Elder Sam Christensen

Sam sent us the following email, video clips, & photos on Sunday, March 15, 2015. Our questions are in italics. I included Sam's descriptions of his videos (paragraphs 2-6) in the video link below.

From: Samuel Christensen <samuel.christensen@myldsmail.net>

Subject: Howdy

Date: March 16, 2015 12:12:43 AM MDT

I'm not going to write a lot today, but there are a bunch of videos for you to watch.

One is in a Muslim neighborhood that I've never been to. It was the most third-world I've felt since I've been here, just because no white people ever ride through there. That's the one with the fish. Later, there was a guy who was very willing to help me find a Cambodian wife if that was something I was looking for. I told him we'll have to wait and see.

The other is of a house that has been built over a drop off. Like, there are tons of houses that do this and it just doesn't seem like a good idea. Like I say in the video, I'm pretty sure if I jumped on the house platform the whole thing would just go down. That house is especially leaning, even though it's hard to tell.

Then there's one of a lady weaving on a loom.

There's a very third-world one of moto drivers running up to the bus to try and get passengers. This happens all the time and it's one of the things that just hits me and I'm like jeez, you don't see this in America. Usually I think there are even more people running after it and they're usually a bit more aggressive.

Then there are two of me playing music with a guy on the drums. That was just a random guy and when he saw us he's like "come play music with me." He didn't even ask if we knew how, he just saw we were white and assumed we did. I've never seen anyone with a keyboard, electric guitar and bass, and drums. This guy was the first. There power was out for a while, but when it came on we got to play a little bit. My repertoire of good songs to play to drums is pretty low. And you don't get to see it, but on the 180 degree angle, this house is just right in the middle of the jungle, so that was pretty funny.

We still don't have any new investigators. Every day is a grind when you're just riding around trying to find people to teach and nobody wants to learn. We spend a lot of hours on our bikes.

Our district pulled off a district conference this past week, which was pretty boring, but at least they made it happen. There was one activity that President Moon did on the Saturday night session where he was trying to teach them how to hold a proper ward council meeting. So he had a "mock" ward council with a different branch. He called up the branch president and then was like "ok, so who else should attend this meeting?" The counselors. "Are the counselors here? No. Ok. Who else?" The RS Pres."Is the rs pres.here? No? Any of her counselors here? No. Ok, who else?" The Elders Quorum President. "Is the EQP here? No? ok." Etc., etc. I was like huh, this mock ward council is seeming more and more like the real ward councils that they have.

When they had our ward go up, our EQP got a phone call right when he was in front of everyone. No problem, as the culture goes, just answer your phone and talk on it. I started laughing and I think President Moon was even laughing. But none of the people in attendance seemed to take any notice.

K to answer your questions. That’s cool that you got to go to Seam Reap! How long did it take you to travel there? And did you go by bus? It took us about 3 hours to get to Siem Reap, and we rented out a van so it was all 13 of us missionaries. So was Elder Gong just visiting there for the District Conference? You said he is your area authority—so where does he live? I think Elder Gong lives in Hong Kong, but I really don't know. When you took the pictures of all those bats in the tree last week, were you at a special bat sanctuary somewhere, or was that just some random place where a bunch of bats decided to congregate? That's just a random bat tree that they all get in. I don't know why, but they all just chill there. When you buy things from the markets there, do you barter on the price? Yeah, if the prices are bad you shouldn't take it for what they tell you. I like price tags, so much more forthright. Has is been a while since you’ve been to the mission home? I’m guessing you don’t go there on P-days when you’re stationed in Battambang. Does Pres. Moon travel around the mission to check on those who are a distance away from Phnom Penh? I haven't gotten to go to the mission home since I left the city for BB, which is too bad. I love the mission home. President Moon makes his way around Cambodia pretty well. He goes everywhere.

Keep the good hopes of finding new people to teach coming our way.

Thanks. I miss you guys.

Video Link to "Fish, Foundations, Bus Stop, Weaving, & Music in the Jungle":

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8nf32zf6l9qvkwd/Fish%2C%20Foundations%2C%20Bus%20Stop%2C%20Weaving%2C%20%26%20Music%20in%20the%20Jungle%20copy.mov?dl=0

Sam's email: samuelchristensen@myldsmail.net