October 21, 2009

Things are a struggle here. Finding does us nothing. Like nothing. When we try to go finding people just tell us that they are Buddhist and to go away. Referrals are what really work. Everyone who has gotten baptized so far for us is referrals. Only 1 of 4 are getting baptized on Sunday. The mom and the 2 daughters can't because she's been at the hospital for the last week or so because she might need heart surgery. So I don't know what we're going to do with them. But our one baptism is awesome. She's the girlfriend of a returned missionary (he's Khmae) and I can definitely say that I love them so much. Especially him because he knows the language is really hard, especially for newer missionaries, because he's trained people and worked with Americans too. So they are both really patient with me and teach a lot of words as well. They actually live in a different branch but the mission president wants us teaching them. And they want us teaching them too. So it all works out.

I keep trying to work really hard. But things are getting redundant. Transfers are coming up here soon because the new group of missionaries are arriving in a few weeks. So I might be hoping for some sort of shift or change because I really need something different right now. But I really want to see the people we've been working with get baptized first. I keep working hard and praying hard but I always feel like I can pray harder and work harder. It’s just my natural drive of being competitive. It can be frustrating at times.

What I really, really, really miss is sports. I'm about to die here because there is nothing in terms of sports. NOTHING!!! It’s driving me nuts. I want to see some football or baseball or something. I know the Yankees are playing the Angels and Dodgers vs. Phillies. How are the Raiders? And how are the Cardinals? Haha. And did the Suns get anyone good out of the draft or in the offseason or anything?

In terms of food, we don't usually eat chicken. It’s always beef or pig. We eat a lot of rice and a lot of noodles too. There is also this stuff called Babah which is really good. It’s this rice porridge stuff. We also have a lot of Curry and other things. We mostly eat chaa, which is fried stuff. They have sweet and sour chaa that is really good, chaa mnoah, which is fried pineapple with beef, that's amazing, and my favorite is lok lak, but that is a little more expensive. But man it is amazing. They cook it in palm sugar. It’s really, really sweet and really, really tasty. We also eat a lot of fried breads and things like that. They have caik cian which is bananas that are dipped in this batter stuff then deep fried. Those are really, really good. They also have fruit shakes they sell on the road too. Those are good as well. Occasionally we see someone selling cotton candy, and for like 12 cents its definitely worth getting. There is also this coconut stuff that is really good here. It’s like shaved ice with coconut in it. It’s amazing. I know the name in Khmae, but couldn't tell you in English. It doesn't translate very well. There is a different type of coconut here. And it actually has flavor. But you'll just have to come visit in two years to have some Khmae food. because anything in America just won't be even close to as good.