Sunrise...Sunset...

Family and friends,
Thanks for all that prayed that we would have fare weather on Monday. We began our Monday with the usual walk to the office. It was a holiday in Cambodia so the building was quiet. The office staff and service center staff of course take holidays off.  Cambodia does not recognize our celebrations but we plan to take Thanksgiving and Christmas off even if everyone else decides to work. In regard to Monday evening let the photos tell the story...

We arrived at the dock about 5:00. Departure time was at 5:15. For $20-$30  tour boats can be rented for up to 18 people. Elder and Sister Henderson hosted this Family Home Evening event. They prepared boxed dinners that had meat and cheese sandwiches, grapes, bananas, Oreo and Pea-nutter  cookies, Hershey Golden Nuggets (heaven in a wrapper) and water.

The Tonle Sap River current is quite swift. Just before we launched I was looking out over the view and it seemed that we were already moving. The land remained stationary but the water and the debris in the water was rushing by. It was a strange illusion.
As we traveled the river we came to a point where four rivers merge. I know three of them, the Mekong River, the Tonle Bassac River and the Tonle Sap.

Let the cruise begin. Sister Henderson setting up the box dinners and Elder Henderson snapping photos as the sun begins to set. Sister Tuck is at the left in this photo. Elder and Sister Rhyne are in the background on the right.

Finding a spot to stand.

Dale on the lower level...let us go up top.

The evening was pleasant. We enjoyed clear air and a cool breeze. We all chose to stay on the top deck to eat, take pictures and visit. As our cruise boat approached land we were ordered to the lower deck. We were warned that if the police caught us up top while docking we would be fined. We all hustled downstairs to avoid paying bribe money to the police.

People including children playing and fishing on the concrete bank along part of the river.

The beginning of the end of the day.

 What a blessing. We have been experiencing the rainy season. This evening was a real blessing.

The sun is setting behind the Royal Palace. 

Let there be peace on earth.

Looking away from the setting sun.

Enjoying that wonderful boxed dinner. Love the lanterns.

Coming into dock.

We docked next to another boat. We actually crashed into it. This photo is of the  people in the boat we were up against. We walked from our boat onto their boat and then onto the dock. 

Too cute. The little guy on the right has really fuzzy hair. The little girl on the left was blowing us kisses. It was a great way to end a perfect evening.

The sun sets and a new day begins. Now we move on with the remainder of the week. Dale has been communicating daily with Salt Lake and Hong Kong in regards to the changes that are taking place with the Perpetual Education Fund Program. He is our student's best advocate to continue to allow them to attend colleges and universities. We are working to target any legitimate vocational schools in this country. Many of the vocational schools are here one day and shut down the next. Trade school choices are limited. Women have the fewest choices. Tailoring and beauty school and culinary school are about it. I personally feel that factory made clothing is having an effect on the local tailor's businesses. 

Wednesday we attended  Zone Conference. I always enjoy the opportunity to meet with the young Elders and Sisters. We were informed that these conferences are not mandatory for us to attend so we will probably not attend them in the future. When we attend these meetings we have to close the office. We thought we were suppose to participate because President and Sister Smedley had asked us to. Sister Moon said it is not necessary. It is differences in leadership. I tend to agree with Sister Moon. It is nice but not necessary.

Friday we attended a Missionary Reunion for all  return missionaries from Cambodia and Vietnam. It was well attended. Touch Sophornn was the oldest return missionary in attendance. He is the Institute Director. His office is next to ours. We travel with him to the provinces.He has been pictured in past blogs. Elder Den who we taught Career Workshop to a couple months ago was the most recent return missionary. We were able to speak with many of our PEF students at the reunion which will cut down on the phone calling I need to do this month. 

Missionary Reunion 2012

Sister Tuck and I registering people for the reunion evening events. We had over 100 return missionaries in attendance. Many traveled from the Provinces to attend. 

 The numbers on the floor were for a cake walk that was the beginning activity for the evening. We did not eat the food but they had crab, and rice and octopus on a stick and bread and some other foods I could not recognize. Dale had a can of pop and some bread. 

Yum!

What would our celebrations be like without balloons and helium?

Quick and easy and effective.

Families were invited. There were party hats for the kids. They loved it. They also loved the balloons.

This is Narom and her husband and children. Narom works in  the service center finance department and is the main person we work with for PEF loan disbursements.

Saturday we were at our building by 6:15 in the morning for our institute class. It is a challenge to get up and out the door that early, but it is well worth it to have our Saturday afternoon free.We just began this new schedule in October. I love it!

Our route to work has been under construction. Because of the construction the main intersection we cross is a challenge. I got across to discover that Dale had not followed me. This gave me an opportunity to snap a photo of Dale crossing the road.

Just behind Dale is the new corner store we are anxiously waiting to shop at. The shelves are still being stocked. Construction did not take long, but we have been waiting weeks for it to open. We hope it will be one more resource to shop for such things as toilet paper, soap, etc. It would be great if they sell bread and some produce.

Because of the road construction the sidewalk is now the detour for all motos. Larger vehicles have to find a different route. We walk along side the motos and bicycles. 

Sand bags or broken cement slabs or boards are placed on the curbs as planks for the motos and bikes. Heck a bunch of trash works well too!!

It is now 6:15 Sunday evening for us and the sun has set. It will soon be sunrise for you. May you each have a wonderful week. We will do the same.

Blue Screen of Death!!!

Hello again dear family and friends,
This past Monday was yet another holiday in Cambodia. We opened our office at 8 in the morning as usual. I suspect the many "rich people" that stayed home for the holiday had their air conditioners, lights, televisions, washer machines and whatever else drains from the power here in Cambodia on. As a result the power in our building would go on and off and on and off. This happened at least six times in less than two hours. Power outage is common here but not in such a chain of hits. What we have experienced suggests that our office computer has taken a lot of abuse during the years the PEF program has been operating in Cambodia. Monday's power failure was "the straw that broke the camel's back". The blue screen of death raised it's ugly head and our surge protector died a sudden death. This event was not a welcomed part of our day or week. Our first thought was that we lost all our information since we had not backed it up. Dale tried his hand at trouble shooting. After a tense morning we called a tuk tuk and transported the computer tower to our "neighborhood" computer fix it shop. Dale purchased a "magical" piece of equipment to assist in retrieving information and within a day the fix it guy was able to get our computer running. In the mean time we relied on my little pink laptop. It does not have all the information that the main computer has but we were able to create a payment requisition for one of our PEF students, Sok Chem. He has come to our office several times in the past month to get his loan processed. Each time the Internet or power has been down. Monday, he showed up just about the time we were face to face with the blue screen of death. He said that Cambodia gets its power from different countries. He showed me on our map where three hydro power plants are being constructed in the countryside. The target date for there availability is 2015. This will be a major change for the people outside of Phnom Penh where there is no electricity.

The end of the week...Saturday we were still dealing with computer glitches from computer memory loss. Salt Lake has changed some passwords, etc. and Dale can't get at some of our much needed information. The time difference between Cambodia and the USA is a problem. There needs to be a 24 hour call line where you could get help when needed. That doesn't mean someone has to be at an office at all times, but like doctors there needs to be someone to contact when emergencies arise. Dale's newest frustration was when he was creating the Priesthood reports. He couldn't get them to print. Two hours later he figured out that Salt Lake had changed the Khmer font. Dale inquired of me as to what other couples without computer knowledge would do if the problems we have been having happened for them. All I could think was that if I were them I would PRAY that someone like Dale would come to the rescue.

Meas Sameth just moved to an upstairs room in our building. He was the Employment Resource Center Manager for Phnom Penh. His position has been changed and he is now manager of the newly created Self Reliance Center. He works directly with us. He will be learning the PEF Program. We are volunteers and he is the paid employee for PEF. He is our boss. We look forward to being team members with him. He is a real blessing for PEF. He is working to discern what the real jobs are in Cambodia. He is also researching the best trade schools and colleges and universities for our students. Having someone to work with that speaks the language and knows the country and its customs is a real plus. We have been working with the Church Seminaries and Institute personnel here in Cambodia. The problem is that PEF is not their top priority and so we had to hope for translation help, etc. but it was not necessarily on our time line. Working with Sameth will be wonderful, because our focus is the same. Sameth is a big positive for this week.

Wednesday South District was in charge of  a Young Single Adult Activity for all the districts in the city and outlying areas. This was for young adults ages 18 to 30. It was a real success. Each branch did a traditional dance or a skit. After the entertainment they had some games and the evening ended with a dance. I really was looking forward to the dance, but by the time the entertainment was over and people were eating their hamburgers we just needed to get home. We had been at work from  sun up and it was close to eight in the evening. The computer drama of Monday and Tuesday had taken its toll.

This gives you an idea of all the people that came. There were lots on the stage and back stage and in the parking lot and throughout the building. It was a real success. The Khmer really enjoy getting together and having fun.

This was one of the skits. Which missionary from the states taught these people this hilarious slap stick skit??? I wish I could understand the language because the audience was roaring with laughter over what was being said. They did a good job with this skit.

These young adults represent one of the Vietnamese branches. In the morning I saw about six young women sewing these outfits.I did not realize until I saw them on stage that they were making costumes for the evening performance. Too stressful for me.

Dale had to go to our office which is down this hall. He took the opportunity to snap a shot of some of the dancers backstage.

This was transfer week and release week for many of our young missionaries. Two young men were going back to the states. Once again we taught Career Work Shop.

Elder Humphrey's on the left was flying home to Utah Friday evening November 2nd. He is planning on returning to the University of Utah. Elder Meier in the center is just an all around good guy not planning to go home for another 296 days. Elder Ott on the right was awaiting his mother, father and grandmother to join him in Cambodia to do some touring before heading home to California. He plans to return to BYU in Provo. It was a real pleasure to work with these young men for the last two days of their missions. Elder Humphrey's served the Vietnamese people in Cambodia and Elder Ott served the Cambodian people.

On our way to church today we saw a fire station. I had recently mentioned that I had seen police cars and ambulances but had not yet seen fire trucks.Dale took this picture just for me. Is he a great guy or what?

Today we attended a baptism at Tuol Tom Pong Branch. The little girl in the center is the adopted sister of one of our PEF students. Her new father is an older man (70's). I imagine Him Sophea (age 24) will eventually be this little girls guardian. Him Sophea's mother died when she was a young girl.

Him Sophea's father, adopted sister, and Him Sophea

Elder and Sister Rhyne had us over for a games and dinner night with some of the young people that work as Family History consultants in the area. Several of them are our PEF students. Sister Rhyne served spaghetti and meatballs as requested from Sister Han. We were also served rice with vegetables, french bread and a tomato salad. Dessert was a pudding parfait  made with coconut milk and layered with bananas and Oreo cookies. The best part...I didn't have to cook!

From left to right: Nen Pichmonyroth, Khlot Chan Pisey, Him Sophea, Chhun Kimlang

The girls love to pose for pictures. We were playing PHASE 10 and Elder Rhyne wanted to take a picture of two of the girls that were sharing a chair. He said look here. Bui Mai instinctively struck a pose using her cards as a fan. In the process she showed all of her cards to all of us.

Right to left: Chhun Kimlang, Khlot Chan Pisey, Bui Mai, Keo Chhorvin,Nen Picmonyroth, Sister Han.

It was craziness as the girls wanted to all help with the dishes. Have you ever seen so many people congregated around one little sink? Too many in the kitchen for me to get involved so I took pictures instead.

Nice plate Dale. Yes, we see it is empty. You will get your turn too. Indeed there was plenty to eat and it was oh so good.

We were on our way home when we saw this little guy hanging out near our neighborhood construction sight. Unfortunately he saw Dale's camera and decided to be really shy. He started hiding in his mother's skirt so we never got a really good picture. 

Nope...

He just won't let us take his picture.Believe me when I tell you that he is really cute.

We will have Family Home Evening Monday with the Senior Couples. We are going to take a sunset cruise on the river. Pray for a sunset and not a thunderstorm.

Have a great week... and remember to do your patriotic duty and vote.

Happy Halloween

Hello Family and Friends,
Last week I blogged that the PEF program is in transition. This week I had to decline a loan for Nikha a young lady who will not be 18 until next June. The last blog I mentioned age is not a factor. I meant if you are  18 or older age is not a factor.  Nikha recently moved to Phnom Penh from Kampong Thom thinking she would be going to college. Because she has several months before she will be 18, our counsel to her was to earn and save money and return to see us closer to her birthday. At that time we can discuss a loan if she still needs it. Dale has been working hard to create reports and fact sheets about our PEF graduates.  It is important to determine if  these graduates have secured life supporting employment. We hope to gain understanding concerning  the real educational needs of the people in Cambodia. We want to understand more clearly what types of legitimate trade schools are available and what the job placement is after taking their courses. The majority of our graduate students received college diplomas. A handful have gone to trade schools. We have lots to do before January 2013 when we are to implement  the "new" PEF regulations under direction  from the "new" Self Reliance Center. Certain steps we were told to begin immediately.  Age qualification was on the list. Nikha came to our office with the hopes of receiving a loan. Her cousin, Pisey, just graduated in accounting from college. She had received her first PEF loan disbursement at age 17. A month ago we disbursed money to another 17 year old. There is a fairness problem here. Nikha was amazingly understanding about the changes. Dale hopes to be able to determine what these changes will mean for the students in Cambodia. He hopes to get a good picture of  good job availability here and what education is required. He will present his finding to those in leadership over us. The sooner we accumulate this information the better it will be for our students, us and whoever replaces us next August.

We work in the South District building. It is usually pretty dirty, but this week it was cleaned from top to bottom. The cleaning crew even shampooed our carpet and washed our windows. The glass on the framed pictures in the downstairs lobby were clouded with dirt and now are crystal clear. This was in preparation for the South District Conference. The district was blessed to have Elder and Sister Wilson of the Quorum of the Seventy attend as guest speakers. I think every conference should have visitors come. The concern to make everything "perfect" really helps with the upkeep of the buildings. To be fair, the South District building is somewhat of a challenge to keep clean. The lobby is exposed to the outdoors. Birds frequent it leaving behind what birds like to "do". They also bring their berries inside to eat. The people themselves, however, have not learned the value or use of garbage cans. What is dirty to us looks very clean to them. Dirt, dust and mud are a way of life. Every day cleaning to them is hosing things down and letting it all drip dry.  Garbage is swept into piles near the street with hopes the garbage collectors will do their jobs. You've seen the photos.

The South District Conference was not well attended. Many people missed some wonderful messages. President Moon was amazing. He gave his message totally in Khmer. Pretty impressive. The people here have quickly come to love him and support him as their Mission President. One of our PEF students has been in the hospital in Vietnam for tests to determine why she has been sick. She was diagnosed with an auto immune disease and must get plenty of rest, eat well and exercise more. I spoke with her husband on Friday. He said that in sixteen years as a member of the church he has never had a Mission President visit in his home. He said that President Moon visited him and his family this past week. He was so happy and so honored that President Moon would be so concerned for his wife and family.

We have a new shopping mall due to open this January. I decided to look it up online to understand more of what to expect. I think it will be very expensive. Darn...we don't do expensive. The site I went to had a couple of  thoughts I will share with all of you...it has nothing to do with the new shopping center...

"Your brain has two parts: the left and the right. The left gets nothing right, and the right has nothing left."

"One basic difference between God and humans is, God gives, gives and forgives. Humans gets, gets and forgets."

I am sure the stores shelves and clothes racks in the USA are well stocked with trick or treat candy and  Halloween costumes and decorations. I was surprised to see the following in our neighborhood dress shop window...

There was a fairy costume for a little girl but I guess someone purchased it. If they did their little girl is going to be one really ugly brown fairy!!!

Saturday morning at 6:30 we taught early morning institute. At 9:00 we attended a teacher training meeting. As we were walking home we decided to try a new Vietnamese restaurant. It was OK, but we will not go again. The presentation was very nice. The plate is a plain white plate. The corners are decorated with cucumber slices and little carrot piece centers to create the illusion that the plate has a floral pattern.
We shared a meal. Glad we did. We had a chicken rice dish and pork deep fried spring rolls that had a underlying fishy taste. We were burping spring roll the remainder of the day. Hope we stay healthy.

We caught the construction crew that works a few buildings down from our apartment cleaning up for the day. The guy in this photo is always so happy to see us come by. He gets so excited and says hello and just laughs. He let Dale take a photo shot:

He soaped up a little more for the picture. He and about five other guys have made this work site their home until the project is complete. They set up a little cook spot just to the right of the dirt pile that shows in the background. Just beyond the corrugated wall is a dark hole. It appears to be their living and sleeping area. Saturday morning on our way to work we passed by this spot only to discover they were getting ready for their day. I had to redirect my view to across the street...I saw nothing fortunately. The people on the streets in the early morning are doing what all of us do early in the morning...we just have doors and curtains for privacy.

Dale's Dream Machine!

We are doing great. Dale's asthma seems to be under control. It looks like our institute class will be held early Saturday morning from now on. Those that attended this past Saturday voted it to be their preference. We are looking forward to having our Saturday afternoons and evenings free. It will be nice not to have to walk home in the dark. This week we plan to attend a Young Single Adult Activity. It will be on Wednesday. There will be games and dancing. It just happens to be on Halloween so we will be having fun while you are having fun. 

Have a Spook-tacular week.

A good week...

Hello again family and friends,
With the holidays in full swing, Monday the streets were quiet...

 This soon changed as the news that King Norodom Sihanouk died in Beijing,China. He was 89 years old and died of a heart attack. The Cambodian people view him as a very compassionate man. He helped the country gain independence from France. Unfortunately he also provided legitimacy for the Khmer Rouge and all the carnage and devastation that brought. The people view King Sihanouk as an advocate for the plight of the poor and powerless. He was loved very much. He began his reign in 1941 and left Cambodia 2004. His ballet instructor son, King Norodom Sihamoni, took the throne at that time. He is 59 years old and pretty laid back. He does not get involved in the plight of the people. I do not understand the purpose of having royalty but it is very important to the Cambodian people. The government is headed by a Prime Minister. In Cambodia it is Mr. Hun Sen. With the death of King Sihanouk some people fear the government and its potential burdensome power. King Sihanouk's son is not married and will probably never marry, thus there is no heir to pass the crown to.

Wednesday King Norodom Sihanouk's body was flown back to Cambodia.  Viewings will last for the next 3 months. He will then be cremated. We had planned to visit the Royal Palace Wednesday. With the king's death that plan was squelched. People that had gone to their homelands for the holidays came home early. The stores were full of people stocking up on needed supplies because businesses by afternoon would  shut down in respect to the king. All roads leading to and surrounding the Royal Palace were closed to traffic. People dressed in black and white and wearing black and white ribbons congregated along the streets that are on route to the Royal Palace. I spoke with some of our PEF students a few days after the kings body arrived. They reported they had waited up to five hours to view the king's body  pass by them. Several  said that their trips home were at a snails crawl often taking three hours to return home. Normally the trip home would take minutes, not hours to travel. We have been told that the Water Festival in November has been cancelled because it falls during the three month mourning period. I do not know the extent for the "no celebrations" rule during this time period. I asked about weddings but the people I asked could not understand what I was wanting to know. Like Dale said, most of the population here has never experienced a King dying before. They probably do not know all that is required either. Interesting days ahead.

Monday morning we passed by  Mr.Youra a tuk tuk driver we see every day on our walk to work. It was a slow morning and he had his daughter with him. I think he was tending her while his wife set up her shop.

This is his wife's shop that is set up and taken down each day. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next months because there has been much construction work going on behind her booth. The market is expanding and we wonder if she will eventually have one of the shop rooms that will soon be available or if she will lose her corner spot. The market rooms are about the size of a small walk in closet.

In the afternoon Mr. Youra had his son. We were able to meet his wife also and his sister who speaks some English. We were so impressed with the wonderful supportive family they have. His tuk tuk is stationed about half way between our office and our apartment so we have never used his services. He is just one of the regular neighborhood people we greet each day. If we didn't already have our regular driver we would probably call for his services. Perhaps one day we will give him a call.

Elder and Sister Rhyne invited us to join them for dinner with three of their Vietnamese Family History helpers. We had rice, chicken, vegetables and gravy. By request we had bananas and  pancakes for dessert. After dinner Elder and Sister Rhyne gave a lesson on the importance of seeking to find our ancestors and then we shared our testimonies. It was a special evening. In a couple of weeks we have been invited to join the group again for a games evening.

Sister Rhyne, Sister Bui Mai, Sister Han and Brother ?

During a quiet moment we realized we had not taken a photo of our apartment from a distance. So this is what it looks like a block away.

This is the entrance to our apartment complex. The window directly above the Gold 1 sign is our living room window and to the right is our bedroom window. On the left is the stairway windows. If you look closely there are stairs in the center of the entry way. They lead to the first floor. There is major construction happening on that level. Apparently someone is either renting or purchasing the first floor area and will open a small cosmetic hospital. We were told it would be completed in another month. It should be interesting to see what traffic this brings.

This weekend was fantastic. What a spiritual feast we had with conference. Anyone who has not viewed conference can do so by going to the official church website lds.org and click on General Conference. The changing in age for young men to serve missions at age 18 and young women at age 19 has our young people rethinking their future plans for starting school.

We had a potluck lunch with the Senior couples between sessions. There was great company and great food. Sister Tuck baked  chocolate cupcakes and Sister James helped frost them. Yum!

Elder James, Johnson, Tuck, Meier and Spencer waiting to be called to the table.

Sister Johnson (near the stove), Sister Henderson (left) and Sister Westover (right).

We were at the Westover's apartment. It is an older apartment, but has a nice layout and is somewhat spacious.

Elder Westover (front) and Elder Henderson (right) also waiting for the dinner call.

Kunthy is Elder and Sister Spencer's translator. She is also one of our PEF students. She served a mission in Washington State in such unknown places like Camano Island, Everett, Lake Stevens, and Bellingham.  She was very excited to talk to us about these places. She said we made her miss her mission.

Notice she is wearing a black ribbon on her blouse in honor of the king. 

 On Friday we had training via Skype concerning the Perpetual Education Fund program. It is being changed. It will go through a gradual transition phase. Cambodia will be one of the last countries to fully be on board with the new plans. We will have a paid in country employee oversee the program with Senior missionaries as volunteer workers. We will have a set budget allocated for loans per year. Not as many loans will be distributed. There will be a stronger emphasis on vocational training. It will be called the Self Reliance Program. There will be alternative ways to pay off  loans. We will eventually be working with NGO groups in the country and seeking available scholarships and grants to supplement loans from the church. At the present time loans are calculated to be paid off in 8 years. With the new plan loans will  be paid off in 1-3 years. Age will no longer be a factor in who receives loans, however, high priority will be towards return missionaries. We already have our in country employee hired. He will be moving into our building in the next week or two. He needs to have internet set up. We believe that there are many positives to the new plan. We are looking forward to the coming months to assist and watch these new plans begin to unfold.

The women love their high heels. It is crazy to watch them driving their motos  wearing these, but they do it.

Heang Channath and Elder Meier.

 Channath graduated from culinary school and came in today with her certificate. She is a wonderful young woman. She is a nanny and loves the children she cares for. We do hope she will apply for a job in her field of study. Often our students do not pursue jobs in their field of study and settle for their current positions. 

 Institute is going well. We have been holding class at 6:30 Saturday mornings for the past three weeks. We are planning in November to return to the 5:30 Saturday evening time unless the demand is greater for the morning hour. It is definitely a sacrifice to be out the door before 6:30 to set up class. I am amazed when I think about how our own kids attended early morning seminary for years. I never had to fight with them to do it. I marvel at their diligence and discipline in doing this. I also think of their teachers and have gratitude in my heart for their faithful service in providing my sons and daughter spiritual guidance each school day. I hope that what Dale and I are doing will make a difference in the lives of the young people we serve. This year we are studying the New Testament. My prayer is to come to know my Savior better. I hope that our students will also gain a stronger relationship with Him.

Happiness is all around us...hope you find a daily "happy" this week.