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Transcript

Two Brothers Two is the continuing story of Sam and Luke and their two younger brothers, Tommy and Joseph, 5,000 days in the making. Watch Sam, Luke, Tommy, and Joseph negotiate the journey of adolescence on the road to young adulthood. While they don't have it all, they do have each other. And this is their story. You come on a mission to invite other people to come to Christ. I'm just not doing that yet. Since I've been here, I've just kind of been worn down by everything that's happened in the culture and everything. I just need a friend. All I've got is this video camera. So we go out, and we get our little rice with pork in it in the morning. I need this. I'm excited, like, "This is my rice. This is no one else's rice." I got off, and I just saw this old, old Cambodian man. His son's dirty on his face. And it's like, "I wonder what he ate last night? I wonder if he went to bed hungry last night?" I started to look around. I looked at all the Cambodians around me, and I started to look in their eyes. I'm like, "I wonder if he went to bed hungry last night? I wonder, for the last month, if he's gone to bed full one time?" When I was getting back on the bus, I just kneeled down and I gave him my rice. And it's at that point I think the Lord was showing me that me coming from America, it doesn't matter how hard I try. No matter what I do, I will not know what they feel like. But the Savior does. All right, here's Elder Nelson. He has just received his transfer call. I'm being called to the assistant to the president. Probably be translating for him.

I don't know what to think right now. I'm not the highest baptizer. I'm not the highest, best language speaker. It's game time, man. Game time right now. [MUSIC PLAYING] Today we are teaching English class. We had 70 kids there today. We teach 70 kids at our English class. And I remember Elder Nelson and I talking one day, and he's like, "You know what? I don't care if people laugh at me anymore. I don't care what people think about me. I'm going to do what it takes to learn the language." I started making weekly goals. Like, this week I'm going to learn how to pray really clear so that at least when they ask me to pray, they can understand. I felt like that was a really good sign of humility for Elder Nelson. I feel like right now, I'm starting to kind of hit that curve where things are starting to snap. I think it's starting to make sense. I remember just thinking like, "Oh, man, I feel so sorry for you." The first day, it's just like, "Oh." And now, it's honestly amazing. He can whip through a verse, and you know, it's no big deal. Could a normal person do that? No. I feel like, absolutely, it's been a part of his diligence, his dedication, and simply the power of God.

This week's been sweet. We got two, maybe three new families that we're teaching. I started talking to the KFC delivery guy. Sure, Sam, you went through one of the biggest earthquakes of our lifetime. But I am teaching the KFC delivery guy. I just really feel like I'm making Cambodia my home right now. I'm just really starting to love my investigators. And like my brother said before, when you start to love people, it really helps you teach them. It just changes everything. In the state of Cambodia, I am having my first baptism today. It was so cool. You could see the light. He was just so happy to be baptized. We found [INAUDIBLE]. I feel like he's the reason I came to [INAUDIBLE] is to meet [INAUDIBLE], to teach him, and then today to have the opportunity to baptize him. The good thing about Elder Nelson is, I've noticed that if there's something in front of him, if there's a task that he's told to do something, he'll do it. So we're translating a 14-page document with attorney language into Khmai. And pretty much, it's $40,000 on the line right now. This is the battle station. When the sunset hits this place, it's amazing. You can see the whole horizon just looks like fire, and the big clouds, and--it's the Garden of Eden. I don't know what to do with it. I want to just go running through these fields or something, or hug it, or just look at it. Check that out. I just made that. One of the things I've really, really developed since I've been here is a love for cooking food. Riding through waist-deep water--this is, like, my adventure. Coagulated pig blood, crickets, and all that stuff is just part of the job. My brother Joseph sent me a letter. That meant a lot to me. And my other little brother Tommy wrote me a letter, and they're both here. They're both posted up on my wall.

It's been a great year for me. I've loved my mission so far. There's nowhere else I'd rather be in the world than in Cambodia right now. And we looked over there, and we saw [INAUDIBLE]. And he was pushing the car. He was stuck in the mud. I definitely helped get them out of the ditch, and they all liked the American elder. He started learning with us. And the progression from rock bottom--just drunk, just, that's the only way he could deal with what he was going through--to one day, he shaved. And we were like, "Hey, you look really nice. You shaved." And the next day, combing his hair, putting a shirt on. He started wearing a collared shirt and sitting crisscross, really respectfully talking to us. I swear, man, he hasn't drunk in, like, three weeks. He came to church for the second time for all three hours, super happy. To start loving his children, to start loving his wife, to start leading a family, and to eventually be baptized. I saw him yesterday, and during the closing prayer, he started out and he was just like, "Dear Heavenly Father," he said, "thanks for Elder Nelson for coming and teaching me and helping change my life." I've put in a lot of work in this area, and sometimes I feel like none of it went anywhere. But when [INAUDIBLE] said that closing prayer, and I thought about how far he'd come, who he is now, and who he's becoming, who he will be--I felt like I did my job here.

I feel like my whole mission, sometimes, my light personality, or being lighthearted or keeping the mood light, was kind of looked down upon. And so, but as I was with President Moon, he kind of encouraged it. He kind of let me--he's like, "I want you to be my assistant because you're Elder Nelson, not because you're somebody else." I remember I just left then, like, "You know what? It is OK to be like that." I feel like just in the last year, I've really found myself. I feel like I've found out who I am. I feel like I can be confident in who I'm becoming and who I want to be. And then before, I always felt like I was trying to be the big mean guy. I was trying to be like big mean Luke, playing football. It just wasn't really me. You're not perfect. I'm not perfect. The most perfect man in the world, he's not even perfect. We all need forgiveness. The thing that can keep you going is when you put your head down on the pillow at night, you know you did everything for the Savior that day. I think that when you start feeling that love, that Christlike love, that's when your mission's going to be more meaningful to you. I've been an obedient missionary for two years. I've helped a lot of people. I just really miss my brothers. I'm just really excited to hang out with Sam and Tommy and Joseph. My new plan is, I'm going to go back and I'm just going to be myself. [MUSIC PLAYING]

So Sam, you've been back from the mission how long? About three months. On the mission, everything's taken care of--just focus on the people that I taught, and it was really fulfilling. The things I'm working for now are less significant than the things I was working for back then. It's weird finding how the new you fits in the old world. When you talk about how the things you did on your mission seemed so much more important than the things you're doing now--one of those things involved a kid named Luciano. Tell me where you were when you heard the news about Luciano. I remember exactly where I was when I heard about it. I was on the way to a meeting when I got a call that Luciano had been in an accident. His leg and arm had been amputated. Probably I have the best chance of anyone to help Luciano. I can be a catalyst for things on a scale that was never even possible on the mission. I can do bigger things. This is what he needs to have a functional life, and we just need to figure out how to get there.

Two Brothers Two: Mission Accomplished - Episode 8

Description
In this episode, 20-year-old Luke is finally hitting his stride in Cambodia, where he is serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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