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."

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.