The Subject Line Is the Hardest Part

Well, it's official! The transfer is imminent, and things are about to be ALLL mixed up 'cause of it. The whole Kimberly Stake is in fact moving into an entirely different Zone, so it was necessary to find a new place to have the Zone Leader area go. As I though, it'll be moved to Filer. HOWEVER, unlike what I expected, I will not be going there with Elder Brock. I'm being transferred to smack dab in the middle of Twin Falls! The big league! The real deal! The holy land! SO hey, that should be fun. I've been moving around so much recently though that transfers are like no big deal at this point. So I suppose it's just time to move on! Bring it, Twin. Show me what you're made of.

This was a good week! It was mainly filled with prepping for the big change. Ya see, all of our ward mission leaders are new, so we've been working like mad to make sure that everything's good to go so that nobody slips through the cracks with the whitewash. What stress. We also had a big meeting this week about talking to everyone in our path, so Elder Brock and I made a pact (a pinky swear, no less) that we would do just that! So we took a solid hour and a half the other day to just walk around and talk to a billion people that we ran into.

Man, that is what missionary work is all about! People aren't out and about very much in Idaho, so we don't have many of those stand-in-the-town-center-and-talk-to-the-millions-of-people-that-pass-by experiences, but it was a beautiful day and there were people all over the place, so it was real nice to just walk around and bug people! It is pretty funny how bugged people get sometimes, but then other times people are just so willing to talk and listen. We talked to this Christian dude who said he used to talk to missionaries but he eventually had them removed from his property for trespassing. He wasn't very nice. But it's all good. That's life. We then walked up to this group of teenage kids on BMX bikes and started kicking it with them for a bit. They said they were chill with Jesus so we talked about Him and shared a scripture and it was very chill. Good times.

My brain is turning to mush so I need to wrap this up. Basically I love my mission 'cause I get to tell people about the most important message in the whole entire universe, and I grow to love these people because I actually want them to understand it. If I don't let them know what's up, that's on me! Oh dang! Anyway, I hope you all have a gorgeous fantastic splendid beautiful week!

Elder Slavens

Mah peeps

 And I don't even walk that much.

Meetings, blah.

Cambodia's People Party

Well, hello everyone.

Yes. I have made it. And I think I am going to die.

Cambodia is insane. Let me start from the beginning.

We left the MTC on Tuesday and flew for like a million hours to get here. The Salt Lake Airpot had no Asians, and then a couple of Asian people flew to LA, and then every one flying to Hong Kong was Asian, and then flying to Cambodia every one was Cambodian. I sat next to an old Cambodian lady on the plane and told her I needed help reading the Book of Mormon and just had her read it to me hahahah.

When we got to Cambodia, MY GOSH was it just cray cray!!! Like trees everywhere. Chickens everywhere. English nowhere. I'm learning fast.

We spent our first hour here just walking the streets and talking to people. I was crying on the inside. IT'S SO FUN HARDLY KNOWING ANYTHING!!! When we were allowed to go to bed, I fell STRAIGHT asleep because of jet lag. And then I had a dream. I dreamed I was going to Battambang, South, which is the name of a province in Cambodia.

AND IT HAPPENED!!! There is no such thing as Battambang, South, but that is because there are only 6 missionaries in this tiny little province. I thought for sure I was going to serve in the big main city of Phenom Penh. But NOPE! My trainer companion is Elder Elieson. He is SO COOL!!! We get along great! He loves Les Mis, so when we sing it, he takes Eponine while I take Marius. We had a long 6 hour bus ride ahead of us, so we set off. The bus had karaoke and crazy Thai action movies. So that felt like a dream.

The next couple of days have been crazy. We bike all over in the jungle on dirt roads. There are animals and bugs everywhere. Everyone is SO NICE and love Americans! And I love them!!! I make them laugh because I'm super dumb. The old ladies ESPECIALLY love me. I'm actually a little afraid. I don't want them to take me. The members love to help the missionaries here. There are 2 little boys who bike around with us and help us teach lessons. I really wish I could talk to them better.

Church on Sunday was the best. Like seriously, THE BEST. The power went out like 100 times. No one wore shoes. Babies just crawl around and everyone just talks to each other. People just talk on the phone during sacrament. AND IT IS SO AWESOME!!!! Even though it is crazy hectic here, I still feel like I have Christ as a rock for me (and I need it). You guys, helping people is the best. I'm gonna put some pictures, and I hope you have wonderful weeks. I love serving. I hope you all can see the blessings you all have in your lives, because WE ALL have blessings in our lives!

BE SAFE!!!!!

PS They don't have toilet paper in Cambodia. Only bidets. 

​Long live the provo MTC 

My dope new companion. Everything about him reminds me of me when I was cool.

​Just everything is so great! 

A million kitties with my favorite little kid 

​Average day of swag 

​How people live here

I've eaten the orange Thruan stuff everyday so far

​My housy house.

​The road that leads to the market right outside my housy house.

Elder Slavens arrives in Cambodia

Dear Brother & Sister Slavens,

We are excited to welcome your son to the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission!  He arrived safely here on Thursday after their long flight and travel.  They had an opportunity to do some prosleyting Thursday and try out their language skills, and then we orientation with them at the mission home.  They slept at the mission home Thursday night.  Friday morning we had several hours of training, and assignments with their new trainer and companion, and a lunch together, after which we sent them off to their assigned areas.  Hopefully you have received a short e-mail from them letting you know they are here safe.

We are so grateful for your sacrifice in letting your son serve and know it will be a great blessing to him and to your entire family.  We will do our very best to keep him safe and well.  If you have ever have any concerns or questions please know that you can always contact us using the information below.  Packages and letters can also be sent to the address below.  We encourage our missionaries to send you an e-mail each Monday, their preparation day.  Thank you for sharing your wonderful son with us!

Best gospel wishes,

President David C. Moon & Sister Kathryn T. Moon

David C. Moon

President, Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission

House 2B Street 222

Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia

YOLO SWAG

Hey mom and dad and Trenton and Jackson and Chancellor!

So I was given permission to email you just to let you know that I made it to Cambodia safe and sound! AND IT IS AMAZING!!!!! Remember when we came here on vacation? This is basically vacation but for 2 years. Except I also work really really hard. Cambodian is still hard, but I'm not afraid at all. I know I'll get it.

I love you guys! Can't wait for my email on Monday! PS Sorry I didn't ever use my call card to call in the airport. Time flew. Almost like me in an airplane. I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M HERE!!!! It's so cool, you guys. I love you and I love churchy things!

See you on Monday! 

Dallin's layover at LAX

We decided to take a spontaneous 6 hour trip to LAX to meet Dallin for his layover on his way to Cambodia.  ‪#‎DALLinCAMBODIA‬  It was awesome!  It was a little crazy and fearful that we may miss him altogether!  We landed and rushed over to his terminal.  After a long what seemed like tour of the airport we made it to his gate!  We made it with about 10 minutes to spare. This is what happened.

It was AWESOME!  It was a total surprise. We said our hellos then we walked them to the international terminal.  All the other missionaries wanted to get to a phone to call their parents and we couldn't go through security so we said our goodbyes there.  It was so fun to see Elder Dallin even if it was only for an hour.  It was nice meeting all his new missionary friends putting faces to names.  They were happy talking to strangers and telling them about their mission.  Going was totally worth it!

I'm as free as a Genie!!!

Well... almost 

I HAVE ONE DAY MOOOOOREEEEE IN THE MTC, PEOPLE!!!!  WOO HOOO!!! 

     

     Ok, now stop celebrating. We have a lot of business to get to. I have a lot to tell you. Well, at least I THINK I do. It really has been weird because Everyone has been saying the MTC flies by, but I feel like I've been here for my whole life. I'm pretty ready to go, except for the part where when I go, I have to speak fluent Cambodian, and I'm not even close. Memorizing words is hard for me. I've been trying to make this week my best when it comes to working hard, because i know that is what I am supposed to do. 

    

     We had something called "in-field orientation", which is basically supposed to get us ready to be REAL missionaries. The most I got out of the day was when I saw a picture of some eggs and took a selfie. ROFL JK I really did learn a lot. Egg selfie to come later. 

     

     Also, the bestest bestest part of my week was when we met someone named Leah. So, I never knew this, but there are REAL Investigators of the church who come to the MTC, and me and a couple other missionaries have been teaching Leah. At first, she wasn't really getting a lot out of what we were teaching her. I thought it might be a waste of our limited time at the MTC, but then she played us a song on her guitar that basically just told us how thankful she was for us helping her and it made me realize how much missionaries help people. It was TOO swag! I love Leah. I can't wait to have COPIOUS amounts of people I can help in Cambodia. 

     

     I hope everyone is doing well! My week is gonna be a WEIRD one! I'm flying to Hong Kong tomorrow night, and then to Cambodia from there! So I'll let everyone know my new address, because I KNOW y'all are gonna want to be writing me letters that will probably never make it to me! Enjoy TV and movies everyone, because I miss them every day! But it's worth it because I love what I'm doing! Be ready for the sweetest email ever next week! 

BE THE SWAGGIEST YOU CAN BE!!! Tootles 

Elder Slavens 

Silly Forgetful Elder Slavens

Wow I totally missed sending out an email last week! Whoopsies! That's what happens when you're dumb like me sometimes.

Actually something really great happened last week! We had the miracle/blessing of seeing one of our investigators baptized! His name's Martin and he's on fire. He actually just recently moved to Kimberly from a more western part of the mission and was being taught by the Elders over there and was like straight up ready to go when he got here. Pretty cool stuff! Whadda guy. So we petty much just tied it all off and finished the lessons. But he's doing great and all that good stuff.

We had a cool big meeting this past week where all the leaders of the mission (District Leaders, Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders and trainers) got together and were taught how to be a leader and do it the Lord's way. It was really cool to discuss all the different ways the Savior led and how we can emulate Him. I'm still pretty awful, that's for sure, but hey, I'm definitely working at it and getting better!

Man, there is a lot of chill stuff happening in our area. Since all of the crazy ward changes and stuff things have been rough and our teaching pool small, but all of our ward mission leaders are called and they're PUMPED like yolked and souped up and it's the best. They're so excited to get things moving and we're expecting big things soon. Too bad Elder Brock and I are leaving.

WHAT?? I'M LEAVING?? Yeah, probably. It's only been one transfer, I know, but our whole stake is more likely than not to get moved into another zone this transfer, and we, being the zone leaders, need to be moved into another area. So if that all goes according to President Curtis' current plan, Elder Brock and I'll be packing up our bags and moving out this next week. To Filer, Idaho, most likely. Which is funny, because it's the town RIGHT next to Buhl, my first area! So I suppose it's only fitting that my (probably) last area is in that spot. Kinda cute, huh?

So yeah, that's my life right now. I guess we'll see where that all goes. More info to come! STAY TUNED 'CAUSE I KNOW YOU'RE SO INTERESTED. Love you all muah peace out!

Elder Slavens