Motos

The majority of Cambodians get around on bikes and Motos which are small motorcycles. They are affordable to many and easy on the gas mileage. They haul families around on them, I've seen five but some missionaries saw eight people on one. They haul anything and everything as you will see from this picture of the man hauling dressers. Also I hope to include in this post a video clip of driving in the smaller towns. It's all great. I am including also some pictures of President Smedley and me greeting some members in Battambang, and the Baptism was the first Sunday here in one of the Viet Nam Branches. The missionaries found this man on the street poppling bubbles on bubble wrap. He is a garbage collector and the missionaries felt inspired to stop and talk to him. He was taught and joined the Church. He now has hope for a better life and help by praying to Heavenly Father. Before he had nothing to live for. Now he has something to live for. All his family has died and he is all alone in this world, but not anymore because he has the Gospel of Jesus Christ to hang on to.

more pictures of spiders and eating them

This is Elder Godfrey eating his tarantula and also a picture of the tarantulas with the crickets.

Spider Town and the Tarantulas

We were here last week and I said here are the pics, but there weren't any. So now, I am finally able to load the pictures on. We have since traveled to Siem Reap and Battambong. I think I only got pictures of the missionaries there. Our Assistants are the ones eating the spiders. The local office assistant here loves Spiders. He showed me a picture of his little 2 year old eating one. They gave it to him for his birthday. He says they also love the fried crickets. He just laughs when we pull faces about it all!

The above pictures are of two of our assistants, Elders Heder and Godfrey. The bottom picture is of our arrival here in Cambodia being greeted by President Winegar. The other one is of the mission home, part of our living quarters.

Meeting the President Conferences

Friday we started the round of Meet the President Conferences. This is a modified Zone Conference. Friday we did the three zones in Phnom Penh. That is half the zones in the mission. We took pictures of all the missionaries with us so we could e-mail to their home. Anyway, we had a wonderful time meeting with all of them. They looked clean, dignified, and sharp, like missionaries should. We showed them pics of the family and then had them share something about their mission in one minute or less, then President Smedley and I each gave a talk. I talked on the role the Holy Ghost plays in Missionary work and President Smedley talked on the role hard work and committment play in missionary work. Of course we added in a few war stories of our own life and missions.Saturday we got to finish unpacking after we went to an engagement party. This was an LDS one, so it was modified a bit. Traditional Cambodian clothing was worn (like in the King and I). People follow the groom into the room wear the bride is, they bring gifts that the brides's family have purchases. Then the the MC talks and then President Smedley presided over the ring ceremony. It was translated of course. Friday night we got to go the a Patriotic party at the US embassy where we met the assistant who helps with our Cambodians getting visas to go to the USA for their missions. Sunday we spent all day in the vietnamese branches. It was great and Yesterday we drove up to Kampong Cham for zone conference and meet the member meeting for us. It rained so hard the members couldn't go home, so we told stories for 30 minutes. There are some solid and sweet members up there. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there. President Smedley got brave and drove all the way home! I was proud of him. Here are some pictures of the drive and Spider Town where our assistants bought 7 tarantulas and ate 2 of them! Not, me. That is not appealing to me!

We made it!

We got here yesterday about 11:35 a.m. IT took a little while to get our luggage etc. At first we thought they had forgotten we were coming. As we took the exit to get out of the airport terminal, there were missionaries, members and the Winegars all waiting for us with leis and their friendship. We ate lunch with the Winegars and then we all went to the south District Center to meet with the Minister of Religion and Cults and his people. It was a meeting on request from the Minister. He showed his support for the Church and also told us that his country was all about Freedom of religion. He was a happy, smiling person and very cordial. After a brief procol, the Elders took the group on a tour of the church and explained each room. It was a great start, and I got to practice speaking Cambodian with the members that were there. They are very loving and kind. I am immediatley a fan of the Cambodian people. They have me hooked!~We also love our missionaries. They elders we have met so far are dedicated, hard working and obedient young men and we are so impressed. In two days we start a mission tour to meet every one of them, including 5 sisters who are working up in the provinces north of Phnom Penh.