Candy is slippery...

Hello family and friends,

This has been a very busy week. We phone called several of our  PEF students to check on how they were doing and to schedule graduation and transition interviews for some. We were in training meetings a couple of days this week with Elder and Sister Kelly who are the Area PEF Coordinators.  They visited us from Hong Kong. Their home is in Provo, Utah. We also traveled to one of the Provinces, Kampong Cham. You might recall that we visited there about a month ago to meet with our PEF students. This week's trip was primarily for a PEF fireside to educate prospective PEF students and their families about the PEF program. The fireside was Thursday evening. A fair amount of people were in attendance. They had a much better turn out of people than the fireside in Phnom Penh the week before. The reason for this was that the publicity for the fireside in Kampong Cham was better. The firesides are set up by the priesthood in the various areas. We do not have much say in the when and where that they happen. We may be given greater responsibility over the firesides in the future. We shall see. That old cliche "it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks" fits here.
I wanted to share some of this weeks "khmae" discoveries that made me smile.

 Caution: Candy is slippery and can cause choking.

Dale got a little goody package from President Smedley and Sister Smedley for his birthday and these little morsels were among the wonderful treats that can be purchased here. They come in chocolate, melon, vanilla and a number of other flavors. They are a cross between a hard candy and a chewy candy. Not quite tootsie roll soft.

Soft Soap Safedoctor: Green and non-phosphor

Healthy Care

Healthy hand wash-lotion

Refreshing and clean type

We stayed at Elder and Sister Shelley's house in Kampong Cham. They live in a large home. They have an extra bedroom and bathroom. Last time we were in Kampong Cham we stayed at our "Viva LasVegas" suite. The bathroom was my first experience with a shower that was not semi contained.We removed the toilet paper to be safe that it would not end up a ball of mush.

As you can see the shower is in the center of the room between the toilet and the sink. The drain is in a corner of the room next to the bathroom entrance. It was pretty well soaked after each of my showers. I was amazed how quickly it would dry. We did squeegee the floor after we used it. I can see why return missionaries to the states would like this set up. When it is time to clean the bathroom you simply blast it with water and walk away.

This is Elder and Sister Shelley.  They have been serving in Kampong Cham for about 9 months. They are the only missionary couple in this area and have many responsibilities. Their calling is member leader support. This means they do counseling with our PEF students, work with members on genealogy, train the leadership on how to conduct meetings, how to teach, how to hold interviews,etc. They also teach English classes for the church members as well as in some of the schools in their area.They have worked side by side with members in the rice paddies, also planting bean gardens, helped construct some basic buildings and have other projects in the works. Sister Shelley has been compiling music for the primary children because at the present time the children here do not have too many of the primary songs to sing. Sister Shelley is also the church nurse for the members in Cambodia. This means she checks situations when missionaries get sick and attends to members that may need to go to the hospital, etc.) They have been very kind to us and helpful and we truly appreciate their goodness.

This cow was grazing on the neighbor's property next to the home of one of our PEF Students. I was really happy to get this picture. Most of  my cow pictures have been taken as the car has rapidly passed them by. Most of those pictures were of cow rears or cows with no heads. 

These boys live near the river. We stopped the car and asked if we could take their picture from our car window. They are carrying rice. This day was very hot. Remember last week I said the hot season has arrived. It has with a vengeance. Evenings and mornings are still pleasant, but as the day progresses it gets quite draining. I have never sweated like this in my entire life. I think about the many people that do not have the luxury of  air condition and showers. The homes we visited in Kampong Cham were very primitive to our standards. They have collection barrels to gather water and they cook outside. My legs were exposed to some sort of insect that left purple blotches all over me. I counted 19 spots. These people are exposed to this day in and day out. Many do not have bathrooms but use the bushes for privacy.

 This house is a very nice house for this area. Homes are grouped together similar to our subdivisions. You will pass several homes that are built pretty much the same as each other. There are many homes that are very small and have minimal protection from the elements. Often the front of the home will also serve as a place of business.  

This is the side yard to the neighbor of one of our PEF Students. We were waiting for her to come home from work. The picture of my cow shows it grazing on a patch of grass. Most of the land that the people live on is pretty barren. The church is starting a garden program in Cambodia. The trick is to get water to the gardens in the dry season and to prevent the gardens from being washed away in the wet season. I do know that some planting is done in containers. We drove by the young missionaries and they were working on one of those projects. They were using hand shovels to fill shallow baskets with dirt to carry and dump into another area. Farming is still primitive in this country.

Before we headed back to Phnom Penh we had lunch with some of the Seminary teachers serving in Kampong Cham. This is a "real" khmae restaurant. I prayed for my well being and still am on pins and needles whether I will get sick this week. They boiled the water and served it in little coffee pots. I did not drink the water, but did let the ice melt in my glass and drank that. I read if the ice has a hole down the center it is probably safe. The ice was that type. As I was waiting for the food the sisters at the table started wiping their dishes off with napkins. That sent a red flag up for me. I decided I would do as the natives did so I wiped down Dale's and my plates, silverware, etc. I figured if they were doing it I would not offend them if I copied. So far so good with a stable digestive track.

This was dinner with Elder and Sister Kelley, Kim Sang who is a Branch President and also the Service Center Manager and Bernard who also serves in Hong Kong. We are at a Vietnamese Restaurant. It was very nice and the atmosphere was fun. I bet you think all we do is eat. Not true. It is just that I always take pictures of us eating.

This is what we really do. As the men were working to learn the PEF software Sister Kelly and I got a chuckle out of these guys all grouped around the computer. I actually took a series of photos that Sister Kelly wants to use for a report about what was accomplished during their visit to Cambodia. Everyone is learning together to make this program succeed .

I have to add the cuteness of our mission to this blog. We had just left the church building. This is a family in one of the branches in our area. We were riding in our tuk tuk and I noticed them behind us so snapped the photo. Their little girl is so sweet. Some day she will be all grown up and driving her own motorcycle. It is so interesting to see girls and women driving around in evening attire, heels,suits, etc.on their motorcycles. If a woman is a passenger on a motorcycle she usually sits side saddle instead of straddling the bike. They usually just sit holding on to absolutely nothing. 

Motorcycles need gasoline and this is usually the fill up station for them. The tuk tuks use this method quite frequently. In Phnom Penh gas costs $6 dollars a gallon at gas stations similar to stations in the United States. If you value your vehicle you go to them. Gas from a Pepsi bottle I have been told often is watered down. But it is the gas of choice for many. There are these fill up stops all over.

American Idol International School

Need I say more?

Today was South District Conference. We went to a building we had never been to before. It is about 3 miles away. By tuk tuk it took about 30 minutes travel time. Had we not gone we would've never discovered the American Idol International School. What a blessing!! To walk that far in the busy traffic, heat, and terrible sidewalks, and streets it would've taken an hour or more. No one would have wanted to sit by us either, "WHEW". This picture is outside the building. The building was constructed by the church and is very beautiful. The tuk tuk in the photo is waiting for us. It cost us $9 round trip. President and Sister Smedley leave June 28th and the new mission president takes over.  The District Conferences scheduled now are the Smedley's final ones with the Saints in Cambodia. Sister Smedley gave a very sweet talk today and spoke of her love for the people in Cambodia. She is a very good person. President Smedley gave a great talk on repentance. I know they worry for those they have worked so hard to help. They want them to stay firm in the faith they have embraced. Lives have been changed and improved. Families have been strengthened. I know they have hope that those they leave will continue to be blessed and happy. The church is in its infancy here. The goal is to have a temple in Cambodia. Elder and Sister Rhyne were in the MTC with us. There focus is genealogy. In the short time they have been here they have broken records on the number of people using the genealogy libraries in Phnom Penh. The work is moving forward. The church is here to stay and it will grow and lives will continue to improve. Dale and I are grateful to be a part of this great work.

This is in the Service Center of our Church

( a touch of khmae)

King James Version is:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:

not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Have a great week.

IT'S HOT!

Hello family and friends,
Saturday was REALLY HOT. It  was the first day that we really felt the heat. Supposedly it was 97 degrees with a report that indicated it would feel like 108 degrees. The forecast was correct. It was the first day since we have arrived in Cambodia that we took a tuk tuk to almost everywhere we went. It was too draining to walk.( I feel sorry for the young Elders...heat or no heat they are out riding their bikes and walking the streets.) Last night while we were teaching institute a thunder and lightening and rain storm rolled through. By the time we were ready to leave the rain had stopped. It was dark out but the air was cool.We chose to walk home. Dale's white shirt helped us not be completely invisible in the dark.In a previous blog I wrote about khmae weddings and how a family simply takes over a street. On our walk home a wedding was being set up. We had to walk through the canopied area. Forget booking a church or hotel for a wedding ceremony and reception. Simply call up the local wedding planner and have them meet you at Street 57. In less than 24 hours you have canopy, flowers, tables and chairs, decorations, food and music...and the guests. The rest of Cambodia simply swerves around the festivities. Very unique. It is also very expensive. For  poor people they tend to spend lots of money on their weddings. Guests usually give money for gifts to help with the expenses.

 We went to Lucky Burger for Dale's Birthday. Outside the restaurant was a free standing sink with this sign posted above it. I thought it an appropriate label. Of course you let your hands drip dry afterwards. I am not sure if this is where employees wash their hands, but I was watching people to see what their hand drying method might be. I'll let you figure that one out.

This was one of the highlights of the "khmae way" this week We were walking home from work and there were several areas where more wiring was being added to this marvelous network. One guy steadies the ladder while the other guy climbs to the top and balances on the pole to string more wires. I had just put my camera away and missed the next step to this process. The guy pictured in this photo proceeded to walk across the wires stringing them to the next pole. The work codes and safety measures here are ...well...they aren't.

Dale took this shot of our apartment window. Dale found a "better deal" than what our apartment internet service  offers.We had Digi Internet installed this week. I was at the PEF office and did not see this "Digi guy" circus act.  Dale called me on the phone and told me that what he was witnessing was pretty incredible. These people are oblivious to danger.

 Above is a very "scratch and sniff" photo. This water was very black, thick and had many things floating in it I wished I hadn't seen. Notice the person in this murky mess. Dale asked me to snap the picture quickly before he "lost his Lucky Burger". The khmae people must have immune systems of steel.

We are suppose to be on a mission. I think this picture is very Deja Vu . We have pictures like this from Columbia Ultimate and ADP Dealer Services. I thought Dale retired. On the white board behind him are the pictures of our PEF students. We have most of their pictures posted, but we still have some photos to take. It is really helpful to put a face with a name when speaking with them on the phone or setting up interview appointments. Sister Ellingson created this board when she served here. I had to update it, but am grateful for the work that she did. It has been very helpful.

In the picture to the left I am pretending to know what I am doing. You can't see all my post its on the walls, but I have many little helpful hints to get me through each day. Slowly I am learning my responsibilities. We have been scanning hard copy files to the online PEF student files. Against the wall are some yellow bags. At the end of the week I had five of those bags filled with paper shreds. Our goal is to have everything in the computer before we leave the country. We hope that we will have more time to orient the people that will replace us. We are going to request that whoever replaces us has five days with us in the office before we depart.  We had training in Salt Lake City but we needed the real  hands on experience. Talking about something and actually doing it are two very different creatures. We really needed to understand what the people before us did. We want to be able to introduce our replacements to some of the PEF students and explain to them the interviewing procedures, etc. There are many steps that can help to make the transition from one set of Senior couples to the next smoother. Our first few weeks in the office were a nightmare. Thanks to Dale's understanding of computers he has been able to get the office running pretty well. Elder and Sister Kelly who are serving as the Area PEF Directors out of Hong Kong have been working with us this past week.  They had never experienced the"hands on" workings of the PEF program. It  has been a real learning experience for all of us as we have worked together to better understand how we can best serve the  people in Cambodia. The Kelly's are great people and we have truly been blessed to have them come to Cambodia. We will be working with them for one more day this week.

View from our office window. 

Today I spoke khmae in Relief Society. I only spoke a few sentences as I was asked to speak about gifts of the spirit. Mainly they were interested in the gift of tongues. I do not speak very fluently and I speak in very simple sentences. But the ladies appreciated me trying. I guess it must have been a highlight for them. When I met Dale after the meeting he said, " I heard that you spoke in Relief Society."

The people are so kind here. We help each other. We help them speak English and they help us speak khmae. They do much better with English than we do with their language. I keep reviewing words and have not given up hope that one day I will hear and understand the words that are being said around and to me. That is a miracle I am looking forward to.

Until next week may you have wonderful dreams and peaceful days.

Cum Riap Lia

Another Week In Cambodia...

Khmer New Year was at the end of this week.  Many people left Phnom Penh at the beginning of the week because the closer the weekend came the higher the bus fair to the Provinces became. Friday and Saturday the streets were deserted and most of the shops were closed. The management and guards at our apartment were also working with a skeleton crew.  Tuk tuk drivers had no one to transport. We were of no help to them because we walk everywhere. The city of Phnom Penh is not that big. Some places are farther than we care to walk, but we can get to most places by foot.  When we have shopping items it is nice not to have to carry them. The heat at high noon is pretty draining. We loved the above parking sign and thought you would also.

 The picture to the left is for Kyle our oldest son.( Kyle,we thought you would appreciate how they sell their fuel tanks here.) Kyle works for US Welding in Grand Junction, Colorado. (Kyle, perhaps you would like to pack up your family and set up shop in Cambodia.What do you think of that idea Elise?)You have no idea of what dirt really is until you come to a place like this.When we arrived home from our walk my arms were filthy from the dust in the air. Many people wear face masks. I know I will need to use one the next time we travel by tuk tuk to Keans Vaay Branch. There is lots of road construction and the last time we went there I had problems afterwards.

As this picture shows the streets are deserted. This is so unusual for Phnom Penh. We discovered that we had to be cautious crossing the streets.The few people in town that are driving "put the pedal to the metal" through the streets. At one street the light had changed green for us to cross. We had made it three quarters of the way  when out of no where a motorcycle cut in front of me. Had I not jumped back it would have gone over me. I  feel safer dodging vehicles traveling at 20 miles per hour. Looking forward to our busy streets next week.

This street is at the side of one of the temples. It is an example of the litter that is scattered all throughout the city.With the Khmer New Year all the garbage pick up trucks are not in operation. The garbage accumulates rapidly around here. It is never totally cleaned up.

Above is one of several mounds of decomposing garbage that dot the streets. Our friends took a drive to locate the church building they were to go to on Sunday. They had to find a detour road because of a mountain of garbage that blocked the street they needed to be on. We'd love to share the true khmae experience with you but, sorry...no scratch and sniff photos are available. Amazingly we saw no rats. Of course they are night creatures and smart enough to dine in the cool of the evening.

These are the coolest garbage receptacles. They are made out of old car tubes. The lid, the handles, the legs..it is all tube rubber. For something so ugly I think these are really clever. I am really impressed with this great use of  what would be garbage in the eyes of many.


We discovered City Mall. Many of the stores in this mall were also closed. But as you can see below we also discovered "Lucky Burger". We have arrived in heaven. They have really good burgers with pickle, lettuce, tomato,onion and a special sauce. Their fries are good too. It cost $5.50 for two burgers, two fries and two medium soft drinks. I had sprite and Dale had Fanta Orange. What can I say...it was a great day!

We walked over to the Tonle Sap River again. All along the river bank area there are shops and play areas. We discovered an area where people were gathered with their families to feed the pigeons. We watched this cute little boy squealing with joy as the birds surrounded him.

Happiness is going to the park to feed the pigeons. There is happiness in this wonderful part of the world and he is about 2 1/2 feet tall, wears a red and white striped shirt and faded blue jeans

 Banana Girl

Loved this pose.

The final picture for this weeks blog is a close up of the wall in our bathroom. Notice the glittered centers to the flowers. Our family and closest friends know about our purple bathroom in Vancouver. The wall paper is a large floral pattern with shades of purple and beige and silver foil embossing. What can we say...it came with the house which was built in 1964 and we are real slow in doing remodeling. We've only owned our home since 1984. Don't want to rush these things. Well our bathroom in Cambodia makes us feel right at home. The sink and toilet are pink. The floor is a purple swirly something and to accent the whole look we have green glitter...

We spoke in the International Branch today. There were about 25 people in attendance including us. Dale presided over the meeting because he was the only High Priest in attendance. Elder Ott one of the young Elders conducted the meeting. Although we were few in numbers the meetings were good and well worth attending.

Dale is figuring out the software for the PEF program and because of this our job is beginning to run better. We have people coming from Hong Kong this week to discuss what responsibilities belong to the PEF department and institute department. We are looking forward to having a smooth running program that will serve the PEF loan recipients well. This week should be a busy productive  one. We are looking forward to positive days ahead.

Dale is doing "his thing" here in Cambodia.  He has been helping a couple who have only been here two weeks. Their lap top has been giving them problems.  Dale has been doing trouble shooting and has solved some of the glitches. It would be nice if all the glitches would be rectified. He will know in time as they work with their lap top.

Thanks for your comments on our blog page. We do read them and they make us happy.  Keep smiling in the USA and we will do the same here in Cambodia.

Only in Cambodia...

Hello Family and friends,
We have experienced another busy week in Cambodia. This weekend was General Conference for us. What a wonderful two days of inspirational messages. I took lots of notes.Interestingly while conference was going on  there was a funeral being held in another section of the building. Like funerals in the states the family gathers for a meal together. Because of this the building was filled with aromas very foreign to us. As we sat listening to conference the smells grew stronger. We were surprised when the door opened and some of the Khmae sisters came into the room with trays with cups of popcorn on them. They went to the front of the room and began to serve this to the congregation. Only in Cambodia would General Conference be considered "a matinee movie"!

Between sessions we went to the Mission Home for Easter dinner.  The Elders who live in areas some distance from the South District Center where conference was being held enjoyed Easter dinner with us. We experienced a great USA feast of  ham and turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted corn, fruit salad with the wonderful fruits of this area. We had rolls with butter and jam and a veggie platter.  Dessert was a choice of brownies, cupcakes and other sweet cakes. We even had Easter egg candy. As we finished our meal we each took a moment to share a message from conference that we particularly enjoyed. Today was a great day to be in Cambodia.

Saturday between conference sessions we went to Bistro Lorenzo for lunch. It is an Italian restaurant.  I ordered minestrone soup with garlic bread, Dale had a hamburger and some of the other couples ordered lasagna, spaghetti,and salads. My soup was pretty good.  Dale's burger was uneventful. We followed up our lunch with a trip to Swenson's for ice cream sundaes. Swenson's is located in a mini mall. We went to Paragon another of the odd stores in Cambodia.  I bought a new hairdryer. Saturday morning my hair dryer i brought from the states literally went up in smoke.
Some bad news. Dale's sinus infection is acting up. Ice cream triggers miserable side effects for him. He has resolved that he can not have any more ice cream until he gets his infection controlled.  Dairy products seem to make him worse. He was pretty careful today (Sunday).

The photo to the left is of a  young girl who was walking along the street as we were walking home from work. Notice the flames under her pans to keep her foods hot. She is pushing her cart along the street. This is a very common site each day. It is hot outside but she is covered head to toe, including gloves. Light skin is a sign of beauty in Cambodia. In the USA people work hard and spend lots of money to be tanned. The people here do just the opposite.  Several Cambodian women have unfortunately ruined there skin. There is some method used to bleach their skin.  We have seen several women who have patches of white skin on their face, hands and legs. One woman did only her face. It looks a bit odd. There are also some people here with skin disorders which the sun worsens and they also cover up.

This is the parking lot to our office and also where we hold institute classes, the career workshop and attend church once a month at the English speaking branch.  When we arrived to work on Monday this vehicle was in the parking lot. This is basically a hearse.  A young sister died of cancer. She is Vietnamese and her body was being transported closer to her country, but not into Vietnam.  This week there were two funerals at our building. The hearse is like an open air bus. I believe members of the deceased persons family and friends rode with the casket to the burial site. I understand it was a very long trip.
The last two days of this week we taught our first Career Workshop for missionaries returning to the states. Dale did a wonderful job teaching this. Those that attended were really appreciative of the insight he gave them into what to expect when they go to apply for jobs. Since Dale has had experience in interviewing people he was able to give our students good counsel. He did mock interviews and helped the students experience being interviewed. They also experienced being the interviewer. We taught Sister Holloway and Sister Erickson, Elder Sookoo and Elder Wright.  After our class they went for their final interview with President Smedley before departing to the airport for their flight back to the USA. Sister Erickson stayed behind because her family is coming to Cambodia on Tuesday.  She was having mixed feelings about not flying to the states with the other missionaries.  She is so sweet.  She made some games for the missionaries to play while on the plane. The missionaries we taught are going to be a great strength in their wards and communities when they return.  We are blessed to be able to do these workshops.

We have two houses that we are assigned to inspect. It is important that these homes are clean. There have been Elders that have gotten sick because of unclean living conditions.These conditions are preventable. This week we will be delivering supplies to update the 72 Hour Kits and 30 day Emergency Barrels in these homes. We received emergency supplies for our apartment this week also. The buckets and barrel adds so much to our decor. At the end of the week is Khmer New Year.  We have been told that Phnom Penh will become a ghost town. The people travel to their home Provinces.The Elders will be having some fun days together, but only if we give them a good house report.  One of our houses needs to greatly improve.  They have been warned that we are coming on Friday at 3:00 so we hope we will get to allow them to participate with everyone else. I think they will step up to the task.During Khmer New Year we are looking forward to doing some exploring. We also have been asked to speak in church on Sunday. So part of the week will be preparation for that and then of course the usual office work.
Some of you have asked us questions about life in Cambodia. It is hot, but we spend most of our days in an air conditioned office. We walk to work in the morning. Mornings are quite pleasant with usually a gentle breeze.  At the end of our day the air is cooling down. The walk home is warmer than morning but also not too bad. The other day we left early from work and it was HOT, but we survived. We have been blessed to have been offered rides with some of the Senior couples who own cars to some of our events which has been great, but using the tuk tuk is not a bad way to travel. The stores we frequent are similar to the old Kress dime store or Newberry  store if you remember them. They are more expensive than the Dollar Tree,but some of the stores are sort of like that also. The grocery stores are air conditioned and sell a variety of  breakfast cereals in smaller boxes than we are use to with a much higher price tags. For example 14 ounce box of Corn Flakes can cost $8, a pint of Hagen Daz ice cream is $15. Bread is reasonable, eggs are reasonable, fresh fruits and vegetables not bad. Produce is wrapped or bagged so you can't pick individual pieces of fruit, etc.Chocolate chips are hard to find and very expensive when you do find them. Brownie mixes are hard to find as well as cake mixes and muffin mixes.  They are available it is just if you happen to be in the store when the items are on the shelf.  I am learning that if  I want something or think I may want something I better get it when I see it or  I may be out of luck in the future. Products are different than in the USA.  Brown sugar tastes a bit like molasses, granulated sugar is really grainy, flour comes in very small packages, chicken and beef bouillon cubes are bigger and a bit different, spices are very expensive and they don't have a lot to choose from, butter is a bit different, we buy milk in a box on the shelf instead of the refrigerator, however, they do also have fresh milk, pop comes in 11/2 liter bottles instead of 2 liter bottles.  They also have some strange flavors some good and some nasty. Peanut butter is pretty good and so is the jam. Honey is really expensive so we haven't purchased any. Meat is expensive. Most beef is really tough both in the store and in the restaurant. Canned products are expensive. Paper products are expensive and things like napkins are hard to find. Cleaning supplies are different here.  There are some that are the same as in the states but those are really expensive. They have Oreo Cookies packaged like a roll of Ritz Crackers.  We get those as a special treat and when we crave chocolate. Cheese is expensive and hard to find.
We are learning and with time perhaps we will become good shoppers in this crazy part of the world.  We haven't shopped for clothes yet.  That will be another day...so far we have only needed to cook and clean our apartment and clothes. As we learn we will keep you informed. Restaurant prices are very reasonable. Our average restaurant meal has been $3.50.
Friday night I went downstairs to do our laundry.  There had been a down pour of rain.  All the washing machines were covered with water and the ground was drenched.  I try hard not to drop my clothes on the ground or allow things to rub up against anything. Doing laundry has been a new experience. Of course everything is line dried in the main room of our apartment. We have truly downsized.
Thanks for visiting our blog...I hope this next week we will have some fun pictures to share.God bless you all.

Dear Value Customers,

We received this notice taped to our door the first week we were here.
Dear Value Customers,
First of all, we would like to show hearty thanks for using our service apartment, we are Gold 1 Apartment also pleased to inform you that the water supply is unstable for 2 hours from 13:30 to 15:30 PM (14-03-2012) because we have problem with plumbing system.  So please be forgiving for Gold 1 Apartment's water supply service. We hope that all value customers will know our concern to all of you and our problem.
It has been a pleasure to serve you and greatly appreciate for your understanding.
Sincerely yours,

Our first lunch in Cambodia was at a little restaurant called MaMa's New York Deli.  I made the mistake of ordering a grilled cheese sandwich. At least I learned early on in the mission. The bread was warm..not grilled...not even toasted and it was filled with a very bad quality nacho cheese sauce. But what made the lunch worth every moment was the background music..."Santa Claus in Coming to Town". Good old Santa. I sure hope he wears something other than red velvet trimmed with white fur while visiting here.

Yes, that is Elder Meier with a blizzard in hand. We were able to take a trip to the airport. Yes, Elder Meier finally was able to have his Dairy Queen ice cream.  The only Dairy Queen in the country is at the Phnom Penh airport. The airport is quite some distance from where we live. Senior couples have the opportunity to visit the airport when new couple missionaries arrive.  Elder and Sister James arrived close to midnight on Tuesday night.We don't want to hurt their feelings, but Dairy Queen is a big draw to get us all to the airport when it is well passed our bedtime. We can endure many things thanks to this great franchise.

We walk to and from our office every morning and evening.  We were walking home from work and this happy person happened by so Elder Meier took his picture.

 We live a little less than a mile from our office. When the sun goes down it gets pretty dark on the streets, because of this when we leave our office late we take a tuk tuk home. During the day you can find a tuk tuk fairly easily. Where our office is located getting a tuk tuk after dark is a bit more challenging.

Saturday we were suppose to go to work.  This week has been really hard. Elder Meier has been trying to figure out the PEF software and clean it up a bit. Some of the information that should be in our PEF Students files is missing.  We are trying to get information in its proper place and work out details on our PEF students loans. Each night we arrive home wanting to drop. As everyone that goes on a mission discovers, you are never really trained until you get to your assigned area and experience it first hand. As I said in the beginning of this paragraph...we were supposed to go to work...but instead we went to Central Market and walked along the Tonle Sap River. Our cupboards were bare and we were down to the last of our clean clothes...we said," we need to get some of these things done". We knew the problems at the office would not be resolved on Saturday anyway.  It felt good to get away for the day. We did inspect 4 young Elder's apartment in the morning and then went to the church building later in the evening to teach Institute. Our day was not all play...not that grocery shopping and doing laundry is play...but those that know us know what wild and crazy people we are...so for us going shopping was a relief.  Hey, we had ice cream at Dairy Queen this week...party on!

Here Elder Meier is  enjoying the hot streets of Phnom Penh. In the background is a mother and her children. The gathering of small groups of people is very common. Many people live on the streets.  We often see people sleeping in hammocks they have attached to two trees along the street. Tuk tuk drivers sleep in their tuk tuks. People sleep on the benches along the street.  At the side of make shift shops are lines with laundry drying. 

In another week is khmae new year. Most of the population in Phnom Pehn will be gone. The people go to their home provinces for three days.  It is a time to celebrate their ancestors and to play games with family and friends. We have been told the more "western style" stores will be open but all other makeshift shops, etc. will be closed. It should be interesting to walk the streets here during that time. Walking the streets on a normal day is liking playing reality "road toad".

Family and friends another week begins...we pray it will be a good one for you. Your prayers for us are greatly appreciated.  Or as the khmae would say, "Dear Value Family and Friends, we would like to show hearty thanks for praying for us."