Hello!
So Tuesday morning we went over to our bishop's house to help him move! It was a very long morning and they used a truck with a crane attached to it in order to lift all their heavy furniture from the third floor. Then they fed us lunch and that was super yummy! Following that we had district meeting and we got a little distracted with the fruit and there are pictures.
On Wednesday we taught Khmer script to a 12 year old boy and a 30 year old man. It must have looked very interesting to the neighbors to have two white men teaching two Khmer people how to read their own language because they all joined in and started listening. They were actually quite shocked at how much we understood of their script and wanted to study with us despite them knowing how to read already. It was fun. And then later that night we taught English at the church.
On Thursday we went to the house of a 10 year old recent convert. After teaching him about the plan of salvation again we asked if he had any questions. He said yes, why do people like to sin so much? That one hit me by surprise and I told him I don't know. Maybe its because they don't know they are children of the most High. That night I also started an exchange with A district leader in my Zone named Elder Myers. He's a great missionary! On exchange I started to feel sick and woke up with a fever but since the day kept moving forward I did too. As we left the house Elder Myers rolls around the corner to slam into a turning moto. It was really the guy on the moto's fault but he was hollering at us telling us we had to pay for the tiny scratch on his moto. Some army women rolled up as well as a large crowd of people and I explained the story and she told the guy, "I wreck into people all the time and my moto is fine, its not a big deal so go home." That was pretty cool hahah. Then we had to cross this massive bridge 4 times that day to go back and forth from the other side of his area. That didn't make me feel the greatest but it definitely made me appreciate sitting down a lot more. That day we also were contacting when a man walks up to us speaking English and asking us if we were Mormons. He told us he was a baptist and he studied the King James Version of the bible for three years. He said he thought it was strange that we have another bible and wants to know why. He said, "I'm not God man and I'm scared. I wanna go to heaven so I don't wanna be wrong. I want you to come and teach me from your other Bible." Well we accepted. I was sure he was about to Bible Bash me but he is actually an honest seeker of truth! It was a great experience.
Every day we have things that must be done. We must eat, sleep, drink water, breathe, and blink to name a few. Then there are things that also need to be done so that these essentials may be fulfilled. We must work and provide for our family, we must prepare our food, we often need to learn, we need to relax. There are many things to be done every day. Some things, however, take precedence in our life over others. If you are extremely thirsty and hungry at the same time I imagine you will drink water first and then eat after. If you wake up late for work feeling exhausted I imagine you would forfeit those last snoozes and go to work. However if sleep were more important than work you would likely sleep and miss work. This decision, however, will have negative effects on your job. With each decision we make we are sacrificing a lesser or unimportant decision. Its what we call having priorities. I have met hundreds of people who say they would like to go to church, they would like to read their scriptures, or they would like to pray but.... They are just too busy. Busy? Doing what? Maybe you are busy providing for your family, maybe you are busy going to a wedding, maybe you are busy going to play with your friends. All these things could be good worthy pursuits, but where is your priority? Before we came on earth, in the per-mortal realm with our Heavenly Father, we understood clearly that the goal of this life is to prepare to meet God again and be worthy to inherit a place in His kingdom. On coming to earth we understood that we would have many things that would be necessary to do to sustain our flesh. Yet we still had hope that we would cling to that overarching purpose of life. To prepare to meet God. With that perspective, I find that many are too busy to go to work, to busy to cook food, to busy to go to that party. Why? Because they are going to church. Because more important to them is their relationship with the God who created all things and has all power. Is Our Father in Heaven more important than worldly pursuits? The answer is unequivocally yes. When we put other things before our God we are practicing Idolatry. We are telling Heavenly Father, in essence, that we do not trust him to give us blessings when we do the things he asks of us. We do not trust him to help us provide for our family when we stop workingon Sunday. We show him that our Faith is not in the Lord, but in the Arm of Flesh. Yes, there are things that must be done to stay alive. But The Lord God will not leave us desolate when we keep his commandments and HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE [HIM]. Let us prioritize our lives, our daily schedules, and activities. Let us put God first and let all other things fall into place. Because He has never, nor will He ever lie to us. And he has promised that when we are obedient to Him in every facet of our lives then we will prosper in the Land. Because we must merit God's blessings by obedience, or we do not obtain them. I testify to you that when God is the first priority in your life then you will meet every challenge you face as did the sons of Helaman, In the strength of the Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
-Elder Lyle R. Brewer
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