First Stop on the Mission Tour With Elder and Sister Pratt

The North and Kampong Cham Zones was our first Zone conference of this tour. It was held in the North District Center.

We started our mission tour with Elder and Sister Pratt at the North Zone/Kampong Cham Zone here in Phnom Penh and Monday February 22nd. We have a beautiful District Center Northwest from the Mission Office/Home and we held the conference there. After the conference Sister Pratt had this picture taken because these Elders were in the MTC with a missionary that she writes to and she will e-mail this picture to him. I think I"m the one that is supposed to e-mail this picture to her. Guess I better get that done!

The Elders are from L to R Elders Zabriskie, Hurwitz, Sister Pratt, Elders Thompson, Boyd and James. At the conference I taught for 30 minutes and so did Scott, then Sister Pratt taught for an hour and Elder Pratt for 2 hours, then we had a luncheon. We had Spaghetti and Chicken Alfredo. The Pratts were disappointed we didn't have Cambodian Food, but the missionaries eat that every day, so we do something on Zone Conferences to give them a break in their diet.

After the conference Elder Pratt interviewed the Zone Leaders, whom he thought very highly of, and then we took them to the Killing Fields. This is where the Pol Pot leaders would bring innocent people in by truckloads, line them up and kill them. The above picture are just some of the bones found on this site. There are 3 other windows just like this one all around the building.

This is a very sobering and sad place, but one that helps you to understand part of the history that surrounds the Cambodian people. It's amazing to me, how most of the people have moved on from this point of their history. I feel like they have learned from it, and really don't like to talk about it much. There are very few families who were not touched in someway by this great destruction. On one of the signs in this site, the Cambodians described the Pol Pot regime as having the heart of a devil. I guess that about says it all.

A memorial site where I believe many children lost their lives.

All the holes in the ground are where there were mass graves and the bones that were in the first picture were discovered.

Central District Conference Visits

February 19th Elder Carl Pratt, a counselor in our area presidency, came over for a mission tour and also to preside at the Central District (Vietnamese) Conference. We did visits on Saturday the 20th. He went with the branch president and we went with the counselor and Elder Lines, one of our Missionaries assigned to teach Vietnamese people, translated for us.


We visited this little family. They have four boys. The Dad has been sick alot, but could come to Church. Scott gave him a tie to wear to Church. He was so excited to have it, he put it around his neck for the picture. This is in front of their little street food market. They have a table where they prepare and send food. She is very active in the Church and I believe is the Primary President in her branch.

Our next visit is this Mom. She is tall and graceful. Her and her husband have 5 children. They live in this little one room cement apartment. We are sitting on the bed. The clothes are hung on pegs on the wall. Her husband does construction for work. This home is an upgrade from what they lived in before. She agreed to come to conference on Sunday and was true to her word. She brought all the kids and came. She seemed so happy at Church to be there and feel the spirit of the members. She lives in very humble circumstances, but is trying to rise above her situation by hanging on to the hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. She knows her life will not be like this forever!

Sunsets, babies, chickens and a Farewell.

We finally got to see a sunset here in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh there are buildings all around us, so we never see a sunset here in the Home. But we were traveling home from Siem Reap and right before we got to Phnom Penh, about 30 minutes out, there was this gorgeous sunset, so we stopped so I could get a picture.


A returned missionaries cute little baby. I dared to hold this one because he had a diaper on. Many Mothers do not put diapers on the babies. I think for two reasons: financial and many Asians train their babies from the beginning and so don't have them in diapers.


This is something else we saw in our travels in February. If you look close, these are chickens secured all around the vehicle; on both sides and on top. And I believe they are live chickens. We had never seen anything like that since we have been here. It was absolutely delightful. what can I say.

We told the Dickersons farewell right before we left for a mini Zone Conrference to introduce the 2010 goals to our missionaries.

Missionaries and Pillows

Elders Merrill, Conner, and Egan checking in on Preparation Day in the Mission Office. All three are great missionaries and very hard workers.


Sister Mai left the mission on February 8th. She is one of our Vietnam sisters from here in Cambodia assigned to her own people. She was just an excellent missionary. And just recently got a call in her District to be the District Primary President. She will be wonderful!

One of Scott's more creative designs. In case you cant tell', they are standing on their corners. So Scott wanted me to take it from 2 angles. Scott wants Mee (his Mom) to know he has taken up her challenge! Aren't you a proud Mom!?

The one below here, made me laugh outloud. I thought it was so funny!


This is perhaps one of Scott's more artistic arrangements. He says there are more to come!

Weekend at Kampong Cham

Last week, after we had new missionaries and old missionaries leave the mission home, had transfers, and got the last Elder off on Saturday morning to go home to Vietnam, Scott and I headed up to Kampong Cham for a mission conference. So, this is out of order again, it should be the last post for today. So sorry about that! I'll get it sometime!
We decided to stay in a new Hotel in Kampong Cham. We usually stay in one by the river. The only problem with that one is that a little gecko greets us every visit, but he never bothers us. We decided to give this new hotel a chance. They have been open for 1 1/2 months. It was obvious that they were new because when they showed us our VIP room (VIP in this hotel means that they turn the hot water on for you), right there on the pillow greeting us was a spider about 4 inches total diameter including his long legs. I think I mentioned this in my last letter. When I asked the attendant to get rid of the spider, he went over and hit it and it jumped off the bed. He turned around to us with his hands in the air and said, sorry, he is under the bed. We got another room. He let us in and then turned around and said, No spider here! I was grateful. This VIP room was pretty good, but had a cracked mirror and tiny water bottles, and Wi-Fi that doesn't work. We decided that when we go back in two weeks for interviews, we will stick with our friendly gecko on the riverfront hotel! No spiders and lots of water available and internet that works!

The Youth chorus. They sang the closing song at the District Conference. All the youth when they sing in a church chorus like to have something matching to wear. This group always weard these red scarves. Another group in Phnom Penh, the young men wear purple ties and the girls also wear some kind of purple scarf. They all do well, practice hard, and sound great.

The family below live in the above neighborhood. They come to church sometimes only. I think because they have one moto and church is a little ways away. We encouraged them to ride their bikes and come to the Conference. They let us have a prayer with them and they wanted Scott to say it, so he did it in Cambodian. They were really pleased at that.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I didn't realize it was this bad!

This is one of the branch presidents in this District of three branches. He has one of the nicer most humble homes. On both walls they have pictures of the missionaries that have worked in the branch. I was worried their floor wouldn't hold us because the bamboo slats were about 1/2 inch apart. But it was really firm and safe. This Branch president knows everyone of his members and where they live. We took them on the visit to the above people and as we were driving along, he would point out all of the members homes and knows all their names. He goes and visits once a month as many as he can of his members.

We visited this family on our way out of Kampong Cham. They have been members since October. They have to pay $10 every Sunday to ride 40 minutes into Church. They are faithful and never miss. They pay their tithing also. Paying the $10 to go to Church every Sunday is a great sacrifice because these are not wealthy people. This home is also one of the nicer ones in this neighborhood. He is kind of like a nurse practicioner. People come to him for medical help and pay him. These are their two boys. His neighbors ask him why he spends money every week to go to Church. They want to know what the Church gives him for going. They think he must get something or why would he go. His answer to them? I get blessings. . . and he means it. Another family that keeps me humbled by their greatness. What an honor to be with them. They asked me to pray, so I was honored and did my best to say it in Cambodian.

This is a handcart that Scott and President Eng were acting like they were the oxen! President Eng is Scott's counselor in the mission presidency. Kampong Cham is his area that he helps cover, so he rode up with us. He and his wife are both returned missionaries, married in the Temple, and he graduated from college. They have two boys and are expecting their third boy in May. He has a pretty good job right now and travels all over Cambodia. He is very dependable with his church assignment and helps strengthen and train the Saints in all of his assigned areas. We just love working with him and his family.

Coming and Going

We greeted two new missionaries in from the Provo MTC on January 28th. Elder Haws and Sister Wu. Elder Haws is from Thousand Oaks California, and Sister Wu is from Maryland, near Washington DC. Both will be wonderful missionaries. They look pretty good considering it is at the minimum a 24 hour trip.



The day after they look a little more rested. We took these picture following our orientation with them and the three new missionaries we greeted in later that day from the Manila MTC.


Sister Pin (say Bine) from here in Phnom Penh. Another terrific sister.

Elder Chea from Kien Svay, Cambodia. Already out and doing a great job.

Elder Phirun from Kampong Cham, Cambodia. He speaks English with an English accent. Another outstanding missionary. We are so blessed to have so many good young missionaries out with us. They are all hard workers, obedient, and great!

Elder Nguyen from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, walking the Red Carpet for Returning Home with Honor. He came in on Friday after the Transfer and new missionaries left. He stayed with us on Friday night. We fed him breakfast with his traveling companions, Elders Thinh and Son who are going to Hanoi to work at 6:00 a.m. That means, I got up at 5:00 a.m. to make sure everything was ready. As soon as they left for the bus with our Assistants, Scott and I headed up to Kampong Cham to do a District Conference for Saturday and Sunday.

New Arrivals and Decorative Pillows

Elder and Sister Liggett arrived January 20th. This was their second day here, and they were still pretty tired. We really appreciate them and they will be a great asset to the mission. Sister Liggett is a nurse and is a medical advisor for us.

They will help find less active missionaries here in Cambodia and help activiate them. This is their biggest assignment. Starting in June, they will be the country directors for Family History.

Plus they have 4 branches as a leadership couple, and will help some with Relief Society and Sunday School. Yes, we will keep them busy.

About a week later, we took them to the Olympic Market that has lots of material. and a few other various assundries as you can see in the picture. They are a little more rested after one

week here.

These creative pillow arrangements are brought to you by Scott. For the last two weeks, after the bed is made, he has decided to arrange the decorator pillows in a creative manner. These are three of my favorites. Every day he says, you just wait until tomorrow to see what I've got planned. I've said in my e-mails, that I think he must need a Preparation Day. It's kind of sad that he has to get a change of pace by redesigning the pillows! Right now he is in Hong Kong for Mission President Interim Seminar Training. Below is the creative arrangement he left yesterday before he left. Where are the pillows? Look really hard and you'll discover them!