President and Sister Christensen are on the left. This is Sam's group who are all being released. 

We are in Phnom Penh with Sam now and are about to embark on a whirlwind tour of the country so we can meet and visit all the people Sam has grown to love during his past two years here!

Well, here is Sam's final missionary email from Cambodia!  This is a bittersweet time for him (and all of us), but we are sooo excited to see him! Sam will be getting home from Cambodia May 30th, and he will give his homecoming report on Sunday, June 12th at 9:00 am at our church, located at 12950 S. 1300 W., Riverton, UT.  Many thanks to all of you for loving and supporting Sam for the past two years!

Date:  May 15, 2016 at 9:21 PM

Subject:  This is it, I guess…

I'm kind of starting to get a pit in my stomach. I don't have time to say now everything that has changed in 2 years. It hasn't really hit me, but this email session it is finally starting to. And I'm starting to feel really sad a little bit. I love you guys and am juiced to see you all again, but this has been my life for the past 2 years and we've poured everything into it that we have. I'm afraid I'll be a wreck when you guys get here. I've met some of the best people in the world. If anyone who reads this is even remotely thinking about going on a mission, DO IT! It'll be the best thing you ever do. See you guys on Thursday!

Love always

Elder Christensen

Sam sent the following email and photos on Sunday, May 1, 2016.  Sam's release date is May 19th! Peter and I are flying to Cambodia to meet him and we are so excited to see him!  We are going to spend about 10 days traveling with him around the country so he can introduce us to the people and areas he has grown to love during the past two years. :) 

Date:  May 2, 2016 at 2:21 AM

Subject:  Hey Fam

Hey you guys! I love you and am getting really close to seeing you. Asay and I realized this week that the work we (all of the mission are doing and have been doing) is so extremely inefficient and we're trying to find better ways to use our time. We hope to do this on a large scale for the whole mission so that we can be better and more effective. I met a Nigerian guy who insisted that the population of Nigeria was 15 billion.  Not million, billion--he was sure. That's a lot. 

This is our EQP getting animated in class trying to teach in English. He's a riot. Talk to you next week [skyping on Mother's Day]!

Sam and Elder Zierenberg with a Cambodian gentleman