We are in the Tacoma East zone of the WA-TAC mission. To our
left (I guess that would be west-ish) is the other half of our stake, the
Tacoma West zone. West-er of that is Lakewood zone. And then Wester and a
little South-er of that is Lacey zone. As Cambodians, we're allowed anywhere
where we have a referral. But our main teaching area is the two Tacoma zones
and the Lakewood zone. Anywhere outside of that we can go, but we just have to
get permission from our mission president first.
In our zone is the Allenmore ward, which is the Samoan ward
for the whole mission (and beyond). They kinda have similar rules as us, except
their ward has been running for many years and so they already have active
members in every area that they would visit. We're generally pretty tight with
Allenmore, because they are in the most similar situation to ours (because they
have no boundaries, and can only teach those who are Samoan, instead of
teaching anyone who lives in their particular ward area). One of the Elders who
served in Allenmore got transferred to Lacey, and his first day there, he met
some guy at a bus stop and started talking to him. The guy didn't speak English
(this is very common), but because he was friends with us, the Elder knew to
ask him if he was Cambodian. The guy said yes, the Elder asked if he'd be
interested in learning about Jesus Christ, the guy said yes again, the Elder got
the guy's address and told him Cambodian speaking missionaries would come to
his door. In case you didn't catch on, that guy was Say, and we were those
Cambodian speaking missionaries.
Never before had we gotten a referral in the Lacey zone,
because the only missionaries who give us referrals are ones who served near us
and know to look out for Cambodians. Lacey zone is out of our usual tracting
area, so every time we went to teach Say, we had to call our president and get
permission first. The first time we met Say, we told him we probably only would
be able to come teach him once every 2 weeks or so. He was fine with that,
eagerly accepted a Book of Mormon, and prayed with us at the end of that visit.
We called him a week and a half later to set up a second appointment, and he
asked if he could go to church. We started calling around to all the wards in
Lacey to figure out whose boundaries he lived in, and we found that there was a
less active recent convert young Cambodian mother who'd been baptized a year
before in the Lacey 1st ward. So we talked to the Elders there, they arranged a
ride for Say, and we sat next to him and translated the meeting during 2 hours
of church. That first Sunday was in the beginning of January. He wore a tie and
button up shirt his very first time in a church, and then came every week since
until the day he was confirmed, which was more than 2 months later. He even
went to both sessions of stake conference, wearing a suit.
Our first lesson with him was in a Jack-in-the-Box close to
his house. Then we introduced him to the less active woman in the ward, Sawine,
and with her permission, started holding weekly lessons at her house. Every
Saturday we'd drive 35 minutes to her house, teach Say a lesson, give him a
pamphlet to read on his own later, and leave him with a commitment. Every
Sunday he came to church with a plastic bag holding the Book of Mormon and
bible we'd given him, as well as every pamphlet we'd ever left with him. The
bishop of the Lacey 1st ward tried to set up his ipad to the gospel principles
book for Say to use, but the App didn't have Cambodian as a language option. By
the next Sunday, the bishop had ordered 3 Cambodian gospel principle
books, one for Say, one for Sawine, and one to keep in the library. Then
Say started bringing his gospel principles book every Sunday too.
When we told him about the word of wisdom, Say said he'd
need at least 4 months to quit smoking and drinking coffee. He got a priesthood
blessing in church on Sunday and was completely off both only 5 days later.
He'd been free of both a week and a day when he was baptized on the 1st of
March.
I have a testimony that Say was able to be baptized because
he wanted to follow God so badly and had the faith necessary to keep every
commitment we threw at him. We accidentally taught him that the law of chastity
meant he wasn't allowed to create children, and he even agreed to that. Sawine
quickly asked us what the heck we were talking about (while her 3 children ran
around the room), and once she understood what we were trying to say, explained
to him that once he was married it was perfectly fine for him to create children
if he so chose. That's just funny because we're bad at Cambodian. But the point
is, Say was willing to do it. No matter what we asked, even if it was
ridiculous and incorrect, he was willing to follow because he knew that this is
God's true church on the earth, and so whatever he needed to give up to follow
God, he would do it. Say is one of the most prepared, amazing, inspiring people
I've ever met. I feel so blessed to have been entrusted with teaching him. And
so awestruck at the love that God has for each of us individually, that he knew
to send an Elder all the way to Lacey so that he could see Say at a bus stop
and send us the referral.
I've been in the WA-TAC 41 weeks, and the church is true
here too!
-Sister McQuivey
More photos from the mission blog:
-Sister McQuivey
More photos from the mission blog:
