Good-by to 4 Dear Young Missionaries

Sister Hatch's & Sister Loar's Parents came to PP and this was at the dinner they held for all the Viet Elders and sisters. By the time we had dinner, Elder Loc had already left for Vietnam.

The Elder on the left and the three sisters finished their mission the end of October. The Elder is from Vietnam and is going to take us on a tour of Ho Chi Minh City when we go there the first of December. The sister in the middle is Vietnamese but lives in Cambodia and is now going to the 3rd Branch. The two American sisters will be missed so much. The two elders on the right are from Vietnam but still here until after we leave.

Pchumben Again

Pchumben is a holiday where people go to their home provinces and go to the wat (temples) and take food for the deceased relatives. It is this 3 day period that the spirits are released from prison and they come to the wats to get food. So all Buddhists take food to their dead. The whole city of PP empties and it is amazing the little space these people require to travel. Here are some pictures of the vans that left and returned to PP. One of our cleaning ladies brought a pork wrapped in rice that we couldn't eat, but gave it to our driver.

Wheel Chair Distribution

We went with the LDS Charities Couple to distribute wheel chairs to a village about 2 hour drive out into the country. We were gathered at a school. There were many children and parents and others of the community there. LDSC works with another NGO in distributing the chairs. There was a lot of talk, before the presentation. We thought we were just along for the ride, but we were brought into the middle of it all. We were even interview and late found out that we were seen on TV. The children and adults that received wheel chairs were very crippled. Some had very deformed feet and hands, others we were told had palsy. I was happy to see so many people being helped, but not really comfortable with all the show involved in the giving.

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.