Muddy Feet in Battambang

After our training in Battambang we went with Elders Um and Long, from left to right respectively. We had to walk through mud that is like clay. It sticks everywhere. We were walking down a little path to an investigator's home, when my foot almost slipped out of my shoe because the mud was so heavy. We tried to stick to walking on the grass, but in some places it was just mud and no grass to walk on.


This family is near the home of the investigator. The members of this family are all members. The investigator had a falling out with this sister and needed to apologize. She was afraid this wonderful neighbor would be mad at her. After meeting her, we felt like she would only be kind. We gave her a little lesson on the power of forgiveness and about the Atonement in forgiving. The investigator the next day called Elders Um and Long and said she had just left her neighbor's home and she had forgiven her. It took alot of courage, and it was wonderful that the sister above in the stripes had a powerful spirit of love about her and forgave. The investigator is going to be baptized in several weeks.

Traveling Home from Specialized Trainings

On the way home from our specialized trainings in our four kait cities, we stopped to switch drivers and enjoy the beauty of the country. Almost caught the sunset! The middle picture is a good one of the muddy roads in the province of Battambang. It is the kind that sticks to you like clay. It is almost as slippery or maybe more so, than ice on the highway.


Scott and I standing just ouside the rice fields in Cambodia.

Just some strange guys resting on the road and they gave me permission to take their picture. Tree stumps always make a good resting place. I think they have been working in the fields.

Sept 19 Rainy Season greens things up!

The rainy season is upon us here in Cambodia. This is on the highway going/coming to/from Battambang. Just a couple of months ago,it was pretty dry like an old stubbled yellow wheat field. Now it is like a beautiful green golf course with all the rice paddies. I love the middle picture because you can see the cattle grazing in the rice paddies off the side of the highway. It looks all peaceful and calm.

Sept 18-19 Battambang First District Conference

Battambang is our newest District. Elder Reynolds, one of our Senior missionaries, is the President until they return home the end of January. His counselors are standing in the top picture with Scott. The one on the right is the first counselor and the one on the left is the second counselor. Both were the former Branch Presidents of the lst and 2nd branches. The family standing by us just got interviewed for baptism. They were all baptized Sunday later in the day after conference. We gave a pair of pants I happened to have that Kali, our daughter, brought with her and a smaller pair that would fit their youngest son. They were thrilled because he had no pants. It worked out great! And at the bottom of that sack as we gave out not only the pants but the last tie in that particular bag, was Varci's skirt that she lost here. So, I didn't give that away and sent it home thanks to Elder Sweeten's parents!
Elder Chen from Singapore is the Area Seventy that presided and spoke at this conference. He is a very genuine and gracious man. He knows some of the people that Scott taught in Singapore when he was on his mission. I think it was 12 of them he knew and alot are still active. He was thrilled about that!
The girls in the wheelchairs all belong to the same branch, but were baptized at different times. The one on the left is the most mobile because her wheelchair is like a bike but she pumps it with her hands She is the newest member of that group. All single, as far as I can remember. I just love them.

Mission President's Seminar: Hong Kong

We went to Hong Kong for the Mission President's seminar which I have posted below. This is a disclaimer saying that if you want to read it in order of what we did, then go down to the last post you see about Hong Kong and that will be the first day we were there, then scroll upward from there. Once in a while I actually get my posts in order! But. . . not this time!

Dinner at Victoria Peak-Hong Kong

Our last night in Hong Kong for the seminar, we went to dinner at Victoria Peak. It has a great view of Hong Kong, Kowloon, and other areas of the city. This particular night, it was really cloudy. There were two tables of mission presidents and their wives, the area presidency and their wives, Elder and Sister Arnold, executive area secretary, and Elder Hinckley. Scott and I are,. . . well, I guess you can find us!

Scott took this shot of the tallest building in Hong Kong, I believe.

We made it back to Phnom Penh! We made friends with these two Japanese people in Ho Chi Minh. The young woman, Koko, is 23 and meeting a friend at a hotel for a week to study midwifery and tour. The young man, his name sounded something like: suyichi, is here on vacation and also didn't know where his hotel was. We told Koko we would make sure she got safe to her hotel. Suyichi (probably not right name) asked if he could come along too. His hotel was harder to find, but it was a place we thought some of our senior couples might like, so we are going to go check it out one of these days. Koko was so grateful for us that she wants to come to our church (she thinks that is where we live) to visit us. The seminar was uplifting, spiritual, and we learned where we could improve in helping our missionaries be better teachers. It was three days of learning and sharing. Plus the food was soooo good, I had to control myself so I wouldn't pig out, and that was hard! But, I made it.

Streets of Hong Kong and the Temple

At the end of our first day there, we had a dinner with Elder Hinckley, the Area Presidency and wives and the other mission presidents and wives. The Church office building is straight down the street from where I am posting in the picture on the left. I liked my jacket that I got last year, so wanted a picture of it. The Church office building is picture above. I believe it is 14 stories. One of the main entrances is above right. If you look close you can see the church's name. The subway is also pictured here.

Our visit to the temple took place our second day and first day of the seminar. It was wonderful to go and felt so good to be there. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since I've been to a temple. The bottom picture is one of our church buildings that houses a chapel and everything that goes with that, the Mission offices, the Service Center and the Distribution Center. The Mission Home is on the top floor of the Temple. President and Sister Chan say that to walk across the road from the temple where their home is to the offices takes 15 minutes because of the heavy traffic.

The last afternoon after the seminar, we went to Stanley market. These are some scenes at the market's bay and on the way to the market this beautiful mountain setting. Pictured on teh right are some of the mission presidents and wives. Starting from right to left: Scott and me, President and Sister Bishop from one of the Taiwan missions, President and Sister Clark: Singapore mission, President and Sister Jackson from the New Delhi India Mission, Sister Pratt, Sister Janis Smith, wife of President Smith: Bangkok Thailand mission, Elder and Sister Powell from Mongolia,subbing for the Meachams who went home temporarily for a health issue, and Elder and Sister Arnold, executive secretary to the area presidency. Their 18 months is up in two weeks. They have been wonderful to work with. We love all of these valiant people!