What a week!. I have very little to report in regards to our mission in Cambodia.
Because it was Khmer New Year there were very few people on the city streets. We chose not to work on the two main days of the holiday, Monday and Tuesday. By Monday most people had left Phnom Penh and arrived to their homeland destinations.Wednesday they would begin traveling back to Phnom Penh.
Monday Dale decided we would seek to find a Pharmacy where we hoped to purchase NyQuil. With his asthma he can at least sleep through the night using this. We were fortunate that the first place we went to was open and had the coveted drug of choice. From there we headed toward the grocery store. We saw a group of European tourists enter a small shop. To our delight a second Touis les Jours, a new french bakery, had opened. We purchased a loaf of REAL bread. It had great texture and no funky taste. It made great sandwiches and toast. We are so happy to have found a descent place to purchase bread. To add to our joy it is fairly close to our apartment. Thrilled with our purchase from the bakery we continued our walk. It was now lunch time so we stopped at Lucky Burger. Although the streets were quiet, Lucky Burger was packed with people. In the past when placing an order the procedure was to take a number card to our table and a waitress would deliver our food to us. On this day we were given a receipt with a number and told that they would call out our number. Seems simple enough. One problem was that their spokes person called out numbers in Khmer. We know our numbers, but the spokes person said a bunch of stuff before announcing the number. All the words seemed to merge together making it difficult to actually be sure what numbers were being announced. Dale decided to stand near the counter and watch for our order of 2 hot dogs and a Lucky burger with no drinks and no fries. It worked. Our food was not as good as usual. I attribute it to the fact that the place was crowded and under staffed. I really like Lucky burger sauce. Unfortunately for me there was barely any sauce on my burger. I also needed a magnifying glass to find my onion and tomato. Dale's hot dogs looked OK but the assembly was off. They are usually topped with onion. This time the onion was hidden deep in the relish and ketchup. With our tummies full we went next door to the Lucky Grocery store. We purchased a few things that we had run low on. I was hoping to stock up on a few baking items. It seems that the shelves have not been restocked since we first arrived in the country. The selection was small then and now it is really "slim pickings". After our shopping spree we went home to get out of the heat.
We were invited to Elder and Sister Tucks new home in Ta Khmau for dinner. Monday evening Elder and Sister Westover picked us and Elder and Sister Kohls up to go out to the Tucks. The Tucks made a yummy curry dish served with french bread and ice water. The dinner was topped off with homemade chocolate/cashew cookies. We had great food and enjoyed great company.
Tuesday while talking with Elder and Sister Rhyne we discovered that they like us were unable to get any concrete work done with Phnom Penh being a ghost town. The Rhyne's will be leaving at the end of this next week. They had a few items they wished to purchase before they depart. They asked if we wanted to go shopping with them. We said sure. We got a tuk tuk and went to the Russian Market. There was a slight problem once we got there. It was closed until after the Khmer New Year. It was getting close to noon and outdoors was heating up. We discussed doing a plan B but any place that "might have been interesting" to visit was two to four hours away. I remember the last long trip I made in a tuk tuk. My back ached for a month afterwards. We had no other ideas of what to do so we all went home.
Wednesday we had planned to return to work as usual. We left for work about 7:45 am. When we arrived at our building the guard informed us that the electrical panel for the building had burnt up and there was no electricity. He told us that with the Khmer New Year there would not be an available repairman until Friday. No electricity meant no lights, no computer, no air conditioner and no reason to stay. We went back home.
I baked some cookies, did a load of laundry and we took a few short walks to pick up some fresh vegetables and to stock up on a few Costco/Sam's Club items from USA Doughnut. I think we have enough canned chicken to last the remainder of our mission. We will probably buy one more canister of Country Time Lemonade.
Late Friday we were informed that the electricity box was temporarily fixed. They are waiting on parts, but it is working. We were able to hold our Saturday morning institute class. Cambodia showed General Conference this week end also. It all worked out well.
This next week we plan to be back to business as usual. We haven't had a peanut butter sandwich since Wednesday. We had one then because I had packed us a lunch believing we were going to spend the day at work.
Thanks to technology we have been very much in the loop on all that has been happening in our great country. Because we could not go to work we spent our days glued to the television at our apartment. We spent hours flipping between CNN and the news stations from Asia, Australia, and Russia. It is interesting to hear comments from sources other than USA. We were relieved that the two young men that did such horrific deeds in Massachusetts are no longer on the loose. Our hearts are broken for all the victims. Please know that prayers are being said for the USA here in Cambodia. The world is not as big as one might think. God's children may speak different languages, live in a variety of climates and terrains, dwell in a assorted shelters and eat diverse cuisine but the majority of us desire to be good and to be at peace with each other.
We are grateful that we are having this opportunity to serve in Cambodia. We are also grateful we have a return ticket home.
GOD BLESS AMERICA .
GOD BLESS THE GOOD PEOPLE THAT MAKE OUR COUNTRY GREAT.
GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU.
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