Takhamao Flood October October 11th

I think it was October 11th the rains came down like a typhoon. It came so fast that the Takhamao area that sits in kind of a bowl flooded. The Elder's apartment also. The flood almost came to the top step of the Church. The Service Center sandbagged and avoided more flooding in the church area. The two Elders above are Elders Oleson and Draper. Elder Oleson had on the left had only been here since October 7th. So, it was quite an iniation to Cambodia.

Elder Hermann and his Member companion,future Elder Eng, were cleaning up after the waters receded and found a bunch of cockroaches which they put in this can. If they weren't dead, then they took care of it. They came up through the drains we are thinking. Also, they saw a rat swimming around in the water, some fish, and some crabs!

The Elders are off to do service to help people clean up. They not only helped at the Church and other member's homes, but anyone who needed their help. Because of this service there are many more people who are interested in learning about the church.
We are grateful that we haven't had any more rain this bad since that day. We were being threatened with Typhoon Megi, which gratefully, chose to go another direction. However, had it happened we were prepared and the above missionaries would have grabbed their 72 hour buckets/bags and go to another missionary home that is in their branch that does not flood. This is a newer home where we put these missionaries, and no one knew that it would flood like that. With their landlord's help, they cleaned it up 2 days later. It took 3 1/2 hours to clean.
Oh, the rats on the left were found at the Church when the waters receded. Truly they were wet as a drowned rat! In fact, I believe, they were drowned rats.

The Elders all were enjoying their service. In the rear waving all dressed in his white shirt, tie and pants, is Elder Haem who also is serving in the clean-up. The Elders in the bottom left with some of the youth that helped in the cleanup at the Church. Our assistants went out to see what they could do. Elder Hurwitz on the left, Elder Matthew and Elder Eng who is not an assistant, but is helping one of our missionaries while his companion is sick. He is going as a missionary to Boston. Leaving for the MTC the first week of November. He has waited 6 months, so we have used him quite a bit to come on some mini missions. He is going very well prepared as to missionary work and teaching. We expect great things of him.

Telling Elder Leng Goodbye

The morning of October 9th, after breakfast, the Office Elders, Assistants, and us took Elder Leng to the bus stop to go to Kampong Cham.

Checking in the luggage.

A final picture as a missionary for Elder Leng.

He is off! He was greeted in Kampong Cham by our Senior Couple, the Thalmans and his family. The Thalmans had prepared a light luncheon for his family at the church. They had a little testimony meeting and then the badge came off per instructions from the President. Elder Leng was a faithful missionary and will strengthen his branch in Kampong Cham.

Missionaries Leaving, Oct. 8. 2010

After the transfer, and the new missionaries went off with their trainers, the finishing missionaries came in. I got Elder Sweeten with his parents last week. I didn't have my camera for Elder Klinefelter's reunion with his Mom and aunt. But I made it down to see Elder Allred right after he greeted his parents. I was upstairs getting ready to feed this group. You can see that Elder Allred's parents are so happy to be with him and proud of him too.

These four missionaries have been so great for the mission. They work hard. Three of them have been Zone Leaders. Elder Sweeten also an Assistant. Elders Allred and Klinefelter both worked in the office. Both play the piano and sing. We will miss them all.
Left to right: Elders Allred, Klinefelter, Sweeten, and Leng. Elder Leng goes back to Kampong Cham.

The farewell picture. I can't believe they didn't put their arm around me too! (Just kidding: in a couple of years I can give all of our missionaries a big hug!)

Before and after the rain, October 7th.

The same afternoon the missionaries came in we got a giant of a rainstorm. Also this week was so bad it flooded in the southern parts of the suburbs of Phnom Penh. On the way to pick up the Elders, we saw five people on a moto. Notice the dry streets. Then the rains came and this is in front of the mission home. The bottom right picture leads out to the main boulevard of Norodom. Mon Horl, one of our former missionaries, was guarding the mission home that day. So I got him to go out and stand in it so you could see how deep it was. Not too bad, but deep enough. I had never seen it like this. It's been raining all week every day. It almost feels like fall. Well, kind of anyway!

And the Rains Came Down!!

These two videos do not do justice to how severe this rain was. That was the day of the typhoon like rains that caused flooding in many areas. Especially affected was Takamau area. The branch president told Scott today that 33 families need some food. So the Church is going to help In the Sien Sok area there were 21 families affected by the rains and they need food, so we will also help there. Our Takamau Elders main level of their home was flooded up to their knees. They had no electricity and could not cook food. They had to wade out of their home. They saw floating in the waters of their kitchen the following: Cockroaches, a rat, fish, and several crabs! Two days later when the water receded and they were cleaning, they gathered up a full bucket full of Cockroaches. I guess they lived in the drains of the home. So at least they are cleaned out for now! It took them and their landlord 3 hours to disinfect and clean everything. As of yesterday the water was still a couple of inches from coming in their door and it has been raining all day, but not like two days ago.

Going to the MTC Manila

October 7th, 2010. Elder Tran (Chun), from Hanoi, came in at the same time as the Provo MTC missionaries as I explained in the blog below this one. He went to the Manila MTC on Friday with Elder Sin. Elder Sin came in October 7th about 3:30 p.m. to have an interview and get set apart for his mission. Elder Tran also got interviewed and set apart. They will be companions in the Manila MTC. They totally bonded and were so happy together. Elder Sin has been called to serve in one of the Australia Mission. It seems like Brisbane is the one.

Elder Sin with his parents. Neither are members but they were very supportive and proud of him.

These are member friends from his branch.

This picture will never be reproduced because they will return from their missions after we have departed to the states again. So we wanted to have this great memory. Elder Tran will be going back to Vietnam to serve in his own country.

New Missionaries

President Smedley greeting the new missionaries as they come out of the airport door.

On October 7 th, this group of missionaries arrived. We are so thrilled with this group of missionaries. We love receiving New missionaries. They already speak the mission language quite well! In case you can't tell, most of them have been football players and they can eat pretty good! It is nice to have people who appreciate my food! The little guy in the middle is Elder Tran (say Chun) from Hanoi. He is called to our mission and came in at the same time as the Provo MTC Elders. His plane from Hanoi was supposed to arrive 20 minutes after the Provo Elders, but it came in really early. They all walked out the door together, and they didn't know him and Elder Tran didn't know them. He went to the MTC Manila the next day, Friday.
Left to right missionaries: Elders Matthews (Assistant), Michelson, Faught, Oleson (say Olson),
me, President Smedley,Elders Tran, Wilcox, Weller, Hurwitz (New Assistant).

Going top left to right, left to right: Elders Hill, Oleson,Faught, and Wilcox.

Elders Weller, Michelson, and Den. Elder Den came in about 2 hours after the Provo MTC. He came in from the Manila MTC. He speaks excellent English and is from the 5th branch here in Phnom Penh.

The new Elders checking out the mission board on who their new companion/trainer will be. They all seemed pleased about where they were going.

One Assistant and One Office Elder go back to the field.

Elder Ross on the left is going back out to the field. He is training a new missionary until he leaves in December. Elder Ross did a great job for us and a great work with the missionaries. Thanks Elder Ross! Elder Matthews replaced Elder Sweeten six weeks ago.

Elder Isabell is going back out from being an Office Elder. He is now a Zone Leader. He helped take us through the 6 weeks where we didn't have an Office couple. He carried a big load and we couldn't have done it without him. Thanks Elder Isabell!

a "Sweet" Sweeten Reunion

Elder Sweeten's parents came in on October 1st to spend the week with him before his departure. As you can see they were happy to see each other after 2 years apart. Elder Sweeten and I share a Great GReat Great (for him 4 greats) grandpa. My great great Grandma Margaret Sweeten Hunsaker is a sister to Elder Sweeten's 3rd great grandpa.

We turned him over to the care of his parents!

Ellingsons Come, Nelsons Go

September 2 7th, after a very long flight Elder and Sister Ellingson arrived. They are from Alberta, Canada. They are a very enthused and engergized companionship ready to take Elder and Sister Nelson's place in the PEF program here. They also will be somewhat involved in the Seminary/Institute program. Below as many of the Senior coup;le possible came to give them a loving welcome.

Left to right: Elder and Sister Liggett, Elder and Sister Nelson, Elder and Sister Ellingson, President and Sister Smedley, Elder and Sister Snyder, Elder and Sister Houser, Elder and Sister Peterson, and Elder and Sister Curtis.

"PASSING THE BATON"
We had a dinner to welcome in the Ellingsons and say farewell to the Nelsons. Elder Nelson has called himself the "Senior Senior" because they were the next to leave. He made a "baton" to pass on to Elder Reynolds as the next "Senior Senior".

Elder and Sister Nelson Walk the Red Carpet.

A final farewell at the airport. Elder Nelson is sporting one of his Cambodian home-tailored Sophal ties.

Central District President and Family

President and Sister Trieu and Johnson. They brought him to the mission home so I could see their baby. He is their first child. They are so prouod of him and they are so happy. They have had some life challenges this past year, but are "weathering the storm" with dignity and unwavering faith. He is the District President of our Vietnam District. He supervises three branches. The branches are thriving and having baptisms. In the past 6 weeks, they have had 9 convert baptisms in this district. This is very good for this district.

I think he is 4-5 months old. I think he was born in June. So, he is a healthy little boy.

The Frog and the Stool-Specialized Trainings in Kampong Cham and Kampong Thom

On September 20th after we dropped Elder Chen off to the airport we traveled to Kampong Cham in the first of 4 stops to teach a Specialized Training. This lesson is called: Teach People, Not Lessons and asking inspired questions. We taught either the Zone or part of the zone in each of the towns. While I was waiting for Scott to do an interview, I caught videos of these young Women practicing a folk dance of Cambodia to perform at an upcoming Young Adult Activity. In this town, after the training, I went with the Sisters to teach and the Senior Couple came with us. Their driver drove us, so we appreciated that. In one house as we were finishing the lesson I had a frog jump on me. Unfortunately, I had left my camera with the driver and didn't get a picture of the home and family. But when it jumped on me, I gave a little scream and pushed it away from me. It felt slimy and greasy. That's when I knew it wasn't a lizard or a grasshopper. It jumped on Sister Nouer first and she screamed. I saw this little green thing jump off of her. I thought how silly to jump away from a grasshopper, but then it jumped on me. That's what I get for making a judgement on screaming! I did the same thing as our missionary! It was quite funny.

September 21st we drove to Kampong Thom and taught the 6 missionaries there the same lessons. Before we taught, we ate at the Houser's home. The Housers are our Senior Couple here. There isn't a good and safe restaurant in this town. Their cook/housekeeper made this kind of cake in a pumpkin. It was so, so good. After teaching we went with Elders James and Nebekeker. Again, no camera! But here in one of the homes at the end of a rice paddie we drove up to their gate on this little path where the road ended. The front of their home was a beautiful garden that I would have liked to have had here. The little family was very receptive and accepted a baptismal date. We then drove to another home, where we had to hike up a ladder to get in the home. Scott and I took little stools because by then we were getting sore from sitting so long. Our age, you know! When Scott sat on his little six inch plastic stool, the leg bent. He had bought us kiddie stools. He fell off and his legs went out in front of him. I got a good chuckle. Then I sat on mine and sat on the edge, not the middle and I fell off too. By then I was not chuckling but laughing. The family and the elders smiled, but were very polite and didn't laugh out loud. All during the prayer, I kept thinking of how we looked when we fell. This dignified couple looking totally ridiculous falling. It took all my control to hold my laughter in. I succeeded. Later I put the stools on top of each other, and they held good for the rest of the lesson. They found a little wooden stool that they brought Scott. So kind and generous. Scott gave them our stools for their almost to be born baby. We bought 2 foot stools to take with us next time!
Below are two videos of these young sisters practicing their dancing.

Trainings in Siem Reap Sept.18, 2010

After the specialized training to the Siem Reap Elders, we went with Elders Sweeten and Vanfleet to teach. One of their investigator families lives in a neighborhood where there is lots of water because of the rainy season. In order to get to the investigators we needed to wade in the mud and water for about 50 yards or so. It got up to my knees in one point. I have to say, it felt really good to walk in the mud. It was soft, oozy and felt good on my feet.

Elder Sweeten (now gone home) and Elder Vanfleet make this trip every day. Elder Vanfleet is a new missionary and can speak the language really good. The trip was worth it, the family was great. Their little home is up and off to the right of this picture.

We traveled to Battambang again to do a training there Sept 18-20th. Before we left Siem Reap, Scott did interviews and I chatted with the 6 missionaries there. They were so disappointed that I had forgotten my treat. I had M &M's. I told them I would send them up. I thought I did, but our new Assistant tells me I didn't and he didn't get his Peanut M&M's. So he got them today, Oct. 14th!

Some of the beautiful countryside we see as we travel along.