Walk with us to work!

Fed-Ex knows that motos get through the traffic faster than cars & trucks! Hope you enjoyed your morning walk with us!

You can see a bicyclist with his ware of homemade baskets. He is on his way to a passa (market) in hopes of selling all of them.

Dad carries the laptop, his bookbag, and my bag. Do you like the criss-cross design that all the straps make, both front and back? :)

A typical gas station with motorist fill up for the day. The price is 3000 Reil (or $ 0.75 a liter which equates to about $3.00 a gallon).

This man is going down the WRONG side of the street! That's one way to beat the traffic!

Others travel on a moto tuk-tuk.

Some travel via bicycle tuk-tuk.

Some travel to work in a car!

Every other corner has the wonderful smell of breakfast cooking.

I wonder what it ate?!

Everyone is already working. Some are out collecting plastics and cardboard for recycling. It brings in a few "reil" to buy rice for the evening meal.

First we pass the gray water. What are those 2 men fishing for?

Feb. 15 From Grandma

Last night as I was getting ready for bed, I had such a wonderful feeling. It was a feeling as though it had been the best day of our mission so far! We had been planning on using the morning as a P-day to do wash, cleaning, & shopping, but a phone call from Bro. Sophornn on Friday evening quickly changed our plans. He had been in a moto accident. Other than sustaining some scratches & bruises, he was unharmed. His moto however was no longer running. He said he needed Saturday to get his moto repaired and would like Elder Nelson to teach his Church History class at noon. Therefore, Saturday morning at 8 AM we went to the South District Building to our office to get the Church History manual and do some preparation. At 11 AM we had Reveit pick us up from the South District building and take us to the North District Building where the class is held.We have taught that class about 3 times before so we know the students who are in it. They are very dedicated young single adults and will be the future leaders of the church in Cambodia. The lesson was on the last 4 years of the church in Nauvoo. We talked about the Wentworth Letters (eight full pages) that were sent to John Wentworth, the editor of the Chicago Democrat, and how the papers were not ever published in Chicago nor used in the history book of Vermont, where both Mr. Wentworth and Joseph Smith were from and was the reason that he had asked Joseph Smith to write about the church. Besides us having the Articles of Faith from those letters, they were of great value to the saints of Nauvoo because a little was published each week in the Times and Seasons (Nauvoo's newspaper) and the members eagerly read those teachings and studied them with diligence, looking forward to every edition! We also talked about the Books of Abraham that were translated from the papyrus that came from the catacombs of Egypt. I always learn from my precious husband when I sit in his classroom, things that I didn't know before, like how the mummy's were purchased by the church and how Mother Smith had them on display and made a few cents by showing them to people who would come to see them!We talked about how apostasy weakened the church membership and how some men who were once very close to the Prophet Joseph, turned against him, left the church, and were excommunicated. Although they left the church, they couldn't leave the church alone. They aroused and excited non-Mormons to mob mentality and tried a few times to kill the prophet during the last year & a half of his life. My precious companion likened the lesson to the saints in Cambodia today! There are over 7,800 people on the records of the church here in Phnom Penh between the ages of 14-30! Many who were baptized between 1996 and 2003 are now inactive. He cautioned these 11 students to never allow that to happen to them. The church is new and young in Cambodia, just like it was in Nauvoo. They must be on their guard at all times to keep their own covenants with the Lord that they made at the time of their baptism!The lesson concluded with some powerful doctrine that Joseph Smith received just 2 months before his martyrdom. He shared them with the Saints at the funeral of one of his very close friends, King Follett, who had died in an accident while working on the Nauvoo temple. The funeral fell on the same day as the April general conference and Joseph spoke for 2 hours at the funeral/general conference wherein he expounded on 32 different doctrinal themes. A precious part of that sermon included the doctrinal statement, "as man now is, God once was, and as God is, man may become". As we discussed that in class someone asked if Jesus Christ was ever married. One young man said, "Some say yes and some say no, but we don't know the answer." My precious husband shared his feelings that Christ is certainly married, but "So people don't leave class saying false doctrine is being taught", he had the class turn to section 131 of the D&C and we read the first 4 verses together. "I will leave it up to you to decide for yourselves, you have the scriptures and you have the gift of the Holy Ghost to help you as you study and pray." It was very powerful to me, especially when you read in II Nephi 31:5-12 about why the Savior was baptized even though He is perfect!After we left the North District Building, we had our tuk-tuk driver take us to Thai Hout market to pick up some groceries (items that can't be found at Lucky's or Pencils), and then to our apartment. We quickly put away the food and then decided that we must go shopping at Lucky's so we could break the $50 bill in Dad's wallet so we would have some smaller bill for our tuk-tuk driver (we went to Kean Svay today for church and that is 8kilometers away). That was OK as Lucky's has a better brand of shelf milk and we had forgotten to by syrup. A quick walk to Lucky's and we were back home in 65 minutes. That gave us only 3 minutes to get a drink and leave for the apartment of Elder Ormumsby & Elder Porter. We were to meet them at 4:45 so we could meet with an investigator that they are teaching in English. They had told us previously that this well-read man doesn't believe in God, but wants to learn about our church. We had gone with them the previous Saturday, but the man was away traveling on business. His wife had invited us in for a drink of water. The Elders called the man and he apologized for not being able to be there but invited us back. It was a difficult but good discussion for an hour. The man is a military general (he mentioned to us that he is the youngest man in Cambodia to be made a General). We talked about the plan of salvation. It was hard to keep Jeneric (that is the closest I can come to the pronunciation of his name, I shall refer to him as "the General" until I can get his name right). The Elders wisely had us turn to the Introduction page of the Book of Mormon and read the sixth paragraph. (Here I want to interject an interesting note about this man. He has many books in his home which is highly unusual for a Cambodian and even better, he loves to read. But he was very truthful in saying that he had not had any time to read what the Elders had asked him to read two weeks ago.) They tried to encourage the General to pray about what he reads. "But how can I pray when I don't know anything about this book?" was his question. The Elders gave him a half sheet of paper with the five basic steps of prayer written in Khmer and talked about prayer for a few minutes. "But how do I start? Isn't there some way to address this being who they say is so powerful?" I felt the promptings of the Spirit very strongly as I asked him what he likes his little children to call him. "Well---Daddy." I then bore testimony of us being spirit children of our Heavenly Father and because he loves each one of us so much, he likes us to call him Heavenly Father even though He is a God. Dad bore testimony of prayer and mentioned that he and I pray together every night. Dad went on to say that the church is a "family oriented church" and encouraged him to discuss the things he reads in the Book of Mormon with his wife and pray together about them. The Elders closed the discussion and asked the General who he would like to have give the closing prayer. He was quite surprised that he was asked to call on someone so Elder Porter explained that because this was the General's home and we acknowledge him as the head of this home, he may choose anyone he would like to give the closing prayer. The General looked at me and asked if I would say it. I had a feeling that he would call on me so I had been praying silently that the spirit would attend me as I prayed. The discussion ended and we have been invited to return next Saturday at 5 PM. I just pray that the General will read and pray. If he does I know he will find the truth. If he doesn't pray, he will never know, but "will always be seeking but never finding" the truth!

A Stroll in the Park

Our daily early morning run/walk at the Olympic Stadium is a fun way to begin the day and it has turned into quite a ritual. I will explain. The alarm goes off @ 5:08 AM and I wake up, turn the alarm off and say to mom: "Powettchie, another day of our mission has begun, are you going to walk this morning"? Most of the time she says "yes, just give me 5 more minutes". I know what that means so I quietly dress in the dark into my sweaty running Levis that I bought at "Russian Market" brand new for $5.00. But I think they just sewed a "Levi" name tag on them because they really aren't Levi jeans. They don't care about patents or copyrights in Cambodia—you can get a "genuine Rolex" watch for $15.00. Anyway, as I attach my name tag to my sweaty shirt I am reminded that it must be wash day—six days is almost too long. I feel my name tag makes me an "official missionary" and I am then eligible for the protection of angels (D&C 84:88). I then quietly go out to our kitchen where it is very hot and humid (we only have AC in our bedroom) and study Khmai for 10 minutes. Finally, at 5:25 your mother staggers out in her running gear (long pink silk pants with matching top) and we are off! As we leave our gated, guarded complex we check to see if our neighborhood is still intact—yes, we're good because there is the usual pile of new garbage that was thrown there during the night so the rummagers can dig out all the cans, plastic bottles and cardboard before it is hopefully picked up by garbage trucks later in the day. A hundred meters further down the street we see that the "men's" restaurant on the corner is open and the usual 15-20 shirtless men are there eating their rice gruel. On the other side of the street "Grandma Hubbard" has her fire going where she cooks for the "Wat" boys next door. Yes, our neighborhood is getting a good normal start on the day. Oh, and there's "Tinkle" watering his usual column on the "Wat" wall. Actually, there are probably about 15 "Tinkles" that we see every morning on the 500 Meter walk to the Stadium. We enjoy the "wildlife" in our neighborhood and there is one big species of wildlife at the Stadium that I have named "Rattatooie". So far he has seemed to elude the "poachers" and the pot. Well, three minutes into our walk we come to the corner of Sihanouk and St. 163—both busy streets even at 5:30 AM and wait for the walk light to turn green. But I want to tell you that a green walk light gives you, at best, limited protection because no one here stops for red lights! Speaking of lights—a moto just zoomed through the red light without any lights! But we safely cross the street are now walking along the shore line of "Black Water Pond". We have become accustomed to the smell but I much prefer the smell of Uncle Lee's corals. At about this point "Thunder thighs" runs past—a fairly "robust" American woman. I'll catch up to her later as I begin my laps around the stadium. Further on we politely nod "Aarun susa'dey" to our friends at the dimly lit booth where they guard the 220+ motos belonging to those who are exercising. They charge 500 riel (12.5 cents) per moto to park and guard them. We finally enter the running/walking track that is about 1.5 km around. Mom makes me walk with her the first 100 meters until we pass into the dark shadows and out of the rays of the first of only three lights in that 1.5 km circle. I don't know why she makes me walk with her until we are in the dark before I can begin my run but she says she doesn't want "them" to see me leave her unprotected. "Them" refers to the 1,000+ other people walking around the loop. At any rate, I tell mom I love her and that I'll see her in one round. I run about twice as fast as she walks which means I run two rounds and catch her at the beginning of her second round. So, I am off. I run a few minutes and spot "Thunder Thighs" in the distance. I pass her and begin looking for my "running buds" as I turn the corner by the Olympic sized swimming pool. I run quietly, stealthfully, passing the hundreds of people just walking and talking in the dark. Some cut their conversation and speak in "hushed" tones as I pass; I am so—so tall, have such broad shoulders, such light hair—it's like an Angel has just run by them. ( I think I must look a lot like Angel Moroni as he appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith --JSH 1:32). Many of the people on the track are running at a slow pace and as I pass, some pick up their pace to match mine. This is where I meet my "buds". Some days "Asthma Lung" falls in behind me. He breaths very heavy and yet he keeps up with me for about one round because I can hear him breathing behind me. Then I decide I will test his endurance and I pick up the pace. The breathing gets more intense and then stops. Did he pass out because of over-exertion? I glance back; no, he just gave up. I will now look for "Friendly". He will run beside me and will listen to my limited Khami and respond back in broken English. But he's not much for distance—the most is 2 laps. He's a great friend. Any time now "Hare" will be passing me—yes, I hear him coming now, he's passing me—and there he goes. "See you in about half a lap", I say to myself and sure enough after he is about 40 meters ahead of me his little black head quits bobbing quite as fast and then stops bobbing altogether as he slows to a walk. I keep my steady but powerful pace and pass him but it's only 30 seconds and I hear him again thrashing by me. This happens about three times every morning before he gives up and drops back to a steady walk. But, the other day I met "Kenya". Now, he's a runner! I've only seen him a few times but I'm no match for him. He wears real running gear—you know—Dimie-type stuff. Right off, the first time I saw his stride I knew I was no match for him—smooth graceful strides—so effortless. But, I tell myself, "After all, I'm a 64 year old man and do quite well for my age. I could have easily done that back in my prime".Well, now I'm back to running on my own. I round the bend by black water beach and there he is—Rattatooey! He's down by the water's edge munching on a pile of discarded food remains from the last concert. You see, on the interior of our track there is a big bowl-type stadium that will seat a good 60,000 people. Quite often there are events held here and the concession stands discard some of their scraps over the fence by black water pond. Rattitoey and many of his friends love it. I have other smaller friends along black water pond—sewer gnats. My powerful lungs, perfectly conditioned for endurance, create a major vacuum in the vicinity of my head when I inhale. Sewer gnats, having feasted during the night are enroute home in swarms. I must lower my head and allow my eye lashes to filter out many of the gnats so they aren't inhaled into my mouth. In spite of my precautions, however, I always get some trapped in the inner cavity of my mouth. I must expectorate multiple times as I run by black water pond. But so does everyone else. As I run in the dark I hear the up-beat music of the various exercise groups doing their calisthenics. Most of the groups are up on the rim of the stadium bowl but there are three groups right down close to the track where I run. One group is made up of over 100 people who pay about 2-300 Reil to be part of it. I like their Cambodian music—it grows on you. Then there is the Tykuando Judo-type group that yells "fight commands" as they go through various routines. Finally there is the Japanese group with their swords and their slow, quiet music with very graceful movements. That group is mainly made up of older people. Well, my run is about over—4 rounds. I see your beautiful mother ahead completing her second round. As we go out the gate toward home we say "hi" to "Scales". He has a set of scales on wheels that he rolls into the stadium every day and charges 100 Reil (2.5 cents) for you to weigh yourself. I know my weight—a perfect, trim 188 lbs. We take a different way home to see how the other part of our neighborhood is doing. It takes us past our bakery. We love our bakery—fresh-baked breads and pastries every day. The little gals there love to speak English with us but the first time we stopped they were grossed out by the sweat dripping off my face and arms. So, now I take a wash rag with me when I run so I can keep the sweat from dripping onto their goods. Mom picks an item and then I get my usual foot long hard roll (700 Reil--17 cents). As we near our apartment we see "Coc". He has his cart full of Coconuts and every Saturday we buy one for 2000 Reil (50 cents) and have him chop it perfectly so we can insert a straw through the top and drink the pure coconut juice. Very tasty and very healthy. Drink too much, though, and it will act as a laxative. A typical coconut will give you a good quart of juice. Next to Coc is "Mellon" with his cart full of goods. We yell a cheery "Sui 'sdey as we walk by. As yet we haven't purchased any of his melons. They seem a little expensive--$2.00. Well, by now it is 6:15 and we have witnessed the awakening of our neighborhood. "All is well, all is well". We are safely home, ready for breakfast. Wanna walk with us tomorrow? With love, DAD

The Good Samaratan

THE GOOD SMARATAN Sunday, February 01, 2009We had an interesting experience this morning in 1st branch. We walked as usual and as we entered the branch compound we saw an obviously American little gal. We went up, introduced ourselves and found out she was a returned missionary. She introduced us to two other little gals that were with her, all from Utah just touring South East Asia. They had been to Thailand, Laos, Viet Nam and now they were concluding their tour in Cambodia. This was the first Sunday of their tour that they were able to attend church. As they traveled in Viet Nam last week they ran into a guy from Australia who seemed to have changed his travel itinerary to be with them. He was also with them in church this morning. His name is Josh but he seemed to be more interested in the one cute little gal from BYU than anything the church had to offer but I got them all a translator for Sacrament Meeting and then I thought, "We'll see how this goes". It was Fast Sunday and I bore my testimony in Khmei. I felt a very sweet spirit. The language is coming slowly but it is coming. I am just falling in love with these people and the more I am here, the more it seems we have to offer them in terms of strength, leadership, doctrinal power, and just charitable love. I can see the Lord's hand in guiding us here. Yes, I suppose we would be useful wherever we were sent but there is just something about this land that fills my heart with the precious spirit of the Savior. At the end of every day as I reflect on the experiences we had during the day I say to myself, "I walked today where Jesus walked". I believe I feel daily some of the very things He felt during His mission in Jerusalem. These feelings are poignant and powerful—a combination of love, compassion and heart-ache for these precious people who are struggling to simply exist. For example, as we were walking home from church today we passed a little fellow lying on the dirty side of a busy street. He must have been 12 years old. He was asleep. It looked like he had been abused and dumped there. My heart just broke and I wanted so much to stop, pick him up, feed him, clean him and comfort him. I thought, "Here is a child of God laying here in this filth". I remembered the parable of the "good Samaritan". Do I just pass on the other side of the road? Then I remembered the strict counsel given us by our Mission President; "You will see things that will break your heart but do not give money or relief of any kind. By so doing you can get yourself and the church in big trouble". He is right, evil men are often watching to see if they can catch us, as missionaries meddling in their personal affairs. So we continued down the street but I will never be the same because of those feelings I had. I will work my heart out to bless this nation with the Gospel for that is the only thing, and the best thing, that we can do to lift them up and relieve the suffering. Well, back to Josh. As I was sitting in Sacrament meeting I thought that it might be good if I just took those 4 English speaking tourists and teach them a Sunday school lesson myself—I was mainly thinking of Josh, the non-member. I began to think in my mind what I would teach. Yes, I would teach the pattern of apostasy throughout the ages and then highlight the Great Apostasy which would then lead into the restoration of all things through the Prophet Joseph Smith. After Sacrament Meeting I got permission from the Branch President to teach—he was delighted that I would do that—and we all went upstairs to an empty class room. It was great. I was able to teach someone and they understood what I was saying because I taught in English to English speaking people. It was great! You don't know my frustration at having all this vast amount of knowledge and vision and I can't say a word to anyone. I'm sure that Uncle Lee would wish that I would forget how to speak English so I would quit philosophizing and trying to get him to have "vision" as I have "vision". But, anyway, it was great to teach this young Australian the truths of the Gospel and bear testimony of their truthfulness. The foundation was laid and hopefully he will some day in the future let the missionaries teach him. I told him to "let them in" the next time they're at his door in Australia. I hope he does. Well, this has been a typical Sunday in our mission. We love you all very much and keep praying for us. Love Dad

Forward from Stevie

Here is the last letter from Stevie--still in Chicago.
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Stephen Nelson <s.nelson@myldsmail.net>Date: Feb 5, 2009 2:25 AMSubject: Still WaitingTo: powettchie@gmail.com
Howdy Mom and Dad! (and anyone else who might be reading this)Well, as you can see from the subject of this letter, I'm still waiting for my Visa. Yesterday was the day they said to start expecting it, so I'm hoping that it will come before the week is through. Life here in Elgin is interesting. We talk to alot of interesting people, some are alot nicer than others. Last Sat. we tracted into a man that reminded me of Nathan alot. He was an Electrial Engineer (and obviously very Bright) with a little family (two kids and one on the way) he was one of the kindest men I have talked to since I got here. When he answered the door he had a "Cars" sticker on his cheek from playing with his kids, and he invited us right in and talked to us a bit. My first impression was that he would be receptive to our message, But after we told him who we were and a little bit about the church, he very nicely explined that he didn't believe that there was a God. Then he talked about some College classes he took, and he didn't feel that the "Spiritual" side of religion was physically possiable. he said that he teaches his kids good values like not drinking and getting married, but he didint feel that religion was needed. It broke my heart. he would have been perfect for the gospel, but was hung up on something as dumb as "I don't see how it's physically possiable". It really reminded me of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and how Satan will use anything he can to keep you from finding the truth, or if you have found it, to keep you away from it. It hurts me to even think about it.Well, other than that, i'm just fighting the temptation to become impatient, and discouraged about my visa. I don't understand why I've been delayed, but I know that the Lord has his reasons and I'll go where he wants me to go. That having been said, I REALLY wish I was in Mongolia! I practice my Mongolian quite a bit every day, but it's difficult when all I have are the standard works in Mongolian,a small grammer book that doesn't always make sence, and a pocket dictionary (and half the words in it are incorrect) I can't really start learning unless I'm around the language and people that speak it.I enjoyed the story about the Chineese New Year. In Mongolia they have a New Year that's on Feb. 25th this year, and for a couple of days the missionaries get to dress up in traditional Mongolian clothes and go around visiting members and Eating alot of food. I'm looking forward to that (assuming I ever make it to Mongolia!) Honestly I'm so used to WAITING to go to Mongolia (since June 10th) I don't know what I'll do when they actually let me go! But I know I'll be leaving soon.In reguards to the monks with the clay pots, and the woman trying to give you money, here is another possiability; I know that in Mongolia the people go to buddist temples a few times a year and PAY the Monks to say a prayer for them and their family. It might have been that she wanted you to pray for her, which thankfully we know you can still do even without her money.Well, other than that, I'm not sure if there's anything else to say. we just got back from giving a blessing to a Lady in the Hospitle, which was a neat experience. My companion and I get along well enough, although there are a few things I wish we did a little differently. However, I am the jr. companion, and this isn't even my mission really, so I just follow. It's no big deal any how.Last sunday we were out tracting and to our great suprise discovered that it was super bowl sunday! not a very sucessful night to say the least. Missionaries really are quite oblivious to what's going on in the world around them.Well, I love you both so much, and miss you. I'm also a little jealous of the neat missionary experiences you're having in Cambodia. Maybe in Mongolia I'll get some stories that can rivel yours! Keep up the good work.Love-Elder Stevie