week 17

hello from good ole cambodia again!


well another hot week in cambodia. you know, cambodia reminds me of taiwan but parts of it not so much. we had quite the change, it used to be just me and sister askerlund as my companion but now there are 3 of us for a month or so. one of the other sisters from stockton, california ended her mission last saturday and now its me and sister askerlund and sister pen who is from cambodia. its pretty intimidating being in a companionship with the other 2 when the other 2 people know a lot of khmer and i dont. i can't even tell you HOW MANY PEOPLE think i'm 100% cambodian, its crazy. some talk super fast at me until they here me speak. we had one investigator who had forgot my name because she told us she saw us biking close to where she was working one day. she goes yea i saw you and your other companion, sister... whats her name.... the one who is khmer. sister askerlund starts laughing and the girl goes i do have a question, i always wondered.... why doesn't she really speak khmer really well hahaha... how embarrasing, but thats okay, i'll get there someday! people sawy that i speak clearly buti want to get the nt and every5thing but its hard. on a happy note though, im reading better!


this week hasn't been too eventful. now that i'm with 2 other people, it is harder. figuring out when who showers and what not.its different adjusting to a foreigner because sister askerlund and i are so american but its all a great learning experience nonethless. you just learn what you shouldn't do an so forth. we moved houses as well and well just look at the pictures and it'll speak for itself. lets just say sister askerlund and i own A LOT OF THINGS. but have no fear, you make ANYTHING and i mean ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING fit into a tuk tuk which is a motto bike with a trailer with seats and stuff, just look at the picture. we had to go to the mission presidents home and do transfers, its when companions swap and go to different areas if there is a change made. and well president got a kick out of all the things we owned and well we aren't sure how we fit.sister smedley his wife VIDEO taped it it was that amazing haha. fun adventures in cambodia as always!


you know the experiences and things that i see here are seriuosly crazy. i see cars hit mottos and just drive off, i see and go to smelly markets and see kids naked all the time. i see people with no homes and eating peoples left overs from the outside restaurants. i see and smell great and terrible things. i experience RIDICULOUS weather. i miss modern conveniences and i miss a lot of things but i would choose no where else to be right now, other than cambodia - sounds crazy right?


i have 1.5 years here and when its all over, i can only imagine me not wanting to leave. you get so attached to the things here (like MANGOS hahahaha) and the people. life is full of adventures and opportunities to grow and learn and to experience - why waste any second of it? no one gets the time like a missionary of the lord does, to truly focus on the IMPORTANT things in life and not the materialistic things. people here in cambodia are good people, with not a lot of things. they live in a place of corruption and poverty but they sure are grateful for what they have. i love this place. i'll take all the sweat and all the funny smells and the no air conditioning any day for this. what i have here, is probably a lot more than what most of the other people in cambodia have. but i can admit, my gratitude is no where close to how much they have for the very little things they have. i think that life is way too short to waste on stupid little things. be happy, be grateful, and love each other as the lord loves all of his children.


HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!


love,
SISTER WU