Changes in Chaktomuk

With our wonderful new branch president in Chaktomuk and his growing family!  They all came for the special day and were very supportive.

Visit to HCMC to divide the branch

The weekend of July 13-14 we traveled to HCMC in Vietnam to divide the branch there-- a wonderful historic event.  We now have both the Thao Dien branch and the Than Son Nhat branch.  On Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to go on some visits to members with the elders, including the visit below where we were greeted with a delicious Vietnamese feast.  It was also a birthday party for their oldest son, who is a returned missionary, and now married in the temple (below with wife and his parents-- both recent converts!).

On same visit we had opportunity to share a Sunday evening meal with Elder & Sister Perry and these 5 wonderful young single adults-- four members, one non-member, at the Perry's apartment.  She made some wonderful fajitas that were easily the best Mexican food we have had in a year.  We had the opportunity after dinner to share testimonies together and hear about the conversion stories from several of these YSA's.

Elder & Sister Yeates leave Cambodia

We bid goodbye to Elder & Sister Yeates on about July 10th.  They have done an amazing job serving in Battambang and will truly be missed by all.  We are so grateful for their dedication and service!

Marines and Harleys - Happy 4th of July

We were invited to the US Embassy to join a traditional 4th of July celebration on July 6 2013.  We enjoyed the chance to meet many fellow Americans here in Phnom Penh.  Below is a photo with the marine security detail at the embassy.

Couldn't pass up the "photo op" with the Harley they had at the celebration!

 We met some really good contacts at the event, including the Minister of Culture here for the Cambodian government, who introduced himself to us-- he studied the church before, has read the Book of Mormon, and used to come to church about 10 years ago, but never joined.  It was fun to meet him and his family.  We are hoping to have them over for dinner soon.

That same day we had a Seminary & Institute graduation ceremony for all the S&I graduates in Phnom Penh.  Not all came, but below are some pictures of those that did.  Several of those in the photos below are currently preparing to serve missions.

So long farewell

July 5 2013 we bid a fond farewell to an outstanding group of returning missionaries.

We will miss them greatly but are so grateful for the opportunity to serve with and love them.

 Below is the actual group that was leaving, with Pres. & Sis. Moon

It was an especially tearful farewell for us as it was also a goodbye for now to our daughter Mackenzie, who finished high school here, and is now back in Utah preparing for her freshman year at BYU.  We miss having our "little piece of home" with us!  But are grateful for the many wonderful memories we were able to make with her here.  The kitchen is just not the same though!

Farewell

We bid goodbye to Elder & Sister Tuck in June-- they will be very missed by the members in Taa Khmau who turned out in full force to wish them goodbye.

Seminary graduation - Battambang

Members in Battambang preparing food for a big district activity to say goodbye to Elder & Sister Yeates

It was a quick 2 day trip to Battambang, and a busy day on Saturday-- drove up 5 hours in the morning, then had meetings about group going to the temple, then a seminary graduation (below), then orientation meeting with the families going to the temple in Manila, and then the district activity.  In between all of that Elder Pettit got very sick and I visited him at the hospital there-- a big storm front moved through and the rain was pouring down when I got to the hospital.   Sunday went to church there and then we did temple recommend interviews for a couple of hours, before heading back to Phnom Penh.

CICFO Orphanage

One morning before Mackenzie left we drove out to the orphanage where Chantelle had taught English and delivered some clothes that Mackenzie had helped raise donations for.  We also took them some money that family back home had sent us.  It will be put to good use.  They care for about 30 orphans there.  Ages 5 up to 18.  The director and most of her staff are LDS, and she and several of the older orphans come to church each week.  We don't let the missionaries teach the younger children.  Many of them are not "true" orphans, but rather have parents elsewhere that cannot afford to take care of them.  So there are parental consent issues.  But they all learn lots about the gospel.  BYU has interns there regularly helping at the orphanage. Two older boys are preparing for missions.

The children sang several songs in English for us-- all Primary songs.  They were all very polite and gracious and well-mannered.  The director does such a good job with them there.

Members and snails

This is a new family in Hanoi branch in Vietnam.  The husband joined in Canada while working there, major changes in his life-- when he came home his wife was willing to learn because of how much he had changed.  The husband baptized the wife and son while we were there in Hanoi-- a wonderful spirit to the baptism service.

This is a family in Sen Sok that we visited as part of the North District Conference.  He is a counselor in the branch presidency and we challenged them to prepare to go to the temple.

Below a family we visited in Sen Sok, out on National Road 5.  The father is a recent convert.

Below is a new member in the International Branch, Chinese, and his wife who came to the baptism but has not learned with the missionaries yet.

Below an eating adventure on a quick trip to Hanoi with Kim Sang to work on some things with the district president there.  These are snails-- pretty big ones too.  You pull out the "slug" part with your chopsticks and chew it up.  Definitely not my favorite.  I did manage to get two of them down.

A wonderful Vietnamese yellow noodle and pork dish.

Vietnam - District & Zone conference June 2013

June 2013 we traveled to Ho Chi Minh City for a district conference and also a zone conference.  On Saturday we had a wonderful lunch at the home of Elder Vu's mom (also Sis. Ly's grandmother) We were joined by a couple of the HCMC missionaries who showed us how to get to their home.  They have a comfortable home-- one of the few members homes we have been in with a piano.  We had fun playing some music and also listening as their daughter played a wonderful arrangement of Canon in D.  

Sis. Ly's grandmother made pho for us and showed Sis. Moon and Mackenzie how to make it.  Very fun, and delicious.  I think they spent all morning cooking for us.  It was a delicious meal.

Later while in HCMC we found a fun ice cream store - Fanny's - that makes quite the interesting ice cream creations.

Below Elder & Sister Perry took a group of the YSA's, non-members, and missionaries in HCMC to a service project-- Mackenzie went with them-- they had a big group-- had to hire a couple of additional taxis in addition to the large bus/van they had rented.  Wonderful project and they all had a good time.

A wonderful miracle that happened-- they found a man there visiting his daughter at the handicapped center where they were doing the project-- he kept looking at the elders funny.  Elder Nam talked to him-- turns out he was a "lost" member baptized in Phnom Penh 10 years ago and then moved to Vietnam.  He didn't fully recognize the elders without their nametags until they talked to him and he found out it was the same church he had been baptized into!  He lives far away from the city, but they were able to get his contact info and tell him about the church in HCMC.