Easter Dinner April 6th

This kind sister from the 12th branch, Sister Bat Sukeng, the one in the white outfit invited all the missionaries in the branch, some former missionaries, a few members, and us to an Easter Dinner celebrating the birth of Christ on April 6th, His birthday. She gave us a very special meal in Cambodia and that is Curry soup. She had pork in hers and it was delicious. She gave us the french bread slices, water and a fruit drink if you wanted it. This is in her home. The man in the green is her son.

The 12th branch missionaries at the end of the table are: Elders Walker, Nordgren, Miller and Spencer( his wife was behind him). Elder Miller's companion was also just out of the picture, Elder Christian.

The Liggetts have also worked in the 12th branch. She is our nurse advisor and together they do Family History for the Country.

Sister Ban with her two daughters and a new member. The big steel pot is what she cooked the curry in and she had alot left over too.

Some neighbors and investigators that she invited. She is very generous and we all enjoyed the company and the food!

Sister Harlan Goes Home-April 1st

Sister Harlan greets her parents after 18 months as a missionary!

Sister Harlan served in the Vietnamse program and had the same companion for one year. But she did well and has been a top notch missionary. We love Sister Harlan!

She walks the Returns with Honor Red Carpet and she is off to new dreams and new horizons!We wish her the best!

Equally Yoked

Elder Salmon and Elder Thomas sent this to Scott with the following note: "We are pulling the yoke". Scott has been teaching the missionaries what a yoke is and what it means to pull with a yoke. So, they wanted to show him how obedient they are! I thought it was pretty clever. The yoke they are posing under is what many Cambodian farmers use to have their water buffalo or cow pull their cart.

A Few Changes in the Mission Home

My one and only Easter Display. It gives me a lot of joy every day to look at this. I guess I should say it gives me heart warmth!

We changed the worn out curtains on both landings with these nice brown ones. In my opinion these curtains also bring some warmth and hominess (sp) into the mission home. Notice, I did not say homeliness, I said homeyness (sp)! I'm not sure which spelling to take.

First landing from the second stair

Second landing from the top floor.

In my office we replaced bamboo shelves with this enclosed bookcase.

We replaced these bamboo drawers with the filing cabinet below to house different medicines that we keep here. Nothing big. Just cold meds, cough, diarreha, etc.

Now, hopefully next week I will be able to organize everything!

Sac Muan Ang or Rotisserie Chicken

Sarat, our part time cook/housekeeper's, husband opened up a new business in front of their home. He cooks Sac Muan Ang. We found out that meant rotisserie chicken. We gave her $5 to get us one and said we would come and get it. She said 7:00 p.m. Their house is kind of hard to find in the daylight, let alone the dark and we got lost. So we went to a main street in front of a hospital near the house to have them bring their moto to direct us to the house. They came and brought the chicken in container and all. It smelled so good. We took it home and opened it and went to cut it and realized that the whole chicken was cooked, meaning the head too. Then we discovered the claws were there also. The shape of it's claws reminded me when Scott says he is tired. He says, I"m ready to roost" and he puts his hands in the shape of a rooster's claws. The chicken was delicious and we will buy it again......and save the head and claws for Sarat's family. Most Cambodians like the whole thing. This business has been an improvement over his moto doping at night which wasn't safe and which wasn't bringing in enough income. So they are working for the temple and this will help. The chicken was good!

March 28-A Visit from the Brothers Ith

Vichet and Vida Ith were invited by us for Monday night dinner. Vichet married one of Scott's former baptisms sisters. Her name is Tina. Tina was only 4or 5 when Scott and his companion, Paul Dedrickson, taught and baptized Judith and her brother in Singapore. The family all joined the Church but one brother and the Mom and Dad. Vichet is a Cambodian but fled Cambodia right before Pol Pot. He fought in the army defending Cambodia from this man. After a long story, he ended up in Singapore where he met Tina and joined the church and married her. He has had a lot of education and experience and he was asked by Larry White, a former mission president in the Asia area to go with him to Cambodia to see if they could gain entrance to the Minister of Cults and Religions to get the Church here. He was scared at first, thinking they might arrest him or something, but they were delighted with him and asked if he could help their country and he agreed to do that with his expertise in the area they wanted. They then asked what they could do for him and he told them and they agreed to let the church come in to Cambodia. So in a round about way, Scott was influencial in the Church being recognized here and now it comes full circle with him serving as the Mission President. Small world. I have summarized this story by the way!

Vida is Cambodian and he is quite a bit younger than Vichet.He went with his Mom to France and now he is back here to do a business. He is getting active again in the International branch. We were delighted to have them meet with us and share a dinner. Vichet brought some pictures that Tina had when Scott was serving in Singapore and teaching her family the Gospel. President Smedley has changed quite a bit!

March 27th. Random Pictures after District Conference

Our former missionary, Elder Ngyuen (win) and his new wife. They are working to go to the temple. He is from Vietnam, but served sometime here, mainly in Vietnam. He was an outstanding missionary. They will be a great strength to continue to build the Church here or in Vietnam.

A bunch of Cambodian Vietnamese sisters wanted their picture with the Sisters and me. They gave us all flowers off the trees that you see in the background.

A young sister, well I think she is 20 from the Vietnamse 6th branch. She had a miraculous recovery from an illness. And is doing well now. She and her family love and appreciate Scott for his part in her recovery.

Sister Mae (my) is one of our former missionaries. She translated for me in the auxilary training session the day before and did a really good job. She loves her toenails painted and if you look really close you can see blue and white checker design. It cost .25 here to do that. It's personally not my thing, but the women here sure like it!