June 27th, 2017 We did it!

Hello everyone!!

This week has been crazy. All of the new mission presidents have been training this week so all the missionaries have been eating in the new buildings. We have fast food every day and I would be lying if I said I haven't gained any weight :) I also hit my one month mark on the 24th! And exactly 4 weeks from today we leave for Cambodia! It's crazy how fast yet slow time is flying.

So today is the 173rd Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith, and David A. Bednar will be speaking at our devotional! I seriously could not be more excited. All of the 12 Apostles and members of the First Presidency have been on the MTC campus all week helping to train the new mission presidents, but I have unfortunately not run into any of them. I'm still hoping I will someday.

Some funny language things that happened this week:

1. We were in the middle of a lesson with one of our "investigators" and we asked him if he had eaten yet. He said he had eaten and said something about "laung phnom" which means to hike. I had learned that phrase the day before and I got so excited that I knew what he had said and in English (we are not supposed to speak English, only Khmer) I shouted "He went hiking!!!" The investigator just laughed at me and then we kept going on with the lesson. The next day, I thanked my other teacher for teaching me the phrase for hiking. The teacher that had played the investigator just kept laughing at me and told me that "laung phnom" was the end of a brand of meat they eat in Cambodia. I was SO MAD that he had let me be so proud of myself and he just LAUGHED at me without correcting me. It was humiliating but hilarious.

2. Since we got our new name tags a few weeks ago, we were all talking about how our last names translate and sound in Khmer. My last name sounds like Baah-vuud because they don't pronounce the sounds "sh" "f" or "r". My teacher told me that the romanized word "baah" means to touch, and the romanized word "vuud" means marker. So my name translates to Sister Touch Marker. Great. My teachers also told me that all the Cambodians will think its hilarious and will make fun of me and probably run up and touch me with markers. Also great. 

I hope these humiliating stories will brighten someone's day, because they made my whole district laugh for a long time :) Have a great week everyone!!

Sister Maile Bashford

Pictures: (Hopefully everyone can see these pictures, I got them off my drive)

1. 100% perfect cleaning check for our bedroom. We were pretty excited.

2. One month down!

3. Girls night to celebrate one month down, thanks mom for the games and treats!!

These pictures didn't come through.

On our way to Wyoming.  It was so hard knowing Maile was right below the Y on the mountain, but we couldn't stop.