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.