presidents and met Sister Levitt. She is extremely nice and so is her husband. They said I get priorities because their daughter lives in SV! After we left the mission home we went back and did some personal/comp study. Oh my gosh I about died I kept falling asleep it was a little rough! Then after that we went contacting for a bit I seriously didn't know a thing that was happening haha although we rode our bikes in Cambodian traffic it's crazy! If anyone was planning on coming to Cambodia anytime soon i would suggest a bike not a car because at least on a bike you can weave through the thousands of people! Then after we came back from contacting we ordered some pizza, it was actually pretty good pizza. We live with Sister Matthews and Sister Kellian. They are just great as well! We have pretty awesome group in our apartment. Now our apartment is nice but also covered in mouse poop, so we are going to try to fix that. 

Why not take a selfie with the Toilet outside our apartment

Beginning of the Storm

FRIDAY
So friday we had our weekly planning session which was really just us trying to look at RC and members and LA's we are just trying to learn this area. OH I'm serving in Pochentong by the way!!! We are whitewashing the area. So we both don't exactly know what we are doing. it's all good though we are just trying to get to know the members and everyone. After our weekly planning session we went and tried to find some of the members houses and did we find any... no we didn't haha. We found one house but the member wasn't there. We rode down the railroad and yeah there is a lot of poverty, but I thought it would be hard to adjust to but it's not. It just makes you grateful for what you have and the opportunity we have to share the gospel because that it what is really going to help them. I already love the people so much i just want to be able to understand them!!!

So it's pretty much the cutest thing ever when we ride our bikes and all the little kids come running and yell "hello, hi"at us. Seriously they are so stinking cute. Love them! Anyways after that we went to the church and called bong amy. He is a member. Turns out she is in the hospital right now. She told us that she would send her husband to show us where she was. Right when he came there just happened to be this massive rain storm! It was insane! It was flooded roads in literally like 3 minutes I think. Good thing we had our handy dandy ponchos though right. yeah for our backpacks it's not even worth it to put one on yourself. We met bong amy and she is seriously amazing! She has such a sweet spirit and strong testimony! She has so much faith! 

Oh look another toilet. . . 

SATURDAY 

Saturday was sweet! So we woke up and went to Zone Conference we talked about the importance of the book of mormon and just making sure our investigators have spiritual experiences. Anyways so after we went to zone conference we had a Women's conference. It was like two hours long, and so let me just tell you about this. We had the bishop talk and he showed a Thailand commercial and oh my gosh it was interesting. . .  So there is a store owner who had a homeless guy that wouldn't leave so he would kick if out and swear at him... I know he was swearing because the english subtitles haha! Anyways so the homeless guy becomes mean like the store owner and then he get's stabbed and killed. I was like what in the world, and then I don't know how he tied it all together and into the lesson because I cant understand the language. It was pretty funny.

Funny story we were preparing for women's conference and we could not get these stupid pans apart we were dying laughing me and Neakming were trying so hard but we could not do it! Eventually though we did get it haha

 Then we went around and talked to some of the members and everything! Everyone is so nice! The Cambodians really are the most loving/blunt people I know haha. After Women's Conference we went over to the church to have a baptism interview for Somneak, a 14 year old girl who is so so amazing! She is a sweet heart! We met the president, his family, and some of the young men and young women. The offered to feed us some food, and it was just like some soup, but so we were eating and there were these chunks of tofu looking things that I wasn't going to try because well I don't like tofu, and then Elder Tatton looks at me and goes oh you know what that is? Coagulated pig blood... you know i could get past the bones but not that I took a sudden halt eating after that. haha

 
SUNDAY
Sunday we went to church at 8, it was really good we had a chance to meet the members, and we got up and bore our testimonies I'm pretty sure i said i know that heavenly father loves you like 3 or 4 times, but hey that's important right haha! After that the members came up and were like "sister nyiay cebah" or sister speaks clear. They are just nice! Seriously I can't tell you or even express to you how loving the people are. After church we decided to go see bong amy again. I had been thinking about her all day so we brought a member with us and went to the hospital again. So we ride into the hospital and I mean you know it's a Cambodian hospital so it's not nice by any means we hear this guy like yelling with pain, we go around the corner and they are performing some surgery on this guys foot he got in a car accident. So that was outside of the hospital we walk in and there is literally a trail of blood leading from the bed to the outside where they are performing surgery. It was pretty nasty... but you know I was just thankful really that we came and that time so bong amy didn't have to listen or watch that. We just talked with her and shared D and C 58:2-4 with her. Yeah so it was actually perfect timing when we came, even though it may not have seemed like it, it really was! 

After we went and visited a less active. She is 74 years old i think... and she feels sick all the time. I didn't really understand what they were talking about but i just told her I know christ understands and that if she will pray for strength i know heavenly father will give it to her. It was a good experience she is super kind. She has the sweetest of spirit. 

Streets of Pochentong

Yep so that was really my week in a nutshell. So really I don't understand much of what is going on most of the time but when I do I give a little testimony, the traffic is crazy and i feel like I may die most of the time, but Heavenly Father protects his missionaries right, but all in all I'm all good, and I love it! I know that this is going to be hard and discouraging at times, but i'm not doing it for myself I''m doing for these people, and for the love I have for our savior. It's not fair to know about the gospel and not share it! We are so so lucky! Well that's what's happening in Cambodia!
Love ya


Sister Schwab

here are some pictures from the MTC I didn't send. 

Last time

Sister Hoffman

Again with Sister Hoffman!

Our Party, haha love the District!

Is this even real?

IS THIS EVEN REAL? AM I REALLY GOING TO CAMBODIA?!

Does everyone understand that I will have like no english in the next two days... Oh my goodness I'm like so excited/nervous/excited! I seriously can't believe that it has already been two months already. So monday was our last day in the temple, and it was hard. The temple is so amazing I can't even explain the peace, love, and spirit that I feel there. It'll be hard to go without it for these next 16 months, but like Sister Loftus said " we are just doing work for the living right now" Maybe if you guys come pick me up we could just stop at the Hong Kong temple on the way home... just think about that don't worry you have a long time to decide haha. 

Last Temple Walk

We also had our last TRC on monday the wifi did not work very well at all so the lesson was cut short, but it was still comforting in a way because the members are so so nice. Seriously even when they can't understand us you can just feel the love from them! I'm so excited to meet everyone, the Cambodian people seriously seem just like some of the best most humble people ever. I can't wait to meet them, I already love them so much!

You have to take a picture with the flag

So how about this, last week at the MTC and guess who we get to hear from? Dallin H Oaks! What I mean come on how lucky are we? Last tuesday Devo and we get an apostle, come on! He talked a lot about Preach my Gospel and teaching with the Holy Ghost. Which is something I've really been trying to work on here. Just listening and discerning when the spirit is near so I can act on the promptings it gives me. It was broadcasted to all the MTC's and I was just thinking of Jesse out there in Mexico! So awesome. She's almost out of there too that's crazy!

Last District Picture

So we had to help with the New Missionaries on wednesday, we didn't host we did a demonstrate teaching thing. So you have an investigator we come knock on the door do the get to know you part of the lesson for like 10 minutes, and then a group of like 30 new missionaries takes over. It was actually really fun to teach in english! You kind of take that for granted sometimes! It was hilarious we walked into this second lesson and it was this older guy from japan and we asked if we could share our message and he was like "are you single" we were both like yeah.... and he said "I have three sons come in" everyone was like dying haha! Hey I saw Rocky Hansen that Wednesday and on Friday he seems to be doing awesome, I think he's like the DL now. Yeah go SV right?! Haha it's always good to see people you know!

Thursday we had our last lesson with Narack, and it went well he got "baptized" on friday so that was pretty sweet! We both cried sharing our testimonies with him for the last time. It's funny how much you grow to love your fake investigators and just your teachers in general. That's one thing i've learned here is just how fast you can love. I love love love my zone, my district, my branch presidency, my companion. It'll be hard to leave, but so exciting! I can't wait for everything, I know it'll be hard, but nothing worth doing is easy right?

Saturday we had in field presentation or preparation... it was good it was kind of long but necessary you know. Gosh it was sort of weird practicing teaching in English, I like had to remember how to preach the gospel in english to other people, not going to lie the first practice was a little rough... haha! I feel really lucky that I get to teach the gospel in such simple terms!

Sunday was good it was hard we had to say our goodbyes and everything. I cried and cried you know how I am with goodbyes, but it's really not goodbye you know, and I mean I cried but like any other sister missionary would cry. I was telling everyone the other day it's strange because you feel so happy all the time, but I've also never cried more in my life haha. Sister Moon told me after I got done sharing my testimony bawling and after she gave me a hug, she said how much we are needed in Cambodia. She said if we just have a good heart, everything else will come. It was super nice of her, I think she is just nice!

So quick one more thing before I go, this week I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father was trying to teach me about faith because I can't even express how much the story of Peter and Christ walking on water has come up this week. My new favorite scripture right now is Matt 14:30-31 when Peter asks the Lord to save him and the lord puts out his hand IMMEDIATELY- I love that because it's so true that Lord is just waiting for us, and once we call and his name he is going to help us. Also everyone should read the talk " I stand all amazed" by Elder Holland it's so good I can't even express how amazing that talk is. It really shows how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love us. Alright fam I will talk to you tomorrow! I love Tys car! Sethy is a stud! Kalin keep up the good work haha! Love you!

Sister Schwab