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.