Scenes from the Battambang Chapel Openhouse October 15th.

Scott and I couldn't go up to this grand event. We were there for the dedication and couldn't go up again because of our schedule. We are so grateful for Elder and Sister Yeates who helped with background leadership. The Saints in Battambang did a magnificent job with this and the minister of religion for the Province came. Suy Lin from our service center was also there. Sister Lam from the 6th branch had served a there on her mission and went up. She posted the pictures on Facebook and I copied some with her approval. So enjoy the scenes from the Battambang Chapel Open House. As you can see, it sits on prime land on a national road leading into the city. Already, people have been coming in and asking to be taught.






They had a main meeting first, then did some cultural events, and then toured the building.

A Historical Group of Vietnamese Missionaries

After a specialized training around October 11th, Scott had this group come up and be recognized because they are, as we know it, the first group to have so many missionaries in Vietnam who are Vietamese! We believe these sisters are the first group of Vietnam sisters to serve in their own country! This group of remarkable young people have all been members of the church 5 years or less. Most no longer than 2 years. They are all from Ho Chi Minh Branch or Hanoi Branch. They have been being trained here in Cambodia and one is training a new missionary. Elder Ly is finishing his mission and is now home. He went to to Ho Chi Minh October 22nd. On October 22nd all them went back into Vietnam. What an honor to have them with us in this mission!

Two Sisters and two Elders will be serving in Ho Chi Minh and two sisters will be serving in Hanoi. These are all very special young people with special gifts and talents and all have powerful testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to share with their own people in Vietnam. They are called branch builders in Vietnam. L to right with President Smedley standing by the finishing missionary, Elder Ly, the rest are: Elder Tien Wu (he goes by Tien here and Wu in Vietnam), Sisters Pham, Ly Nguyen, Loan Pham, and Nguyen. The ones in Ho Chi Minh are Sisters Pham and (say Fam) and Nguyen, and in Hanoi Sisters Loan Pham (she goes by Sister Pham in Hanoi, but Sister Loan here in Phnom Penh), the Elders are Elder Wu and then his companion will be Elder Thang (say chung) who will be the first Zone Leader in Vietnam as we know it today.
We will be going on November 6th to check on them and give them training. They are WONDERFUL!

Asia Area Conference Weekend.

October 8-9 was the Asia Area General Conference. While our husbands were in priesthood meeting, the Phnom Penh senior sisters went together shopping on street 178 because that is Sister Ellingson's favorite place to shop. It started pouring buckets while we were in the store, so we finally got a tuk tuk and came back to the mission home and listened to part of the General Relief Society Conference while munching on chocolate covered raisins and M&M's! We had a good time. Sisters Spencer and Henderson facing me.

Sisters Snyder and Ellingson.

While we were at a stop light, these three young, friendly women kept looking at us. So we started talking to them and they let us take their picture. What friendly nice young women. We couldn't approach them about the church because we weren't at the light long enough!

Working with the Sisters in Takh Mao

Sister Mai and Sister Tay are just terrific sisters. Sister Tay is training Sister Mai. Sister Mai is a Vietnamse sister from the local 3rd Vietnamse branch and she was called by the prophet to serve in Cambodia in the Cambodian speaking program. She is the one that told Scott one day when he was working with the Elders and she was a member present, that she made it up a steep bridge because she was a Child of God. Scott had asked her, Sister, how did you make it up this steep bridge on your bike when you are so little and her reply was, "i made it because I am a child of God". So whenever we see her we think of that kind of humility. They are having great success because of their sincerity and great love for those they teach.

Sister Samath is the mother of the new branch president, and she went as a member present to 2 of the lessons.

The first visit was this beautiful little family. Her Father is threatening to take away their home (he is the owner) if they keep learning about Jesus Christ. He is afraid that she won't be there to pray for him in the Wat and give incense to him and the other ancestors. So he is afraid he will be doomed if she doesn't do that. They did explain to her that we help our ancestors through doing ordinances for them in our Temples.

Our next stop was to teach this young man who takes lessons in the member's home. I loved her ramp up to her home. It is a very solid bamboo logs. If you tripped at all you would fall in the murky waters below! The young man is the one who was walking along one day to come to this home for a lesson. He was pondering and thinking all that he had learned from the sisters about God. He was walking near the water and all of a sudden he had a strong prompting to jump up and over. So he did. As he looked back to see what he was jumping over, he saw that it was a snake ready to bite his leg or heel and as he jumped over it's head, it shut it's mouth. He just took off running and considered it such a blessing that he had that feeling to jump.


Our last stop was to the church where we taught these two young women. They were learning about the need for a prophet. It took a little teaching and some sharing of experiences about prophets and how God tells the prophets what he wants for his people on earth. By the end they were understanding much better.

Scott picked me up a the Takh Mao chapel and we stopped by the 4-11th branch sister's home and I saw all of their shoes lined up against the wall. I was amazed at all their shoes.

A Treasure Hunt

Elder Oleson, one of our assistants was running because he realized from the clues on the compass course at Zone Leader Council on October 6th, that he knew where the treasure was.

They all got such a kick out of what they discovered.

There under the desk was a treasure. Their Mission President!

And he had some great golden chocolate treasures for them. We did a similar event last year. It was an object lesson on following a compass course to the exact spot and not get off even a degree as in a talk one of the General Authorities gave. We stay on course with the outline for missionary work as given by the prophets. And I can't remember how else it tied in. Anyway, it made for a fun activity in the middle of the council. They got a nice break plus a treat.

Goin' Home

The rainy day continued on our way home from the Battambang Dedication on the 2nd of October. We left Battambang the next day, Monday after a specialized training with our missionaries. Scott stopped the car and had me take this picture. We had never seen so many blossoms on the water lilies and then to have a beautiful bush in the background with yellow flowers. It was just beautiful. The rains make for a little less than clear picture, but still serviceable. I love to see the rice in the background. Now, I think, that even may be flooded.


We could not believe that there was a guy just standing in the rain on the back of a truck. He even leaned over to get somethign from one of the boxes as he hung on. I thought he might fall, but he didn't seems too worried and even let us take a picture of this event.


I found this just amazing! I shouldn't have because we see lots of interesting things when we travel, but it still is amazing!

The Steam of the Jungle.

I believe that Battambang is the second largest city in Cambodia, but you can't tell from all the beautiful palms, vines, ferns, and other foilage! It was a very rainy day and off to the right and in the background, the vapor was coming off the trees and it reminded me of when I have heard the phrase, "steam of the jungle". Now I know what it means. One day here last year, as we drove out of our hotel, I thought we were in the fog. It was too warm for fog, but not for the vapor and heat that comes with the humidity and lots of foilage. It was a very steamy experience and I was really surprised that it came into the city. It didn't last long once the sun came out good, but it was truly quite fascinating!

October 2nd Dedication Day

These are two wonderful families in the two branches in Battambang. I think both of these families are in the 2nd Branch. They are a great strength. The young woman on the right in the black jacket sang her first solo ever at the dedication. She sang, "I'm trying to Be Like Jesus" She had it all memorized and sang it in Khmer. Her whole family were praying for her so much. When she was finished the whole congregation of about 200 or more broke out in applause!:) I had the privilege of accompanying her on the piano.

The building is just a beautiful building and very imposing from the street. I have other pictures on a blog as the building was being built. I will try to get a picture of it from the street. Two of our fine missionaries: Elders Faught and Warr pose for me outside the building right before the dedication.



I tried to get all in attendance in the pictures. Sister Loy translated the dedicatory prayer and President Bunno, the District President, said the prayer. Sister Loy is one of our sister missionaries and is in teh middle picture.

The local branch leaders and their counselors and President Bunno in front. Our assistants are also in this picture and the little gal who sang. I'm sorry I can't remember her name. I need to start writing the names down. Scott is good with the names. Me, not so good.

This sister is so faithful. She holds church assignments and never misses. She wanted her picture taken with us and Brother Kim Sang who is the service center manager and arranged for the temporal arrangements for the building and needed to make sure all was as it should be in the building. All in all, it was one special day up in Battambang. Battambang is the first of our 4 provinces where we have branches to get a chapel. The next one is Siem Reap. It is getting on the drawing board and government approvals to begin.

On the Road to Battambang

October 1st Scott and I along with our assistants headed up to Battambang for the chapel dedication and also Scott's missionary interviews and a specialized training. All along the road the water was close to the sides. I felt like we were driving on a peninsula! Where this water is, a person usually sees rice paddies. I read in the local paper that 3% of the current rice crop is lost due to flooding. Luckily for us the roads weren't flooded.



If a person looks reallyclosely at this picture, you can see the riders on the back of this truck are sitting on motos! It was quite the sight!