Sister Zoe's Cambodacious Journey: Happy Halloween

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was good. Nothing too special happened. We just proselyted like normal, so sorry if this email is really short, (note from Mom, her emails are never short. Not sure what she is talking about it) but you guys have got lots of pictures, so that should be good, right?? (:

We FINALLY met with Bong Lida. She came back from her hometown for just a little, just long enough for us to teach her two lessons, and then she went back yesterday... I’m way sad. I may not see her again before I leave... but she's so good. She bore a powerful testimony of the happiness that comes from the gospel and believing in Jesus Christ. She knows that without it she would be so lost and her marriage would be horrible, but because of the gospel, her marriage is great and she loves her husband and her daughter. I may not have seen it happen with me, but one day she will go to the temple with her family to get sealed.

Zeekaa is still doing really good. We just love her to death. This week she told us that she is going to get engaged next year to this boy that she works with... but she has 3 other boyfriends right now. And none of them know about the other ones... so we are planning on teaching her an honesty lesson coming up here real fast. She just thinks it's fun and can't really see how dangerous it is, but the one she wants to get engaged to seems to be good. She said he will want to start learning and out of the three he is the one that has the highest potential to take her to the temple. Also, we gave her own triple combination yesterday and her reaction was priceless. I loved it!! She got so happy. (:

Tola is still doing well. She is just the cutest thing; reading, praying, and coming to church. We committed her to be baptized on the 11th of December. Sister Luke was pretty stoked. First one since she got here. We love her so much!!! Not much new there. Just trying to teach things super simply so she understands.

Friday night we got a little festive and carved... persimmons... haha. Cambodia doesn't have pumpkins like the ones we carve in America, so we got a little creative and it was so fun!!! It was really hard though... I gave up, but Sister Luke did really well. We just laughed and ate some good Halloween candy. Thanks mom!!!

Saturday-the car wash, or moto wash, since no one here really drives cars, of the year. We planned this car wash to try and get more people interested in our church and English class. It was a success. We washed over 300 motos (motorcycles) and got about 100 people who are interesting in learning more whether that is about English class or about Jesus. All in all it was a fun day of contacting, teaching, and getting wet. The closest thing to swimming we can do as missionaries and I enjoyed every second. (: It was so much fun, but I was way tired after!!! Hopefully we get some new investigators from it.

I had a really cool experience at church yesterday. They were getting ready to pass the bread and this little girl on the front row just screams "BREAD!!!" and runs right up to the person who was passing it and takes a handful. I laughed because it was adorable, but then as I kept pondering it during the sacrament, that is how we should all react when we start the sacrament (and just Sabbath day observance in general). Obviously we shouldn't scream, but we should be so excited to go to church and learn by the spirit and partake of the sacrament. We receive so much through the sacrament when we partake of it worthily. I love Sundays and the opportunity it gives me to ponder about my Savior and his atoning sacrifice. Also, this morning I was studying about the atonement. I've learned that if you study the meaning of words in English and Khmer then you get more out of it, so I opened up my Khmer dictionary and looked up thuen which is part of atonement in Khmer and it means to make equal, enough, whole, complete or to forgive someone. My mind was blown.... it helped the atonement take on a whole new meaning for me. A sacrifice that make us enough, makes us complete, and makes up for all that we lack. Beautiful. This gospel is so true. I love it with all my heart.

Oh, almost forgot. Sister Luke’s face has been weird for the past week... like her eyes and lips have been super dry and scaly and itchy. We’ve been working with Sister Christensen to try and figure it out and nothing seemed to be working. So this week she finally went to the doctor and found out she has hay fever... haha I didn't even know that was really a thing, but the meds he gave her seem to be working, so we are really happy about that.

That's all I’ve got for this week. Love you all and hope you have a very happy Halloween!!!!

Love,

Sister Loftus

Double D