Elder Jeffrey Clinton Rogers
MTC Mailbox #156
CAM-PPEN 0317
2005 North 900 East
Provo, Utah 84604-1793
Letter #7 2/21/98
Dear Family,
How are all of you? Thanks so much for all your letters and support!
I really enjoyed the Mrs. Field’s cookies. They were really good.
Another week has gone by! ? It is crazy how fast the time goes flying by. I guess it is because so much happens in just one day. ( I probably say this in every letter but it is true)
Elder Hoare ( said like whore) and I went to choir practice on Sunday and Tuesday and sang with the MTC choir in the Tuesday night devotional. We sang in the tenor section and it was fun. I’m not sure we will do it again though just because we love the free time on Sundays too much. We just wanted to say that we did sing with the choir. We sang “ Beautiful Savior” It starts slow and quiet and then ends with power, it was good. Guess who the speaker was on Tuesday Night? Elder John Carmack. He talked about the Book of Mormon, and about the History of the Book coming from Joseph to us. He showed a copy of the Book from the original printing that is owned by the church. I went up and talked with him afterwards. I shook his hand and asked him if he remembered that I had talked to him on the phone. ( this is cousin John Carmack) He said yes and that I would love the people because they were humble and pure in heart.
This coming week is culture week. Each day in each class the teachers are going to wear some traditional clothes, and then on Saturday the 28th, we will have our culture night.
We have also got a Cambodian rug, more like a big mat made of the beach stuff. It is like the mats we take to the beach. Except big patterns on it. We take our shoes off and then have our gospel discussions and scripture reading at the beginning of class on the mat and practice sitting like the Khmae people would. It is difficult for me, and the others as we are not used to sitting Indian style or completely on our knees. Also it is bad to show the bottom of your feet. I’ll try to get some good pictures at the culture night.
I had a good experience on last Sunday. We went to our gospel study class after the Sunday Fireside, and listened to a good lesson from a “BYU Education Week” teacher. She taught about the 3 fold mission of the church and then at the end made a great promise. She said that if we would wait for a few minutes after the prayer and just be quiet we would feel the spirit. It just so happened that I had already been asked to give the prayer. After I finished the prayer, I opened my eyes and stepped about 2 steps away from the pulpit. There was about 40- 50 missionaries and they all just kept quiet with their heads down. I just stopped it was really quiet and powerful. Sister Murdoch then identified the spirit and gave testimony again. It was really neat. Talk about teaching with the spirit!!
I learned a fun Cambodian kids song this week called “Sau Rii Kau Kaev” Maybe I can teach it to you . We had a lot of fun with it this week.
Thanks again for all the letters!! I really look forward to the letter from the fam.
I like to read the Book of Mormon. I read it everyday from 7:30-8:00a.m. The other morning I spent the whole ½ hour on Ether 12 . What a great chapter!! I was surprised. It is like a Book of Mormon version of Hebrews 11. I had never realized this before. I am really trying hard to get ready spiritually and have a strong testimony to share with the menuh khmae (Cambodians) The “nearer clearer” doctrine is like the refiners fire. The closer we try to become the clearer we see the plan, and the clearer we see into ourselves. I’m beginning to realize how important obedience is and I have caught a glimpse of this work and plan that Heavenly Father is carrying out. It is still hard to think about all of this and then remember the time I wasted and the dumb things I did in high school. I never realized how important and great the gospel is. I have been greatly blessed and taken the gospel for granted. I also realize that once you’ve served your mission that nothing changes. It is a lifetime of service and following the plan of our Heavenly Father. 2 Nephi 31:19-20 .
The light times or maybe funny things happen during meals. It is a break from class and food is eaten just because it is there. Some Elders just go down on it, the full banquet style meal. I get one full plate and then every now and then go after a dessert. Sometimes on Sunday they have grasshopper pie. For breakfast I either have French toast or Life cereal. We have all kinds of candy. I sure enjoy a good cookie though.
This week I also learned how to greet someone and ask the people if they would like the missionaries. I learned how to ask the question in Hmong, Laos, Vietnamese, and Thai. Thai is very similar to Khmae. This is so if I knock on the door and they don’t know Khmae, I can attempt to find out their language of choice. Vietnamese is real hard. I do not like the tones. It is like singing.
Sunday--- Elder Hoare and I went for a walk with our umbrellas in the rain. We went all the way up the temple and back. It was fun and good training for Cambodia.
Thanks again for all your love and support!! I also appreciate your prayers for me. We as missionaries also pray for our families.