Assigned to labor in the.....Cambodia, Something Something Mission!: Cambietnam

"Do whatever you want, it's not like I need a play by play." NAME THAT MOVIE

I spent a few evenings trying to think of a specific theme and topic for this email based on the past week, but things were so mumbo-jumbo that I'm just going to give you a daily play by play.

Monday - I was in Cambodia. We spent the day at the market buying fabric to get dresses made. Heads up - I'm coming home with a hamburger dress! That night we taught an investigator named Chú Sang. He was drunk while we taught him, but we didn't realize it until the end of the lesson. You're probably thinking to yourself, "Emily, you idiot. How did you not notice that he was drunk?" First, it's so darn hot that the heat makes everybody go crazy and they're always running around like a bunch of drunks. And second, you can't smell the alcohol because the stench of garbage and your own body odor is overwhelming! He was a pretty cool drunk though. Before I began my mission I was really sad thinking that I wouldn't be able to hold hands with anyone for 18 months (I believe that all friends and families should always hold hands.) In the middle of the lesson though Chú Sang started crying because he hasn't seen his mother for like 20 years and the last time he saw her was in Vietnam and now he doesn't even know if she's still alive. It was so sad to see him like that so I just let him hold my hand while he cried. We had a good moment together.

Tuesday - Still in Cambodia. We biked a lot resulting in lots of sweat. We went to visit a member who was kind enough to offer to let me take a shower in her bathroom because it was so hot. People in Cambodia have this thing about taking multiple showers a day and they always think the missionaries are barbaric when they hear we just take the traditional 2 showers a day. Trust me, if I could take 6 showers a day I would. But in the words of my companion Sister Thi, "nobody got time for that."

Wednesday - Still in Cambodia. This day was enjoyed by having over 6 hours of training meetings with President Moon. I could tell you about the million and one cool things we learned, but I'm afraid if I type that much I'll get carpal tunnel...But let me direct you to a super amazing talk about the worth of a soul and that'll sum up most everything that I learned. (It's attached in a link at the bottom.)

Thursday - Woke up at 4:30 am to hop on a bus back to Vietnam. I think they made us go so early because the yearly water festival was going on and the AP's were worried that the streets would be extremely crowded. But from what I heard, this year was actually pretty mellow because a couple years ago the festival got so out of hand that the police weren't able to control the crowds and 300 people died...so yeah, now everyone is afraid to go outside during the festival.

Friday - Back in Vietnam. We had zone training and Sister Thi and I had the opportunity to share for the first time as sister training leaders. A little scary because I have a fear of unintentionally sharing false doctrine...in the end it was a good meeting though. In our zone we have a goal to help our members become 'Preach My Gospel members'. Like I shared a couple months ago about giving a member a copy of Preach My Gospel and having them share the five lessons with us - that's what we're going to try and do throughout our entire zone!

Saturday - Four eight-year-old kids in the branch were baptized! So many thumbs up for the second generation of members of the church here in Vietnam!! Afterwards one of the families provided a giant chocolate cake...in the shape of a minion holding a Book of Mormon. #TMS And they let us take the leftovers home so I was pretty thrilled. Saturday night we started our Chinese class! It was a success with a total of 9 students! And I can now say "Jesus loves you!" in Chinese! #SweetSuccess

Sunday - Church! Five minutes before Relief Society began they informed me that the teacher had forgot to prepare a lesson and they asked if I could teach. "Sure. What's the lesson supposed to be about?", I asked. The Relief Society president points to the white board that has the name of the lessons written on it - "THE WORTH OF A SOUL" Bingooooooo! Deal. I'll teach it!

Sister Thi has only ever worn makeup once in her life, so last night I forced her to let me put makeup on her...then she got an allergic reaction. #SisterInZion

I really like being a missionary.

That's it for this week.

Write me emails please. I've watched every single Mormon message already and I'm out of things to do to keep me busy while sitting at the internet shops.

Love,

Chị Cả Trịnh Ly

Prepare for lots of photos: