Cambodia Visit
In early December we traveled to Cambodia to provide financial record keeping and audit training to local priesthood leaders. We held three training sessions in the city of Phnom Penh. In total we trained 65 priesthood leaders including all 7 district presidents from Cambodia and Vietnam, the Cambodia mission presidency, district presidency counselors, district clerks and branch presidencies and clerks from the units within the four districts located in Phnom Penh. We were joined by our Assistant Area Auditor for Cambodia/Vietnam who shared the training duties and translated for us. This was a very successful trip.
Priesthood leaders who attended one of the training sessions
The Church has grown in Cambodia from about 400 members in the mid 1990's to about 7,000 members today. These are wonderful, humble, friendly people who all seem to be very happy in spite of the terrible things that took place in that country in the 70's and 80's.
This is Keut Channa our Assistant Area Auditor in Cambodia with his wife and baby
Primary children and missionaries at the branch we attended
Jolayne makes friends wherever she goes
We also had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with Jolayne's two ESL students who work for the Church in Phnom Penh. She tutors them on Skype twice a week from Hong Kong.
This is Rathana and her family. She manages the distribution center in Phnom Penh
Mory and his family. He works for the Facility Management Group for Cambodia.
We were able to travel to the city of Siem Reap where we spent a day touring the ancient temples at Angkor Wat. They were built from the 9th to 13th centuries. We were able to hire the local branch president to drive us around. The temple sites are amazing.
Arrival in Siem Reap
Here are a few shots at Angkor Wat - doesn't really do it justice. The place is huge.
Here are a few shots at Angkor Wat - doesn't really do it justice. The place is huge.
Next is Ta Prohm - Where Tomb Raider was filmed
We also went to Tonle Sap lake and took a boat ride out past a floating village. The families here live in houseboats on the lake and make their livelihood from fishing. It is the largest freshwater lake in Asia. The people are very very poor. But everyone seems happy.
This is President Loy - our driver and guide in Siem Reap
This little guy had a snake with him in the washtub that he was showing off so I took his picture. He then demanded that I pay him $1.00 - which I did
A few random photos around Siem Reap
Our hotel lobby
On the way home from school
Rice field
Family on the go
In the evening we attended a cultural show
Some photos in Phnom Penh
Motorbikes and Tuk Tuk's everywhere. We used Tuk Tuks to get around a few times. A little scary but cheap.
The Royal Palace at night. We were not able to tour it as the king's father had passed away so it was closed to the public until after the mourning period is over -3 months.
Our last day in Phnom Penh we visited the Genocide Museum. It was a very sobering experience to learn about the atrocities committed against the people of Cambodia by the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge regime. Over 2 million innocent people were killed. The museum is in a former school which was used by the Khmer Rouge to imprison, torture and kill.
