Transplanting rice

One of the places we love to visit is about 45 min away from Battambang. There are several wonderful members in the same neighborhood. When we visit with the young elders, at least two families meet together so no one has enough plastic chairs for everyone to sit on. It is fun to see them bringing their own chairs from across the street. It is like one big family joined by their common commitments.  In one of our recent meetings, one of the member sisters mentioned that she had just come from planting rice.  The Elders offered to help her and so we arranged to bring a crew of eight missionaries and a couple of others the following week.

The rice field that needed our help was some distance from the home of the member so we all got on a trailer pulled a two-wheeled tractor. 

With delightful kids tagging along, we were all ready to get out into those fields in our hats to give us a little protection from the sun and Khmer scarves to help wipe away the sweat. It was quite a crew and we hoped that we would be able to do more good than harm.

Everyone got into the muddy water with bare feet and took bundles of rice plants and transplanted them to the sparse area so that it will fill in.  It was all good muddy fun!

We love visiting the members

One of our favorite activities is visiting people with the young missionaries and sometimes on our own even though our facility with the language is pretty limited.  Some of these members are recent converts, some are very active, and some are less active.  We could post many pictures and notes and we love everyone we visit, but we will limit this blog post to just a few of our favorites.

Several members of the Church we have visited with elders and sisters are women in wheelchairs who are involved in playing basketball at a grant-funded rehab center on Fridays and Saturdays.  They receive a little money for their participation. On one Friday we were invited to come see them play.  It was fun to watch.  We were surprised at how aggressive some of the players were.  A couple of missionaries joined our cheering section for a few minutes.

Another of our favorite visits is to our "Mango farmer."  Even though the mango orchard at which he works is over an hour drive away with the last stretch over very rough dirt road, we love to visit him.  He spreads out a tarp to produce an instant "living room" for our visit.  He is a recent convert, and even though it is difficult for him to come to church each week, he has great spiritual depth.  We were also anxious to check out the two-wheeled tractor,  These are ubiquitous here and used for all sorts of things.

We also love going to a place we call "the jungle."  Very sweet members live in this area in several very humble homes.  We generally meet with women here because husbands are away seeking work in Thailand.  They cook outside over wood fires.  On the occasion pictured above, they were making rice cakes which they sell at a nearby school.  They were kind enough to share some with us and we were brave enough to eat them.  Several of these women are illiterate (and one is deaf). One of our goals is to find a way to set up a literacy program in the area so that they can prepare themselves to find better employment opportunities.

Here is a wonderful family with four children but the parents look after several nephews as well.  Both parents are in wheelchairs but they try to be very independent since there is no real government support for them.  The father repairs electronic equipment.  The kids are delightful and always happy to see us whether we are with the young missionaries or not.  They are not getting a good education, however, as evidenced by the fact that the 12-year old twin boys struggle to read.  We love them.

More pictures from Angkor Wat

We took several hundred pictures in the Angkor Wat temple complex. It is so amazing!  We want to share some more pictures.  Here is view of Angkor Wat across the surrounding moat.

As we approached, we tried to capture the moment.

There is a lot of symbolism in this structure. First, this temple is facing west. Most temples face east towards the rising sun.  We learned of some conjectures as to why:
   It was a temple to the Hindu deity Vishnu originally. He is the god of the west.
   It is a tomb of death for the king that built it.

Mostly the guide apologized that the light was not right for taking pictures in the morning, because we were facing the wrong way. He told us that photographers come early in the morning and late at night to get just the right light.  Sorry, folks, this will have to do.

The entire building features the longest bas relief in the world--700 meters.  Here are some shots. So much damage has been done by age, weather and war. Many countries are donating to the preservation and  restoration of this ancient site. The carvings below illustrate traditional Apsara dancers.

The two pictures above are of mural carvings illustrating events in Hindu mythology.

The inner courtyards are so beautiful and intricate. There are three levels in the temple.  The first level is for the common folk, the second for officials, and the third and highest level is only for the king and the priests. Each group used specific stairs. The king and his priests used very steep stairs-- an 80 percent incline.  Thus, climbing the stairs resembles crawling to deity and also returning back down by crawling backwards. The sets of stairs typically have exactly 37 steps representing the 37 levels of heaven. 

Everything is symbolic and the entire structure including the moat around it represents the Hindu universe. Later, the complex was taken over by Buddhists who added their own statues and draped the Hindu statues with Buddhist robes.

There were so many beautiful places as we looked out from the top level where, anciently, only the kings and priests were permitted. 

There were also some young people in authentic costumes. 

We will be back to Angkor Wat. There is so much more we want to learn.

Wedding day

Traditional weddings in Cambodia are elaborate, expensive, and loud.  They are very noticeable because they set up wedding tents in the middle of the street, sometimes blocking traffic completely for a whole day and night.  The music is loud and continuous.  Funerals are similar and sometimes we are not sure which event the tents are for until we hear the music.  Funerals can last for up to three days and involve a lot of Buddhist chanting over very ample sound systems.

The wedding couple change into several elaborate outfits during the daylong celebration.  Here is an example of the fancy clothes worn by a particular wedding party we observed when out for an early morning walk.  It is difficult to imagine the amazing outfits the couple wears.  Dave is reading a book about poverty reduction which reports that in many countries the poor choose to spend significant portions of their income on elaborate festivals--like weddings.

We were delighted to be invited to a wedding at the Church.  Indeed, Connie played the piano including Wagner's "Wedding March" ("Here comes the Bride"). The Church is encouraging the young members to forgo expensive traditional weddings and to be married at the church  They can then use the money they save to help them go to the temple to be sealed.  (That would be in Hong Kong or the Philippines until the temple in Thailand is completed.) A young couple in one of the branches did just that.  The wedding was similar to a church meeting “Did You Think to Pray” as the closing song.

The missionaries were asked to sing a quartet for the service.

Here are notes from Sister Fields's weekly letter - she captured it so well.

--We waited fifteen minutes for the person giving the opening prayer to go home and change into a white shirt (the branch president made him).
--We heard two talks before the bride made an entrance (one of whom shared from a Word of Wisdom pamphlet???)
--The bride entered from the overflow with the sliding curtains opening as Sister Spencer played "Here Comes the Bride"
--The theme was 80s prom, I think. That's the only explanation for the decor and outfits--purple and white balloons, and Bong Nuen and his groomsman were in white tuxes, checkered shirts, and bow ties  
--The flowers arrived half way through the wedding. They were beautiful.
--The rings were found, only after someone yelled on the stand "Who has the rings??"
--One very awkward kiss on the stand in the chapel. Seriously though, it took three times and the bride was still not having it. PDA is not a thing here. 
--The Elders and Sisters sang "Love is Spoken Here"
--Closing hymn: "Did You Think to Pray?"

People in Cambodia do not typically smile for pictures. I asked the couple to smile for this picture so that people will think they are happy on this wonderful day!

This is the entire wedding party. Even though the wedding was different than what we are used to, we love these people. This is a wonderful, faithful family.  We were impressed with the support of family and friends and the outpouring of love.  We received a personal verbal invitation to come and were so happy to support this lovely young couple as they begin their new life together.