Week 22 HAPPY KHMER NEW YEAR

As a mother I'm not sure where to begin tonight.  My heart is full of love for these people and the friendship and love they show my son.  And my heart breaks for the struggles of so many people in this world.  So much that people must endure.  Remember Penny in your prayers tonight.  Every picture he sends home has a child in it.  He told me tonight he understands why the Savior loved the little children so much.  

Love to you all!
Julene

This little boy his baby sister and both his parents have AIDS.  They have no money for treatment or medicine.  Both parents are active in Penny's branch.

By the way please this is really important to me. This is Somnang. He is the cutest kid ever and my favorite kid in the village. I seriously love him so much and he is really sick. I took this picture earlier this week and just found it. He is really sick now and I just I'm super scared for him so can you please keep him in your prayers. He needs it. I know the Lord will answer our prayers according to our faith. Thanks I love you all,

Elder Nhem

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Okay before I go into anything else I propose America does what Cambodia does and celebrate things for days. Weddings, funerals, holidays, you name it they go hard for days on end and have so much food and dancing and it is pretty cool in the regard. But for the work it really is hurting us. A lot of members and investigators when to their home provinces and this week we have had to be very creative in using our time wisely. We have had little success in meeting with them but much success finding some less-actives and lost members in our area. We've spent a lot of time searching for them and visiting them. It's just a hard time but it helps us lean on the Lord more than ever. So not too much exciting stuff in that regard. Oh wait one story is pretty dang cool. So we are teaching this new person in Preak Toal named Srei Niang. She is really starting to show strong interest so on Monday we planned to meet her and our recent convert Alene with her family. Little does Alene know I plan on having her teach the Plan of Salvation to help her review what she knows and to help Srei Niang learn more. So as the lesson starts I tell her she's teaching it and she gets super nervous so I decide to start out the lesson. Little by little I get her to teach without knowing it. I would ask a question about something and then she'd explain it. By the end of the lesson she was teaching the whole thing with another member that is her friend. Elder Cannon and I were sitting back just wondering how this was happening then something crazy happened, I hear the word baptism and my ears perk up. Next thing you know Alene is asking Srei Niang to get baptized and now we have another baptism planned for April 27th (: It is very interesting how the Lord helps us. That was a true blessing to me to see someone I was teaching all this just a month prior teaching it effectively and clearing herself. That helped me realize I really am doing what I've been sent here to do. That is invite all to come unto Christ. The other highlight of my week was general conference. Hearing the Lord's Prophet, Apostles, and other chosen servants speak was so inspiring! I felt the Spirit so strongly and received so much guidance and comfort. I think the one thing I learned most was how short this life is. I really loved the talk by Bishop Gary E. Stevenson. He shared a story about bobsled racing. How the competitors spend so many years preparing and training for the 4 minutes of competition. He compared that to our lives. We spend eternities preparing for this life and will have an eternity to reflect on it. Our "4 minutes" have already begun. What kinds of things do we want to accomplish? Where do we want to be at the end of the competition? I know I want to be at the top. After this life I want to proudly stand before my Heavenly Father and be embraced in His loving arms. I want to be pleased with my work here on Earth, with my choices, with who I am as a person. That talk really motivated me. I have a lot to do here and not as much time as I'd like so I need to work constantly. Never sitting idle always moving forward and progressing. And that is what I'm doing. I love this work. I love this life I've been given. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father.

Elder Spencer Paul Nhem

Still my all time favorite picture of Elder Phnom Penny

 He borrowed himself a new Yeah over there.
(Yeah means grandma in Khmer) 

Elder Nhem wanted to share this link 
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-02-002-the-other-prodigal?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014&lang=eng