Kien Svaay, broken doors, and mud puddles

Well it’s finally here and even though I knew it would be super crazy... it’s even crazier than I imagined. But it got really fun when we showed up. We got off the plane, did our visa stuff, and walked out and it’s just insanely hot, we were all in suits and long sleeve shirts and it was just insane. We took pictures and just hopped in the car to head to the mission home. The car ride was insane. The most insane thing I saw though was this scooter, these motorized scooters they all drive here, which would fit 2 people, maybe 3 if you're pushing it for American standards. This moto had 8 people on it. And one lady was holding a bucket... with a baby in it...... Insane.

I got assigned to Elder Nicoscia in Kien Svaay. It translates to fresh mango. It’s the most awesome area ever, it just east of the city of Phnom Penh right on the outskirts. The only thing that sucks about it is it’s like the most biking district.... on Saturday I biked like 30 kilos. It’s very sad to see how poor some of the people are, but it’s nice riding out there because it gets very country style and very beautiful. That’s a bonus about this area it’s also the most beautiful. The temples are super cool they look just like Buddhist temples out of a picture book. It’s cool too because this weekend is some ancestor holiday or something and all the temples are blasting music and all the people are pulling out their incense and what not.

So that Friday I got settled in and as we were leaving Elder Nico kind of opened the door handle and it kind of made a snapping noise. He went out and closed the door and couldn't open it. 1.5 hours later the landlord chiseled the door lock and I was free, so then we finally left, taught 1 lady, and came back. The lesson was just absolutely ridiculous; I didn't understand a single word. Saturday was a fun day too, it was super busy and we biked 30 kilos like I said, but we taught tons of lessons, and the best thing was we went out to this lady's house, which is about 5 feet wide and 6 feet long, and gave her a blessing, and she asked ME to do the blessing. Then asked me to give her daughter a blessing too cause they were super sick. Oh man that was crazy. Let's just say it was a little rough but it worked.

Because of the festival going on here there is always music playing here, that crazy old school music from all the temples (which are as common as churches in Provo) and it sounds exactly how you could imagine it. It’s cool because it always just makes me think wow, I’m in Cambodia. The food here is really amazing, as long as somebody who can cook does it; it also depends on the ingredients too. But of course they have this nasty stuff like pickled unripe mangos with chicken flavored salt stuff that you get in like ramen packets, its super nasty. No tarantula yet, I’m not going to do it because it’s against the rules and about 90% of the time you get super sick so I don’t think I’m going to be doing it any time soon. But they do sell these duck eggs where the duck has developed inside of it to where it’s like borderline hatching, super nasty, but you know you gotta do it sometimes

All the kids are funny though whenever they see us coming they say "barrang mook, barrang mook!" which means the white people are coming, white people are coming, and then when we pass they all scream "Hello!" and if you say hello back they all start busting up laughing, and if you don’t, they bust up laughing anyways, so there is no winning with that one.

Funny story this week, we were teaching lookpuu Lii. He kind of lives in a jungly area and it was somewhat flooded, and he was having us help him move some plants around for his "garden". which wasn't really a garden. Elder Nico was being super careful to not step in the mud, when all of a sudden he steps on the edge of a puddle, his ground gives out and he goes straight into muddy quicksand. By the time I stopped laughing about it he was already in the mud to his knees. Lookpuu Lii couldn't stop laughing either. So he went the rest of the day with muddy, super wet shoes and pants, he is such a good missionary and so good at the language.

One of the funniest things here though, kinda cool for me though, is when they don't know my name they call me Elder S?aat, or Elder Sanghaa. Which is Elder beautiful or Elder handsome. They always love my nose especially too. Haha it's super funny, I always ask them if they want to trade.

I love it here; our district is 4 Elders all under the same roof and it's super awesome. It's moments like this where I'm in a house with 2 little girls, sokh cia thaa (12) and srei naet (15), teaching them how to pray when I'm just like Cambodia is so awesome I can't believe I'm here. This country is insanely beautiful and hot, the people are the nicest people I have ever met before in my life. I love this gospel and I want to do everything I can to share it with these people. I know this is the true church of God. I know the book of Mormon is the word of God and testifies that Jesus is the Christ and He lives.