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.

Ancient and modern--Siem Reap

The car we are leasing from the Church needed to be serviced, so we went to Siem Reap last week since that is where the closest Ford dealer is located.  Siem Reap is also the tourist city near the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex. So while our car was in the shop we hired a tuk tuk and a guide and visited one of the amazing wonders of the world.  Here are a few of the over 300 pictures that we took. There are several temples built in the area. Because of our time limitation, we were only able to visit two of them.

This is one of the six libraries that have been identified on the Angkor Wat grounds (and our guide.)

This is a view of the main Angkor Wat temple. I love this picture because of the cleansing ponds. There are several baptismal type basins. 

There are 1800 Apsara dancers carved on the walls of the Temple. They are considered to be angels. 

These ubiquitous patterns represent lotus flowers, a symbol of purity and holiness.  Beautiful lotus flowers grow out of mud, reflecting the human ability to grow out of worldliness into purity.

We climbed to the top of this uppermost part of the temple where, anciently, only the king and priests were allowed. It was a beautiful view of the temple grounds and the surrounding countryside.

The second temple we visited is the one that Lara Croft visits in the movie "Tomb Raider". Huge fig trees, like the one in the background here, are overgrowing the structures. (That is not Lara Croft in the foreground.)

Above is a detail of one of these trees.

A parting shot of Angkor Wat across the surrounding moat. We will be back!

Compared to Battambang, Phnom Penh is the big city

While we were in Phnom Penh for the change of mission presidents, we decided to get some things done there that we cannot do in Battambang. First of all, I got my hair cut and colored. It was a delightful experience. A French hairstylist was recommended by Sister Moon. It was so cosmopolitan (and not expensive) to be styled by him. Apparently, there is a large French population in PP, as well as, Americans, Australians and other nationalities.

We also visited the National Museum with another missionary couple, the Hollenzers. They are about ready to go home, so we wanted to spend time with them. The museum has lovely historical and cultural exhibits.  Photos are not permitted inside, so here is just a taste of what we saw on the outside.

The Hollenzers were kind enough to take us shopping to find some "American" items that we have missed. We packed the car full of things that are not available in Battambang.  Then they treated us to some amazing donuts. (For sure we don't have those in Battambang - even the not-so-amazing kind.)

We very much enjoyed our interactions with some of the other missionary couples for dinner. We also got some necessary things done at the mission office and acquired a lot of materials from the service center We are grateful for the mission office staff.  Among other things, they arranged for Connie to get a Cambodian driver's license. But that is another story....

O, Say Can You See....?

Celebrating July 4th in another country can be very sentimental. Thankfully, we were involved in a luncheon with our dear missionaries in Battambang on July 4th.  The Zone Leaders prepared a program including the posting of the flag and a thought about D&C 101:80 and the restoration of the gospel in America.  We had some much appreciated patriotic decorations that daughter Rachel thoughtfully sent over.  And, of course, we had lots of food (a veritable patriotic feast prepared lovingly by Sister S. - Elder S.).

We love these missionaries. Elder Slavens sang the "Star Spangled Banner" with his homemade "flag."

Americans in Phnom Penh were invited to the American Embassy for a huge celebration. We enjoyed our little taste of America in Battambang.

So the pies did not turn out perfectly (yes they did along with everything else - Elder S.), but no one complained. The favorite was mock apple pie made with Ritz crackers.  We'll make that one again.

Changing of the Guard

We had a wonderful visit to Phnom Penh earlier this month in order to say good-bye to President and Sister Moon and welcome President and Sister Christensen. All the senior missionaries in Cambodia plus the Moons converged on the Phnom Penh airport late Tuesday evening to meet the jet-lagged Christensens.

The Moons and Christensens spent the next day working on the leadership transition.  We then enjoyed a farewell/welcome dinner at a German restaurant with all the senior couples. It was a wonderful event as everyone shared a memory of the Moons.  We didn't get to work with the Moons very long, but they made a lasting impression on us and helped us understand what our work here is.

Afterwards, we went to the airport to see the Moons off. We are so delighted that we got to witness such an outpouring of love from about 50 Khmer members that came to the airport to say goodby to the Moons.  There were returned Khmer missionaries that had served under the Moons as well as families and Church leaders. It was a moving experience to hear them sing "God Be with You 'Til We Meet Again" in English. Again, the Moons were a great example to us all. Even though we had not met most of the people, it was fun to find that we had connections of one kind or another with many of them.  For example we met and visited with the woman that started the orphanage featured in the documentary "Guarding the Bamboo Forest".

The crowd was so delightful. The Moons were well loved.

We will miss the Moons! But we also look forward to working with the Christensens.
[Many of these pictures were cribbed from the Ovesons - thanks so much.]