We were away on vacation Sunday, June 7th, when Sam emailed us.  I didn't get his blog updated that week, but I'm now going to post the letter and pictures he sent that day.  Our questions/comments are in italics:

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

Subject: Hello From Hawaii

Date: June 8, 2015 12:23:49 AM MDT

Oh no, wait, that's you guys in Hawaii. 

Hello from Cambodia,

First of all, I've got to say that in this email place they have movies playing on a tv. Like new American movies that I've never seen. But the sound is down and the captions are in chinese, so I can't get much out of them. But as these movies that I've never seen before come on (Dawn of the planet of the apes, percy jackson movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hunger Games catching Fire, etc. etc.), I just can't help thinking: WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME? No just kidding, but seriously, I used to know all kinds of movies.

Oh well. Yeah it was a good, normal week. I enjoyed listening to the speaker yesterday in sacrament meeting telling everyone about how our parents have done the Atonement for us. So if I haven't said it before, thanks, mom and dad, for doing the Atonement for me.

You all seem to be having a good time in Hawaii. If we go again when I get back I'd rather just go to Kauai.

I've heard that the package [Sam's birthday package we sent him] is at the mission home, so I'll go pick it up in a little bit. You can stash the shirt [a Hawaiian shirt we bought for him while we were on vacation] until I get back.

Has your rainy season begun yet? Real rainy season hasn't started yet, but it rains a little bit here and the streets are beginning to get flooded when it does, so soon it'll be here. Rainy season is good because then i can get cool pictures that you all like to look at, but bad because then my feet are wet all day.

I was thinking yesterday at church how "Elder" kind of has a special culture here because every single person in the church here has learned with and had experiences with Elders. From the very first day. So "Elder" is not just said like a person, but as more of a time of life that all these people share in common. It takes on a figure greater than just being one or 2 people. Larger than life. 

Which leads me into what Elder Myers was saying last night about how our mission is like the movie El Dorado. I completely agree. These people worship the white people, and in the words of Tulio or whoever it is, says "They think we're Gods." When you guys get home you'll have to watch that movie and then you'll know how my mission feels like with two idiots running around and everyone thinks they're invincible and all-knowing and powerful and stuff. On the other hand, another missionary told me that all the white people that are here are exactly like the "projections" that are in dreams in Inception. Especially when they're in the trial dream and explaining about dream land. Because they avoid eye contact or give you really annoyed looks or stuff. You'll have to check that out too because it's true.

We had a mission leadership counsel on Tuesday, the Moons' final zone conference on Thursday. They were both good. President Moon has done incredible things for the church in Cambodia. You'll also be interested to hear that President Holland will officially be coming to our mission in August and we'll most likely be getting to hear from him in a special meeting. So get pumped!

We have a few good investigators that we're helping to work through some stuff right now, but they're truly good. I love that they care and that they're trying. And at church yesterday 2 new people randomly showed up and we got their information and we'll try to teach them. They seem good too. We always love new people to teach, cause if we don't then it's lame.

We had Om Hen come help us teach a guy this week. Om Hen is an 82 or so year old who is the president of the high council. Dad, you've talked about people being celestial. Well, this guy is truly celestial. When we got to his house he had a nice shirt and pants on, called us in so we could pray before we went, then he hopped on his bike and off we went. He's adorable. Helping missionaries isn't just for youth preparing for missions or young people, but if you guys can make free time, help the missionaries cause they need it. Well I don't know if they need it in America, but we need it here.

Crap, I'm about to verge onto devotional stuff again so endure for a sec. I wrote in my journal on June 6th that "I'm glad to be out here on my birthday. I wouldn't feel as fulfilled in life if I was just home eating cake and opening presents; rather, I get to try and help other people with their problems while sitting in their humble homes. So I'm glad with where I am and deep down I wouldn't rather be anywhere else." So feast on that.

I love and miss you all! Have a good vacation!!

“Punk kids that kept ramming into my bike.”

“The beauty in garbage land.”