Dear Family and Friends,
It’s SOOooo good to be back in Cambodia Town! Right on my
first day, after our studies, Elder Sturgell, Burbank and I went and contacted a
member referral. Her name is Sophy.
She's 30ish years old, pregnant and she has an 8 year old son named
Christian. They are amazing and truly prepared by God! The family that gave us
the referral has been working with them for some time now, so when we went over
for our first lesson, Sophy was more than happy to be baptized. She came to
church this week and she's fitting in great with all the members. She even came
over and ate with us at Sunra's last night and she wants to feed us sometime
too. We are so excited! She's been through a lot though, just like all the
Cambodians. For one, her husband died 7 months ago. It’s so sad. She is going to
have to have this baby without him. She's actually pretty close to her due date
on July 1st. She’d like
to get baptized before her baby comes, especially because the Cambodians have
this tradition where they can't get in the water for 40 days after they give
birth. No showers, baths, nothin'. (like the purification time in the
Bible) But she is golden and we're
confident we can help her make her date. The gospel is really going to bless her
so much!
Okay so then after that, we had a baptism! Elders Burbank
and Sturgell found this guy while they were tracking. He's just another prepared
blessing from God. Iit has just been two weeks and he’s already ready to be
baptized!! He has read up to Alma
53 in Cambodian. which is hard to do especially in such a short period of time.
He's really going to be a great addition to the ward! We need good solid
priesthood leadership in the Church!
Another highlight for me was seeing Sao! It was great to
see her. And she seemed really
happy to see me again too. Everyone seemed happy to see me again, and it made me
feel good.
My language skills seem to have definitely decreased. But
they're coming back quickly which is good. People made comments that they missed
my Cambodian skills, which also made me feel good. These people are just so
nice!
Okay running out of time here but real quick, I was
biking along the side of the road the other night. I had my lights on and
everything. In Long Beach there are always lots of cars parked on the side of
the road. So I'm going along and all of a sudden a car door swings open right in
front of me! I tried to swerve out of the way but my right shoulder caught the
edge of the door and I just ate it into the pavement. Lucky thing was, I was
hardly hurt at all. I just had some cuts and bruises but nothing serious or
limiting too much. My bike was okay, although it is currently in the shop
getting fixed. That thing has been through a lot these last two years!
Okay well now I gotta go. Love you all! I love this
gospel! I love this work.
Elder Hicken
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