Sam sent us the following email, photos, and video clips on Sunday, March 1, 2015.  Our questions to Sam appear in italics.

Hello Mother, Father, everybody,

It was interesting to hear what kinds of foods you generally eat.  Are your eggs just chicken eggs, or have you branched out to eggs from ducks or other types of fowl?  I just get chicken eggs. Question: our fridge really does not keep anything cold. Is that a problem to put eggs in there? Like will they go bad or is that fine. If I wanted to I could get things where they eat little baby ducks out of eggs. Like the little fetus or something. But that's never appealed to me. I really haven't eaten anything that weird here, just because I usually steer clear of it. If I wanted to, I could eat weird stuff.

Do you ever get a chance to play a piano? My piano skills are deteriorated enough that it'll take a fair amount of practicing to get them back--as has my critical thinking ability. I think on such a superficial level now that if anyone asks questions that are somewhat deep, I just draw blanks. I'm not sure what that stems from, but it's probably from just having to teach things so simply and basic that I've lost the ability to think deeply about stuff. I'm not even joking here....

Is it quiet at night when you go to sleep? Um, quiet is relative. It's more quiet than it is in the day, but since we're right next to the road there's still cars and motos that will go by really loudly. But usually by the time I get in bed to sleep it's nothing that's going to keep me awake.

Do you ever bake food, or do you mainly cook on a stove top? Elder Cook bakes food. I don't. I'm just not a very talented cook, so mostly I don't even try. I don't deviate much from the rice, eggs, noodles, bread, water combo. But I have gotten 2.50 banana bread that is a pretty nice bit of heaven.

Do you ever listen to any music?  Do you ever have a chance to sing?  Do you ever sing when you teach lessons?  Some of the other guys have music on iPods and I listen to that. Like Cook has lots of Disney songs and stuff, so I'm free to sing to those. And there's a piano guys CD that we used to listen to a lot. I never sing when I teach lessons. 

Will Elder Yorgason be going home after this transfer, or will he have one more?  Are you still the district leader? Yorgason has 2 and a half transfers left. I'm still the district leader, and they added a new companionship to our district at the start of this transfer. It's for one of the new areas that they just opened up a few months ago. So that's cool that I get to check up on their status everyday. How are your English classes going?  Do you ever use the Gallop book we sent you at Christmas?  English class attendance has taken a nose-dive and we're not positive why yet. I haven't used the book yet, but in the near future I will.

So probably the most interesting thing that happened for me this week was talking to white, Christian Americans about the Bible. On Thursday we ran into two guys from America who teach the Bible in English here or something. The one guy looked like Tim Lincecum and was wearing a Giants hat backwards. He's like "hey are you Mormons?" They knew a lot about the Bible and they love using the different translations and looking at Paul's letters in context and all kinds of Bible stuff. We talked to them for a while, then as we were getting up to go I asked them what denomination they were, and the main guy kinda tilted his head back to the ceiling and goes "ahh, ya know, at this point I don't even really know anymore. I...probably find myself between Calvinism" and something else. That guy literally belongs to the church of Jamie and Chris (that's their names). Like they talked about how such smart people translated the Bible ("smarter than all of us"), and how that makes it an accurate translation, but yet they leave the interpretation up to themselves. It was nice to talk to intelligent, God-fearing people though...

...Which leads into the next day when we were eating at another American place, just Elder Cook and me in the store. Then a whole truck-full of white people pull up and we're like ok we gotta get outta here. But we were waiting for food, so two white guys came over and cornered us. They're both from America. One was 18 and the other was 20. Neither of them looked especially clean and they were pretty hippy. But we talked to them for a while about normal American stuff. They were here doing some Christian thing, but also finding out about how to stop sex trafficking? I don't really know their purpose for their "mission." Then I asked them what denomination they were and they said nondenominational. But yeah, so it got on to the BoM and the one guy was asking questions about it. Let me tell you, it is really hard to try and teach this stuff in English right now. Really, really hard. I'm stumbling all over my words and saying weird stuff. But he got the gist. Told him about how Joseph Smith read in James. He pulled out his ESV Bible and read it. (Hey note to self and to all other people: stick with the KJV). Anyways, we finally wrapped it up and they kind of understood. But then this guy took his turn (and felt really uncomfortable in doing so also) and said "I just think that Jesus is enough. I would just advise you guys to step back and look at your life and make sure you really know what you're doing before you go and try to convert people." He went on a bit more but ended up saying there couldn't be more than the Bible. And before that he asked about how the Bible said "no more shall be written" in Revelations. But Elder Cook clarified how that was actually written before most of the books in the bible. He shrugged that one off. I asked them if they had a copy of the Book of Mormon, would they try to read it. The main guy's like "no, personally I wouldn't." The other guy was like a uhhh sure yeah definitely. I don't know. They were nice guys but I just left that conversation feeling a little less than satisfied. If these guys would look at it rationally and humbly they could learn so much more. Like, if you really believe that Saul saw a vision, is it so hard to believe that Joseph Smith did too? We went through some hoops and I don't know if they'll actually get a BOM, but maybe. It's good that these people have good experiences with Mormon missionaries though cause we're cool guys.

We had a guy get baptized the other day. The district president did it. He's not the smartest guy--definitely a faith guy, but he's great. His neighbors have been trying to get him to go to church for years and he'd always tell them it wasn't his time. Then one day 4 weeks ago we stumbled on his house, and he said it was his time. He wouldn't have gone to church on his own for whatever reason, but now he goes every week all three hours and loves it.

Another thing that's funny is how we watch the Restoration video with a lot of people when we're looking for an easy, but still quality lesson. But these people really relate to the colonial shots--like plowing the field with and ox and planting corn, and seeing chicks, etc. etc. They're like "wow, just like Cambodia." We tell them that this was 200 years ago in America, but I think it still doesn't register much. They probably think that America is just the same now as it was then, because it pretty much is that way for them. 

That's all I've got. I'll send some pictures off. I miss you guys, but it sounds like you're getting off all right without me! 

Best,

The Favorite

Video Link:  http://youtu.be/p3TNyy7sRUk

Sam's email:  samuel.christensen@myldsmail.net

Sam sent us the following email and videos on Sunday, February 22, 2015.  The video shows some men de-constructing a house...  Our questions to Sam appear in italics.

Hey guys,

What are you eating these days?  Are you having rice everyday for every meal?  What is the best thing to put on it.  What is you favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner?  Do you cook mostly or eat out?  Are you getting any American food from the American store?  Probably the thing I eat most is eggs and noodles like ramen, and bread. But I actually like it, so it works. One of our recent specials is breading and deep-frying chicken, putting tomato sauce on top of it, and eating it with rice. The tri-culture meal. We still probably eat rice once every day, but not every meal. It's not actually as annoying eating rice as it seemed like it used to be. We put soy sauce and a red sauce that I don't even know what the flavor is, but it's good. Lots of times I make pancakes too. we probably eat lunch out 3 days a week. If we don't have appointments we'll go and eat a 75 cent. I'm a terrible cook, so usually I let Elder Cook, cook. From the American store I get pancake mix, jam, pb, sometimes milk.

Do you guys share a bathroom between the 4 of you?  There are 2 bathrooms between the 4 of us. But both showers can't be on at the same time or the power flips off.

Do you ever get a chance to throw a Frisbee?  No frisbee for me ever since I moved on from Elder Yorgason.

How often do you need to go to the store?  Like, do you ever need to buy food on non-p-days?  One time a week pretty much covers us for the food. But if I need more bread or noodles, I can just get those along the road.

What is your current best method of contacting?  I'll have to think on the best method of contacting and get back to you next week. But recently the Buddhism excuse has been killing our contacting efforts.

Ross was wondering if it is commonplace for you to see people urinating in public.  People are constantly urinating in public. At the beginning of my mission I liked to take pictures of them. Now, it doesn't seem so strange. It is funny when you see people trying to "hide" it behind a small, small tree.

Chinese New Year was an excuse for people to light off a bunch of fireworks. That's great but it scared me plenty of times thinking that someone had just opened fire with a machine gun right under the house. 

Very interesting to see the different meanings that members and investigators alike can extract from scriptures. Like, they make it work, I guess. I just look at Elder Cook and we kinda just roll our eyes.

And having people find scriptures is a massive feat in itself. Like lots of times they'll be turning pages page-by-page and they're still hundreds of pages away. If they find someone who can actually find it, he's in pretty high demand to find it for them. They look at page numbers anyways, so I'm not sure why it's that hard, but it is.

Thanks guys, I gotta go. Have a good week!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/WOKy6DxkQPk

Sam sent us the following email & photos on Sunday, February 15, 2014.  He also sent some video footage of the Bamboo Train and a cave he visited.  You can view the video by clicking on the link at the bottom of Sam's email.

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

Subject: Time Trudges on

Date: February 15, 2015 10:17:10 PM MST

Hey guys,

I feel like I'm so old in the mission, but I'm really not. I'm only now entering my 6th transfer, so I have a loooong ways to go yet, but in my mind I'm a seasoned veteran. A big group of Elders just finished their missions. After another group finishes when this transfer is over, there will only be 15 American Elders older than my group. Crazy.

We had two baptisms on Saturday that both went through and were pretty good. It's nice to finally get to take care of some of my own recent converts. So we're still looking to replenish our teaching pool, and I think we'll be able to.

There's a ton that happens out here, but it's all just become so common that I've gotten used to it and it seems like nothing new or exciting happens. It is a daily grind out here, but right now I really am enjoying it.

The transfers brought my old companion, Elder Um, to Battambang, and he's living in the same house with us now. It's funny and I already know everything about him. It's fun though.

Our church attendance was (apparently) 145 people yesterday. I don't trust any of their counting, but I guess that's what it was. But anyways, that means attendance went up 10 from last week, which was a big week in itself. Two weeks ago we had 108 people at church. Part of it is the blitz they did, the other part is that rice harvesting season just ended.

I've started reading the D&C with the study manual that you sent me. It's good, there's lots of information in there. If I can stay awake for all of personal study then I learn a lot.

This letter is so boring. What's happened to me?! I've become the boring missionary who only ever talks about church, boring stuff. Dang it!

Probably my favorite quote of the week was when Elder Cook and I were talking about the impossibility of these people trying to establish food storage systems. Because like, they still don't even know the difference between the Atonement and tithing, but anyways. But he said "the thing here is if all hell broke loose..... all hell's already broken loose." It's true.

Our sisters are so bad in our branch right now. In the past two weeks they have contacted 2 people. Yeah, 2 people. In the past two weeks Cook and I have contacted 126, and we're not completely satisfied with that number either.

I think that's all. Once again, apologies for the boring-ness. I'm probably just losing my personality or something

Peace, love, and good wishes 

Video link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw5AaHsS5Gw  

It looks like Sam just got the Christmas card I sent him 2 months ago!

Sam sent us the following email on Sunday, February 8, 2015:

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

Subject: February Heatwave

Date: February 8, 2015 10:57:45 PM MST

Hey gents,

So we got transfer calls last night and I'm headed nowhere. I'm staying the same with my same companion. That's pretty nice because we have several guys who should be getting baptized within the next few weeks and I wouldn't want to miss them. Besides that, we don't have a lot of investigators to teach right now. It's hard to find people. Like you know how before I was saying how contacting is so easy? Well now it is really hard and no one wants to learn. Is the "not having enough time" as legitimate of an excuse in America as everyone thinks it is. I hear that at least 15 times a day from different people for different reasons. I just tell them now to just be honest because if you don't want to learn I don't care, but don't lie to me.

Speaking of lying to me, there's this old inactive member who we found from a CBR and went to his house once and he said he was too busy and to come back another day. So we went back 2 days later and there he was again, lying in his hammock, listening to his radio. I asked him if he had time and he said no, he was busy fixing the moto that was just sitting there that he wasn't doing anything on. Busy? I looked straight at him for probably 30 seconds and just stared at him and he wouldn't even look back at me.  I was so ticked. When these less actives say all these different excuses for not coming to church it usually comes down to the fact that they've broken a commandment and are ashamed of it and are too scared or cowardly, so they turn against the church and try to bury themselves in their own knowledge and reassurance. I really hate people like that. Are so many of these people that reject us when we try to share the Gospel with them going to be saved in their ignorance or are they just gonna pay for it later? Oh my gosh, it drives me so nuts.

Speaking of less actives we had a bunch of the ward leaders get together on Saturday morning and kind of blitzed the ward area for people who don't usually come, and yesterday 29 more people came to church than the week before.

In church they announced two speakers. After that they announced one hymn. After the hymn was finished, there were no more announcements and no more speakers. There was 15 or so minutes left and the entire congregation sat there waiting and looking at each other expectantly for a minute and a half. I still don't know what was happening or why it happened, but it was one of the more awkward moments since I've been out here.

I really feel like being on a mission here in Cambodia you get to see the best of people and the worst of people. I see some of the sweetest, most faithful, greatest people in the world out here. Conversely I also get to associate with some of the people who are the complete opposite.

I heard BYU signed a 410 pound lineman. I will take credit for all of Nate's basketball-ular successes in that I never let him beat me at stuff, so now he knows how to be good. You're welcome Nate.

Oh, I randomly lost my voice for like 4 days this week. I woke up and it was just shot. It was weird, that's never happened to me.

At English class we learned about body parts. I taught a small group the word "swallow," but I got really confused when the one dude was like "swallow magazine, right?" No, if you swallow magazines you die. Five minutes later he realized his mistake and said "medicine." Yeah you can swallow that.

In a different branch there's a lady who kills dogs and sells dog meat which a lot of people like to eat and say is delicious, but I will never try because of my great love for dogs. Anyways, she passed away this last week. She was bitten by a dog and died from rabies later that night. Ironic. I don't know what an ideal reaction to that story would be, but now you have it and you can ponder on that...

I don't think I'll send any pictures because warning messages have been popping up on this computer about software not being up to date or something, and I don't want to get a virus on my card and lose everything. That's my worst fear.

Have a good week guys!

-Favorite

Sam sent us the following email and pictures on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015.  I'm late posting this week because our Internet was down for several days.  Grrrrr!

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

Subject: Well it's nice to be loved

Date: February 1, 2015 10:42:11 PM MST

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Yeah, I was a little bitter about not getting any emails from my loving mother and father last week, but you guys made up for it this week by emailing and having a semi-decent excuse. As I articulated to Skibby, you guys do have email access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so don't feel limited to sending your emails to me at 10 PM on Sunday nights. But I'm grateful that you do email me at all. Enough of that.

We had a pretty good week last week. After emailing we went and got delicious American food and then we all met and went out to a place called Phnom sompov, where a lot of white tourists go. They discriminated against us and made us pay $3 dollars to enter, but for the natives it's free. Like the reverse-discrimination in this country is ridiculous. The only thing that all people can't do in America is collect eagle feathers, for which I will forever be jealous of the native Americans. But seriously like it's such a joke and they don't even have a reason to back it up other than that our skin is white and they assume white people have money. But in reality 3 bucks is a bargain. This place was really cool. Lots of old rock stuff and stuff, but they also had monkeys. Real live monkeys not on chains, free to roam and bite tourists. They didn't bite anybody, but wow that was cool to chill with monkeys. I can definitely see more how monkeys could take over the world though because they're very smart, and they can climb trees, and there was just a whole lot of them. You'll have to put some of the good videos onto the blog because it's cool to see the monkeys. And there was a cave and vines and stuff. Apparently at 5 on the dot hundreds of thousands of bats come flying out of caves and it lasts for an hour and it's amazing, but we had to be back and proselyting so we didn't get to see it. But put that on your list for when you come.

Here is some of the video Sam sent us:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cl7BHA_Ic8&feature=youtu.be

Are you getting passports for when you come over in like a year and a half, or are you guys like taking a summer trip to Italy or something?  [Peter had mentioned to Sam that he and I renewed our passports, but we don't have plans to go to Italy or any other foreign country, darn it!]

We got 15 investigator lessons this week, which is a far cry from the 4 or 5 a week we were repping out last transfer. Things look up and we have several investigators who are legitimately solid. We had a baptism yesterday for a little 8-year old kid named Ranut. Cute little guy. His parents aren't members and ares surprisingly not very helpful or supportive, but his 3 older siblings are members and are great. I baptized the kid and then when we got in sacrament the branch pres asked him who he wanted to confirm him and he said me. So I got pretty nervous pretty fast because I though branch pres would just do it. But I did it and it was fine. So dad, when you guys come over A) you're going to have to bring little treats that we can give the people we visit, and B) you'll have to bring some cool little magic tricks to do for them because that will keep them engaged for days.

We had the bad luck of contacting another psycho last night. There's a lot of weird people in this world. We talked to the guy as he was riding on his moto and then he stopped and we talked. He was first surprised that we knew his language. Second, he asked us if we liked to look at his face. Third, he asked us, after you're married, how do you create children? Fourth we left him because he was outside his mind.

The other day before we started fasting we went to this place to load up on food. I got something called a Lok Lak. I don't actually know what's in it but it's generally clean and tastes good. They finally got us our food and it tasted fine. But then I found the tip of an unidentifiable claw. I asked the guy what kind of meat they put in the lok lak and he asked his wife and she said cow. This claw thing most definitely did not come from a cow. So for really one of the first times since I've been here I got a little tentative about eating the rest of that food. But I did and it was generally fine. I'm now fairly certain that it was chicken claw, so that's cool.

[Sam's wrist was injured a few months back and Peter is concerned that it is still hurting him.  Peter thinks Sam may need to see a doctor in Cambodia for an x-ray and some treatment, but Peter added this caution:  "Don't let them stick a needle in you there."  Peter also asked Sam if they got to play any sports on their P-days.]  Dad, I'll test my wrist out this week and see how it does. My grip is fine. I don't want them sticking needles in me either. Sometimes we'll get up in the morning and walk across the street to the church and play 21 in the dark.

Thanks you guys. I love you and I miss you.

-The Favorite

Sam with his companion, Elder Cook, and a Cambodian family

The rest of pictures are from Sam's trip to Phnom Sompov with his companion, Elder Cook, and a few other elders.

Sam sent the following email and pictures on Sunday, January 25, 2015.  You'll notice that Sam's email this week is rather short, and a bit accusatory. :)  Peter and I hadn't gotten our emails sent off to him before he got online to write. Oops.  But in all fairness, I have to note that Sam was online a good 1-2 hours earlier than normal!

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

Subject: Hmm

Date: January 25, 2015 9:10:59 PM MST

Hey everyone,

I really can't think of anything new to share and seeing as how you guys haven't yet updated me on the happenings at home (yes, that's an indirect shot at you guys-sorry I had to do it), I don't have anything to say about that either.

If you guys want me to send you some of the videos I take I can do that if you'll be willing to make me a dropbox account and give me the information because that would be cool.

We're still doing the same old here. This week wasn't as good as last. We should have a baptism for an 8 year old kid this Saturday.

One of these pictures is of a little girl playing with a dead mouse. The adults don't care, they just stand by and watch. The other is of my bike which is broken again and hopefully is being fixed right now. Both pedals on the same level so that makes for a hard time trying to pedal.

Peace and love

Sam sent the following email & pictures on Sunday, January 18, 2015.  Our questions & comments are in italics.

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

Subject: Another Day, Another W

Date: January 18, 2015 10:31:02 PM MST

Hi everyone,

Thanks for letting me know what's going on. Mom, I really liked what you sent me in the email. I think it does ring pretty true. I'm going to have to think on that a little longer. We've definitely had a bunch more success contacting as of late. We (just Elder Cook and me) contacted 119 people this week. 70 was our goal, so we're doing pretty well. And usually every time we contact we go for return appointments if the situation is right, or just go for a phone number. Last night we didn't have any contacts after church ended at 6 and we didn't get out on the road til about 6:30, but we found a few places and just talked to everyone we thought we should and got 18 contacts in about an hour. I was thinking last night "this is just getting too easy!" because everyone was like yeah, sure, I'd love to learn. I think sometimes it's like that and other times it is definitely not.

Do people actually buy those pig heads they have at the phsaa?  And if so, what do they do with them?  Yeah, I'm not exactly sure if they eat the pigs heads or what. Like I've seen one completely cut open and skinned, so I imagine they do something with them. At the phsaa this morning I saw something that I was pretty sure was pig brain and I asked if they eat it, but the lady said it was actually lungs and they were delicious if you know how to eat them. So...? Did you know pigs can grow to 100 kilos in just 4 months? Pigs are truly disgusting animals.

Nate put a picture of you on our computer as our latest wallpaper.  Glad to hear my face finally made it onto the computer wallpaper. Interesting findings on the family science project, too.

Last week after emailing, all of the missionaries went and rode the famous "Bamboo Train." That was a good time.  Not much I can say that the pictures can't. Basically you're on a really unsafe little platform that's just set on wheels and they crank up a motor and you just go. Then the road stops and you get attacked by little kids wanting you to buy stuff. But that was a good time. 

We had a hang up with an investigator who was concerned that fasting wasn't actually a real thing, just that it was like self punishment. Can't remember if I talked about him before. We're like "of all the things to be hung up on in this church, fasting...?" He did an elaborate comparison to how the tower of Babel was led by someone who they all believed in, and he was afraid the fasting thing was the same situation. When we had a later lesson with him that week about it, we shared Bible scriptures like "Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights." He didn't really have anything to say about that. The best part was when our member help (who did a good job) was like "actually they (the missionaries) know more about it than I do because they fast every month." ...Yep.

On an exchange this week, we very fortunately met this Christian family that had been Christian for a long time. They have like 7 kids who are all Christian. Oh man, we were stoked. We set up an appointment to teach them the next night and did and it did not go well. The part about the "authority" didn't register with them at all. The house right next to them was blasting music for the entire lesson and it didn't stop until we had finished the lesson. Satan! In retrospect, I should have just asked for another place or said we'd come back another time, but it was far away and we had been planning on it. Anyways, they belong to a different sect and they have a pastor who goes to their house every Tuesday night and teaches them. It's always hard telling people that their baptism wasn't necessarily good. Ughh, it was rough. Their old son was like "whose name do you baptize in?" So I read the prayer to them and he's like "same as us." Authority, authority, authority. We may, if we're really, really lucky, get a second chance with them. He said that they believe in Jesus not in churches. I'm like yeah bro. Is there a bible scripture somewhere that says that Jesus established His church or something. I don't know, I feel like that's what a mission in a more Christian country would be like. That Great and Abominable Church of The Devil...

Anyways. We talked to some monks in a wat [a Buddhist monastery or temple] and they were like "it's not important that we be of the same religion, just that we're friends with each other." And we just kind of sat there nodding our heads with each other in silent approval and a spirit of friendship. Times like that I wish we just had a camera man following us. Also needed a photographer on Saturday when I had just bought a bag of baguettes and was hungry and Elder Cook had bought some too, so we both just ate the straight bread immediately as we were riding on our bikes before we could go home and stash them at the house. I mean, if that doesn't further stereotypes I don't know what will. 

Our sacrament meeting is by far the best part of this email, so don't stop reading yet! President Moon was in town to interview us today and go to church yesterday. He was in our sacrament and actually spoke to them all on repentance. He's really pretty dang good at the language. He was probably about halfway through and Elder Cook and I were quietly sitting and listening to his talk when we heard the strange but unmistakable sound of water hitting metal coming from the row behind us. Curious, we both turned around to see what was making the noise. It was none other than a little 4 or 5 year old urinating into an empty Coca-Cola tin can that his mother was holding for him to make things easier for him. Just fillin' the can. Takin' care of business. Oh man, that was about it. I was oh so very close to having one of those uncontrollable laughing attacks. I made a note to write that one down in the journal. But you can clearly understand their logic: obviously they were concerned that by getting up and going out to the bathroom (conveniently located right down the hall from the chapel) would interrupt a very well thought out talk by the President of the Cambodia Mission, and furthermore, would be very distracting for the members in attendance. So ultimately I think they made the right call. 5 minutes later the little kid's brother took a turn, but I think he didn't have as much to drain. I mean, nice mom, right? So that's a little bit of how our sacrament meetings go. All I'm saying is make sure that kid doesn't have to urinate over 12 ounces or we're going to have a problem.

That's all the fun news for me. If you have questions or want to know something specific, fire me off an email and ask me or I'll never know what you want answered. How's the Cub? Don't have too much fun skiing without me. Wow, the 5 of you all back together in one group. Just missing me....Dang.

Miss you and love you.

-Your favorite son

Big old spider

Your typical "Survivor Man" set-the-camera-on-timer-to-take-a-picture-of-yourself-in-a-crazy-natural-habitat-that-you-walk-through-often-but-never-have-anyone-there-to-take-a-picture-for-you-to-let-the-folks-at-home-know-what-life-is-like-out-here shot.