From: Samuel Christensen <samuel.christensen@myldsmail.net>
Subject: I don't really like white people anymore
Date: May 31, 2015 11:59:21 PM MDT
Hey what's up,
This Saturday and Sunday were pretty cool because we had stake conference and we had Elder Woo come. He was super cool. His voice was awesome and he said some good stuff. It was good to see a lot of solid members in one place at the same time. One of the first things that he said on saturday when he got up was "Learn English. God's not going to call a Cambodian to be an area 70 unless he knows English." Probably true. He told them how there's 5 things in life that'll really make you rich. The 5 C's: Christ, Covenants, Church, Calling, and Charity. It was super interesting to listen to him speak.
I had a thought this week how I forget how truly tragic peoples' life circumstances here are. Because I see it all day everyday. But when we were at one guy's house and his neighbor who lives in the area next to his with 4 walls came over and talked to us he had a little daughter. She was happy and stuff like a little kid. But, man, she lives in a recycling plant, her dad collects garbage to recycle for a living, there's just so much missing from what we would see as reasonable living circumstances. Isn't there a long, technical word for the way that people are born into society? I can't think of it. I have forgotten lots of cool English words that I used to know. My vocabulary is constantly shrinking I think.
Are you having rainy season yet? How are things going with your new companion? How is Pu Pan? Are you getting used to your new area? Is your new bike any better than your other one? There's not much rain here yet. But it's pretty dang hot. We're still visiting Pu Pan and he's making progress, but not very fast. He doesn't do much to help himself get better. I feel a bit more comfortable in the area than before. My bike is bad. I think I patched the back tire 4 different times this week, and then it was a little bit disheartening when my front tire all of a sudden was flat yesterday and we had to dope each other on one bike while Myers held my back from behind. But I put some of the slime into the back tire and I think that'll fix it.
Hey if you want to see some pictures of me, go onto facebook to Rean English Class and look through the pictures. Mine are really popular and I don't know why. Probably my extreme beauty.
Those pictures on facebook are kind of cool. I wish there was an all-time photographer to get cool pictures because, sadly, so much of what we do everyday goes undocumented. I got chewed out by some guy with an English or Australian accent for contacting like that for English. He was bothered that it upset his flow of traffic. I was thinking "bro, you're driving here in Cambodia, what do you expect?" In the thousands of people that have driven by, he's the first one who had a problem. He was not very nice. Nor did he look very sanitary. But the next day when we saw him we waved at him and he waved back and I hope he felt kind of dumb for being a jerk to volunteers.
Those two little boys in the video are super cool. The whole family is members but none of them go, obey the laws, or really believe. But that little 13 year old kid takes care of his little 5 or so kids younger than him, makes food, cleans the house, does everything so his dad doesn't get mad at him, then rides his bike a few miles to church all by himself. Gangster.
They had 6 baptisms in my old branch of Battambang 2 on Saturday. I started teaching all of those people with Elder Kim. I really only feel connection to the family though. I'll forward the picture along too.
Have a good week, a good graduation, a safe plane ride, and enjoy the hot Hawaiian sun for me!
Now it's just me and Cubby who don't get to go to Hawaii.... He's good company to be in though.
Note: The video clip Sam sent shows some cute little Cambodian children trying to imitate a magic trick Sam does with the lid of a glue stick. :)
Another Note: The pictures below came from the Rean English Class facebook page.
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| Sam teaching an English class |
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| Above & below: Advertising free English classes |
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