Scenes from Phnom Penh

 Hauling a ladder of some sort while the driver moves through traffic, they both manage to stay on and not drop anything.  Quite a gift, I'd say!

 A beautiful sunset coming on.  I don't get to see many of those in the city themselves because of all the buildings, so it is always a treat when I can see one.

Spider Bites?

  A missionary came in with these bites or fungus infection. The doctors thought it was probably a bite that got infected. They put him on an antibiotic and it healed fine and caused him no more problems.  A couple of Elders had something similar on the back of their necks. They were put on an antibiotic and got better. Also we had them put a triple ointment on it. No more problems with this in the mission.  It was just an unusual thing.

Kampong Cham Training with Elder Subandriyo

 November 19 and 20 we went with Elder Subandriyo to Kampong Cham so that he could do Priesthood Training.  Scott also taught, but I was off the hook this time.  While there we witnessed two baptisms, and this young man is one of them.  He was a pretty happy guy.

 We also divided up to do some family visits in the morning.  Elder Subandriyo rides the moto with President Sorin of the 3rd branch.

 We visited in the 2nd Branch with President Soy We went to a Returned Missionary's home to visit with him and his parents.  He comes to church pretty good, but his parents not.  His Dad came to all the meetings after we visited with him.  We were quite surprised because his Mom looked like maybe she would come.

 They have another son, who is tied up in the background.  He has a mental illness and runs away and bites people.  He got worse and worse and they cannot afford a hospital or care for him, so tie him up in back of their home.

This is some of their garden that they grow for cash crops.  It is very tidy and well cared for. They also have quite a bit of property in the back.  We walked by her son who was chained up.  I smiled at him, but didn't know he reaches out and bites people until after we were finished looking at the property. When we got in the car, a member of the branch who was with us, told me!  Whew!  Glad he left me alone!

This next family live a little ways out. All nice people, but quite non committal to come. They said the would, but I don't recall seeing them to the Sunday meeting.  However, we felt good about visiting with them.

Sisters Return Home

 November 21st, Sisters Nouer and Robertson came in to the mission home to prepare to return home.These two have been hard working and successful missionaries.  Sister Robertson left a lot of investigators for the others sisters to teach!

 There she goes Walking the Red Carpet.

 Sister Nouer takes her turn.

Some of the friends that came to the airport to tell Sister Robertson goodbye.  Sister Robertson looks sad to leave!

 Sister Nouer's sister is so happy to have her return home.

 All the clan that greeted her.  Her Mom is on the left.

 Another pic with Sister Nouer's Dad. He was a little under the weather when we were there, but rallied for a picture.

Sister Nouer was very proud of all their banana trees and property behind the home. They had quite a bit. It was a good feeling to leave her with the many in her family that dearly love her.

A Wedding and a Funeral

November 27. This was set up right next to our driveway. They had to move a table for us to drive out.  They were also playing Cambodian music really loud.

 The source of that are these musicians playing the ancient instruments while the monk chants and blesses the newly weds.

We went to church here the last Sunday of November, right before our Missionary Musical. I thnk the woman and her son will be baptized soon.

 Saturday the 26th, we were on our way out to a burial and saw this truck.  If you look closely you can see that one of the workers set up his hanmock in the truck and was sleeping quite soundly.

 The burial of Sister Hem's Mother was out about 1 hour from Phnom Penh.  It was on a dirt road in the middle of rice fields.  Our gas light came on and we made it out to the burial and on the way back stopped on this dirt road by a little home that had gas in litre bottles. He had 2 liters of diesel which we bought for $3.00 which got us to a service station!

 We followed the white car and the bus full of members and friends of Sister Hem's Mother. Sister Hem was one of our missionaries.

 A beautiful lily pond on the way out.

In the distance are burial mounds.  The land where our members bury people was just beyond this.

Missionary Musical Fireside November

 We had a missionary musical fireside the 26 and 27 of November.  I am posing in front of a display I did.  Some of the sister missionaries helped me balance it out.

 We pose with Vany and Kim the day before we went to their home. They participated on 26 and 27 November for our member missionary fireside. This was a missionary musical fireside, but a few returned missionaries and future missionaries were also invited.  Kim plays the piano and Vany sings. He is also on the District Council and both can translate into English quite well! We had this event two nights in a row. The first night to the North District Center where we had about 100 people in attendance. I was hoping for 50 souls. So we were very pleased.  This was kind of my brainstorm and so I was a little jttery about it all. I even decided to play.  Everyone was asked to perform a number that tells why you love the Savior. Our whole goal with this music was to testify of Jesus Christ.

 One of the missionaries took this impromptu picture.  Not too complimentary to my face, that's for sure! This is in the South District Center.  Here we had a full chapel and most of the cultural hall.  I was for sure shocked to see maybe 350 people there to hear the missionaries, and the few others who were invited to perform.  Since this time, one set of missionaries was asked to do a fireside in their branch by the branch president and to perform the numbers they did this night.  We had many investigators and some less actives there.  The spirit was so strong as we all testified through voice and music of the Savior.

 This little woman and her husband come to the 5th branch.  We had been there 2 weeks previously and she is a new member and he is an investigator.  He is blind.  They are just a great couple. She is so loving an patient with her husband and he is sick quite often.  I think he has diabetis and that is what took his sight. They came to the South District Center to see and hear the Missionary Musical Fireside.

 The Hem (hum) sisters came.  They  had just lost their Mom to an early and untimely death the week before.  We went to the funeral and it was most heartbreaking because they are so close to their Mom.  The one in pink is one of our former missionaries. They are both really good young women and contribute to their branch.   They were hoping the music would cheer them up and they said it did.

Some of the missionaries who performed.  

The Chapel clearing out after the performance.  It took about 1 1/2 hours, but everyone seemed to enjoy it all.  Many lingered after to socialize and feel the spirit.

Dinner with the Kuen's -November

A Monday in  November, we were invited to Kim and Vany Kuen's home for supper.  They also invited our assistants because they work in their branch, which is the 2nd branch.  This is their first child, a little girl.  I think her name is like Madeline, something like that!  Anyway, she loved to give the big smiles.

 This is part of the group there.  The yellow shirt is Vibol, a long time member and CES teacher.  Kim and hisi wife Scott and me.

The Kim Kuen Family

 This is the baby's Nanny. She also helped Vany cook the food along with some of Kim and Vany's family members.

This was quite the feast.  It was all very delicious!

North District Relief Society Choir

The last Saturday of October, I was invited to the North District Relief Society Visiting Teaching Activity.  When I arrived I found out that their pianist got called into work and couldn't accompany. They thought they wouldn't be able to sing, so I volunteered to play.  I accompanied on two songs. Lucky for me that I was acquainted with the music.  It seems like they sang a translated version of As Sisters In Zion.  Can't quite remember.  Anyway, they did a magnificent job, so posed for me after the meeting.  As a side note, the program was being translated for me and I saw my name on the program.  The translator told me that I was the final speaker!  Ooookaaaay!  I was able to put together a 10 minute talk on the value of visiting teaching and told them the Ruth Stamp story and told them they all could make a difference for good in the life of another sister.  I guess it was okay.  They seemed to listen! :)

A Positive Thinking Cancer Patient

 Kim Loan from the 6th branch has had a serious form of cancer.  She had a huge and fast growing tumor.  She is on her 2nd round of 3 doses of chemo.  At the end of the 1st dose of the second round, the cancer was 75% gone.  We sure hope and pray that at the end of this round, it will be 100% gone.  Kim is one of the sweetest and most positive people I have met.  She is around 20 years old and is always happy. Here she and Scott both point to their bald heads.

 Kim and her Mom.  Kim is an only child and her Mother is there with her constantly when she has to go in for chemo.  Her father is the 6th branch president.

Kim Loan put on her wig that a couple from Canada that have befriended her for years donated to her.  It looks so natural, if you didn't know different you would think it was her hair.  So, now we point to all of our hair.  I have to say another good thing about this young woman.  She would get out of the hospital from chemo and the very next day you find her at the church cleaning or doing the mission service project cleaning and picking up after water festival.  She is very involved.  We are praying for her that she beats her illness.

New Missionaries October 26th

 We received these great missionaries a few days after transfers because Elder Clark had been recovering from an MTC injury and Elder Phang (say fang) already knew Vietnamese. So it worked out for them to come together.  These will be great missionaries and we are grateful to have them with us.

 This group of young women took the above picture, so then we took a picture of them.  All very friendly Cambodians.  We sure do love the Cambodian people!  So friendly and kind!

 The next day after our orientation and training we all posed for a picture.  My camera had a little humidity on the lens!

 Elder Cope is Elder Clark's trainer.  They are getting along wonderfully well and  played a mandolin/guitar duet for a missionary musical fireside that we did the last Sunday of November.

Elder Frank is Elder Phang's trainer and they also are doing very well together.  We love the trainers and the two new missionaries.