25-27 October 2014 - Vietnam Wedding and Visits

We were so proud of Sister Loan Pham and Elder Tien Vu, two of our wonderful returned Vietnamese missionaries who were married to each other in late October 2014.  They did it right.  They went to the temple in Manila, were married, and then came back and had a simple reception in the church building--- Sister Vy managed all the decorations and other members and friends helped with the refreshments.

Yea for the modest dress!  She looked beautiful.

We loved Sister Vy's creative decorations, and Sister Ha's wonderful baked creations below for refreshments.

This was a really fun idea-- the "leaves" on the tree are fingerprints from all the guests at the reception-- we got to pick and choose our color, and sign in a matching below on the table.

While in HCMC we were blessed to be able to attend a wonderful baptism-- this is a family of four that were baptized and are very faithful and helpful converts.  We are so grateful for them.

What a baptismal font in Vietnam looks like-- set up inside the building or, the case above, in the breezeway of TSN building.

Above and below-- a baptism at TSN branch the same day-- with all the members--so fun to be at two baptism services in Vietnam on the same day!

At Elder Duy Vu's home with his mom and friends-- some visiting from Phnom Penh-- this is shortly after his mission ended.

Above and below-- the next day we traveled about 1.5 hours outside of HCMC to find the home and family of Sister Van, who also just finished her mission recently at this time (she is on far right).  They are a wonderful family, all members except the dad who is never at home and works in Ukraine.  They made a wonderful meal of pho for us and we had a gospel message together.  They run a travel agency out of their home, and also sell beauty products-- Sister Moon was able to buy a sampling.  The sister missionaries in Hanoi Sister Tran and Sister Bui also joined us for the trip and helped translate for us.  Sister Van's younger sisters and mother are all so wonderful, and treated us so graciously.  We were happy we could visit them, and it really helped us realize the significant sacrifice this family makes every Sunday to come to church in Hanoi-- it's an all day trip.

3 October 2014 - Kampong Thom Music Concert in the Park

Kampong Thom Music Concert in the Park-- the 4 missionaries in KT and the branch youth/YSA worked hard together to put together a wonderful music program and permission to perform in one of the city public areas by the river-- as a way to generate interest in the church and tell more people about the new chapel soon to be finished.  It was a wonderful event and we were happy we were able to drive up and be part of the special day.

The young girl above has an amazing voice-- she sang several solo parts in the concert.

The young women practicing dance moves for one of their songs.

Sister Moon was excited that they made a matching blouse and scarf for her too...

Our wonderful Kampong Thom sisters Sister Syndergaard and Sister Neth

Loading up the chairs to take to the park

Yes, I am very tall for Cambodia.

Great photo of the KT missionaries and branch singers

The concert started as dusk fell-- a little hard to get photos after that.  It was very hot with the sun coming through the back... but the singers and musicians all did great.

Elder Paramore on guitar, Elder Brittain on piano, and Sister Syndergaard on violin... Sister Ham Sakrim, who began serving as one of sister missionaries later, in early 2015, was the emcee for the program.

Lots of people stopped and watched from their motos on the side of the road.  Others came in and sat down and watched for a while.  We had some other missionaries from Kampong Cham come to help work the crowd.  We were able to generate a lot of referrals for the KT missionaries.

October 24 2014 - School humanitarian project with LDSC

On 24 October 2014 we spent a wonderful day with Elder & Sister Kohl's our outgoing LDSC humanitarian services couple, and also Elder & Sister Meinzer-- the incoming LDSC couple for Cambodia, who had just arrived in country, going to a ceremony at a school in Prey Veng province where the church had helped build a well.  Above the ribbon cutting ceremony to inaugurate the well and pump  Below Elder Kohls drinking from the well-- to make sure the villagers know it is safe to drink.

We also distributed some food and other items to the villagers who had gathered for the ceremony.

Traveling from the village to another rural area where we checked on new latrines being built by LDSC

The rice fields are beautiful and getting ready for harvest this time of year.

I think this is Elder Kohls and Elder Meinzer arguing about the finer points of latrine building.  Just kidding.

Then we went to a local school in the hometown of the deputy minister of the Ministry of Cults and Religions-- this was so much fun-- the elementary school children were all lined up so nicely waiting for us to arrive.

The children of Cambodia wait expectantly-- I'm sure bored to tears by the speeches of the government and religious officials.

We distributed backpacks to all the children, with some school supplies in them.  There were pink backpacks and blue backpacks.  I of course figured we should give the pink ones to the girls, but Elder and Sister Kohls assured me they don't care about the color and some of the boys even wanted pink.  Certainly wouldn't have flown in America!

Hoping there is enough left for them... actually we ran out and were feeling really badly that some children had not received one. Then Elder Meinzer found a whole big sack full of them tucked away in the head teacher's office-- hmmm... not sure why that was... but we were glad that we found the rest of them and none of the children had to go without.

The deputy minister and his wife.  She is very kind and we often see her at the ceremonies we attend with them.  They are a wonderful couple-- he is Christian and so helpful and kind to our Church.