Now That's Entertainment

11 August 2015

Saturdays are our Preparation Day, otherwise known as a P-Day.  We need a P-Day to mentally prepare for the Sunday!   We are on the go from 9am-5pm every Sunday, so our REAL day of rest is Saturdays.   Last Saturday we decided to go to the movies.   Senior missionaries can do that you know!   Unlike the young Elder and Sisters, who are a bit restricted in this area.   I guess they trust us to make a good choice.  Well, Elder Leavitt and I decided to go see the new Mission Impossible movie.   We have seen something interesting advertised at the theater called VIP tickets.   Curiosity killed the cat and we bought the VIP experience.  HOLY SMOKES!  This was spectacular!

Unsuspectingly we left the loud lobby "riff-raff" and the endless line-up for pop and popcorn to walked through those glass doors into what has become our most amazing movie experience that we have ever had.  It was a beautiful, quiet reception room.   It was as if someone flipped a switch off of the loud, pushing crowds.  We sat in stately leather, high-wing-backed chairs.

It was like a posh hotel lobby.  There was the reception desk where two lovely young women were perched ready to serve and make sure you got the seat you wanted.   In the "'peasant" seating as well as the VIP seating it is sold by assigned seating.  So Elder Leavitt carefully chose our seats.  

While waiting to go into the theater one of the young servers approached with a menu.   She asked if we wanted to order our treats.   We said absolutely YES.   We ordered our pop and popcorn and then she explained that it would be brought to us while in the theater!   This kept getting better and better!  Five minutes before the movie began our little girl told us we could now go up to the theater.  So we went up to the special VIP Theater.  

It was a small, little private theater seating around 30-32 people.  NO sticky, I-have-to-be-careful-or-I'll-lose-my-shoe kind of floors.  Instead... fully carpeted!  There were distinct seats of two throughout the theater.  Our usher directed us to our designated seats.  And this is what we found...

Two, all leather, Lazy-Boy recliners including lumbar pillows and blankets! If the movie is bad at least you can have a good rest.   We had no sooner gotten settled when our server came with our pops and popcorn.  We had our own pop and our own popcorn.... NO SHARING!!!  All for the price of $15 each.  

Our seats were right together but I could stretch my arm out to the right never even come close to the couple next to us.   I could not hear them chat nor could I hear their phones.   Unbelievable!  This was an airliner's 1st class movie experience.   And on top of all of that, we weren't sure if they didn't bleep out all the swearing because there was NONE in that movie.  I find it hard to believe that that is the way Hollywood made that movie.  

 NOW THAT IS ENTERTAINMENT WORTH PAYING FOR!  

Teacher and Student

5 August 2015

After having experienced these last two weeks I re-read my last post and felt somewhat embarrassed. I'm still teaching music but this week with a different attitude.  It is not even close to what I thought I would be teaching when I came to Cambodia.   I quickly came to realize that my least favorite activity is being humbled!   Yet it seems to be God's favorite thing to do.

I think God and Jesus Christ conferred,  "She's complaining about how hard it is to be a music teacher.  We should help her understand."

Elder Leavitt and I went to all 3 Branches' Pioneeer Day Heritage Programs.   They talked a bit about the Utah pioneers but mostly spoke about themselves being pioneers in Cambodia.  One of the older sisters told about when she was a much younger woman, early in her marriage her husband was an alcoholic.  It had gotten to the point that she needed to make a decision whether to stay with him or leave him.   Due to his abusive nature escalating, she decided to leave him.   While in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City feeling lonely and much despair, two young North American males dressed in white shirts and ties crossed her path and greeted her with a smile and hearty welcome in Vietnamese.  She asked her friend who was walking with her a string of questions, "Why do they speak Vietnamese?" "What are they doing here?" "Where are they going?"    Of course, the friend could no more answer the questions than she could.   It's interesting that questions are what filled her head.   The missionaries are not to proselyte or approach anyone in Vietnam.   They can teach only if someone asks the missionaries questions.

This sister and her friend dogged those missionaries for several hours to see where they went and what they did.   Finally, they came to the conclusion that they were just spreading their religious examples of good.   This lead her to asking more questions and ultimately baptism.

Another sister told of how she could not read before she joined the Church.   Then she expressed her gratitude for the great blessing it is that her husband could read now because he now can bless the Sacrament.  

Another Cambodian sister that we associate with at the office admitted that she can read but she hasn't spent much time reading since she was a little girl.   As a child if the Khmer Rouge found out that she could read they would have killed her.  

My music teaching challenges seem pretty trite.   What I have learned with clarity is that I came here thinking I was going to be the teacher but really I have been the student!