Week 10 - I love this place - Kampung Cham - Sister Harris

11:43 AM

Hey mom! You’re probably confused why I’m using Sister Christensen’s email. My companion is really sick so I’ve been in the hospital since Saturday with her. She’s improving in some ways and not in others so I don’t know when we’ll leave here. I guess it is a good thing I’m her companion because I’m not a sympathetic thrower upper and my future is in a hospital. Don’t worry about me though, I absolutely love love love Cambodia!

WEEK ONE on the other side of the world:

Hey Family and Friends hope you’ve had a great week! I have to admit I feel kind of sorry for you guys because you are not in Cambodia; this place is amazing and I love it!

Seriously the moment the plane touched the runway I felt immediate Love for this country and people! It was the coolest feeling. President and Sister Christensen meet us outside and we all split up in groups! I was put into Elder Eppley’s group, no sorry mom I didn’t get a picture with him. Everything is on a fast schedule. So our group drove out to some market where we met our companions! Drum roll my companion is Sister Harris! (I’m her first trainee, and her trainer was Neakkruu Davis!!! So I’m in a pretty awesome family) Sister Harris is so awesome! She is 1 of 9 #4 like Rachel, she is hilarious and pretty much the best person I could’ve been put with! So we are serving in Kampung Cham; I’m the only new sister serving in the kites (the country side). It is beautiful, and the house we are in have the most beautiful view! First night we taught a member lesson! I could understand a little of what they were saying, but they said I spoke really clear! phew! They were so sweet and fun to talk to. The next morning we went to the food market because we had no food. It’s exactly what I expected; fish and meat were laid out everywhere pig heads snakes and all! But going to the market was so fun and we bought our pork and rice for breakfast. Food here is amazing and I haven’t gotten sick yet. We did our weekly planning and headed out to the villages. The lessons we had planned fell through which stunk but we ended up teaching the first lesson to this girl who had been reading the Book of Mormon. She had a lot of questions, but she has no way of getting to church so that’s a potential problem. After we went and tried sugar cane juice. It’s an acquired taste but I’m sure I’ll end up loving it. We then went to the church to practice singing with the youth. They are so sweet and I love them! They helped me practice listening and reading the hymn book. The next day I woke up around 4 am to the strangest sound it was so loud! It sounded like a marimba and drums! I realized it was coming from the Wat across the field. The monks started chanting, they sounded like they were using a voice box smoker’s use. Despite losing sleep it was extremely entertaining to listen to. So later my companion woke up and said “Sister I have bad news its gotten worse!” So my companion had a weird skin thing on her neck and kind of ignored it but on Saturday she blew up! Her eyes were swollen shut! So we caught a bus to Phnom Penh to head to the mission home. We had a really good experience! This man got in the van and sat next to us. I practiced having small talk with him and then Sister Harris started talking about the church with him. We gave him the restoration pamphlet and told him a little about it. He started reading it and asked a lot of questions. Sister Harris shared the First Vision with him and we pretty much gave him the first lesson. I gave him the Book of Mormon in my backpack. The spirit was so strong and I was so ready to share my testimony with him, but then he had to take a phone call! Bummer, but it’s okay before he left he asked us for our number to call if he had more questions! It was a really good experience for me that day because that morning I almost took my personal Khmae Book of Mormon but took a paper copy instead. I remember having the thought “just in case someone needs it” Sister Harris said that that experience has never happened to her before. She said no one who has just been randomly contacted has been interested. She said it was so rare that missionaries normally don’t carry copies of the Book of Mormon with them, so I was thankful the spirit led me to grab one that morning. So we got to the mission home and went to the doctor. We then jumped in the car with President Christensen and Sister Christensen to head back to Kampung Cham (3 hour drive) about 30 minutes away Sister Harris had really bad stomach pains so we dropped President off, and Sister Christensen turned the car around and drove back. It was cool. We got to the ER room Saturday night and we are still here today. She’s improving in some ways and not in others so we’re not sure when we’ll leave. But we are still having a great time together. Okay that’s all for this week! Love you bunches and miss you tons!

Love, Kendall