Elder Taylor in Cambodia: Week 24: We Had a Couple Holiday Showers!

Ok, my title probably deserves a bit of explanation and no it doesn't directly relate to Christmas but ties in nicely. So the literal translation for baptism in Khame is holiday shower. Pretty cool, huh? Our recent convert's, pu Jan's, son got baptized and asked me to baptize him! I was way nervous but it went over way smooth. I memorized the baptismal prayer and recited it without a hitch, and Elder Tree said my pronunciation was very chbah, clear. One of our other investigators, bong Layack, was baptized by branch president (leader of the local congregation). Always a happy day to see someone enter into the fold of God, especially those you have helped teach and develop a love and appreciation for our Savior.

This morning going to play soccer. We have a bunch of ties that have been left by various elders that you can give to members or people who need one. One of them has Snoopy and soccer balls so I felt that it would be appropriate to wear it to play soccer. Got there and one young lady, Muay Lee, told me that I don't have to wears ties on P day and it was weird. Haha. Good times.

Cool photo I took with long exposure setting of the church. The sky wasn't nearly this blue to my eyes.

Thoughts of Elder Taylor ~ "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a large American man biking through your small neighborhood in the middle of nowhere Cambodia wearing a neon pink rain poncho?"

Rice. Always rice. And more rice. Some members out in Preycho sell unprocessed rice, awe-n-g-awe.

They also have pigs that just gave birth three days ago.

One elder here got a package from home with a "Christmas tree" inside it. Makes for some good holiday spirit. Christmas time!!! (about %99 Buddhist here which = about 0 Christmas spirit outside the house)

6153/51: They do have lots of other things they celebrate, including 3 year death anniversaries. One member invited us to this huge party she threw. Probably the biggest party I'll ever go to in Cambodia. Way long tent with super nice fabric covers for the tables and chairs. Had air conditioning units down the sides of the tent so you were basically inside a way nice house. (Most all houses don't have AC) They also had crab, chicken, giant shrimp things, and beef. A way fancy meal to serve to people. Also had unlimited drinks, which included the new blueberry Fanta, probably my favorite part. Also had a stage at the front with live music and dancing.