WELCOME TO KEANSVAY AND CHBAAMBO

it was an incredible week, and i have too much to share, and not enough time

ill send a pic of my new comp-sis Sok-next week. this email shop doesnt have a way i can upload pics lolz. Shes INCREDIBLE. and i love her so much. 

our area is SO COOL. like it feels like were in cambodia. were technically closer to the city than the province, but it feels like a province. our area is actually 2 areas put together, and we live right in the middle of them both. its basically a HUGE stretch of one road going forever both ways, so we bike ride at least a half hour to get to any inv, which is exhausting, but also so beautiful. the road is lined with small fruit stands and houses and a couple gas stations, and behind that is just jungle and fields. 

this week we had the opportunity to do service for a family in the ward. they live in this HUGE field/jungle, so we went and worked with them. our job was to cut down all the jungle around a tree. i never understood in all the movies when they had to cut their way through a jungle, but now i understand theres other way to get through it. so i got to use a machete which made all the khmaes laugh. apparently, i was using the dull side of the machete to try to cut down the jungle, but idk, it all looked the same haha. also we cut their grass-i will never take for granted a lawn mower again-and this is where it gets good. they started to burn the grass that we had just cut, and idk what they were expecting, like if the fire would just go our by itself or what, because while it was burning, they were just sitting eating fruit-mangos and coconuts and jackfruit and bananas they had just cut from the trees-and acting like it was no big deal. and then all at once, it started to spread toward the trees and they all got up and were yelling the smoke was so thick, i couldnt see 5 feet in front of me, and the kids were crying, everyone was running and we were all grabbed huge branches to try to pat out the flames. it was kind of intense. but after a while, we got it down, and it eventually went out. but yah that was crazy

also while we were there, we all started eating this root that was supposed to be way good, but when the member saw us eating it, told us it was actually a sedative. so stopped eating that real fast lolz

also i now hate roosters, because idk if i just had a misunderstanding, or someone actually taught me wrong, but roosters dont just hoot one time when the sun comes up. they start hooting every morning at 4 and dont stop til the sun goes down. 

but im really loving our area, and im loving these people even more. cambodia is the best. ill probs have more crazy stories next week. until then, keep reading your scriptures and trusting in the lord

love you all, sis smith