Two Temple Trips

30 July 2016

It has been 3 months since Adrianne and Kelsey were here in Cambodia.  It seems like yesterday.    I have been hanging on to the pictures trying to decide how I wanted to include them into this blog.  I was thinking that I have really hung on to them a bit too long.  But last week, two highlights of our mission wrapped around one another in a tight embrace,  Adrianne and Kelsey's visit and being with 50 (or more) Vietnamese Saints in the Manila Temple.

                                  Adrianne and Kelsey arrived in Cambodia on 25 April 2016.   

 After staring at the calendar for weeks and counting days, they were finally here.  They both looked in pretty good shape having just been on a flight for 24 or more hours!  Of course we then found out that Kelsey had been popping Dramamine the whole time and had slept 12 of the 13 hours on the overseas flight!!!   She just looked beautiful and no worse the wear!!! 

We hit the floor running!   We only had 1 week to make sure they got the full experience of Cambodia and they wanted to do it all!   The first experience?   Traffic.  The traffic in Phnom Penh is always a rude awakening!  This is just a typical intersection! 

Our first night included traditional Khmer dancing at the National Museum in Phnom Penh. 

 

It was a very good start!   

The next day we drove 5 hours to Siem Reap to go to Angkor Wat.  Checking in at the Borei Angkor Hotel made us feel like royalty! 

 

First item on our agenda..... have dinner with the 4 sister missionaries in Siem Reap!   Well, really, for Adrianne, it was meet Sister Schwab!!!   Upon moving to Wyoming last August the first people that Adrianne met was Sister Schwab's parents.  The connection has been strong ever since.   There is something to be said about being able to rub shoulders with full-time missionaries.   There is a special spirit present.   (It was a good way to start a vacation!) We took the sisters to dinner at the local Flavors of India restaurant.  It was spectacular then went "fishing"!!!  I had heard about this fish tank that you can go to... stick your feet in the tank and the fish will nibble all the rough spots off of your feet.  I had to try it.  So off we went..... we had hired the Siem Reap District President, President Yu Dara, to drive us around in his TukTuk.  This is the fish tank! 

You stick your feet in and those little nibblers have fun!   It is crazy!  7 women screaming.... well at least 5.... it is not in Sister Kong or Sister Chanthakhoun's nature to scream!!!  People were gathered to watch the screaming white women put their feet in the fish tank.   If it is not on your bucket list, it should be!!! 

Early the next morning the adventures into the ancient ruins began.   It was as if we were continuing to check off that bucket list.    First adventure for Adrianne and Kelsey.....

 Well of course.... an elephant ride! 

 And they were off!  Heading for the ancient Bayon Temple which has four heads each looking toward the four corners of the earth. 

We saw four temples in total:  Pink Lady Temple....

Tomb Raider Temple ......

We ended with Cambodia's beloved Angkor Wat.  These were places of worship for the elite populous of Kings and Queens and palace dignitaries.  Angkor Wat was originally constructed in the early 12th century first as a Hindu Temple then later changed to a temple for the Buddhist.  Because of the years that have past and because it changed religious hands it no longer stands as a sacred edifice of daily worship for the Hindus or Buddhists.  There were thousands of people walking around  respectfully snapping pictures and quietly talking to one another some even offering prayers in specific places in memory of days gone by.    


We saw everything!  Climbed every staircase!  At this site below there were people there to monitor modesty of dress.   No short-shorts, no bare shoulders, no swooping necklines were allowed at the top of this portion of the temple.   And they stuck to it.... I saw some very miffed women turned away and not allowed any further. 

It was a very long day, but worth all the walking in the heat.   Our day was not finished!  President Yu Dara picked us up again and took us to a restaurant then to the "Night Market" for some evening shopping.  It was a great day.   A day at a temple with Adrianne and Kelsey took new meaning.   We marveled at the workmanship and durability of the buildings.   We were amazed at what was important to the people to take the time to carve it into a stone wall.  I even tried to imagine what it looked like brand new.   I imagined it being dotted with a multitude of idols that have since crumbled into dust as the people had been warned by the prophets of old that their idols would never outlast the treasures of heaven. 

Last week Elder Leavitt and I experienced that "heaven" as described by the ancient prophets.  We attended the Manila Philippines LDS Temple.

I was surprised at how small it was.  Unlike Angkor Wat which sits on 403 acres, the Manila Temple only occupies 3.5 acres of land.   We were there with our Vietnamese Latter-day Saints from Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi.   It was a wonderful experience.  We were there for 2 weddings and 3 attending for the first time.

There were not thousands of people there that day.... only a few hundred.  Pictures were only taken outside of the temple.   There was no monetary fee to enter the gate.   Although, entry into the Manila Temple does come with a price.... a price of worthiness, a price of obedience, and a price of personal sacrifice. Modesty in dress is also required, as well as, reverence while in the temple.

Angkor Wat is surrounded by opportunities to purchase all sorts of souvenirs.  From the Manila Temple what you get to take home is an abundance of the Spirit, power from God, and protection against evil.  Even though, Cambodia's temples have their charms and beauty and, even though, Angkor Wat gives you her own false sense of "forever" because of the years that she has existed, it can not compare to the promises and blessings that come from ordinances bestowed upon your family that seals you together forever.   Families truly can be together forever.  It is a promise that God will always keep.   Once the Star Valley Temple is dedicated, all of our children will live within minutes of an LDS Temple.  That I am grateful for. 

It was so fun to be with Adrianne and Kelsey in Cambodia but I will forever be grateful that long before Adrianne was born she was already sealed to her father and I, as was Kelsey to her parents because of a Temple marriage.  I am grateful for these experiences in the two temples.  It reminds me that whatever the sacrifice is, it is all worth it. 

FYI: It's All About the 725 Days!

25 June 2016

This was our very first Sunday over 1 year ago, 7 June 2015.   We drove these missionaries to the Church in Baku (I doubt if I have spelled that correctly!).   They found this young, inactive boy at home and taught him one more time in hopes to recover a testimony that was once present several months before.  I have no idea if this was a success story that they could take home with them or not!  But I certainly have learned a lot about missionaries and missionary work since that day. 

When missionaries come home we love to hear the beautiful success stories filled with the spirit.   We love to hear about the miracles.   We romanticize a mission into being this two year one-on-one, arm-in-arm, from-your-mouth-to-God's-ear daily experience with God!  Missionaries come home and you will hear them speak in a church service sharing 3-5 super stories about their missions.   And they will be glorious, faith promoting stories.   Those will be the stories that they will be able to fall back on and glean strength from during future trials and tribulations. 

Missionaries don't come home with hundreds of miracle stories.....they come home with 3-5.    Those are just 5 days out of 730 (or 545 for the sisters).   Once the stories have been told and the dust begins to settle then, if you really want to know what your missionary is made of, you need to ask: Tell me what happened on the other 725 days. 

MISSIONS ARE HARD!   But make no mistake.... it is a labor of love!   In their desires to be obedient they suffer through the heat and still wear a suit coat (this was before the new rule of "no suitcoats necessary" in Cambodia!).
 

 You ride your bike in the heat and you ride them in the rain.  

They make appointments and people don't show.  They teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   It is placed right in front of them and they won't reach out with their hands, see with their eyes, or open their hearts to take it into their lives.  Even though IT IS RIGHT THERE!!!   The disappointment and rejection is almost more than a frail, young, heart can bear.

Many of our missionaries have to deal with illnesses.   One missionary after having been in Cambodia for several months was physically suffering only to find that he had developed Crohn's Disease.  He had to go home, get his health stabilized, then he was reassigned to a California Khmer speaking mission, never to return to Cambodia.   Some of our local, native Khmer missionaries have little-to-no emotional support during their two years.   One such missionary in his two years never received an email, letter, or package of "love".   In fact, on the night that he was released from his mission, President and Sister Christensen had to put him in a cab to go home to an empty home because his mother left 2 days earlier to begin a vacation and his father was working a night shift.

It's not the 5 days that makes the missionary what they are today, it's the 725 days!   It is the day that we don't want to read any more but do anyway.   It is the day that we don't think that we have any more prayers left in us but be find one more ounce of strength to plead to our Father in Heaven to make things better.... to make me better!  It is that tiny spark of compassion that will surface that will change your heart at the right time.  It is the days that they wonder, "where is God today?" because they are just not sure they can hear Him.  It is feeling the Savior's embrace at the most unexpected and sometimes we feel the most undeserving times in our lives.  (Really those turn out to be the most deserving and needed times.)  It is in the daily sweet reminders that God knows who you are, where you are, and what you need that day. 

Its trying to make the most of it by having fun and getting together while you are away from your family on special holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas even though you miss them terribly.

It is your first day in Cambodia away from home.  We look after Sister Schwab while back in Wyoming her parents and Adrianne's family cross paths occasionally and share Cambodia stories!

Some missionaries deal with their situations more gracefully than others but nonetheless they accomplish what the Lord wants them to do.  They are out there slugging away at each day.   They are biking from house to house no matter what the weather is like that day, rain or shine (since that seems to be the only contrasts that Cambodia has!)  They deal with health problems and they deal with emotional problems.  (Sometimes those problems flow in and out of each other so readily that it is hard to tell which is the more dominant.)

The magnificent blessing of working in the mission office is that we get to see them everyday.  We very rarely get to see or hear about the 5 days, but better yet we get to see them during a lot of those 725 days.   These young missionaries are remarkable!

So, when your missionaries come home.... ask about the 725 days!  

Wants vs. Needs!

22 May 2016

In the early 90's, Ray and Norma Leavitt were serving their second mission in the Samoa Apia Mission.   A hurricane had blown threw the island and Ray's carpentry-construction-building know-how was needed.  Elder Robert Sackley, a Seventy at the time and dear friend to Ray and Norma, told the brethern that he knew "just the guy" for the job.   One phone call is all it took.  Ray and Norma were on their way to oversee the re-construction of the Church meeting houses that had been destroyed.  This picture was taken before they got there.  Norma helped Ray when she could but mostly worked in the office.  Norma also worked under the MLS (Member Leadership Support) umbrella.   Ray built buildings.  Norma built friendships.  It was perfect!

So off they went, faithfully answering the call to a little island on the other side of the world.  We got letters weekly (snail-mail only at the time) from them sharing their adventures with us all.    I recall reading one of Ray's letters marking their 1-year mark for that mission.   Dad wrote,  "Well, I now have sweat for 365 days in a row!"

We all laughed but I remember reading that thinking, "is that bad?"

Brian and I have now reached our 1-year mark.  Brant and his four boys took us to the MTC in Provo on his birthday, 25 May 2015.   I don't think that we have sweat for 365 days in a row but it has been close.   I'm still asking, "is that bad?"

 
I have experienced and seen things that, even after a year, are still so foreign to me.  We have both said many times that Cambodia is a country of contradictions.   Opulence beyond your wildest imaginations and absurd poverty conditions that only third-world countries call home.

The Church is constantly growing with almost weekly baptisms, yet Cambodia is still an emerging Church.  They are young and inexperienced Latter-day Saints.   Very few, if any, have seen a Primary program run.  They don't know what a Young Men's or Young Women's activities or program looks like.   They don't know what Seminary is but they do know what Institute is.   They are begging for gospel instruction.   They look to the missionaries, young and old, to give them a piece of LDS normality.

A year ago there were 2 newly called Patriarchs but this year Cambodia only has one functioning Patriarch for the entire country.  The difficulties that the Patriarch had was that he had never heard a Patriarchal Blessing, he had never received one himself, so he really didn't know how to "give" a blessing.   All of the congregations are dotted with recently returned missionaries who know how to be missionaries but still struggle with how to run the programs of the Church.    Every lesson taught focuses on the Book of Mormon and how we are to come unto Christ.

Kampong Cham is trying to build a brand new Stake Center.   It is just about completed but they come up against many problems.   Construction has been halted several times.... the most recent stumbling block was that the city government wouldn't allow the steeple to be placed on the roof.   It is too high!  No problem!

I look at this country and I look at the people who we serve.    I realize what a blessing the gospel is to those faithful saints and how it has improved and changed their lives. These people work long, hard hours to make a dollar. (And they are lucky if they make a few dollars per day!)  Some are skilled craftsmen.

Some own their own stores.....

Or a Tuk Tuk, which serves as a truck and carries EVERYTHING....

This year has taught me more than I ever imagined it could.   I have had to re-evaluate the difference between wants and needs.  I am so tired of my clothes and my mundane shoes, but I can't go buy new ones.   It just wouldn't seem right.

I use a counter-top oven which is just a cut above an Easy Bake Oven!  but it seems to work fine.  I don't have a blender, or a hand mixer, or a Bosch.... I am not sure my meals were any better with them than without.  Hot water was just installed in the kitchen!  It seems that everything I NEED seems to fit in a 1000square foot apartment.  Who knew?

The other things that I have learned this year are even more precious.   I have caught a glimpse of Heavenly Father's love for all His children.  I have seen His tolerance and patience.  I have a greater understanding of Justice and Mercy.   I have been taught for 40 years of how Christ's mercy makes up for what  justice can't.  How His mercy will "fill the gap" or "make up the difference".   I don't think that He "makes up" a difference.... but instead, I think that Christ makes ALL the difference.  There is no "gap" or "difference" to make up.  Christ already paid that debt in full.  His grace is sufficient "after all we can do".  Christ makes all the difference.   He can forgive what justice can't.  My actions, my attitudes, my obedience will determine  in what kingdom I will reside, and how "at home" I am in God's presence.  That's why I keep trying..... What I have come to realize is that everybody's  "all that we can do" is different.

What I NEED is my family.  What I NEED are my friends who are so dear to me that they are considered as family because I am a better person with them.  What I NEED is God's love and forgiveness.   What I NEED is  the power of Christ's atonement, not to chide or chastise, but instead to help me change, to  help me put off the "natural man".

As my sons came home from their missions I observed that the Lord did more for them in 2 years than I did in 19!  Maybe He has done the same for me????

Food in Abundance...Then Why Do I Have So Few Choices?

19 April 2016

Food. I have an ongoing love-hate relationship!   Food will strengthen you but too much can weaken you.   It can comfort you but an excess will depress you.   Food can serve as a greeting, as well as, a good-bye.   What a fickeled thing food can be.

Phnom Penh is laced with food carts (Cambodian fast food), grocery stores and restaurants.   You will see beautiful, orderly stacks of fruits and vegetables displayed as sidewalk stands.  No matter how attractive that fruit is, I still have to wash it all in bleach water before we eat it. 

there is also the drink carts... corn on the cob carts....

 

a multitude of rice carts..... noodle carts.... bread carts..... dumpling carts....

  
You can get pig ears (not the deep fried, sugar coated, cinnamon sprinkled kind either!), chicken feet, intestines, tongue, Crickets, spiders, and an even greater multitude of unidentifiable things.   Thank Goodness the carts are forbidden to eat from within the Mission!   Food is everywhere!  

It is so interesting to go into the food stores of Cambodia.   Just because it is a grocery store doesn't mean that you won't find some of the same "cart" items.   There are many grocery stores.   Three stores that we frequent due to their marketing of North American brands.   It is not unusual to see a Kirkland brand on the shelf or Campbell's soups.

Although, the soups they stock are so obscure!  Cream Style Corn w/ Mushrooms??? Really?  Who buys that?  You can readily find Cream of Celery soup, most of the time find Cream of Mushroom soup, and rarely find Cream of Chicken soup.   I quickly surmised that the Khmer really don't have an understanding of the casserole!
Grocery shopping is a multi-cultural event.  There is Korean products.....

There are Khmer products..... 

Chinese products.....

I can find regular chickens (although they are the scrawniest chickens I have ever seen). And then right next to them are the BLACK chickens.  And they are nasty looking.  I won't even pick up the packages! 

Eggs also come in a variety of different colors over and above the white or brown eggs

What about pink eggs?   Never tried pink eggs yet either!!!

But my all time favorite that makes me shutter are the BLACK eggs rolled in some sort of salt... like that would make them more appetizing! 

 We see plenty of familiar products...

 And certainly rows

and rows of foods that I wish I had Fiona, our sweet little Taiwanese daughter-in-law,  at my side to help me know what to use

. 

Honestly, I think we should go back to the days of Abraham and the first recorded Relief Society Luncheon served by Sarah (Genesis 18).  Sarah didn't have to go to any grocery store.  She didn't have to fret over a menu, nor did she have any national food guide she had to follow.  She didn't care if there was too much salt or extra additives.   She didn't have to worry about cholesterol, purines, or blood-sugar counts.   She just baked bread and Abraham chose a calf and had it cooked!   I'm not sure abundance and lots of choices has made us wiser.           

Easter....do I need a do-over?

27 March 2016

I am usually annoyed by the commercialism that the Easter holiday brings but, this year, I even feel cheated from that part of the holiday.  Not one chocolate bunny or colored egg.

Not one store had multi-colored baskets with fake green, pink, or yellow grass.

I even feel cheated of being able to roll my eyes at the little girl's basket created by the OCD mother who was obviously tutored by Martha Stewart herself (at least on-line!)! 

There was no build-up to the holiday at all.   Now that I think of it.... Good Friday was just a regular end of the week kind of day! 

It's Easter Sunday but I have seen no evidence of that!  We have gone from dawn to dusk and my Sunday is finished.  We attended two different Branches today.   Six hours of Church but not one mention of the Last Supper.

Not once did I hear about Gethsemane or Peter's anguish because of his predicted denials.

 
Not one talk focused on the Savior and His incredible, selfless, atoning sacrifice. No mention of a crown of thorns

or nails in His hands.

Neither in Sunday School or Relief Society was any word of His life or death.  I left both Church buildings thinking that this is the most empty Easter Sunday I have ever experienced.  How could a whole country miss Easter?

Then I was reminded (again)... I keep forgetting that many of our Cambodians are first-generation Latter-day Saints.  They know nothing about Christian holidays.   My bubbled shelter is showing, isn't it?   Just because I live in a Christian world doesn't mean everybody else does.   So Cambodia continues to surprise me and teach me every day.  

I have thought about today's Conference talks that were at the center of my Sabbath day.  They were about faith in Jesus Christ and the happiness and joy that He brings.  The question, "What Lack I Yet?" was also a focus .... wondering if I am really brave enough to sincerely ask that question?  And ultimately, would I be able to hear the answer and be obedient "with exactness" and allow the atonement to help me make that change? 

Maybe that's not such a bad Easter message anyway?!