A very full week in Cambodia...

Hello family and friends- As you can see we are getting settled into our new home. I am sure all the granddaughters are envious of our kitchen appliances. Our toys really work! The quality is not quite up to Fisher Price standards. My mop after about 10 swipes across the floor fell apart.  Today my bunny broom handle fell off.  Our first refrigerator did not keep our food cold and also had an eye/nose burning odor.  On Wednesday our apartment manager delivered this quaint baby blue refrigerator which I am posing by in the photo.  Of course it came without a  manual. We set the thermostat incorrectly and froze almost everything. It was real special when I went to crack an egg and it was rock hard. We think we have the setting correct now.  We enjoyed our first really cold glass of water yesterday.  It was heaven sent. Last night we did our laundry.  When we went to check on our clothes we met two adorable khame  girls.  They were studying English.  So we practiced our khmae language skills with them and they in turn practiced their English skills.  It was so funny and fun too.

"Viva LasVegas" in Cambodia.  Thursday and Friday we visited the province of Kampong Cham.  It is a couple hours from Phnom Penh. We stayed at the VIP Monorom Hotel along the Mekong River. As you can see in the photo to the left that they really try to "wow" their patrons. All beds in Cambodia are rock hard and this was no exception. There was a brochure that listed the prices we would be charged if we chose to lose (meaning steal) items such as the lamps, coffee pot, nice glasses, not so nice glasses, etc. It was very khame. Elder and Sister Shelley who serve in Kampong Cham arranged appointments for us with several of our PEF students. It was a great experience to visit in some of their humble homes. (I wanted to snap some pictures but chose not to on this trip.) We sat outside with chickens running around our feet and flies buzzing around our heads. The homes we visited do not have running water like we are use to.  Some homes have wells.  The water would be deemed unsafe in the USA.  During our visit to Kampong Cham I had the opportunity to attend a week day Relief Society meeting.  As member leader support, Sister Shelley is trying to teach the sisters to plan a lesson or activity as part of their gathering together. They pretty much just want to prepare food and eat meals together. This time they had a short lesson on the history of Relief Society. The sisters here just received the "Daughters of the Kingdom" book.  I left mine at home due to weight concerns with our luggage. I wish I had mine.  Sister Shelley has hired one of the young sisters of the branch to be a translator for her.  It was good to have her help. I was able to speak a little khame...the members are so tickled to have foreigners speak their language. There was a really cute boy about 2-3 years old  hiding behind his mother.  I took out my mini photo album with pictures of our family to lure him away from his mom. I got on my knees to show him the photos.  Everyone gathered around.  They were so excited to see our photos including the landscapes in the background.  They were in awe of the green grass. And of course seeing all our cute grand kids was a thrill for them. The sisters prepared a fish soup.  I was a bit leery to eat any and only took a few sips. I had watched the sisters prepare the food. There was some cross contamination from cutting raw fish and then using the same cutting board to cut the raw garnishes for the soup. We had eaten lunch about an hour earlier so that was my excuse for not eating much. The first sip of soup tasted pretty good but then I added some others things and my stomach "flipped".  We had an appointment teach at one of the schools, so I was able to slip away. "Whew!"

We had the opportunity to teach at one of the local schools. We spent about 5 minutes in each class reviewing the alphabet in English.  The children are so smart and so obedient. It was really fun. In every class when we would come to the letter "V" the students all together would say loudly and proudly "WEE"  The people here appreciate every little thing we do.  Elder and Sister Shelley's translator, Theary. is the girl to the far right of the group photo.  The other young lady is the student's teacher and the monk I believe the superintendent of the school. This was one of the highlights of the week.

Looking out over the Mekong River from our Hotel we saw this beautiful sunrise.  The fishing boats were slowly going about their busy mornings.  Many came into shore to dock their boats.  We could hear voices as they greeted one another.  It was apparent that they were acquainted with each other. Some of the people got off  their boats and we watched as they washed some of their clothes. Some of the children bathed in the river. One little boy was on shore and he was giggling as he threw sand at his brother who was in the water.  I recalled similar events at the beaches in the US.  We really are not that different from each other. As the sun was rising the air was filled with the sounds of chanting.  I believe it was the prayers of the monks.  Other sounds we could hear were radios playing khmae music.

   We traveled the back roads on our return trip to Phnom Penh from Kampong Cham.  We went through a place called spider town. It is the main place where tarantulas are farmed. We didn't see any tarantulas. Due to a 9am Institute training meeting in Phnom Penh we could not stop.  Perhaps another trip we can take a tour.  Right now we are pretty busy doing our responsibilities.  We were traveling with Soporrn, Country Director of Seminaries and Institutes. He is a wonderful man.  He is khame. He earned his Masters degree in political science at BYU Hawaii.  He could do quite well if he moved to the United States.  His comment when confronted about this was..."Why would I do that?  I need to help my country."  And so he chooses to live a more humble lifestyle to help the people of his country pull themselves out of poverty.  He is a pretty amazing example of serving ones fellowmen.  There is no gray areas with him.  He seeks to choose to do good.  Soporrn taught our 2 hour Institute training meeting. He taught it in khmae, however, he wrote on the board in English.  Surprisingly, we learned quite a bit.  The class members were so helpful. It was a great meeting.

Sunday we rode a tuk tuk to Keans Svay Branch. This is one of three branches we are to attend. We are actually sitting in the tuk tuk you see in this photo.  Our driver is SAM OL.  He was the driver for the Senior missionaries who lived in our apartment before us.  He is the nicest man. The trip to Keans Svay is about 8 miles.  It takes 30 minutes to go that distance. SAM OL waited 4 hours for us and then brought us home.  We thought we would be done in 3 hours, but we ended up attending a branch counsel meeting. We had told SAM OL that his wait time would be a little over 3 hours because we had to inspect the young missionaries home. SAM OL was very gracious when it ended up being 4 hours. We of course paid him additional money.  The young missionaries live in very different housing from us. We were somewhat lenient with our white glove inspection. We had lots of fun speaking khmae in the branch today.  People are so helpful here and want to communicate with us. As you can see we have had a busy week. Thanks for visiting our blog.  

We've arrived...

In the above photo we are still on the plane. We had been traveling for about 24 hours which includes layovers in LA California and Taipei Taiwan. We tried to sleep on the plane, however, economy flight accommodations are pretty tight. I got up and moved around some; being short I was able to prop my feet up on the drop down lap table.  It was dark and I had a lap blanket I used for privacy.  Dale could not do much readjusting of his sitting positions. When he tried to put his shoes on to leave the plane he discovered that his feet had swollen  considerably.  Fortunately the swelling gradually left as he walked. We had lots of fun at the gates to enter the country. It was a bit hectic but we managed to finally get past the gates of entry. Beyond the gate we were greeted by several of the Senior Couples serving here. Our mission president and his wife were among the group of greeters. A group picture was taken, but we have not received it. Once we get it we will post it.

We spent our first night with President and Sister Smedley in the Mission Home. It is a beautiful, very old house with incredible wood work and many of the furnishings are beautifully carved. Many of the buildings in this area are gated with barb wire along the top to prevent unwanted guests.The Misson home is no exception.  The above photo is the guest room of the Mission Home. We were exhausted from out trip but were advised that in order to adjust to the new time zone we needed to force ourselves to keep awake and busy.  We were given about 15 minutes to freshen up and then we met the Smedley's in the dining area for lunch. We spent some time getting to know each other.  We met some of the people who work in the office and some of the caretaker staff. The khmae staff are wonderful people.  We had fun trying to speak khmae with them. They just laughed and were so surprised.  They would say "you speak khmae!"  We only said some very basic words, but they were very excited that we were trying. President and Sister Smedley had quite a bit of training for us so we spent a good portion of the evening doing that.  Part of the training was on food and water safety. 

This is a photo of our sink with produce we bought this week.  The carrots are huge.  The water is unsafe to drink so we have bottled water.  The produce also is not safe until it is cleaned well.  The carrots are soaking in bleach water.  This same process is done for all fruits, vegetables and should be done for meat also. I am still getting use to this.  My hands smell like bleach most of the time.  Washing dishes has also become a major job.

We ate khmae pancakes.  I call them that because I bought a box of Bisquick and when I scooped out the flour there were tiny ants in it.  I made pancakes and we ate it anyway.  Western food is VERY expensive. Our grandson, Owen wanted to know if we would eat bugs on our mission.  Well, we have started small and we will see what the next 17 months brings.  The ants are really microscopic in size.  Ants have made their home in our office also. At first I could not figure out what these tiny bugs were.  Looking very closely I could see that they were ants. So far our apartment is bug free.  We did see two geckos on the laundry room wall, but the laundry room is open air. In the mornings the laundry room is used by young women who sit on little plastic stools.  They use large metal bowls to hand scrub clothes and they also use the machines.  I suspect they are doing laundry for tenants in our facility. The washers are very different from ours. One of these days I will take a picture. 

These pictures were taken today, Sunday March 18.  We had to be to the Tuol Tom Pong Branch by 8am so we took a tuk tuk. We usually walk everywhere. The streets were fairly quiet today. Weekdays the roads are packed with tuk tuks, motorcycles, cars, trucks, fruit carts, etc.  There was a gentle breeze this morning which made for a very enjoyable ride to church. I did see a man who had caught a rat in a cage and he was carrying it down the street with his dog at his side.  I do not know what he was intending to do with the rat and I don't think I really want to know. The poverty here is incredible.  We attend three church branches.  Today we went to an 8am sacrament meeting and then we walked to our office building to attend the International Branch. Next week we will attend the Kean Svay Branch.  We will need to ride in a tuk tuk because church begins at 8am and the meeting house is quite some distance from where we live.

 

Saturday we went to our office thinking we would get lots accomplished.  That did not happen as we had lots of visitors and then we received a phone call to attend a wedding at the Tuol Tom Pong Branch at 1:00 pm. The new Branch President requested Dale be at the wedding to confirm the marriage was being performed correctly.  The Branch President did great. We were told that it is rare to have a wedding at the meeting house. Everyone was pretty excited.  The wedding was quite fun and we met some more wonderful people.  FYI:  Most weddings are held in the streets of Phnom Pehn.  Huge canopies are set up usually close to the person's place of business, which could also be their home. The canopies are draped with fabric and flowers. As you drive by you can hear music, and speeches and peer in to see lots of people enjoying lots of wonderful food.  Life goes on around the canopies.  Tuk tuks, cars, bikes, pedestrians simply make there way around these tents, their daily routine uninterrupted. There is always a wedding in progress somewhere.  Although people do not have much money they go all out for weddings. It is my understanding the groom foots the bill. Gifts are usually money to help pay for the celebration which cost thousands of dollars. The average person here makes $100 or less a month.

This week has been very long and very full.  There is so much I would like to tell.  We are still adjusting to our new time zone. At 6:00 pm it is dark everyday and at 6:00 am it is light again. We haven't had a chance to see a sunset , but hope to in the next week or two. We have had little free time.  In the above photo we are at our first official Cambodian restaurant.  We had a great meal.  It was a rice bowl...the bowl being a hollowed pineapple filled with rice, chicken, pineapple, veggies and coconut milk.  It was GOOD. Restaurant prices are very inexpensive. Each bowl was $3.50.
It gets hot here but has been bearable. The humidity is not bad at the present time. We hang our laundry to dry and it actually dries.  I was so proud of Dale...he ironed his shirts and one of my blouses.  He did a great job.  I was so grateful he did the ironing.  I was getting overwhelmed with doing dishes and sanitizing everything.
This Thursday we will travel to some of the Provinces.  I do not know which one but will find out tomorrow.  This means we pack our bags and spend a couple nights away from Phnom Penh.  We will be back Saturday morning.  We teach Institute Saturday evenings.  Our first class was this past Saturday.
Family and friends thanks for visiting our blog. We love you and are grateful for your prayers.

We received our arrival picture. Here it is.

We are on our way...

Family and friends,

The day has arrived.  We had our last breakfast at the MTC (eggs,bacon and hash browns for Elder Meier and oatmeal cinnamon and sugar  and applesauce for me). We will have lunch here in about 30 minutes and then we board our shuttle to Salt Lake City.  Our flight is at 4:50.  Are we excited..yes!  Are we anxious...yes! Are we ready...too late... its going to happen whether we are ready or not.  Can you ever really be ready?  Those that know me well know that I overwork everything.  I could have years to prepare and would find "just one more thing do".

We have had an absolutely wonderful MTC experience. We have met so many great people from all walks of life and experiences.  To rub shoulders with these saints young, middle aged and old has been incredible.  Everyone has a story and everyone has great faith and hope in their Savior and Heavenly Father.  We all agree there are no coincidences in life.  The Masters hand is upon His children. He knows us all.  He knows what trials will best help us to come unto Him.  What experiences we each will need to be able to serve His children well. My knowledge that our trials mold us and can perfect us has been verified as we have met with so many who have endured much and desire to give much to others. I am in awe that Heavenly Father trusts Elder Meier and I to serve the people in Cambodia.  We feel greatly blessed for this awesome opportunity.  

We met a young elder from Cambodia here at the MTC.  We will be teaching his 22 year old sister Hem Maria in our institute classes.  Elder Hem was so excited to meet us. We were excited to try out our language skills. He helped us a little. We took a picture of him and had a print made.  At dinner last night we took the photo into the cafeteria and had Elder Hem write a message to his sister.  He was so happy. It is very rare for Cambodia to send missionaries out of their country . Elder Hem is going to Korea.  He is such a great missionary. He is so happy and full of life.  He is so proud to be able to serve.

FYI:  It is OK to take photos at the big map at the MTC.  The note at the side of the map just says not to take pictures during high traffic hours between 7:30-4:30 weekdays and no pictures on Sunday.  

Cum Reap Lia!!! We will tell you more once we are in Cambodia.

Sister Meier, Elder Hem, Elder Meier

Is this guy happy or what?

Week Two at the MTC

This week we went to Salt Lake City everyday except for Monday.  Monday we attended a session at the Provo Temple and had a day of training on teaching Institute. I was grateful for that training which helped me understand some better ways to create lessons. We also had language training Monday evening. The remainder of the week we spent in Salt Lake City learning about our responsibilities concerning the  Perpetual Education Fund program. 

Tuesday morning Elder and Sister Ball who live in Orem, Utah picked us up at 7:45 and we went together to Salt Lake. They remained in Salt Lake and we caught a 4:15 pm express bus back to Orem. The MTC shuttle service picked us up from the bus stop and brought us home. Tuesday training was great. That evening we arrived back at the MTC just before the cafeteria closed.  I was really tired. I thought it would be nice just to go to bed.  I did not express that thought out loud. We went to the evening devotional.  The guest speaker is unknown until the last minute. About 15 minutes before the devotional is to begin the congregation sings hymns. This night as the song was coming to an end everyone stood up. I am short and could not see what was happening. I was finally able to peak between the bodies of the people in front of me and there standing on the stage was Jeffery R. Holland a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.  He gave a powerful talk on the Book of Mormon and how it changes lives. I was so glad I went.  The remainder of the week we took a 6:15am shuttle from the MTC to the bus stop in Orem,Utah and from there boarded the 801 express bus to Salt Lake City. Each morning we woke up to snow on the ground and a chill in the air. We huddled together waiting for our bus. We were in our missionary attire so my legs were exposed to the cold and I wore a light weight jacket. We will not need winter clothes in Cambodia. Our training for our responsibilities concerning the Perpetual Education Fund was wonderful. This program is truly God's plan for his children in parts of the world where there is little hope of opportunity. Through the Perpetual Education fund people obtain skills to be able to get jobs to help improve their lives and the lives of their families.  In the words of President Hinckley in General Conference 2001, "Education is the key to opportunity [and] with good employment skills, these young men and women can rise out of...poverty.  Most of these students will attend technical schools...in the areas where they live.... They will learn skills which are in demand and for which they can qualify. They will learn self reliance and integrity for they will repay the money they receive from this program.  When they do so, they will experience a wonderful sense of freedom because they have improved their lives not through a grant or gift but through borrowing and repaying.  They can hold their heads high in a spirit of independence." In most cases these people will become the leaders in their communities and in the church.  Dale and I are grateful to have the opportunity to help move this program forward in Cambodia.  At the present time  in Cambodia there are 165 young people taking control of their lives through the Perpetual Education Fund program. 

More to tell about our second week. Besides being able to hear from Elder Jeffery R. Holland on Tuesday evening we had another exciting event.  Thursday we walked from the Church Office building to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for training. We had lunch in the cafeteria of the Church Office building. On the way back to our class we had to walk through the underground parking lot.  As we were walking we saw in the distance a small cart with the Prophet and his councilors. Then as we were about to enter the hallway leading to the Joseph Smith Memorial building the rest of the Quorum of the Twelve walked passed us. It was amazing.  There was security all around.

We begin our  final week at the MTC tomorrow.  Monday we again go to Salt Lake City, but this will be on an MTC bus because there is a larger group of us going to tour Welfare Square. I have heard it is quite the place. This entire week we will learn about the Welfare program of the church. We depart for Cambodia on Saturday at 4:50 pm.  Family and friends... this is really going to happen! Until we blog again, may God bless each and everyone of you.