Random Picts in the day of senior couple in Kampong Cham

A view down a lane where we walk to visit some members

Trying to stay out of the mud.  It is pretty impossible and the rainy season is just starting.

t

The members at the end of the muddy lane.  Her dad is in a wheelchair.  The mothers name is Key and the little girl is Nita.

Flowers along the way.  I'd say they look pretty and the flowers are just starting to bloom

 Closeup of the flowers along the way.  Pretty beautiful I'd say.

On the trail to planting rice.  We walk along the ridges around the rice patties for about 30 min to get to where we plant rice

 What the rice looks like after planting.

Prettiest rice planter in Cambodia.  She really did plant alot of rice and never even got one leach on her.  How do you like the Khmer sarong around the head?  Water 6 inches deep, mud 4 inches deep.

 

Mother on the left Vie Neak, Daughter on the far R Shrea Peak just got baptized.  Father and other daughter.  Their bike was completely worn out and they had to walk to church, about 3 miles.  Never missed.  Some kind person from home gave us some money to help these poor people over here so we bought them this bike.  You would have thought it was a Cadillac with all the accessories.  It put the biggest smile on their faces.  We see them all over town now that they have  transportation.  We told them the bike just dropped out of the sky from Preah vobeda.  (Heavenly Father)

This is a great little member and her neice.  She is 16 years old and leads the singing all the time in church.  She is just getting ready to cook dinner for all 7 in her family on the fire behind here.  She had 2 small fish that they were lucky enough to catch that morning.  They dried the fish and chopped them up to mix with rice.  They use every single bit of the fish.  They have 6 kids in their family.  Their father died 2 years ago and they are so faithful, but soo poor.

 This is their house.  Note the dirt floor.  They sleep on the bamboo bed with the cooler and stuff on it.  Pretty heart breaking to us, but they are always so happy.

We are still having the adventure of a lifetime.  I have started putting more pictures on facebook so if you are interested you can check those out.  We are in the process of doing a humanitarian project here.  One has never been done here before and we are doing latrines, water filters, chicken farms and hopefully drilling some wells.  The members are really excited about it.  We just did the first PEF loans in Kampong Cham and they were all approved.  10 kids applied.  The most that have ever been done in one day in all of Cambodia.  I'll tell you more later.  More to come.  Thanks for all your prayers for us we really do feel them everyday.

Another Month has flown by

We have had several baptisms this month.  This is the second family that we taught after we first arrived in Cambodia.  They are 4 great kids and have been so fun to teach.  You will see that the sad thing is that the parents are missing.  The parents were doing really good, but the father could not live the WofW and he talked the mother out of being baptized, but he really wants his kids to be active in the church.  He knows some kids who are members and knows it is a great way for kids to live.  He just does not have the faith to do it.  Maybe someday.  They still come to church every week.  There names are so interesting over here.  L to R Elder Boyd, Chamran, Sis Thalman, Bit, Elder Thalman, Retie, Somnang, (Lucky) and Elder Jensen.  Bit is 10 and is about the size of  Caleb.  We ordained the boys to the AP last Sunday.  We are having about 90 people come to church in Branch 3.  The priesthood is still very weak.

This is Nie.  She was baptized a week ago and usually brings about 10 investigators to church with her every week.  She is the one who had the dream about being all dressed in white and going under the water and then about the baptisms in the temple with the font on the backs of oxen.  She finds people for the elders to teach and then when they talk to their neighbors and decide not to have the missionaries come (they say they are disgracing their parents by turning away from Buddhism)she goes and talks them back into having the elders continue teaching them.  She is really awesome and has a great testimony.  She is really a character and has been fun to teach.  

This is the relief society president in the third branch.  This is her garden that she has behind her house.  She grows all these things and then sells it in the market.  She supports several people with this garden.  She is such a good person and really is helping the church here in KC.

This is the RS pres mother.  She is 78 years old and wearing my hat.  The old grandmas lose all their teeth and then they shave all their hair off.  Their care centers are their kids and they really take good care of them and respect them a lot

.

This is Vane and his wife Key and their little baby girl Nita at Vanes' baptism.  Vane is the one who wheeled himself to church for about 3 miles the first 2 times he came to church.  We just ordained him an elder.  He has read the Book of Mormon 2 times and is now reading the D&C.

These are some of the members at the baptisms.  You can see how weak it is in priesthood.  There are 4 local Melk priesthood holders there.  The dist pres on the far R with elder Jensens arm around him, the 1st and only counc in the branch pres on my R, the branch pres kneeling by the two AP boys in red shirts and our driver Lim kneeling in the front on the R side.  They are all such wonderful people and the youth are really great.  It takes 3 months gross pay for them to go to the temple and the church will help with the rest.  That is usually about $200 and is so hard for them to save.  The closest temple is Hong Kong and they have to get airline tickets, passports and visas, etc and the church pays all of the rest of the expenses.  The only members who have been to the temple in this group are the dist pres and his wife and the branch pres.  The baptismal font is right behind us in the picture.  They have this big square fiberglass tank.  You can see the lid is open on the top of it in the center on the back.  There are usually frogs in the bottom of it before they fill it (Josh).   I will have to get some pictures of that too.

This is a new house that some members just built and they are so proud of it.  The one they had before just fell apart when the wind blew.  Hopefull the wind won't blow again.  It is just amazing how they live.  

This is how they collect water for drinking and bathing and cooking etc.  You can see the rain gutter above the doors that slopes down and the bucket and pot for collecting the water.  They are having a really hard time because it has not rained for a long time and it is hotter for longer than anyone can remember.  114 every day.  The mother has to ride on her gong (bike) for about 3 km to get water from a well many times a day and she carries it in that 5 gal bucket balanced on the cross beam of her bike.

This is her front room where the chair is and her bedroom in the back.  This is much better than the house they had before.  I know it is hard to believe, but it is true.

This is the lady who owns the house, her son and her husband.  They went and put on their good clothes before I took the picture.  The son and mother are members and the father is not.  He is 84.

This is the father with a back scratcher that he made and he is really proud of it.  Check out the teeth not on the back scratcher but in the mouth.  He has many more teeth than most people.  They usually lose their teeth in the early 40's and yes that is the true color of his teeth.

Here is sister Thalman visiting with some members out in their front yard.  You can tell she is really enjoying her mission.  She just loves these people and the girl on her R speaks good english and loves to go visiting with us and helps interpret for us.

These next two kids are kids who had their cleft pallets fixed a year ago and they had us come and help when they took the followup pictures.  The parents were so thankful and happy.  The said it had completely changed their kids lives and they could not thank us enough.  The sad thing is they cannot help everyone who needs the surgery, but for these kids it is an absolute miracle.  They just kept saying abutahit, abutahit which means miracle.

This guy lost his arm fighting the Khmer Rouge when Pol Pot was killing all the Cambodians.  He got a prosthesis and makes his living as a moto taxi driver.  It is pretty crude, but it works for him and he can support his family.

Here it is and it works for him.  We have gotten to know him quite well and he is really a nice friendly guy.

He could not believe that I would want to take his picture.  They never get pictures of themselves so I try to take some and then print them out for them.  They think it is so awesome to have a picture of themselves or their family.  The people are so friendly and love to help us wherever we go even though we cannot talk to them it's amazing how far you can get with sign language.

Here is the hand in action.  He put some rubber tape around the throttle grip and he can drive his moto.  There are so many horror stories about the Khmer Rouge that happened in the 90's.  I have yet to ask a person who has not lost family members during that time.  

These next pictures may freak you out.  I have never seen anything close to this in my life.

I need some advice for the pictures above from the orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists.  What do you think?  About 25 years too late to do anything, right?  This guy is 35.  He fell off of a house when he was 12 years old and Fxed both arms and legs.  He just laid in bed until he was 18 and an NGO got him a wheel chair.  He had no treatment on the fractures.  The only healed fx is the R arm and it is severely angulated.  The other arm and legs have false joints where the fxs were and the L elbow is still dislocated.  He is able to get around well in his antique wheel chair and rides it several miles per day just to keep his arms in shape.  It is incredible that he has not had any nerve damage and all the mm still work, weak of course, but still all intact.  He says he has learned a lot from the elders, but lives at the pagoda and that is all the religion he needs.  This is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.  He is able to transfer independently and is amazingly mobile.  Here is a picture of his face and he is so happy.  

I am going to try to never complain about anything again.

I hopefully can keep the connection on to finish some blogging

We have had some amazing experiences this past month.  Many more investigators coming to church.  We had 23 in third branch last Sunday.  The elders and sisters were really excited.  We now have 9 missionaries in our area.  3 are new.  One Khmer Elder and One Elder named Elder from SLC (the members say what is your name and he says Elder Elder and they say we know you are an elder, but what is you name Elder?  We have had alot of fun with that.)  and One Sister named Hildenbrand.  The other sister is from Sanaquin and her name is Askerlund.  You ought to hear them try to say those names.  The just go by Sister Lund and Sister Brand.  It is so fun to serve with them.  On transfers we lost 3 elders and got 6 more  missionaries for a total of 12 now.  It is quite fun because when we ride around doing our visiting we see them all over.  They ride what I call Khmer cadilacs which is a bike that is recycled after being worn out in Viet Nam.  They ride about 25 to 30 miles per day, even the sisters.  The temp the las few weeks has been around 110 to 115 with 75% humidity.  Needless to say the sweat is always dripping off of them.  We feel kind of guilty riding around in an airconditioned van.

Here they are and they get them around quite well.

This is our front door on Preparation day.  This is before we had any sisters shoes to mix with them.  I tell them they can leave them on when they come in our house, but they never do.

This is what they call a moto tuk tuk.  This same guy hauls all these people to market to sell their stuff every morning.  When he goes to start up needless to say the front wheel comes off the ground until he builds up a little momentum 

This is a game we played at mutual where we had a peice of candy that had a hole in the center and we did a relay to pass the candy along the line.  It was really fun and the kids had a blast.  We have mutual every Sat night at 5:00pm.   That's right Saturday night.  It is the only time they have because of school and work.  We get a pretty good turnout each week and the kids really enjoy it.  We come with a game or two every week and we are about out of games so if any one has any good ones please let us know.

This is a family that we taught FHE too.  Yes that is their nice home teaching room and for that matter only room.  Can you tell who the Mormons are by their faces?  The girl in the pink pants served a mission in Las Vegas,  The girl in the yellow is her sister and is a NM.  The mom in the back has held many church callings.  The husband is also a NM.  The other 4 are still members also.

This is a water tank for a village to use for their water needs.  It just goes up into this cement tank and then goes out to the village.  The only purification it gets is what settles to the bottom of the cement tank.

This is the water in the blue pipes going out to the village

This is the pump pumping the water into the cement tank

This is where the water comes from to go into the cement water tank.  This is the MeKong River.  They dump garbage and sewage and anything else they don't want into here and then these people in the village drink and can't figure out why they get sick and so many of their kids die.  We are going to do a humanitarian project to see if we can get this cleaned up for them.

This is the hospital in KC.  Everyone gets the same treatment.  A NS IV and their family have to come and take care of them and bring all their food and do any nursing care.  People ride around on motos with somehold up a bamboo stick with an IV hooked to it and the person getting the IV is riding on the moto.

These muslem women are sitting on a patient bed.  It is just bamboo boards with no mattress.  One of our branch presidents had a gall bladder attack and laid on this very bed for 5 days last week.  I guess they know what they are doing because he got better and is now back at church

This is the front of the hospital.  I am standing out in the middle of the street.  The bed by the black moto is where the branch pres was for the whole time.  I wonder what JACH would think of this.

These are some little kids cooking some mud pies.  They have the cutest grins and really love it when anyone notices them 

This is an old grizzled tom turkey we found at some members house.  They just got baptized last week.  This is the first turkey I have seen over here and Lim our driver says first for him too.

This is a lady on her way to the market to sell what ever is in the basket.  We see this all the time.  When they stop they have to hold onto the basket, when the walk both hands are at their sides.  I tried to get sister Thalman to carry our groceries this way, but she won't. 

I have rattled on long enough.  We are sure loving it here and really love these wonderful people.  The members are so committed to the gospel.  When they asked you to give them a blessing and they are not immediately better they are so surprised.  We have finally got them having mutual every week. We are doing scheduling for a medical and dental clinic that is coming next month right here to Kampong Cham.  (never had one here before)  You would not believe how many rotten teeth and infections that are here and also serious medical problems.  The clinic is coming to the sea coast Schinooksville, about 6 hours from here.  They come to Kampong Cham and do a clinic and if anyone needs surgery which their are plenty they will fly them by helicopter to the ship and do surgery and then fly them back.  There is so much need and so little resources.  The church has donated $600,000 worth equipment to the clinic so we want to get as many members into the clinic as we can.  When we started asking questions it is unbelievable the things people have to live with.  This is where Obama Care needs to come if they is really interested in helping people.  

An Awsome Week

One of the prettiest houses I have ever seen over here.  I just love it.  The mirrors for the front window and the beautiful front door of carved wood.  The house is made out of stained cement tiles.  I talked to the owner and his wife.  They are really nice, but are not interested in the church because they have money.  These are the people we need to get baptized so they can have some tithing money and hopefully build a small temple here.  The church helps them go to Hong Kong temple one time, but they have to save about $350 per family before they can go to the temple.  They will get to go only one time in their life.  The $350 is nearly an impossibility for most of them.  It would be so easy for people in our country to help them go, but the leadership says if they are not committed to save the money themselves they usually don't stay active.  Most people who have homes like these are some way related to a government official.  I'm not sure what this guy does.  Lim said maybe he is a gangster.  I think he was too nice, but you never know.

This house and a bunch like it are right acrossed the street and to the side of the neat house above.  There goes the theory of it the neighborhood, neighborhood, neighborhood.

Here is a picture for Bill again to check with Utah Power.  This is right outside of a members home looking off of their patio.  You can easily reach down and touch the wires.  Pretty scary I'd say.

This little girl and her family live in the place where you can look out and see the power pole above.  She is 8 years old and we are trying to help the Branch President understand that she does not have to be completely through her 8th year before she can be baptized.  Her parents really want her to get baptized so hopefully we can get this done in the next little while.  Her mom comes to church and stays for sacrament meeting and goes home, but she always stays for the full 3 hours and love church very much.  She even knows a little English and you can really feel her spirit when you are near here.  She said to be sure and tell Elder and Sister Richards hello and she misses them.  Her name is Liak Niae I think.  The names are really hard, but we are getting a few of them down.

This is the District Council.  L to R High counselor.  Rides Moto from Chup 25 km from here.  He teaches school and is a barber after school.   Dymong  19y/o district clerk--Speaks very good English and helps translate while I teach the AP boys in his branch (1)  Pres Say Dist Pres.  A really great man with the cutest kids you will ever see.  High Counselor Wants to have us teach the teacher develpment class and wants it to go 3 hours everytime for every day until we are through all the lessons.  He says every paragraph in the manuel is very important and should be memorized by all the teachers.  He's right, but I'm not sure about the 3 hour classes every day.  Dist Sunday School Pres  Raises flowers to sell in the market for a living.  First time we went to his house he was out with hose watering his flowers and when we walked up he tried to squirt us with the hose.  He thought it was funny and laughed a lot about doing that and reminds me every time I see him.  Jantol Dist Primay Pres.  Teaches with us and the missionaries alot and has a very sweet testimony.  She goes with us anytime of the day or night and always shares her testimony of how much the gospel has helped her.  An old guy.  Kim Ly  Dist RS pres.  Just had a really good RS birthday party for all the dist.  She cleans our house and she also comes to church 6 hours (2 Branches) every Sunday because she just loves to go to church  Her husband was the branch Pres a few years ago, but he died.  She is Dymongs mother.  She has a daughter who is a teenager also and one daughter who is working in Phnom Phen who sends her money and when Dymong has his $540 saved which he is doing he is going on a mission.  Hopefully that will work because he will be a great missionary.  Lena (Pres Lims Daughter)  She is the YW Pres and helps us will all the mutuals.  We have finally got them tuned in to have mutual every week.  Saturday at 5:00pm.  How would that work at home.  The neat thing is the church is their whole life except when they work or go to school so Saturday was the best time to have mutual.

                                  

 This is Lim our driver with the nose mustach on  

He wants me to print it out to see if his daughter who lives in PP will recognize him.   We really love him.  We could never do this without him.  He goes everywhere with us and translates for us.  He has been a branch president in PP called when he had only been a member for 8 months.  Counselor in dist pres.  His wife was killed in a moto accident so his daughter Starley lives in PP with his 84 year old mother.  He speaks 6 languages and was self taught for most of them.  His father was killed by Pol Pot when Lim was 11 years old.  He gets very tender when he talks about it.  He said when he learned English he did it at night by a tiny Kerosene lantern and if he would have been caught he would have been put in prison or maybe worse, but he knew it was his only way to a better life so he took the risk and it has been a great blessing to him.  We are going to PP next week for the Khmer New Year and spend a few days so he can see his daughter and Mom.  He is really excited about that.  

This is Lim with Kosal who is the boy who is a quad in the wheel chair.  He got shot in the neck 2 years ago when someone tried to rob him.  Fortunately he has very good upper body strength and is able to transfer by himself.  He always has this big smile on his face.  He has a cute little boy who is 8 months old.  He lives with his mother thanks to Elder and Sister Richards.  I could not believe it when I saw where he lived before.  Up about 3 flights of stairs and Lim would carry him down and back up when he would go to church.  The Richards worked it out so he is now living with his mom and that is so much better for him.  We go teach him every week and he always reads the scriptures and asked very good questions.  He speaks very good English also.   His wife signed a contract to work in a sewing factory in Malaysia and will be gone for 2 years.  She calls him often, but I don't think she sends him any money.  I don't now how she went off and left that cute little boy.  I will try to get a decent picture of him.  He is really scared of me and every time I bring out the camera he really starts screaming.  I looked in the mirror recently and don't blame him for screaming.

I downloaded the special on Cambodia by Carol Makita.  It only took about 5 hours, but we showed it to the missionaries today and it was really great because they know all of the missionaries and most of the members.  The Cambodian elders who are here knew nearly everyone and even showed some of their branch pres and other branch members.  I think it made them kind of homesick.  When they are called from Cambodia they send them away from their homeland so they will not have any of those associations.  It was really good and it pretty much told it like it is.  We know alot of the people in the video and they were filming it the day we arrived in Cambodia and were in the mission home when they came.  They only had 2 guys and they asked all the questions and Carol Miketa never came.  They just dubbed here in like she was here.  Pretty cool anyway.  Don & Marylene Naser met a sister missionary from Cambodia who is serving in Logan.  Her father is a guard at the mission home and her brother is a missionary here in Cambodia.  We know both of them quite well.  It really is a small world.  Those feelings the people in the video describe are really true.  We already feel so close to these people especially the youth and little kids.  I have taught so many of them to say see you later alligator.  They really have a hard time with the r in later and alligator.  It is really funny and they sure laugh.  Then they try to teach me all these funny Khmer words.  We can't put into words how wonderful this experience is.  Our mission president talked to us on the phone before we left for our mission and said Cambodia was the best kept secret in the church for couples to serve a mission in.  We feel this is very true.  When we first got here the culture shock was tough.  All we saw was the trash and dirt and smell and the heat.  It is amazing how we have to live with hardly any creature comforts, ie not ac in the 100 temps during the day (we do turn it to 80 at night in the bedroom), you just get used to sweating all the time and we have adjusted quite well.  The members treat us like we are royalty and have so much respect for us.  They give us stuff all the time, stuff the don't have to give, but feel totally offended if we do not take it.  Whatever we say is the gospel truth so we really have to be careful of what we say and how we say it, because they tell everyone and in their mind if say it that is the way it is. I have a whole other story about Vane.  The boy who wheeled himself to church in the wheelchair more than 3 miles twice.  I'll try to do that another day.  Thanks for you prayers and concern.  We feel them every day.   More later 
 Hey! the blog is lined up a lot better and Leslie did not have to fix it.  Another little miracle.