What does a black eye has to do with Repentant?

 

A week ago, Tuesday, I was doing some yoga stretching exercises in the morning, I thought to myself, what a great day today will be because I am active and exercising.  Today will be a good day!  But things changed in a seconds!

I had gotten up early and wanted to make a vegetable salad to bring the the office for lunch,  I put some peanuts in a pan, added some salt and water and have them in a slow broil.  As I was almost done with my 35 mins stretching (following a youtube video), I heard this little crackling noise, telling me that the pot I have in the stove is almost dried.  I got up quickly, lost my balance!  As I tried to recover, I stepped on a rug by the front door, the rug slipped and I continue to loss my balance forward until my front met the back of the dinning room wood chair, and my right hand pushed the table forward.  I did not fall to the ground; I was able to stay upright the whole time after my head and hand hit the chair and table.  I was in shot!  Ted came running out of the bedroom to see what was going on, his first comment was "You've gotten a goose egg in your forehead!"  I actually looked okay for the first 3 days but then the bruising started showing up.  By Sunday, I have gotten this big bruise on the right side of my face.  So needless to say, I have to do heavy concealer on the right side of my face.  Today, I still have a big black eye but you can see it looks semi okay!

So what does a black eye has to do with Repentant?

We all made mistakes in our life; some are intentional, some just happened because of  ignorant, some are made when we thought we were doing what is right and some just plain stupid mistakes that  happened because we are human!  We don't plan on making mistakes or set out to do wrong; it just happens! 

This is the reason why I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Because of His atonement, we can change and improve through honestly repenting what we did wrong.  The process is one that is both painful and beautiful!  Allow me to do an analogy:  The bump on my head after losing my balance, it can be compared to sin, mistake or a wrong choice in life that brought on a scar and bleeding underneath the skull, I can conceal it or hide it, eventually the false will show and the burden become evident just as the bruising and black eye started to show.  It brought pain, but repentant is like the healing that takes place; I iced it and applied cream which all help speed us the healing process: the swelling decreases, bruising moves downward, and began to fade as blood is reabsorbed by our magnificent body system which is a gift from God.  When it heals, it is as if no injury has even been there.  And I look forward in a few days, I will be back to my normal self again.

President Russell M Nelson said in his Conference talked titled, "We can do Better and be Better", he said, "Too many people consider repentance as punishment—something to be avoided except in the most serious circumstances. ... when Jesus asks you and me to “repent,” He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies.  Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I am so thankful it takes me getting a black eye to understand the wonderful gift that Christ had given us, that is through Him, we can CHANGE; change to do better and BE BETTER!

Here is the before picture:

Cambodia Election 2022

 Today was the day before Cambodia’s June 5 commune elections and we were surprise how many people showed up for the election since the current prime minister, Hun Sen, has been in office since 1985.  It was a known fact that his party, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), will win but it is wonderful to see people still come out to exercise their voting right.  To help encourage people to vote, they are given a day off in the office so everyone can travel out to their home province to vote.  We were unluckily got caught in the traffic jam and had to detour to some off road in order to get to a baby shower for one of the sister in the International branch.  It was a wonderful baby shower and we enjoyed a nice 60 mins foot massage afterward.

Not that I am interested in the result of this election but from the news, the Cambodian People's Party won 72% of the popular vote, 1,648 commune chiefs, and more than 9,000 commune councillors. The resurgent Candlelight Party, a faction of the disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party in 2017, won 21% of the popular vote, and 4 commune chiefs. I hope whoever continue to rule in Cambodia will put the people first. There are so many poverty here and the rich just keep getting richer and it takes a lot for the poor people to get ahead.  This is the reason why I am so thankful for what the Church does here in Cambodia.  The projects we are involved in are to lift people, to make their lives better, to improve their health care, to train doctors to be better so they can provide decent health services to those that need the service.  It will take a righteous government and a honest leader to make Cambodia better!