Senior Missionary Conference

We recently enjoyed a two day senior missionary conference in Phnom Penh with the 8 missionary couples in the mission and hosted by President and Sister Christenen.  Three of these couples are serving in Viet Nam so we had not met them before.  Even the couples serving in Cambodia we see only infrequently.  It was such a pleasure to spend time with these great people. We learned so much from them and were so inspired by their great service. The conference opened with at dinner at the mission home on Thursday evening followed by a full day of inspiring meetings on Friday.  On Saturday morning we went on a group excursion to Silk Island before breaking up and returning to our various assignments.

Here are some pictures from that outing to Silk Island from Phnom Penh.  We took a tuk tuk to the boat "dock" and then a small boat to the island on the Mekong River.

The tuk tuk ride.  We actually were able to get a picture of the two of us since we were with another couple. 

 On the Mekong River.

These are cruise boats (certainly not the boat we took):

And fishing boats that people work and live on:

We visited a silk factory (and bought some scarves).  Here, our hostess explains how they prepare and dye the silk.

These are amazing, intricate patterns woven from the delicate silk threads.  It is very labor intensive work.

Elder Spencer always makes friends:

We rode around the island on horse-drawn carts.

During a part of the tour, we got to visit with some local children. Someone handed Elder Spencer a bag of candy to distribute to the neighborhood children.  It got a little out of hand in a hurry.

There is always something interesting to see and do here.  Mostly we loved being with our friends.