Eight on a Moto and One in a Bucket

One of our former missionaries put this on Facebook. I had heard about this picture and I believe it is here in Cambodia, but Asia for sure. It is a classic! Someone e-mailed this to us and I couldnt' resist but put this on. It is a keeper of a picture.

Clever Creations

The sister in Ho Chi Minh gave me the above beautiful creative mobiles that she and her workers made. I love them and can't decide who will receive one! The sister that is the oldest in the branch gave me a dragon fly clothespin holder for Varci. She handed it to me and said, "Give this to your daughter." Varci went over to Ho Chi Minh last year and this sister remembered her. So I have a wedding gift to give Varci from Vietnam!


Kenzi and Brooke Hoenes, our 2 and 4 year old granddaughters designed a pink bead bracelet for me and a blue one for Scott for our birthdays! I have appreciated and worn them! They told Kali what to do and she did the beads for them, but they designed. I thought they did pretty good and it was very thoughtful of them! Thanks girls.

Off to Ho Chi Minh-May 25-27

We have a new senior couple in Hanoi. We were able to meet with them and give them an orientation at a conference room in our hotel: The New World of Saigon. This is a great enthusiastic couple from Maine. They are Elder and Sister Blinn. We are thrilled to have them join our mission. They are here on a humatarian mission as the LDSC representatives in Ho Chi Minh. They also will be a great help to the branch in Hanoi!

May 26th, we went to the airport and picked up Elder and Sister Bednar and Elder and Sister Perkins. Elder Bednar and Elder Perkins had some government meetings the next day. This took some time to get the branch in a group. This is after a special member meeting that was held and Elder Bednar spoke to them. The branch president is the middle man holding his little girl. This was a terrific and special meeting.

This sister received her mission call and opened it with all of her friends there. She will be coming to our mission. I'm pretty sure she'll have an opportunity to serve in her own country! A former missionary, Elder Thinh is standing near the wall on her left with his fiance, also a former missionary, right next to him. He served in Cambodia and Vietnam and was an excellent missionary. He and his fiance will be getting sealed in the Manila Temple in August. What a great contribution all of them including our newest sister will make to the mission. We are excited to have her serve.

While Elder Bednar was in meetings, I along with the Local Relief Society President, Sister Sibylle Slvoboda and the Hanoi District Branch President's wife, Theresa Bird, took Sisters Bednar and Perkins to a member's shop near our hotel. The above Sister is one of the oldest members in Ho Chi Minh. She was a member before the fall of Saigon. She demonstrated a graduation gown they make there in the shop for graduates of children's schools there in the city.
They also make all kinds of toys for children. She made a bumble bee mobile made out of nylons and wire, and tye tied. She gave me one for a gift.

The sister in blue is the owner of the shop, Sister Bird is to the right, Sister Slvoboda is the blond in the back. Sisters Perkins and Bednar, Elder Ly's Mom, and me.

Here is the sister giving a demonstration of her mobiles to Sister Bednar. We had a great time with these sisters. After we went to the Reunification Palace. This is where the last President of Vietnam lived and ran the government and the war with North Vietnam. They now call it the Reunification Palace because both North and South are now one country. Sorry, I didn't get pictures of any of that! :(

Traveling to Zone Conference May 20th

On the way to Siem Reap for a 4 city Zone Conference (small Zones: total 20 missionaries), we stopped off in Battambang for Scott to do some interviews. We stopped by the new chapel there to see how it is progressing. We are getting close. I think the new deadline is in June sometime. They are painting the rooms, putting up the woodwork, and working on finishing the roof. All the duct work is finished. They even have tile laid in some of the rooms where there will be tile. It is right on a major highway and will see alot of traffic coming in to see the finished product. It will be a great missionary tool.

From Battambang, we head up to Siem Reap. Some of the scenes from the car window show plowed rice fields ready to plant and some already planted. It is so beautiful when the rice is almost ripe. I've said this before, but it looks like one big golf course, especially when there are some palm trees interspersed amongst the rice. We passed a hill that has a big Buddha statue, but the picture didnt' turn out so well. Elder Schiefer drives to give Scott a break. It takes about 5-6 hours to go to Siem Reap through Battambang.

At Siem Reap, we met up with some missionaries to eat at a new buffet that cost $5 each. It is the Lucky's Buffet. Everything comes in on a belt. You take the food you want off the belt. They bring some broth that you choose. They put it in the pot. You set the temperature to boil the broth and then add the choices you made from the belt. I had some kind of Khmer green leafed veggie that I like, some shrimp and pork and noodles. It cooked up fast. You dish your own food up. It was absolutely delicious and I would like to go there again. I've never put pictures of our room in Siem Reap where we usually stay at the Paradise Angkor. This time they put us in a suite for the same price! It has two couches and chairs, beautiful wood floors, a beautiful buffet wher ethe TV was, but we put other stuff on it and rarely have time to watch TV. We make time to answer our e-mails on the road. I like seeing the monks just walking around with their umbrellas to protect themselves fromt he heat, sometimes the rain.

Zone conference was a success. We stayed an extra day to go teaching with the Elders and the next day to go to church in Siem Reap and go do home teaching visits. Those were wonderful. My camera had lost it's charge and I didnt' get any pictures. On the way home, we stopped in Kampon Cham for Scott to do more interviews. One of them was in the neighborhood of a wonderful member missionary. Ming Nih (ming means Aunt, and that is what most people call her). She totally gets how important it is to share the Gospel with friends and neighbors and family. She has probably introduced the missionaries to 30 different people who are now members. She goes with them to the discussions too. She is just an enthusiastic person and has been a member for just a year. Elder Thomas stands by a sort of chicken coop on the side of the home where Scott was interviewing a sister for baptism. She passed. Sister Nih brought her little granddaughter with her to see President Smedley and offer moral support to the potential member. I think she was influential with the other woman in the above picture also and now that lady likes to help the Elder's teach too.

Random PIctures

Six on a Moto in Siem Reap!!


For my birthday on May 15th, Kenzi, our four-year-old granddaughter had made with the help of her Mom a pink bracelet for me and a blue bracelet for her Grandpa. So, I modeled both of them to show their good work!

We were going home from a birthday dinner a senior couple gave me two days after my birthday and we saw President Ang and his wife and two kids. They had been to pencils doing some shopping with two of their three boys.

After the South District Zone Conference May 19th, I got a picture with all the sisters in that district. L-R Sisters Nouer, Robertson, Pin, Som ( going to Temple square but has helped us out for 3 months), Loy, and Hildenbrand. The person who took the picture didnt' know how to focus my camera, so hence, a blurry picture! These are all great sisters by the way! We love them all!

South District Conference Visits.

Scott and I went with President Mok Mai to do some visits in his branch. He is the 9th Branch President and also in the District Presidency. He's quite the leader! We also met up with Elder Chen from Singapore. Elder Watson went in a tuk tuk, which he loved by the way to visit in a different area of the district. Both he and Scott taught any Priesthood brethren how to consecrate oil and how to give a blessing in their home. The first family was the Relief Society president of the 9th branch. She has been a member along with her sister for 10 years. She herself has never married and lives with her sister and her family.

This brother had one of the nicest floors that I've seen. He just moved into this home and I guess it is an upgrade from his former home. He is being blessed! He is being taught how to give a blessing. Elder Schiefer, an assistant is doing the translation, if needed.


He gave a blessing to his daughter. It was the first time she had received a blessing from her father. They were thrilled. The tie he has on is one given him by Scott.

Off we go to finish up our visits. It was a good conference and I only had to give one talk and one training.

Khmer Dancing at the Titanic

May 13th, we went to a Restaurant with some of the Senior couples. Elder Watson was here for the South District Conference and wanted to take the couples to eat. We went to a restaurant called the Titanic. We had never been there, but the couples had and this is one of their favorites. It over looks the Tonle Sap or maybe the Mekong River (they join each other near there). It is a great senic view, the food is good and they have this Cambodian Entertainment. These girls were very good and the young man plays an instrument similar to a xylophone. The tones are Asian tones as far as scales go, that is. At least that's how it sounds to me. We all had a great night.

Zone Council and Leadership Training

Making fire without matches as an object lesson. I guess it was to show that as a leader, sometimes it takes time and patience to light a fire under the missionaries they lead. They had been sitting for a bit, so I gave everyone an all day sucker. They were all quite interested in knowing how it would all work. Tay Phirun, our Administrative Aid came and blew the kindling that President Smedley had worked with to get some sparks going. The fire went so big, that he dropped the lid and got a slight burn! Oh, Oh. :)

Some of those suckers sure lasted a long time!

Stops 3-5 on our Trek to Take Missionaries Home.

We drove down a beautiful lane, went quite a distance in Takha Mau, down a distant lane in farm country to find Elder's Um's home. He was greeted warmly by a family delighted to have him home. They were able to build a larger home while Elder Um was gone. One of the blessings they received from him serving. They invited us to go up in the home and wanted Scott to offer a prayer. So we did. The family made a Returned With Honor sign for Elder Um. He is standing by it.

The sign says: Elder Um Returned With Honor after Serving his best to the Lord. Welcome home. They made the sign on what they had. No big banner, or poster board messages. It was a simple and sincere welcome home. I loved it. Signs of growth in the Church when families start making signs, right? Elder Um, I believe is in the Elder's Quorum with Elder Samat.

Our 4th stop was to deliver Sister Vo. Sister Vo has no living family. Her Mom died years ago, and her Father died last year while she was serving. Her good friend and former trainer, Sister Mai, invited her to live in her home. She gladly accepted. She was thrilled with this home. Sister Mai was on a trip to Vietnam, but had the home clean and welcoming for her. We got the key from the branch president who lives just around the corner. So we went to their home to thank them. Their daughter has received some assistance for surgery that has saved her life and they were happy to see us.

Sister Vo is doing well. She comes to the mission home about 3 times a week to teach Elder Snyder Vietnamese.
Our 5th and final stop was to Elder Long's home. He has a very nice home and beautiful yard with lots of fruit trees also. They served us a Cambodian special dish of Curry and also some fresh mangoes. We were still hungry and enjoyed the food they gave us. Elder Long's family are not members except for one sister and a brother who had to go to work before we got there. He has a great family who are proud of him and his service.

We returned home about 4:30 p.m. after leaving around 9:00 a.m. It was a great day and we felt very rejuvenated to deliver all of these special young men and women to those that love them!

Taking the Local Missionaries Home.

May 7th we got the mission van and started the rounds to take the 5 local missionaries home. Sister Sok was our first one. Her Mom lives up in Battambang and isn't a member. So we went to the Church for her to have her badge removal from the District President. She was greeted by many friends. I think about 7 more joined us later. We then took her to a friend's home. She is now living in a home owned by President Sophan, one of Scott's counselors, and looking for roommates! She is doing well.

Our next stop was Elder Samat's home. We were thrilled to see his home because he has so many beautiful trees around it. They bear fruit. He said they even have pineapple plants in their yard. They served us some wonderful Mangoes and a fruit that you dip in salt. Can't remember the name of it. They also gave us some bananas. I was starving and it all tasted terrific! Brother Samat showed how he can climb a coconut tree! Then Elder Samat thought he could still do it after two years. Then Scott wanted to try it. He got about 6 inches off the ground! I guess he will leave climbing coconut trees to those more experienced!

Elder Samat is also doing well. He has been called as the Elder's Quorum President and is organizing Home Teaching. Way to go Elder Samat.