What is so important about August 7?

Family and friends this has been one whirl wind week of information concerning the winding down of our mission here in Cambodia. At the beginning of the week we were informed that Elder and Sister Wyler, the new PEF Senior Couple for Cambodia will arrive in Phnom Penh August 3rd at 10:30 in the morning . We remember oh too well that first day in Cambodia. Actually we were in a daze. We remember oh too well the daze we were in the first day in Cambodia. We had tried our best to rest on the plane knowing the inevitable jet lag we would experience. If we were Khmer there would have been no problem. They can sleep in any condition and position imaginable except perhaps in an air conditioned room on a soft bed. The Wyler's will soon have that joyous experience. When we arrived President and Sister Smedley wanted to keep us awake. They tried this by feeding us lunch and talking to us about staying healthy in Cambodia, explaining the mission goals and who knows what else...I can't remember because ...we were in a fog. Unlike our experience we hope the Wyler's will have some down time before they "get to work". We have asked President Moon to allow us two solid days of hands on training with them.

In the middle of this week we received our flight schedule for our return to the USA. We are scheduled to leave Cambodia on August 6 at 11:20 pm. We will have a layover in Seoul  for about 11 hours. From Seoul we will fly to San Francisco and hang there for 5 hours then arrive in Portland at 6:36 pm August 7th.  Now that we are so close to coming home it is all like a crazy mixed up dream. I am so glad I have kept this blog. Did this experience really happen??? The proof is in the blog.

This week the rainy season hit hard. The sky has opened up and the rain comes down so hard that the roofs and streets can not drain fast enough. Most building entry ways throughout the city have a small step up. This is to lessen the chance of water flooding the shops and homes. The rain usually begins about 3:00 in the afternoon. We pray each day that it will end in time to allow the streets to drain by 4:30. Along with every rain storm comes lightening and thunder. "Oh Heavenly Father I pray that thou wilt spare us wearing sewer boots." They are still shiny and new. We'd like to keep them that way.

Friday it was questionable if we would be spared. We took a long route home walking the major roads instead of our more direct route which was totally under water. It worked well. We still had to be careful not to get splashed by passing motos. Our regular road has become a major mud hole. The road work is completed as far as the pipeline, but nothing has been repaved. As it rains and motos and cars drive on the fill dirt the road is becoming ruts and puddles. There really is no pedestrian walkways anymore. The cars park on the sidewalks. Pedestrians in this country do not have the right of way.
Because I asked Dale to take my picture in this lovely sandwich bag we forgot to lock our office door. About 8:00 pm we got a call from the night guard letting us know this fact. I had just showered and Dale was getting comfortable. We got to get dressed. I put my hair in a wet ponytail. By now it was dark, muddy, wet and raining. Fortunately San Sovann one of our favorite tuk tuk drivers was sitting outside our apartment. He drove us back to the office. What a ride! There are so many ruts. I let out of few squeals. San Sovann got a kick out of that. When we got back to the apartment. San Sovann giggled and said, "I heard Madame go wooo!" We all got a good laugh. It took some of the sting from the frustration of what had happened. We will definitely pay attention to locking our office door.

Sunday the rain began in the morning. After church we did not stay for the scheduled baptism because our tuk tuk had arrived and it was a pounding rain.

I snapped a few pictures of coping with the rain in Cambodia.

A normal day in Cambodia during the rainy season.

Our tuk tuk driver is soaked to the bone. The rain does not seem to be stopping these people from going about their daily business. If this picture had sound there would be lots of horn honking.






Rainy day laundry woes...

I challenge you to find a non muddy non wet spot to put a laundry basket on.

As I was standing in water waiting for my laundry to finish I got to thinking...gee...this is all run by electricity. I started looking for where the outlets were. I never did find them. I really didn't want to do too much looking. I was thinking though that in the states this place would probably not be up to code.

Ah yes. A "clean" dry spot to stand and place my basket. Believe me you do not want to drop your clean clothes on the ground. I did. Fortunately it was Dale's dark socks. Shh...don't tell!

This photo is looking toward the laundry room entrance. The two white machines belong to tenants. No one is suppose to use them but the owners. Guess what? While I was waiting for my laundry to complete its spin cycle one of the night guards came and dumped his laundry into them. I watched as he filled the soap dispenser with what seemed to be two cups of soap.So much for the "To Be Used By Mr.Gong Only" sign.


This past week I gave our paper shredder a workout. By the end of the week I hauled away three large garbage bags full of shredded documents. We had an old file of BYU Hawaii stuff. It is now gone, gone, gone. We also had files of outdated college brochures. They are now gone, gone, gone. There were old handouts that each PEF couple left behind explaining the PEF program and how to do reports etc. We leave behind the new and improved program. The old stuff is now gone, gone, gone. I figure what is gone will not clutter Elder and Sister Wyler's minds nor their workspace. It was sort of like when I deep cleaned my mom's home before she came to live with us. Tell me the importance of keeping tuk tuk receipts from 2005. I figure no one will miss files they never knew existed. What I discarded was old, old, old and obsolete.

Every Friday Sotee, the cleaning lady sweeps, dusts, and removes the garbage from our office. This week she brought us these champaka flowers she picked at the Service Center. They are very fragrant. Similar in strength to a gardenia. They are often used in garlands along with jasmine. The garlands are used for protection and also gifts to deity.




In our last blog I mentioned some "last" things we will experience in Cambodia. Here are a few more lasts. Dale thought he was getting his last hair cut in Cambodia yesterday. After he got done he now figures he may need one more last haircut. So yesterday he had his last hair cut before his last hair cut.

This is definitely our last rainy season living in Cambodia.
Tonight we attended our last CES fireside in Cambodia. Stay tune for more lasts to come.

The Khmer have a really different sense of humor. They likewise think we have a strange sense of humor. The following was posted on Facebook by one of our PEF students. You be the judge.

Funny Question coming up in office today through one picture of a snake and crocodile and made me laugh so hard it was.  If you see the snake swallow the crocodile which one would you help?  The answer would be: I would help myself rather than be a hero to either of them.

Woo-boy! Let me get my composure. I busted a gut on this one.

The grand finale of this weeks blog is about 3 feet tall.

Meas Uri

She likes us because we give her candy!

To all the great dads that read this blog. Happy Fathers Day. To all the great people that read this blog have a fabulous week.