Trip Home

Well, we have received our travel itinerary for our trip home. We are leaving on December 11th here at Phnom Penh at 12:45 P.M. and will arrive in Columbus Ohio on December 12th at 1:25 A.M. having stopped at Taipei, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and finally at Columbus Ohio. (It will really be 12:45A.M. Ohio time on the 11th - we will travel for 25hrs to get back to Ohio ) It is an emotional time to think that we are close to the conclusion of our mission. We will "run through the bases." We still have many things to do. We love the people here and many ask, when are you going to come back?
We are so looking foreward to being with the family at Christmas time and holding our dear children and grandchildren in our arms again, and looking at their dear faces and hearing of all that has happened.
We can do this too - we are made to do hard and wonderful things all at the same time. (The flight is long, but it will be so worth it!!)

Battambang Visit

Last weekend we took a trip to Battambang to visit the branch of the church there and also to try to get the saints to sign up for the Liahona, one of our new assignments. We found a thriving branch with a delightful branch president and his wife and child. They were such a cute couple. We were told that the branch president wanted to upgrade his job and so was considering going to some training in Washington D.C. Well the word got out and the branch members fasted and prayed that he wouldn't leave. He failed his visa interview. ;-) Here are some of the pictures we took of the seminary, institute graduation and also the scripture chases the youth were doing with brand new Bibles. This figure welcomes you to the city - the statue's name is Battambang. We also took a little trip to a "mountain" and looked at the bat cave where thousands of bats fly out every night in hunt for insects etc. We got there a little late and we saw only the young bats leaving, but there was a steady stream of them for a long time. We also enjoyed our trip up and back; we saw wonderful green fields of rice growing all along the road. It was nice to see so much green and open spaces.

Visits

We went with the sisters to visit this family. The husband rides a bike with a wagon on the back and collects trash around the city and recycles it to make a living. The area you see is their home. On the other side of the curtain is another family, there is no wall there, just a curtain. The wife cooks outside and their is a comunity rest room not far away. They have a difficult time learning, but come to church every Sunday and they greet us so warmly.

We went to visit this family the sister missionaries are teaching. A father and his three sons. The father is a construction worker and the mother left a few years ago. He is working hard to support his boys, 14 and twins 12. They are so receptive to the truth but with the father's working all the time, it is hard to get time to teach them. It was such a wonderful visit. The boys are at church all the time, the father has to work so the progress is slow.

Train Wreck

We went out visiting along the train track. We wanted to see a member of the 3rd Branch and found his house. A train had jumped the track and fallen into his little house and a neighbors house. He is still living there if you can believe it.

Mission President

Our Mission President and his wife as such wonderful people. They have the country of Cambodia, are trying to help Vietname to open their doors to missionary work, work with all the missionaries of course, and essetially stake president to three districts, which include all the training, temple recommend interviews, calls and all else that a stake president does. He holds wonderful zone conferencese. We love and appreciate him and his wife.

The US Embassy grounds were so beautiful and we were impressed with all that we saw. The plaque where I am standing is to honor those who gave their lives to save other US citizens in 1975 when Pole Pot gained control and the lives of all foreigners were in danger. One doesn't just go into the Embassy, one has to be invited or on specific business. It was good to be there on the

4th of July

4th of July US Embassy

We were so very pleased to be where everyone spoke English and loved the United States of America. We were thrilled to see the American flag brought in with such dignity by the US Marines. Don't they look sharp!! It was nourishing to our hearts to hear the "Star Spangled Banner." We had to buy tickets and show our passports to get tickets. When we got to the US Embassy, we went through very careful screening, as they do to board a plane. We had ice cream and a hot dog. It was a curious thing as we felt we were once again on the US soil.