FIRST LETTER FROM CAMBODIA!

First things first!! This keyboard sucks, so if there are any typos it’s not my fault.  To start, my group almost got stuck in the LA airport for a bunch of reasons!  Long story short, we got everything figured out and had the lady who gives the green light for the airplane to leave. She escorted us through security and all the way to our gate. They held the plane for us! People know missionaries everywhere! The guy at security was singing... I hope they call me on a mission, so I can get stuck in the airport... it was funny.  We made it to Cambodia safe!!! Got to the mission home! My buddy Elder Elder is an AP so he got us from the airport! So sweet to see him again! My Trainer is another one of my friends Elder Conway!  He is the man and helps me a lot with everything! In the Mission home we had a meeting and it was mentioned that this is a baptizing mission. Not a plant the seed mission. The mission goal for this year is 900 baptisms and they are almost half way to that goal right now.  I love my mission! It’s so cool and unique! All the missionaries serving here are brothers! And there is a bunch of terms everyone uses. Like the trainers are called fathers and the greenies are called children, your first area is where you are born and when you go home from your mission they call it death.  It’s so fun! So anyway I’ve been assigned to be born in Tak Khmau! It’s like an hour south of Phnom Penh and its crazy! It’s half city and have outskirts which they call the kytes. Twice a week we have to ride 2 and a half hours on our bikes to visit some members in the kytes my bike breaks everytime. I have gotten it fixed three times already! Good thing it’s dirt cheap! I got new pedals new chain new crank arms new sprockets new basket and a new bell. For a grand total of like 7 bucks!!! That’s like 100 bucks in America for all that stuff!! Getting your clothes customized is a huge thing for the missionaries here! A fully custom suit... 30 bucks. Jared... Nike's are like 8 bucks- tons of em...  Anyway the typical house here is dirt floor wood and metal walls and the room is so small I can’t stand up straight in them and they have a table thing... it serves as the table, the bed and the chair all at once. These people have nothing and its crazy! My first few days I was in total culture shock! And at the end of the day when I would say my prayers I would just be like... what have I gotten myself into... Our house is pretty nice but still is NOTHING like home. I have to summarize my stories because I have to go to the market and get stuff and get back to the house. But in a nut shell, already I’ve seen tons of naked children, breastfeeding mothers, super drunken Cambodians, Rats, snakes, sick dogs. People cooking dogs! In fact the house across the street from us is a street vender for dogs. The other night in the middle of the night we were all woken up by someone pounding on the door of our house! My companion started talking to them and they yelled something back! My companion yells. They said our roof is on fire!!!! So we all jump up, grab water and get to the roof only to see it’s not our house, but it’s the dog meat house and the entire block. It was going up in flames! So we said a prayer then grabbed a chair and watched a bunch of Cambodians freak out and had a nice campout that night.  They next day there were tons of people going through the rubble and at the end of the day when we came back... everything was gone! They had picked apart the entire block by hand in one day!!! People are so innovative here and use everything! Even a burnt down city block!  There are still so many more stories! But that’s just one.  This mission is so cool because we use the members a ton! The whole focus is to get a member with us to every lesson! That way the member is strengthened and they can help fellowship the new investigators! I am trying to get to know the members as fast as I can! In the lessons I do a lot of listening just trying to understand these people! Young people speak fast and old people speak lazy! Right now it’s near impossible! Elder Conway helps to involve me by telling them, my comp. will now bare his testimony about this. So I know right what to do... I’m learning! I’ve already come so far so I don’t feel down very much.  Parents! I remember in our travels to other countries that when you use a debt or credit card they freeze it. Am I good to go to use my card here in Cambodia? Will you check on that this week and let me know! Thank you!  I was going to attach some photos but I don’t have time... I’ll do it next week! I hope all of you are doing well. Family I love you and am sad I can’t be at home with you for all the fun! Talk to you next week!