Learning about Cambodia and the People

Needless to say we have been surfing the Internet to find out all we can about Cambodia.  Sunday night I was trying to see if there were any Cambodian branches of the church in our area.  I came across this you tube entry" Seeds of Faith: The Saints of the Kingdom of Cambodia". Here's the link: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=10267645&nid=296   It is in 5 Parts each I believe to be about 10 minutes in length. It is not produced by the LDS church but it is about the saints in Cambodia and the work that the missionaries are doing there to improve living conditions. If you care to check it out it will give you a sense of what we will be doing and the conditions we will be working in.  To be able to have all this information at our finger tips is such a blessing.  By the time we get to Cambodia it should be quite familiar to us.  I know the heat and smells and sounds will blast us when we first arrive in the country. It'll be a shock no doubt, but at least we will arrive there with some knowledge.

We are so blessed to be serving a mission at a time when technology is so advanced. We will be meeting with President Smedley our mission president and his wife via Skype next week. Cambodia is 14 hours ahead of us so we will be meeting with them at 7 AM our time and 9 PM their time. To me that is amazing.

Another amazing gift is that we will begin language classes next week.  Our tutor is a BYU student named Josh.  He will work with us one hour 3 times a week.  It is not mandatory for us to learn the language because many of the people in Phnom Penh speak English, but we feel our mission will be richer if we put forth the effort to speak the peoples language.  I know I appreciate it when people from other countries who come to live in the United States work to learn English.  Also when we attend church we will be able to communicate better. 

The other morning Dale did a fun thing.  He went on google earth and via satellite we flew into Phnom Penh.  It was crazy.  We were able to see the airport and various rivers, lakes, the stadium and other places we have been reading about. Pretty cool. It is densely populated. Blocks and blocks of rooftops seemingly with no space between. 

Brother and Sister Anderson, a couple we work with at the Temple on Thursday nights, gave us a book  titled Out of the Killing Fields into the Light by Penne D. Conrad.  It is inspirational interviews with Mormon converts from Cambodia.  After reading this book  Dale and I have a clearer understanding of the Cambodian people. Words can't express the horrific experiences these people have endured.  It is amazing how they are embracing Christianity. From Seeds of Faith: The Saints of the Kingdom of Cambodia their is a convert to the church who has many tattoos.  He said he got the tattoos for protection.  He discovered that the tattoos did not protect him.  He found that his Savior the Lord Jesus Christ gave him the protection he had been seeking. Such humble people.