One Such Little Child

11 March 2016

In one of those far away moments when the disciples were the captive audience of the Savior they asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
As you read these scriptures you get the feeling that there was no hesitation when the Savior responded by calling a little child to him and "set him in the midst of them" and began to teach,
            "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
             kingdom of heaven.  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, 
             the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Then He identified the reward of such behavior,
           "And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me."  
Last week we stood among the "greatest in the kingdom of heaven".

It started with Elder and Sister Meinzer, our LDS Charities Sr. couple.   They had heard of a little school up in the hills of Cambodia that needed school supplies and clean water.   It is a one-room school with 110 students.  Because the one-room won't hold all 110 students at a time they split the day with 55 students in the morning and 55 students in the afternoon.   The Meinzers asked if the Sr. couples wanted to be part of a service project.   Of course, we said, yes.  We started with filling 110 backpacks with school supplies.

We got help from several missionaries throughout the day at the mission office.  Elder Meinzer in the forefront of this picture could talk an Eskimo into building a bonfire in the middle of his igloo!

  Pencils, pens, paper, rulers, erasers, colored pencils and some candies.... they were all there and ready to be assembled in the backpacks. 

The missionaries were in place ready to work.

This was the last day for some of these missionaries.    They went home the next day.

What a great way to complete your mission! 

Elder Meinzer and Elder Leavitt were boxing up the backpacks.  The parents of one of the missionaries who were going home came with a suitcase full of soccer balls and donated some to our little school.  So our four Sr. couples and President and Sister Christensen loaded with 110 backpacks, 3 huge whiteboards with markers, 3 water filters, and 6 soccer balls headed out of Phnom Penh.  It took us 3.5 hours to drive to the Phum Thmey Kirirom Primary School.

From the very moment we arrived I was overwhelmed with the evident presence of the Spirit. I felt as if the Holy Ghost were a common and welcome guest here where no introductions would be necessary.  Large, beautiful canopies of trees embraced the school, but this hardly compared to the open arms filled with abounding love we were about to receive from the school children.  When we got there the school children, their parents and their siblings were all there.   The children formed two lines and as their honored guests we were to walk down the path they had just formed.  The children clapped and cheered as we walked by.

 

This is the school.  It literally is one-room...nothing else.  But this is where the education takes place.   This where their little lives change because they can read, write, and add.

The teacher was so humble and appreciative of the gifts.  

Two little girls used their new supplies to draw me a picture.  They each wrote their name and "I love you" on the papers.   

Unequivocally, this has been the best day of my mission... the day I got to rub shoulders with "the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven" and reap the reward offered because of  "one such little child"!

Tender Mercies and Miracles

20 Feb 2016

I believe that God talks to us every day in some way.   It is just up to us to see it, recognize it, and have an awareness of the possibility.    It could be a random thought, a small act of kindness, a smile, an act of generosity, or a prompting.

Recently, Sister Chirstensen was asked and she in turn asked me,  "what is the biggest miracle that you have seen since you have been in Cambodia?"

I had to think about that. Was it just that I got off of the plane last June and have stayed?   Was it that we didn't get washed down the street and into the ocean during the rainy season?   Was it that we have survived driving and walking in the unruly traffic of Phnom Penh?  As miraculous as this may sound they were mostly just problematic!

Then it became very clear to me, its not the miracles that have been the most impressive but instead the daily flow of the Lord's tender mercies.
 
              " ....But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the 
              Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make 
              them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."   1 Nephi 1:20 

It seems that certainly wherever there are missionaries this scripture rings true.  Such as daily communications..... as broken as their English is and as non-existent as my Khmer is we always seem to be able to understand one another when needed.


In our Vietnamese Branches, they love us and voice that readily and often.  Their open and loving arms welcome us each Sunday which seems to soften the ridiculous things that they do in Church....like answering their phones during Sacrament Prayers, or popping the top of a can of pop and slurping it back during a talk in Sacrament Service,  getting up in the middle of a Sunday meeting to go buy from a drink cart and then bringing the drink into the meeting.  The "tender mercy" of nothing more than my head shake and a softened heart has gone a long way helping to teach the Lord's way.  (Instead of my usual method of "Are you NUTS?" "You can't do that in Church!" or my most frequently used, "What is the matter with you?" ) Tender mercies......

Two of my most favorite "tender mercies" have recently taken place with local missionaries on their way to the MTC.   Elder Ey (ee) was on his way to the Provo MTC.   This is a young missionary that is from the Provinces.  Battambang is his home.  This is about 5 hours NW of Phnom Penh.   His two months serving in the Phnom Penh Mission prior to receiving his USA visa was the first time that he had ever left Battambang.  It was as if we had taking him right off the rice paddies  just to put him on an airplane for 24 hours with 2 connecting flights in foreign countries thousands of miles away with little to no English skills.   The AP's and I gave Elder Ey a crash course on the how-to's of flying.   I had pictures printed of what to look for, airline logos, key airport phrases written in English and translated in Khmer for this missionary.   We took him to the airport armed as best as we could but deep down inside I knew it would not be enough without divine help.   And sure enough that divine help came at the SLC airport.

Elder Ey was tired, confused and lost.  He was looking for the Shuttle to take him to the MTC.   Just then a woman walked past him and noticed his name tag that was in Khmer.   She was a very good friend of President and Sister Christensen and had recently been in Cambodia.   She asked Elder Ey if he was from Cambodia and he acknowledged that he was and was looking for the MTC shuttle bus.   She told him that she was on her way to that very same shuttle bus and would help him get there.

Another tender mercy hinged around a missionary heading to the Manila MTC was equally as sweet.  Elder Danh is a Cambodian-Vietnamese, meaning that he is a Viet that has lived in Cambodia all his life.  He was carrying a brand new Vietnamese passport.   When he went to Viet Nam before his mission to visit family he failed to stop at the border to get his proper stamps on his Vietnamese passport from the Cambodia side.   So when he got to the airport they would not let him fly until the passport was properly stamped.   Through a few phone calls we realized that his only recourse was to go back to the border and get the proper stamps and re-schedule his flight for later that night so that he could still make his MTC date. The next problem was that it is a 3 hour bus ride one way or a 2 hour car ride one way.   His new flight (and the last flight of the night to Manila) was at 7:30pm.  It was noon when Elder Leavitt and I drove out of town with  Elder Danh heading to the Viet Nam border.   It was a spectacular drive.   If the traffic hadn't been so heavy and the road hadn't been pocked with multiple potholes it wouldn't have taken any longer than an hour to drive it.  We had to pass through ten or more single lane, rickety, old bridges.   The bridges loudly clattered as we drove across them and I prayed that we would not be it's "last straw"!  (I am pretty sure that was a miracle!)
We got him to the border where he had made an arrangement to meet his cousin who could take him across the line.  Elder Leavitt and I could only stand on the outside looking in because neither of us had a visa to cross into Viet Nam.   We allowed Elder Danh to break 4 or more hard and fast missionary rules within 15-20 minutes!!!   He walked through this field alone (no shoulder to shoulder companion), then walked out of sight, and came barreling  through the field with his cousin on the back of his moto!  He took off is name tag and his tie (said it made his look like a casino worker!) and it seemed like he was riding "off into the sunset" the rest of the way across the border.  It was an aweful 20 minutes.   I prayed every minute, "PLEASE come back!"  "PLEASE don't stay over there!"  "PLEASE don't make me phone President Christensen and tell him I have lost you!"
Well, he did come back!   By 2:40 pm we were on our way back to Phnom Penh.  We were on the very south of Phnom Penh by 4:45pm.   This is the very highest traffic times for the city.  It has taken us an hour or more to get to the airport from the mission office (the center of Phnom Penh) where in normal traffic it is a 30 minute trip.  Interestingly, the traffic seemed to part like the Red Sea as Elder Danh directed Elder Leavitt to the airport through some little community roads only known by local natives to Phnom Penh.   We were at the airport by 6pm.   The tender mercies did not stop there.   We got Elder Danh checked in but we still did not have a flight itinerary for him.   He needed to make a connections in Bangkok.  I was on the phone with the office to see if I could get the itinerary so I could tell him the name and number of the flight in Bangkok.   As I was on the phone in the middle of the airport a woman walked by and over heard our dilemma.  A stranger out of the blue said, "Do you need help?   I can help him get to his next flight.  I fly all the time."   I could do nothing more than to say "yes" and turn this sweet faithful missionary over to her care.  He made it on time to the MTC the next morning. 

The Lord's hand was all over this day and all over this young priesthood-bearing missionary that He had chosen.  His tender mercies have been abundant and clearly in sight.  I am grateful to have, as Sister Christensen put it, "a front-row seat" to watch it all happen. 

The Orphanage!

23 Jan 2016

The Sr. Couples try to have a Family Home Evening together once a month.  This month we went to Botevy's orphange.  It has a real long name that I cannot remember. Botevy and her husband run the orphanage. Botevy is the woman in the purple shirt. She and her daughter were getting things organized for the program. 

 Botevy and her husband are members of one of the Branches in Phnom Penh's North Stake.  They have always been up front with the parents that leave their children there.  They are told that they children will have a christian influence in their lives.  They have near to 30 orphans that live there.  I hate to refer to them as orphans because that gives you the feeling that no one wants them or loves them.  That could not be further from the truth.
As soon as we arrived these loving children swarmed the van.

They had a dinner and a program all prepared for us.   They were so cute in makeup and costumes.

They really made it look beautiful.   See the fancy folded clothe napkins.

It was a frenzy of activity.  We had the most wonderful welcome into their home.

Elder Le Nguyen and Elder Monson were there too.  They are fine missionaries. 

The dinner was just like the children... unassuming and lovely.   They made a traditional Khmer curry with rice and lots of fruit.  Then the program began with all the children singing some Primary songs.  The Spirit was overwhelmingly present.

The program continued with traditional Khmer dances.

 The girls are so beautiful and graceful while the boys did their "monkey" dance.

Before we left Botevy showed me her garden that is one of Elder and Sister Meinzer's LDSC projects.   She was very proud of it. 

It was a wonderful evening.  I hope to go there again just to see the children.  One of our sister missionaries, Sister Soem, grew up in that orphanage.   She is a welcome addition to our missionary force.

All Things Are Done in Wisdom and Order..... TODAY!

21 Jan 2016

Phnom Penh is full of beauty....a sunrise

architecture.....

a public park.....
 It is her daily chaos and lack of order that frustrates me the most.  Many scriptures come to mind beginning with Doctrine and Covenants 93:43 "And now a commandment I give unto you- if you will be delivered you shall set in order your own house, for there are many things that are not right in your house."
Order plays such an important part in a Latter-day Saint's life.  We love order.   We expect order especially when it comes to the Church.    Our Heavenly Father loves order.  The Prophet Joseph learned in 1830 when the Lord tutored him "For all things must be done in order, " (D&C 28:13).  And again in 1843, "Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion."
Phnom Penh obviously did not have city planners.   Maybe my pictures can explain that.  We live on Street 222. 

Mission office is on the right.

 The Russian Embassy/Science Cultural building is on the left.   Honestly, I hear roosters crowing from that Russian compound!  Our little street is sandwiched between the first street to the north which is:

and one street south is:

I KNOW.... the numbers don't jive!   And the block after Street 228 is:

 and one block past Street 240 logically is Street 242????

If you are trying to rationalize a number order.... don't bother.  And just to let you know streets run north and south .... and east and west are also STREETS!  It is virtually impossible to find a street address (providing they have an address!).   There are also no zoning laws.  

 You can see a gated, guarded mansion and next door

you have the everyday people eking out a living.  

We have been told that "someone" who first lived on this road said "I want the street that I live on to be named 222" and so it was.   Phnom Penh has a post office, but with no explanations necessary,  there is no door to door service.   Very few can afford a PO Box, therefore, communications in Phnom Penh is a bit stifled.   Water bills, electric bills, rent notices are hand delivered.  There is no "bill me later" business.  That's why it is a cash only society.   A grocery store is the only place I have been able to use a credit card or debit card. 
I have come to realize that the postal systems bring "order" to a city.  In order to have a functioning postal system you have to have orderly streets that, heaven forbid, would line up sequentially!  It also requires homes, buildings, places of business to line up one after the other and be numbered...... sequentially!   No one has a front yard or back yard.  They have exactly as much space as they need for their house.  If there is a piece of land behind your house someone will build house on it and they are now your neighbor.   So houses are dotted everywhere.  With this kind of disorder, the postal system has no chance or working at all.   Without a postal system there is no communications and no order within your city.   This would answer why EVERYONE has a phone!   They only communicate by phone.
Obviously, in earlier years no one was ever inspired to create a post office or Pony Express, in Cambodia's case maybe that would have been an Elephant Express! It does seem to be a bit of an oxymoron in itself to use Elephant and Express in the same phrase, doesn't it?  And I guess, who were they going to communicate with anyway?  Families seem to stay in one place.  They are not a very nomadic people.  Then there is the literacy factor.   Not many could then or can now read or write, so letter writing is not a big deal.  All the many wars and oppression have played a major part in this since the educated were killed.  In those years, no one was coming forward with reading and writing skills.
Again I come away with gratitude for little things like reading, writing, and having order in all things.  It makes it so clear as to why all of North America was the chosen land where the restored gospel would come forth.   The brilliant, determined, and courageous minds that came to support the Prophet Joseph and build the kingdom of God from Canada, the United States, and Mexico is astounding.  The building of God's Kingdom was not going to be a one-man band.   Canadian contributions from Brigham Young, John Taylor, Hugh B. Brown, and N. Eldon Tanner brought unsurpassed order to the Church.  Fellow Canadians and possible neighbors, Jeremiah and Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt, brought the gospel and order to a family for generations to come.  So we feel a privilege and responsibility of coming from a family (and all the order that that generates) that has had the gospel for 180 years. 
Oh Cambodia.... where do we begin?   I guess we begin today......