Another week of life on a mission in Cambodia. As a Senior Couple our mission is quite different than the younger Elders and Sisters. As long as we get our "business" done we have more freedom to pick and choose what activities we will do. We are assigned to the Phnom Penh area, however, our stewardship involves Siem Reap, Battambang, Kampong Thom, and Kampong Cham. At the present time we still have couples serving in Battambang and Kampong Thom. With the changes in the staff for the Perpetual Education Fund in Cambodia we now have Meas Sameth working with us. We hope to be able to travel to the Provinces one more time before we depart from Cambodia. Whether that will happen is not clear. Dale would like to visit Sihanoukville before we leave. It is an ocean tourists stop.
The office couple Elder and Sister Westover recently were notified that their son will be traveling to Singapore for work. He has decided to take a side trip to Cambodia. The Westovers are excited to have him visit. They have received permission to travel to some of the Provinces to "site see". They are excited because as the office couple they do not travel outside of Phnom Penh. They arrived in Cambodia last April and have not seen much beyond it the boundaries of the city. I mentioned to Sister Westover that Dale and I were planning to tour the Royal Palace. She asked if she and Elder Westover could come too. Saturday was the second day that the Palace was opened to the public since the Kings death. We participated in the 2:00 tour. The Westovers drive an office vehicle. I suggested we take a tuk tuk to avoid parking problems. They were excited to do that. They thought the ride was fun and novel. Normally the ride would be routine for us, but because it was a treat for the Westovers it was fun for us too. Dale and I overlook many things in Phnom Penh now because it is just what life is here. The sights and sounds are not as noticeable to us. The smells, dust and heat still attack our senses.
We continue to have problems with the Internet. It was up and down throughout the week. There was a work crew working on it. They never inform us when they will be shutting things down. Dale purchased a USB modem that allows us to have Internet when our hard wired system is down. This works great for him. I am left to read the scriptures or stare at walls. Saturday Dale had to use the USB modem. Unfortunately, when he tried to sign into our My LDS Mail a notice popped up that Friday night Salt Lake would be doing maintenance on their system from 8-11 PM mountain time. That is great for everyone that is sleeping in Utah but it does not help us in Cambodia who have "work as usual" during those hours. Between Khmer holidays, power outages, downed Internet service and Salt Lake maintenance schedules we have lots of excuses not to get any work done.
Monday was a happy day. People were still celebrating the Chinese New Year so the streets were quiet. The office was also quiet. One of our PEF students, Tak Rathlida surprised us by coming to our office with a basket of mandarins to wish us a Happy Chinese New Year/ Happy Valentines Day. She visited for quite some time filling us in on how life has been treating her. She recently graduated. She had set a goal to pay off her loan in January. She did this. She is a very capable, intelligent woman. I would classify her as a high achiever. She isn't afraid to set goals and tell people about them. In so doing she makes herself more accountable. The result is that she achieves her goals. We spoke to her about writing her experience as a PEF participant and how it blessed her life. What she writes would be shared on the PEF website for others to read. She said she would be happy to do this and promised us that she would complete this project before we leave Cambodia. We know she will keep her word.
We shared our mandarins with the workers in our building. What was really special was when Brother Dam came to our office to fill out his application. He is 39 years old and very poor. He is so excited that he will be able to receive a loan to go to moto repair school. His loan is for $400. He is so grateful that PEF is now offered to older members of the Church. He has a wife and children. It would be impossible for him to secure $400 without this loan. He will instead pay $5 a month and learn a skill that will help him financially. He plans to teach what he learns to his children so they will also have skills. Brother Dam is a humble, honest man. When we were saying our goodbyes I offered him a mandarin. His eyes lit up and he sort of gasped. At first he was not going to take a mandarin, but I told him it was OK. He was very grateful. When he left we mentioned his reaction to Sameth. He explained that most people do not eat mandarins because they are too expensive. Rathlida's gift to us was passed on to many this week. She told us that the "gold" "yellow" color was for Good Luck. It worked for us this week in putting smiles on peoples faces.
Monday night several of the Senior Couples met together for Family Home Evening. We went to Plae Pakaa ( Fruitful)- Children of Bassac which is sponsored by the Cambodian Living Arts. We enjoyed an hour and half of traditional dance and music.
Plae Pakaa is used to express the idea of "coming of fruition". It is symbolic not only of inspiring emerging artists who are sharing the fruits of their hard work, but of the revival of traditional arts in Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge. After more than a decade of work, from committed teachers, students, and supporters, the traditional arts are living again and the fruits of this investment are seen on stage today.
We did not take too many pictures because they really did not show up well.
We saw eight different dances.
A few of the dances we saw were:
Sovann Machha or The Golden Mermaid-
This dance is from an episode of the Reamker, the Kmer version of the Indian epic Ramayana. The White Monkey, Hanuman, falls in love with a mermaid en route to rescue Seda, Rama's wife, from Ravana, king of the ogres.
Aspara or Celestial Women Dancers- This dance was created following the gestures of Aspara images depicted on the Angkor temples. It is believed that Aspapras are the mothers of Khmer dances and symbols of Khmer culture.
Bok Leak or Crushing Dye- This dance is one of the traditional wedding ceremonies. The groom and the bride put leak- black dye tasting sweet, sour, bitter and salty- in their mouth to symbolize their entrance to a new life.
It was fun to view some of the Cambodian traditions.
Prior to viewing Plae Pakaa we walked around the grounds which were recently built for King Sihanouk. This is the building he was cremated in. It is amazing to think that the building of this began after October 17, 2012. It is incredibly beautiful.
There is ladder that ascends to the top to where the King was cremated.
A closer view of the ladder.
Earlier in this blog I mentioned that we toured the Royal Palace with Elder and Sister Westover. The above photos are to one side of the Royal Palace.
This is the palace. No pictures can be taken of the inside. There are beautiful crystal chandeliers. The ceilings are intricately painted similar to the Sistine Chapel.
The landscaping is really beautiful. The light in color vegetation is usually red, but was planted in the white color for the kings funeral.
One of the buildings we entered was museum of clothing and other royal paraphernalia. Each mannequin is dressed in a different color. Each day of the week is represented by one of these colors. When special events happen royalty and guests were to wear the color of the day.
The men usually wore white jackets but their pants would be the designated color and they would also have a colored sash.
There are two of these . They house the ashes of past kings.
The ashes of the recently deceased king's four year old daughter are here. He intended that when he died his ashes would be housed with hers. The Royal Family has requested a fortune teller to tell them when they should move his ashes from their present place to here. His daughter died in 1952 from Leukemia.
There are many flowers on the Royal Palace grounds...
Roomchang
These men were playing traditional Khmer music. They were directly across from a Buddhist shrine.
Sister Westover, Pani (our tour guide), me.
Our week went well. The washing machines even cooperated!! Our health could be better, but it also could be worse.
Let me share with you a Khmer story told to us today by the District President. You must understand that I was listening to a Khmer translate for me what was being said. It seemed that the topic was dealing with being mindful of the words we use. The parable was about a tiger who attacked someone that had said evil words. The tiger ate the persons feet, his legs, his arms, his body and all of his head but left his mouth.
The moral of the story is if you want to give the tiger the full meal deal you better choose your words wisely.
Khmer water holder.
That's all folks. We love you.
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