First Stop Visiting the Khais (Provinces)

Our missionaries set goal on how many baptisms they want to accomplish as companionships this year. Based on that and a few other factors, a goal was set. So we decided to take the Assistants and go up to the Provinces and have a short one hour zone conference and present the goals and ways to accomplish this goal they have set. The meetings were all great. Since at Christmas, there were no interviews conducted, Scott also did interviews. I also chatted with each missionary about language study plans and goals and followed through on their missionary planner. The first stop was Kampong Cham.

This couple was interviewed by Scott for a leadership position for the brother. They are a wonderful active couple and great contributer to the branch.

This couple was interviewed to go to the Temple. They will be going in March I believe. They are also members in Kampong Cham.
From Kampong Cham we went to Kampong Thom, then Siem Reap, then Battambang. On this blog they are in a bit of backwards order, but it really doesn't matter only to me, I guess! One of these days, I'll totally get it right!

Battambang and the Bats

Battambang was the fourth and final stop of our travel around the mission. Here we also did missionary interviews/chats and a mini Zone Conference to motivate for the mission goals that the missionaries had set. The Reynolds, a wonderful Senior couple in Battambang took Scott and me and our Assistants out to two places. Both have bats. This first one has these big maybe 3 foot wing span bats hanging from these trees.

If you click right on the picture it will go bigger and you will be able to see the bats. They are just right in this little village at the end of a dirt lane.

Also right in this village were these two brahma cattle. They are a calmer breed than the rodeo brahmas. These cattle you can just walk right up to and they do nothing. They are eating off of this handcart. This one is used for hauling hay. If you click on this picture, in the background you can see a house on stilts.

From that spot we drove to a small mountain and went almost to the top. Even the Prado had a hard time getting up the steep hill. At the top is where the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot) lined people up. They put them in the room showing below and tortured them. This is a view of the valley from that hill. You can see it is the dry season and so leaves are falling off the trees. Kind of like the Fall, but ALOT warmer!

Now this has Buddhist idol here to honor those who suffered at the hands of the Pol Pot regime.

They then took people to this cave. They lined them up at the top of this hole on the outside of the cave and killed people, then threw them down into this cave. We had a missionary whose grandpa was murdered here in front of his wife and five children. They ran away when the Pol Pot killers were distracted. They shot at them, but they all got away and eventually ended up in the United States and this missionaries mother joined the church. It was quite stirring for him to be in the same country where his Grandpa got killed.

These are the bones entombed at the bottom of the cave. It isn't a pretty site and is quite sobering what these people suffered at the hands of this very wicked man and his companions.

Just to the left of this home are the caves where maybe 3 million bats come out at around 6:00 p.m. every night. I took this picture because at the middle left you can see a blue light. It is a television set! No matter how bad off people are, many have a little TV. I think it gives them some hope of a better life, or just entertains them from the hard work many of them do.

Our Assistants, Elders Miles and Moore, waiting for the bats to come out.

I hope this gives everyone a good idea of how many bats there are. It's quite a sight.

Siem Reap, Third stop of Missionary 2010 Goal Tour

Cambodians get as many people as possible in a vehicle. The tail gate looks like the spring boards of a bed with at least four people on it. We were heading into Siem Reap. A beautiful city near the famous Angkor Wat. Many tourists come here. There are at least a hundred hotels. Quite a few of them 5 star. A member from the Siem Reap Branch works at a new hotel. The Paradise Angkor Hotel. I think that's the name. She got us a terrific deal to stay there which included breakfast at this five star hotel below. We posed with her and our assistants, Elders Moore and Miles. It seems like her name is Gena. Her dad is the branch president.

This family is one I've had on the blog before. Elder Miles and Heywood taught them. We walked back into the jungle to meet them. Scott had an interview right by their new home. It is bigger and a better home for this 9 member family. They are the ones that ride for 1 to 1 1/2 hours to church every Sunday on their bikes. On their way home from Church the last Sunday in December, about 10 minutes from their home, a tuk tuk (moto that pulls a little carriage) hit them and knocked the baby off into the ground and ran over it. The mother was also seriously injured. They were dropped off at a clinic but the clinic said they couldn't take care of those serious injuries, so they were taken to the hospital there, which is a good one. Their injuries were critical. They had priesthood blessings and both mother and baby (the little naked one) are doing well. They came home a couple of days after the accident. We wanted to see them and give the kids some candy and toys that a congressman had given us to give out. We gave their family most. They are holding the items that each of them got. They were so appreciative. Each child gave the hands together up by the mouth and bowed and thanked us. So sweet. We also walked in the dark to get there again. This time you could not only hear the pigs, but you could smell the pigs. There was also definite evidence on the little path that the pigs had recently traveled on it. We were cautious with our steps. A Great Adventure!

Little gifts and a Lizard

Elder Miles, one of our Assistants, worked with this family in Siem Reap. They have been members for over a year. He worked with them as new members. They live in a community that is near Angkor Wat. This is a very poor community. Most of the homes are bamboo homes, or wooden stilt homes, a few brick homes. Some have electricity and some don't. To get to these homes is about 15 minutes from Siem Reap. There are quite a few members here. To get to Church they either ride a bicycle, hire a moto taxi, or ride a moto. Scott was here in this home to do a second interview of this family's friend. After the interview they wanted me to come up and see their home. It was very clean. On a little bulletin board behind the sister, you can see a picture of the Hong Kong Temple and the First Presidency. To get to the Temple, they will need to save at least twice the pay of a month's salary. For most, this will take about two years. Once they have saved their share, there is a Temple Assistance Fund the Mission President can access to help them go. For most, here in Cambodia, a visit to the Temple is a once in a life time event.

This Sister loves to make gifts. She gave me a whole weaved box of gifts she made. She put a typical cotton scarf that they use for a myriad of things in a little packet that she had woven. Below you can see what she gave me. She had nothing in her home, but two beds and some clothes and a mat for the floor which most Cambodians eat on. I had a hard time inside accepting her gifts when I know that she could sell them in the tourists spots there in Siem Reap. But outside, I was very gracious and appreciative. It is very humbling to be given things by those who have so little. But they are content and happy and love the Gospel. That is what counts!

These are all hand woven. there are 2 grasshoppers, 2 stars, 2 flowers, a fish and 2 birds Also a little purse.

This is a very typical scarf called a krama. Used for carrying babies, on your head, wrap around skirt (this one probably wouldn't work at that), dusk mask, a base for carrying things on the head, etc.

This is the flute and the case that she made for it. Below is the case and the hand woven gift box that had the little decorations in it.

This is a MEAN lizard called a Tuka. If you leave it alone, it is supposed to leave you alone. If it is mad, the people tell us that it will latch on your throat and the only way to get it off is to put salt on it. This is in the home of a family we visited in Kampong Thom, our second stop on our tour to motivate for the mission goal. This family (look below) has been studying for quite awhile. Elder Moore, on of our Assitants, did the initial teaching, and Elder Ormsby and Elder Huon are following it up. They have many friends in another Christian Church who tell them the Church of Jesus Christ is the Church of the devil. They don't have many friends their age in the branch in Kampong Thom. But they decided to follow the path that God has set as found in the Book of Mormon, Bible, and living prophets. They are still learning, but have committed for baptism. Scott was able to help them understand some doctrine that they didn't understand.

Such a sweet family. I hope they will continue to study and keep their baptismal commitment and not be swayed by their friends who haven't studied the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have to tell you, that we had been gone to meetings since 7:30 a.m. and we got to their home at about 7:30 p.m. Needless to say, I had a bad hair day! We sat on two mats and they were taught that if they believed the Book of Mormon to be true, then Joseph Smith is a Prophet and restored the Church of Jesus Christ. This is the sister that had a dream about a seed. Elder Moore had prayed that they could get a testimony of the Book of Mormon. The next day when they went, she told him about a dream she had about him. In the dream, he had given her a seed to plant in their back yard. She said, it won't grow because the soil is so bad. He said, no please take it, it is a good seed and it will grow. So she planted it and in the dream, she had a huge crop of I think rice, growing in her back yard. Elder Moore and Elder Huon read to her from Alma 32. She understood that the Lord was telling her the Book of Mormon is true.

Sien Sok

On the little dirt road going to Sien Sok ( say Sine Soak) was this wooden home on stilts with a little grass shack beside it. We were going to take some medicine to a sick Elder on Saturday. He got better the next day, by the way! Scott saw this and he just loved this picture so we stopped to take a picture. Sien Sok as some of you have read in my e-mail is a poor, poor community on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Many were put here when the government took the land their homes were on for community development and relocated them out to the Sien Sok community. Electricity has been out here just over a year, is our understanding.

Going and coming, this is a typical site, with cattle grazing are resting contendedly in the pastures or on home plots like the one above. This is just outside of Sien Sok the Village.

Sunday we went back for Church because we hadn't visited this branch yet. It ws Fast and Testimony meeting and they asked us to share our testimonies. I can never stand in front of a group of these Saints here without truly knowing that Heavenly Father loves them, and I also feel their love for me and I have a great love for them.

These are some of the Relief Sociey sisters and their children/grandchildren. I am not wearing one of my more flattering outfits. Don't worry, I am still holding!

The young man in the suit translated for me for Relief Society. I think he has been on a mission.The other is a young man that didn't go on a mission because his whole family died but his Dad and his Dad just couldn't handle him going for two years. He is the Sunday School teacher and the Seminary Teacher. He is just an excellent teacher and I enjoyed his lesson on Moses and what we learn from the Lord's visit with him. His wife isn't a member.

Another Relief Society Sister and her granddaughter.

This is the path I described in my e-mail that the little divorced gal with the little handicapped baby walked up. She put him on her shoulder sleeping and walked up this dusty lane to her home. On the sides are the kind of home she probably went home to. These are wooden sheds/homes built side by side. This woman is a faithful member and takes this long walk every Sunday to church and never misses. She lives up the lane, I think quite a ways because she said she needed to start the walk home. As I said in my e-mail, I will never forget the picture of her walking away with that little boy, all alone, and faithful to the end! Our visit to Sien Sok was filled with friendly people waving and wanting to show us their babies and their beautiful smiles. No matter how poor the home, when we waved and smiled as we drove by, they waved and smiled back and just lit up to let us know they are a happy people and we were welcome there to their community.