August 22, 2016

Hello everyone!!!!!

So the word of the week is Bowy (probably not really spelled this way but ya) so its Bless you like what we say when someone sneezes and it is like when you say take a bow but adding a y or double ee sound.. what ever you want but I say this quite a bit... also Im learning how to pray in Cambodian and all I know so far is the Dear Heavenly Father part but it is long and too hard to teach over email...

So yay - Reny and her two kids Leakina and Keven were baptized on Saturday!!! it was awesome and they were so cute I just love them all so much!!!! They are great! Actually we had a scare on Wednesday when we were asking them the baptismal questions to prepare them for the actual ones on Friday because Leakena and Keven were both gung ho for baptism and answered all the questions but when we got to Reny she wasn't sure if she believed in Jesus Christ and in Heavenly Father and so she said that she needs more time.... so what else could we do at this point but fast so Thursday Sister Pen and I fasted a lot for her to have a spiritual experience as she keeps reading and praying and then we called her at about 2 Thursday and she changed her mind and figured that Sister Pen also grew up believing in Buddha and was baptized and so why shouldn't she... and she had been feeling the spirit the whole time from the first lesson.. it's just putting her faith to the test and so they were all 3 baptized on Saturday.

Her husband, Mon, wasn't able to be there at the baptism which was sad but when we were asking him about it (and this conversation was in English so I knew exactly not just what sister Pen told me) and were like please just come, and he said Sorry I wish I could but maybe next time and we were like listen there is no next time... this is it and he was like well maybe I will be next time.... and Sister Pen and I got so excited and started to freak out... So this next transfer our goal is to baptize him so they can get sealed in a year!!!!! oh and by the way we had Transfer calls and will both be staying together so I'm so excited!!!!

Love you all! Sister Beck

PS. We will be having a mission tour next Monday with a Seventy so will have p-day next Wednesday!    

 Pic 1 Our district (and two will be leaving this next transfer and the rest staying) so in it is Elder Johnson, Burton, Pipe, Jocelyn, and then Sister Bird, Monson (not related to the Prophet), me, and Sister Pen

Pic 2 Waiting In the Drs office (don't worry not for me and we are both okay) 

Pic 3 Haha waiting some more... Will you marry me? :)

Pic 4 Haha yeah we didn't feel good about knocking on the door but sure wanted a picture!!!

Pic 5 Me with some cool Scottish cows!

Pic 6 Me by a beautiful sunset!

Pic 7 Well I thought this was a pretty big spider... there are Spiders and Spider webs ALLLLLLL OVER! So gross.... And I heard the spiders just get bigger and worse in September... :( 

 Pic 8 Reny, Keven, and Leakena with the people who baptized them

Pic 9  Us and the family with the amazing Georges and Brother Wheelock who is our amazing Ward mission leader!

Pic 10 Us with them so cute... I just love them so much!

My mom got this text this past week from Sister George and the following pictures- "Hi, I'm Sister George.  We had a garden party at this sister's home.  I love your daughter.  She is a delightful missionary.  Her and Sister Pen work hard and have several people they fellowship and are gearing up for a baptism Saturday, a sweet Cambodian mother and her two children - Rany, Kevin and Leakala. Now the members need to help retain and nurture.  She wanted me to tell you she loves you."

August 15, 2016

Hello everyone!!!!!!! It sure has been a hot hot week over in Tacoma and struggling with dehydration with companions.... but it’s all good!

So the Cambodian word of the week is aditan (sister Pen didn't know how to spell this in English letters because you should sometime look up the written language of Cambodia its beautiful.) which means Prayer.... I hear her say this word all the time in lessons and to me even when she wants me to pray. you pronounce it as Add -the letter E - tan and also if you want to say prayer please you say Aditan some so I guess the word some in Cambodian is please... so I guess I taught you 2 words...

So the Mao family is still doing amazing and they came to church again yesterday so will be getting Baptized on Saturday!!!!! It wasn't as crazy because they had to leave after Sacrament because Bong Reny wasn't feeling very good but they just love it and she was finally able to meet Bong Roth a recent convert so that was great.

We were also able to get 4 new investigators this week which is awesome and they sadly didn't come to church but I know they will!!!!

I read a talk this week about becoming more consecrated by Neil A Maxwell titled "Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”  and I learned so much about truly giving everything you have including your will to the Lord.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/10/swallowed-up-in-the-will-of-the-father?lang=eng

Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!!!

--

Sister Beck

Pic 1 It’s the MTC gang back together and it was fun... all of the sisters in this part of the mission got together at President and Sister Blatter's home and had fun and a few of us played around the world ping pong which is great... I have missed playing it and haven't played that since I was home....

Pic 2 Sister Cox and Bolos taking a selfie.

Pic 3 Haha what a door said that we were going to knock on but decided against...

Pic 4 Sister Pen and I's Shadows

The Sister's Activity pics

  Pic of our district (except for Sister Monson and Bird)

August 8, 2016

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!!

Alright so the Cambodian word of the week is ot ey te which means you're welcome and you pronounce it Aww-A-day

Ya so last week I talked about my fun snail experience..... Yum...... and ya so I tried Clams and I wasn't sure how it would be but I really Liked them.... It took a while to chew like you do with celery but it was yummy for real and I would definitely eat them again!!!

So we got a referral from the Summit Elders and it was for a Cambodian family named the Mao family! So the Dad has been in America for a while and about 2 months ago the wife Reny and their 2 cute kids Lakhena (10) and Kevin (8 and Ya a lot of Cambodian people name their kids very American names I feel like Tammy and Peter) and they are just the cutest family. the Dad for now isn't very interested at the moment but the wife and Kids are and they came to church yesterday and loved it! its a little hard to teach them because there religious background is Buddha and know little except what we have taught about Jesus Christ. But Bong Reny is awesome and reads the Book of Mormon and prays and had a dream about Jesus Christ confirming that he is real... but it has also been hard for her to start to believe in something so new because she has grown up believing in Buddha.

So they probably know as many English words as I know Cambodian words but we make it work and cute Little Lakhena always is so excited to see us and always gives Sister Pen and I the biggest hugs. Actually its a little sad because really we are there only friends since moving to the US and they don't leave very often because the dad takes the car to work but they are on date for August 20th. and it might take the Dad a little longer but he will come around and they will be sealed in the temp[le I just know it!!!!! Also Our awesome fellowship for the family who is also Cambodian had a headache so wasn't able to meet them yet so when they do that will be good to have more friends that will actually stay.....

I sure do love serving in the Blessed Land of the Wa-Tac (Washington Tacoma mission) and am so thankful for all of the support everyone has given me..... love ya all:)

Sister Beck

pic 1 Sister Pen with her Minion ice cream.... she is obsessed with minions.

 pic 2 Sister Monson, Sister Bird, and I having a picnic before District meeting.

pic 3 Me by a polar bear thing.... at the Zoo and it was a blast!

August 1, 2016

Hey Everyone!!!!!!

So the Cambodian word of the week is Sok Sabay. I use this word all the time! it means Health and happiness or how are you doing? or like when I leave saying it and hoping they will be healthy and blessed I guess.... Well its hard to explain but its nice! so you pronounce it as Suck-Sue-bye.

HAHA well I sure have some interesting weeks being a Cambodian missionary... Like yesterday the Chaing Chin (sorry this is totally spelled wrong) and the family went to the beach and got clams and snails... well they cooked the snails and they all wanted me to eat one and I finally got up the courage to do it.... so they had me lick the outside that had all of the good flavored sauce and it was good... then with a toothpick trying to take this snail out and I finally got up the courage to eat it and it was like hard and the consistency was gross... so I couldn't chew it so I spit it out and tried again but it just wasn't going to work..... I was gagging a lot and they all laughed at me and Sophie said its okay and that that's how she is with American food... and later Sister Pen said that normally they taste better and that they normally aren't that hard so maybe I'll try another time when they are more professionally cooked.... and they are cooking me clams tonight mostly so I assume they can be entertained... but we will see how it goes!

So the stake that we are in put on Fiddler on the Roof and this effort is for missionary opportunity's and President Blatter said that it will be okay to watch it if we have investigators that have a baptismal date come and we did and so Saturday we had the Chin family come and Bong Roth a recent convert with her non member husband and 2 cute girls and then also Bong Chaing brought her friend and son as well and they loved it... in all we had 7 adults come with us and we only stayed for the first act because it was 9 pm by that point and anyhow the 2nd act is sad so it was good to leave when we did! but the acting was really good... and I loved how they did the dream song but I thought the dancing was boring and simple so I was disappointed with that but it was great!!!!! 

It is really awesome how many lessons we are able to teach each day it hasn't been like this for my whole mission and its good but its a lot of work!!! I love being a missionary and it really is the best 2 years! or 18 months of my life!!!!

Hope you have a great week!

Love Sister Beck

Pic 1 me with my snail... yum....

Pic 2 Sister Pen and I

Sorry not a lot of pics... the other sisters have more that I need to get from them to send to you guys...