Sister Zoe's Cambodacious Journey: Holla!! New bike and a baptism. Life doesn't get better than this. (:

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this week was good. Not much happened. Still trying to skoal (know) the area and meet with all the members, so not much progress there, but I did get a new bike, had a baptism, and got caught in a huge storm... haha that was fun.

First off, the bike, the Giant bike. It is so nice. Probably nicer than my car back home. (just kidding my car at home was really nice, thanks mom and dad for letting me drive it. you spoiled me) but for real. It is so nice. And I feel way bad driving it and going to members houses when they don't even have enough money for food, but it's what president wanted us to do. So I took that as revelation and bought it. Trying to make the best of it. Make jokes and tell people that they forced me to buy it. They think that's pretty funny. But the nice bike wasn't without price. It was lots of money... I won't give any specifics, but more expensive than some of the motos that are out on the streets in Cambodia.... and it took a total of 4 hours at the Giant store trying to get it all figured out. Talk about 2 days shot. No proselyting done in our area... I thought my koon was going to die from boredom... sorry!!! Wasn’t my fault.

Baptism. So this was probably the weirdest baptism I have ever had on my mission. You know out of all 3 of them. haha because I haven't even taught her a single lesson yet. The sisters that served here last transfer taught her all the lessons, got her all prepared and interviewed, and then got transferred... so I just came in and got the baptism. haha I wish missionary work was always that easy... but the investigators name is Sokhiab and she is the cutest thing ever. She is SO good. She was so excited. I was talking to her before sacrament meeting started and all she could say was how excited she was. I asked her if she was nervous, because typically they are way nervous, and she said nope, not at all, just so excited!!! So she made it through three hours of church and finally got baptized. After the baptism she got up and bore her testimony. She said that this day was so special to her and a day that she won't ever forget. She said that the night before she only got like 2 hours of sleep because she was so excited!!! How cute is that. And then she promised God, from the pulpit., as well as everyone that was there, that she would never go less active. She would continue on this path forever; all the way to the celestial kingdom. Ah, she is the cutest ever. And her story of how they found her is so amazing. She lives with a different investigator and that investigators story is way crazy... and I still don't really understand it all, still getting details from the other sisters every day, but one day I’ll tell it to you. But let's just say that I am so excited to start re-teaching Sokhiab the lessons and helping her strengthen her faith and testimony even more.

The storm. So there was a less active that came to sacrament meeting yesterday and one of the counselors in the relief society presidency wanted us and the elders to go with her to visit her but she lives way far away like almost an hour biking, So we prepped mentally and off we went. We were about 30 minutes into our ride when it just started POURING. The drops were huge and they hurt way bad when they hit. I thought it was hailing it hurt so badly. I was drenched, soaked from head to toe. And the water was getting in my eyes, messing with my contacts, making it basically impossible to see. I thought I was either going to hit something or get hit by something.... it was so sketchy, but we finally took shelter at a gas station along with about 40 other people. They all just started talking about the Barangs (French people, that's what they call us all the time...) little did they know that we could understand them. Their look of confusion and surprise when we started talking with them in Khmer was priceless. I loved it. hahaha We waited there for about 10 minutes trying to decide what to do. Half of the group, there were about 10 of us, so three of them, went home. The elder invited us to go with them to visit one of their recent converts, so we went with them; still in the pouring rain. It was so black. The sky was the blackest I have ever seen it. But we ended up making it safely to the recent converts house and they fed us really really really delicious food, so all was good. Biking home the streets were flooded, up to my mid-calf. I love biking when the streets are flooded. Good thing I had my trusty bike to help me out. (:

Our investigators are good, well, kind of. Two that were progressing before have stopped since I got here... the curse of Sister Loftus. But the one investigator, NoZeekaa, that I didn't think would progress is amazing. She is my favorite. She is about 20 years old and knows so much English. I thought she would be really really flaky, you know teenage girls, but she meets with us twice a week, and comes to church. She understands so much. She just gets it. And she reads the Book of Mormon almost every day!!!! Super amazing. I love her so much. I'll give you more details on the other 3 next week, hopefully they will start progressing. (:

Saturday night we had a way cool experience. We were sitting at our table and these little Cambodians kids were playing in front of our house, so we went out to talk with them. There were four of them and they were not scared of us at all. There was one who was 14 and he just right off the bat asked us if we taught about Jesus Christ. He learned a little bit about it at school. He knew all about Adam and Eve and really wants to know more. So cool. He seems like such a good kid. The other boys are too young and they didn't really know what was going on, but the oldest asked us to sing "bot comriang khaang sasnaa" (church songs) so we, Sister Hall and I, started singing “I am a child of God” and “I love to see the Temple”. The spirit was so strong. We also gave the little boy a pamphlet and he just started reading it. The coolest thing ever. Not sure if anything will come from it, but we planted a seed, that's for sure. It’s experiences like that that make being a missionary so worth it. They were just so innocent and willing to listen. The Lord will prepare a way for them. I know it.

Can we just talk about how conference is in like 1 month? That is crazy. Sorry that was a real random thought, but I can't wait!!!!

Also, I was studying in Ether today, and the brother of Jared and his faith blew me away. If we could all be like him, this world would be so much better. All of you should go read in Ether about the brother of Jared and just be amazed by his faith. I can't even put in in words. I sat there for a long time trying to write about it in my study journal and I couldn't... haha. We can learn so much from him. He had so much faith that he saw the Lord. The Lord showed Himself to him. So cool!!!!

That’s all I’ve got, but get ready for next week because I’ll have my new baby!!! Straight from the MTC. Get excited. I know I am. (:

Love,

Sister Loftus

Double D

picture above-Looking good with my new bike, right? Notice how high the bar is. I almost fall every time I get on and off... haha they didn't really take into consideration riding in a skirt when they made it, but that's okay. I still love it.