I AM A CHILD OF GOD

 Oct. 5 - 11, 2025

Sun., Oct 5th

We had our second meeting with the Pheakday family today.  What a miracle is taking place in this little village!!  5 new people joined this time.  The lesson by the Elder Madrid and Elder Little was on the Godhead, and at the end, when I was sharing my testimony, I felt prompted to sing "I Am a Child of God" directly to the children.  It was an inspired moment!  Jim's testimony was pure and strong.  Wonderful spirit present!!

Getting there was an adventure!  We ended up going a different way and went on a narrow, muddy road through some rice fields.  The edges on either side went into water and swamps.  Backing up would have been crazy and definitely no where to turn around.  We were all relieved when dry, wide roads were finally reached!

In the car we listened to some of General Conference from back home.  In Cambodia, they receive it a week later, after translation happens.  Loved hearing Pres. Oaks' voice as our new prophet - a very humble, yet strong, tone in his testimony.  He IS the prophet; I felt a witness as he talked.

Mon, Oct. 6th - Oct. 8th highlights

Off to Intercare Hospital again for 2 more shots, our last TwinRix hepatitis shot (until next year) and rabies #2.  Three more to go!  A very professional, kind atmosphere.  

Enjoyed strolling by the markets that border our Ankor Borrey, and chose dinner at a Japanese place.  They cooked it right in front of us!  AND all the employees watched as we ate.  They were so anxious to please!

District Council is rewarding!  We have been kind of "adopted" as the lost-in-Cambodia grandparents, and all these wonderful young missionaries are really so good to us!  I love being thought of and watched over, especially by El. Little and El. Madrid.   They brought us a rice, meat, egg breakfast with pickled veggies, and also got us each our own "Krom-ma," a Khmei scarf that all people have for wiping off sweat, rain, sticky fingers, etc. They are so delightful in their sharing!!  I have gained a new perspective being on this side of serving!  Service brings love and loyalty. I am incredibly grateful.

We went by the Distribution Center and found lots of supplies to share with the Pheakday family.  I am most excited about the children's Book of Mormon stories.  They will love it! It was a good time to hear Nak-Nak's growing-up story and her conversion to the gospel.  (See separate post.)  Wow, what faith!   We also bought a beautiful picture of the Savior for the Kamboul meeting place and then ventured out to a little frame shop on these busy little market roads. Our confidence is being built!

Zone Conference had an excited energy vibe to it!  "Our" missionaries were major contributors, and I felt like a mom, so proud of them!  They were very motivating in the spiritual goals encouraged.  Clarks and Mortensens were also a part of it with their roles. It was almost like a reunion - lots of hugs, well-wishing, and pictures! 

We restarted my language tutoring with Sis. Thueson.  This was a brave step forward!  But I do want to learn all I can to be able to share the feelings of my heart.  It will only be a little, but every bit counts!  Sis. Thueson is wonderful and so full of genuine love and encouragement.  It's such a great opportunity.  It would be easier to just let it go and accept English as the standard, but we are determined souls!  And we have a lot more interaction with the Khmei people than many other senior couples.  All big plus reasons for continuing on!

WED., OCT. 8TH, marks 1 month on our mission now!!  Woohoo!  We are doing  it!!  In some ways it feels much longer than that because SO MUCH has filled our days.  We were introduced to a new ice cream place by the Mortensen's called Mixue.  (pronounced Mee-shway; Chinese.) They started on Oct. 8th, as well, so we celebrated together.  Mixue is a hit!!  I heard that it is the largest growing fast-food chain in the world!  It has even beat out McDonald's and Starbucks!  Very inexpensive cones, sundaes, and tea.  We will be back, for sure!!

Thurs., Oct. 9th

The lease has been signed in Chbar Mon, Kampong Speu!!!  This is OFFICIAL now!!  We had a chance to walk through it and visualize our new circumstances.  We feel that the church is going to burst open in this area.  They seem so ready for truth and now will have the opportunity to know where to find it. It is so exciting to be a part of opening an area that never has had the church before!  We can hardly wait to be the gathering place for new teaching friends and fellow saints.

In the afternoon, we had a serendipitous tour with Macaraan, a downtown tour guide with a fancy old-fashioned tuk tuk.  He made our day!!  We saw many historic places and learned lots of fascinating facts with his fun narration.  We saw the French quarter (when France ruled for a few decades), the royal palace, the statue honoring lady Phnom Penh (who started the development hundreds of years ago), the golden temple, a very large monk monastary, the US Embassy, and our very favorite, the silk island village.

The silk island village was reached by driving the tuk tuk directly onto a ferry boat.  On the way back, they actually had to get out and push it.  The whole island makes silk - every rural home had looms going, and yet the the atmosphere did not feel industrial.  It was so peaceful in its rural setting.  We stopped at one place and the lady showed us the process of making silk.  Fascinating to see from worms to threads to cloth.  She made a genuine comment about my kindness, and I know that we are ALWAYS an example and representing the church.  Two children really made my day.  One was a young girl giving high fives as we slowly went by, and we connected - delightful joy for both of us!  The other was a boy in a wheelchair in his little chicken yard.  His sister helped lift up his arm to wave his hand at us.  It was really moving to me. 

SILK WORMS

 

At the end, our driver said he knew about our temple on Russian Federation Boulevard!  We had no idea he was connecting the association with us.  We encouraged him to learn more!  He is a Christian and already has some beginning fundamental beliefs.

Fri., Oct. 10th

Rainy season is upon us!  It rained and rained and rained.  I love the sound of it downpouring at night while we are going to sleep, or waking up to the drumming on the roof of it in the morning.   

We left by 6:30 this morning to drive to Kamboul to get elders for the ride out to Pheakday's home.  Lesson #3!!  OHHH, SO MUCH HAPPY ANTICIPATION!!  They are the miracle group!!!  Love these children!  Love these moms!  Love Pickaday's desire to do what's best for his family!  Jennae said she  wants all of them to be baptized!!  She speaks for all of them!  Well, how about that!  She seems to be one of the most spiritually sensitive members of the group.  They just need to wait for increased understanding of promises/covenants made before this major step forward, but it is definitely headed on the right path!!  The lesson included thoughts on miracles, and she said that she felt it was a miracle tat we were able to meet each other and to be learning about Jesus Christ.  I couldn't agree more - MIRACLE indeed.  More people again joined the group.

After the lesson, we had an unexpected happening.  They sheepishly led us down the road to a home where an anti-mormon leader in the community was waiting to challenging our authority to be there.  He certainly had a dark feeling about him - the contrast was tangible.  He was representing a local Protestant group.  Fortunately I had my white authorization card in the car.  While I was getting it, El. Madrid and El. Little peacefully tried to disarm it.  Interesting that in that very far away remote place, Satan had his hand at work!!  Afterwards, the children gathered around us as we walked back down the road, talking a mile a minute and holding our hands.  

On the way there and back, we joined in two more lessons with Cheesut and Roat, both very close to baptism. I just love the inspiration that flows from the elders and to us as we are asked to participate. Again, I love that they have chosen to involve us.  I was prompted to share about Andrew's brain tumor and Emily's strong prompting to return to the doctor; that something was indeed wrong and they were missing it.  With Cheesut, we met us father and mother, and I shared my love for Cambodia and the kind, respectful people here.  Always on the look out for opportunities to spread seeds!

Back for another rabies shot and more Mixue ice cream.  Woohoo for us!

Sat. Oct. 11th

Rain!!!  Rained all night!!!  Wow, the effects on the streets is unbelievable.  Giant potholes filled with water everywhere.  Because we don't know how deep they are, we have to drive very carefully.  The elders' main road looks like a river running down it.  Still, the resilient Khmei carry on, rain or shine!  Some modos had road water nearly to the top of their wheels.  Tuks tuks manuevered their carts right on through.  People just putting on ponchos, or waiting for a short while under a road overpass.  And even in major flooding, we had a modo driving right towards us in our lane!   Nothing changes!

Well, today (a week later) we got to watch/listen to General Conference with our Kamboul group!  We just went out at noon because in the morning I was busy making chicken noodle soup to share!!  Yes, I decided food was important for this day!  We brought lots of treats and drinks, too.  I mean, food and General Conference go hand in hand, right?!

I was determined to make my "famous" soup.  This meant searching out supplies at four different stores.  Right when I put the chicken on to simmer, our electricity went out.  Oh no!  What to do, what to do......  After about a half hour with no signs of returning power, I was prompted with the idea that the church building by the mission office might be running on a generator because conference was being broadcast.  We took the big pot over, and sure enough, we were in luck!  Whew!  A hour and a half later, the power came back on.  We returned to the church, brought our pot home, and finished the soup.  Literally, right as our soup was finished, the electricity went out again.  I think this was a cooking miracle to have it work out after all the effort!!

In the meantime, we had ordered our first delivery of bottled water jugs.  This is something every home and business has.  They connect to a water machine to get your clean water to drink.  Well, since this was our first time, our communication was tricky.  Jim was trying to message but was blocked off from telegram, using English but their English was very broken, getting our address via a pin but it wasn't quite accurate, etc.  They require that you are at home for the delivery.  Soooo......General Conference morning was at home to wait for them.  When we had to take the soup to the church, we figured we could leave for 10 minutes.  As we were coming back, we saw a water truck in our borrey but going a different direction down our street.  Jim followed them and tried to point and communicate that we needed some water, too.  They followed us, and lo and behold, we were the customers they were looking for!  They did not have the correct address!  We were SO blessed to connect at just that moment.  Another BIG tender mercy!!

Everyone LOVED the soup.....so fun to enrich the lives of our missionaries!!  (the members weren't there between sessions).  General Conference itself was a bit difficult.....the wifi wasn't good, so we only had audio.  I listened with headphones. I have a new appreciation for those who hear talks in different languages!  It is a bit tedious.  We had four hours in the afternoon (two sessions in a row - afternoon and evening sessions). Loooong.  That said, I really loved the talks.  Our church leaders are absolutely inspired.  I look forward to studying the messages more!