Working Hard and Learning in Cambodia

My second week went super great! I am starting to understand people more and more now. I can kind of follow the conversations now. I had to give a talk in church on Sunday.  A real talk.  I think it was a good 7-10 minute talk too!  I could tell when I said a word wrong because a few people would laugh. That is just the culture here, but I am learning!  I haven't gotten discouraged or anything because I know that one day I will be able to speak the language as long as I try hard to learn it.

There's no down time. We wake up at 5:30, exercise, eat breakfast, get ready for the day, iron shirt or what not, start studies at 7 til 10, leave the house, come back around noon for lunch, go out again, get back at 8, plan, eat, get ready for bed and write in my journal, and off to bed!

Ha ha, we walked around the market some more today... Pig heads on the table, the whole legs, chickens that have only been plucked, and fish flopping around because they won't kill animals.

I think that there are just about as many bugs inside my house here as there are on the outside of our house in West Valley. Lol. We have killed a lot of ants.

I don't know if the demons are poisonous, and I really don't want to! ha ha! They are a little bit hairy. They are FAST. I mean fast. You cannot hit one on the first try. Sometimes we will take a lighter and the aerosol can of bug spray to them... :)  They are completely disintegrated after being hit with it.

I don't believe that any house out here in Kampong Cham has an address! LOL! It makes it really hard to get to new people's houses.

Ok, this is a picture with 3 of our investigators in it. The older man in with the orange collar is Sok Jia. His son is on the far left with the silver shirt and BOM on his lap. His name is Yiang. And the boy in the yellow shirt is Hong. He is a neighbor.  There are 2 families. Sok Jia has 3 sons, and 2 of them are baptized (just earlier this year),  him and his other son is not. I don't know what has happened to their mom.  The other family are all members.

Going to Cambodia

Oh my gosh!!! Today's the day! After almost 6 months of waiting, the time has come! And after 2 and a half months of seeing missionaries come and go, it's finally my turn to go! YAY!!! It doesn't quite seem real yet, but I am sure that it will soon! Ha ha! I am super excited to head off tonight!

I have made it safely to Cambodia, and it is just absolutely wonderful here!  Our flights went really well, and I was able to sleep! The roads in Phnom Penh are like driving in Mario Kart. Literally. There are no rules, and people swerve all over the place, and people on their little scooters everywhere... ha ha! Awesome though! Not quite as hot as I thought it would be, but I guess they said that today was a cooler day. It's wonderful here, and I love it!
Love,
Elder Alex Kuhn

Tenth Week in the MTC

I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS ON THURSDAY!!! :D :D We leave on June 14, 2011, and our flight from Salt Lake City leaves to Los Angeles.  We have a layover in LA, then we fly to Hong Kong.  We then have a layover in Hong Kong, when we leave for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  We should arrive in Cambodia at 10:30 am on June 16, 2011!!! I am so excited, and I can hardly wait until we get to leave in a week!  I went to the temple today and it was wonderful! I am sad that I only get to go to the temple one more time in the next two years. I really will miss it. So on Friday I went with Elder Clark to his doctor appointment off campus. There was a possibility he had a hernia. It was so interesting to leave the MTC! Ha ha! I haven't been in or ridden in a car for two months, and I was wide-eyed and curious to see the "real world."  I can't believe that I leave for Cambodia in a week. It just doesn't quite seem real yet... I mean I've known I've been going for 5 and a half months, but it's actually happening now!!! Yay!!  I learned about the culture. I learned just how important it is not to point your foot at someone, and especially don't stand on top of a Buddha's head. Your feet are considered dirty, and your head is considered sacred (why you don't touch others' heads). When you say hello and clasp your hands together in front of your face, the height or level of your hands shows your respect to people. Typically the tops of your fingers should be about with your nose. Everybody loves food! If you didn't eat yet, they will always invite you to eat with them. But we have to tell them no because they are too poor. But the people are so giving, they will just take care of you like you are a king to them, and our teachers have made sure to tell us to remember to be humble while we are over there because they will treat us very well. I don't think I will sit on a chair for two years...they have mats that they always lay down when a guest comes over, and you sit on the mat.  When you hand something to or accept something from someone, you always do it with 2 hands. If they are too far, you can reach across with one hand, but your free hand goes to the front of the shoulder of the arm that is reaching. It shows your respect and your reverence for that person and the object. You never toss or throw anything, it is disrespectful. So we will see how I do when I get there!  My well-being is completely in the hands of God.

Ninth Week in the MTC

Suasdei Everyone!  I can't believe that I will be headed off to Cambodia in two weeks! It is super exciting to think about! We should be getting our travel plans on Thursday, and I am super excited about that too! I can't wait to see exactly when we leave, where our layovers are, and an approximate time that we'll get there!  So on Wednesday we had our malaria instruction. Nothing really to worry about. The doctor said that we just take the doxycyline when the mission president says we need to take it, usually it will be in specific areas. The city, Phnom Penh doesn't have the problem that the rest of the country does because of all the mosquito abatement programs. We wear bug spray all the time, and try to coat our clothes in permithren, and just be obedient. That's the best we can do. If I do get it, I probably won't die. The mission president will have more of the details when we get there. Play it logically and try not to get bit is what I got out of it!
I can't believe that it has rained this much, it's really unusual! Crazy stuff!  I am definitely looking forward to an outside gym tomorrow!  I get to host the new missionaries again on Wednesday.
This week we are learning about  the culture.  I can't wait to see what new things I learn.
I hope that this week ends well for you, and that you enjoy the weekend too!