Week 28: I'm a Father

Hello everyone! This past week we had transfers and some big changes were made! I left Phnom Penh and was sent to Battambang! It was pretty hard leaving my first area. I love the people there so much. From the missionaries, teaching friends, members, leaders, I love them all. A few tears were shed the night before I left, I won't lie. I will definitely go back to see all of them one day. Anyway, Battambang is actually where my mom and her family are originally from, so I am super excited to be here! It is such a huge blessing. Her old house isn't in my area, but it is in the area of my good friend Elder Platt so one of these p-days I plan on trying to go and find her old house! The old high school my aunt used to go to is actually right by my house and the church though, so that's super cool!

I am a father now. My posterity has begun. I am finishing training Elder Lang. He is a very interesting boy, but we're going to have a great time. He's a native Khmer from Phnom Penh and is about 6'4" and about 100 lbs. I am not going to lie when I found out I was training someone else, I was a little stressed because I literally just finished my own training not too long ago, but I know this will be a huge opportunity for me to learn a lot myself. Not only just Khmer, but learning to be better missionary as well. I came into an area with almost 40 investigators, because Elder Caldwell and my boy Elder Ellingson lit this place up. That also stressed me out a little bit too, but I am learning to trust in the Lord and my abilities as a missionary. I know that I will be okay and I will be able to help all these people as long as I take it one day at a time and put my trust in God. I have been asking myself a lot why am I training and why I have been trusted with such a big responsibility of this area, because I honestly wasn't sure if I could do it. But I've learned on my mission that the Lord does not give us challenges or obstacles we cannot handle. Each experience we have is specifically for us and will help us grow and progress in ways we could never imagine. So I'm hoping to learn a lot this transfer! I can't wait to get to know the people and this area more during my time here.

I want to end this email with one super special experience I had on my first day here in Battambang. So last p-day I was still in Phnom Penh, and I have an aunt visiting from America for a month so we got lunch and I told her I would be getting transferred this week, but didn't know where. So we weren't sure if I would see her again before she went back home. In Battambang there's this huge statue in the city and on each side of the street are two high schools (one of them is my aunt's old school). I did not know beforehand that it was my aunt's old school, but as we passed by the area in the morning, I literally got chills and was just thinking to myself, "I can't believe I am here right now." On the way back home from lunch we passed the statue again and a man called out to me and I turned around and it was my aunt's nephew (from her husband's side of the family)! Then he told me she was sitting in the car across the street, so I went over and got to see her again! I gave her a big hug and that's when she told me that the school across the street was her old high school. It was amazing. She had just gotten to Battambang that morning and was leaving the next day. It was perfect timing and I know the Lord placed her there in that moment so I could see her one last time. I felt His love in that moment so strongly. Remember God is in every detail of our lives. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Mendenhall

📸 All the photos:

Phnom Penh

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bgcnr25uJdQ1sYcY9

Join this new album for Battambang!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eH2QQ25DGxRj8cNH9

A sampling: