A Farewell to Missionaries

This group of missionaries were some that came into the Mission Office our last Monday there.


My last pictures with the sisters.  I so loved going out to work with them.  It was one of my favorite things to do.  The newest sisters, I didn't get to go with them because the last 6 weeks were so intense with travel.


Sister Ly is from Ho Chi Minh City and is such a great sister.  She has served alot of her time in Hanoi and now is serving in Camodia in the Vietnamese branches.

Farewell with the Senior Couples

With our wonderful Senior Couples, we met at the William Tell Restaurant for a final dinner.  We were able to tell them how much we appreciated them and all the work they do to further the work of the Church. They are faithful and hardworking and love the members and investigators.  On the left side of the table are the Hendersons, Westovers, Tucks, Rhynes, Meirs.  On the right side are the Shelley's, us, Spencers (they are the Senior Seniors and organized this event), Grimnes and Elder James. They gave us a book with pictures of Cambodia and Cambodians, and also letter of appreciation from all the seniors and many of the missionaries. Again our hearts were touched with love and appreciation for the opportunity to meet and work with so many wonderful people.

A closer look at the Rhynes and Sister Meirs.  I guess her husband had gone by the time I took the picture.  Elder and Sister Rhynes served in Russia as mission president and his wife about 7 years ago. The Rhynes are the Family History Directors and the Meirs are the CES and PEF couple.

Elder and Sister Grimnes serve in Kampong Thom as MLS.

Elder and Sister Shelley serve in Kampong Cham and she is the mission nurse. I relied on her alot.

Elder and Sister Yeates are in Battambang as MLS. Soon they will have 3 branches to help as the branches are growing and a 3rd one will be added and maybe it already has! They also are doing a great job and are from our sister city of Kaysville, Utah. 

A Young Adult Farewell

Our last Sunday in Cambodia these youth came to sing us some songs and tell us they loved us.  They sang, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." and one other.  They were wonderful and Scott and I had our hearts touched by the sincerity and sweetness.  We had several of our returned missionaries in this group and how we love them too. Several of them are now serving missions as well. 



Elder Phirun is now engaged to the young woman in blue. All of the young people below are all Returned missionaries that served with us except one and she had just got released before we came.


Telling everyone goodbye and how much we love them. 

East District Conference Visits

We got home in time to do our final District Conference with the East District. At each visit, Scott continued his desire to share ties and invite back to church.  It seems like both these couples came to the Saturday session or the Sunday, and one of them both!  So, the visits were productive and also very fun. We love getting into the homes of the members and especially the less active where we can share with them how much Heavenly Father loves them and wants them to return to full activity in the church.  Some have taked up the challenge and returned. Some just come for the conference and then don't come again for a little while. But at least they know they are loved and we cared about them.

TheDistrict President, President Veasna, accompanied us.  They knew him and were glad to see him.


Takhmau 2 Branch President, President Samat.  He used to be one of our missionaries. 

One Sick Sister

While we were in Vietnam, we had Sister vom Lehn hospitalized with Dengue Fever and also some kind of Amoeba.  A Double whammy. She is very resilient and was getting better more and more every day. Here she is with her wonderful trainer. Sister Vom Lehn had only been out for 5 weeks!  So, a rough start but she had a postive and happy attitude.  She also has a beautiful voice.  She was released a couple of days after we got home, but we stopped on our way home from the airport to see how she was doing. She is now strong and going well!  We love her and her companion, Sister Keo.

Farewell to Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City.

Before we left on our plane we had an hour or so to kill, so we walked to the famous Red bridge.  On the island is a encased HUGE turtle that I have a picture of on my blog before. But we were there so early in the morning that the little island wasn't opened, so Sisters Bayles and Sparks couldnt see the turtle.  But at least they got to see the Red Bridge.  It was a nice farewell to an old beautiful city where we have many fond memories and many friends in the church.

I guess I don't look too bad for having slept in my clothes all night.  We actually put a clean change of clothes on at the airport restrooms in HO Chi Minh.  So, we didn't feel quite so dirty!

A little island just off the bridge.  It was still overcast and rainy as we left. But all in all a great time.

Day 2, Through the Valley and back up the mountain.

More beautiful rice fields that we walked through on a very nice path. Sisters Sparks and Bayles bought themselves a very good Vietnamese hat.  I just wore my visor.  Our little guide stuck with us. She lives up further behind us on a little farm. They do have a moto, at least!

These cute little ladies wanted us all to purchase from them. they have their wares in their purses.

More rice fields.  Below is an outfit for the yellow Hmong. The blue clothing is worn by the blue what I think they call the Black Hmong.  I think they call it that and it really means darker clothing.

Loved all the purses.  I would have liked to buy one but have some others and I didn't need it.

As I was walking and talking with our young guide she put her hand around me and so I put my arm around her.  I surely wish we could have taught about the church. But it is against the law.  She did say several of the Hmong in that area are Christian.

 I
I should have put the water buffalos in a bigger picture instead of this one because you can't see them very well.    I do not know what this liquid is in the bowls.

Coming off the mountain we spied these young kids riding on their water bufflos. Yea!  we made it back in town and the spectacular scenery from the Hotel.  We rode back to the train station this night and rode the train all night back to Hanoi.  Ate some breakfast somewhere, and went to the airport and changed our clothes their before we checked our luggage in. We got back to Phnom Penh about 12:30 p.m. that day. A short visit, but a great one.  I have sweet memories of the Hmong and the scenery.

Sopa Day 2--Down Through the Rice Fields

The Sisters, and the Jones went on a long hike through the rice fields.  I wanted to take a shorter way and so the tour people drove Scott and me part way and we were met by some Hmong guides who were gracious enough to not try to get me to buy from them until we got to the little restaurant where we met up with our group. Instead of a 3 mile walk I had a 1 1/2 mile walk down a steep rocky path that sometimes was wet and a little slippery.  But they were very helpful.  We saw some beautiful scenery and enjoyed the company of these sweet Hmong people very much.

Farm houses.

The guides that walked us down into the valley.

I loved how the corn grows right on the mountain.  I thought it was amazing how good they were to irrigate and get a crop.  We saw these little pigs running around at some farmer's home.

I thought the rice fields were so beautiful and I enjoyed seeiing close up how they terraaced their crop. When it is time to harvest, the whole village comes out to help each other.  Our little guide said that most people never get off the mountain. She didn't know about the Himalayas or other countries by Vietnam. She says they go to school until 6 or 7th grade, then if you don't have money to further your education, you take English class and hope to get a tour job like her, and also you marry and have children and farm. That is their life and she seemed very happy and her English was very good.  She was a sweet young woman and we grew to love her.

At the bottom of the valley we had to cross a bridge, a new one, not the old one, thank goodness. Their was an ex-patriot from Australia who comes back during the tourist season and runs this little homegrown restaurant where we ate lunch midway through the hike. It sits on the river.  The food was good even though   we had one menu choice. IT was a much needed break and we appreciated the change of pace.