CHAPTER 27 A NEW DAY IN CAMBODIA

CHAPTER 27

A NEW DAY IN CAMBODIA

A new light is shining in Cambodia,  the light of the gospel, and it’s a glorious new day for the Khmer people. The members of the Church are rejoicing in the gospel light that is now shining in their  country,  after the long night of darkness, depression and tyranny!  When  President Hinckley dedicated the land  for the preaching of the gospel in 1996,  it was the beginning of a new day in Cambodia.  The light is bursting forth as families  reconnect with their lost loved ones through temple ordinances. It’s a time for healing and reuniting families torn apart by years of oppressive governments and cruel tyrants.

The leaders of the Church tell us we are still in the foundation phases, laying the groundwork and getting ready for the Church to explode with new membership.  The success of the Church in Cambodia is miraculous, it is independent of all other churches which is a miracle in the world of religion. President Henry B. Eyring said,  “The keys are on the earth in their fullness.  As long as the people exercise faith the keys will remain on the earth.  The Church will become better,  it is being prepared for the Savior’s return.”

Sister Vaury, the ex Relief Society president,  is an elegant and  beautiful woman who loves the sisters very much.  She always tried  to conduct  Relief Society like the rest of the Church throughout the world.  The sisters are spread out over great distances, so it was very hard for her and her counselors to visit them.  She made a few visits each month on her moto.  She has a  sadness in her eyes, as do most of the  sisters,  because of the horrors they endured during Pol Pot times.  Most everyone lost family members, not only were they killed but families were separated.  Many don’t even know where or when their family members died.  She and her husband were married in a labor camp with many others so they could get food.  We told her what a good man her husband is and she said no,  he was not!  She said he used to drink and beat her,  but since he has become a member of the Church he is a good man!  The gospel changes lives and hearts and is changing Cambodia. 

One Sunday I counted twenty seven sisters in Relief Society and eight of those were sisters baptized in the last eight months.  The longest a sister had been a member is four years,  most less than two years.  They teach wonderful lessons even though they’re brand new members.  They use the basic manual for Latter-Day Saint Women,  A and  B.  The  other manuals are not yet translated into Khmer. The sisters in the Church  are changing their families!   

Last week a young mother gave birth to a tiny baby girl in her hut on top of the bamboo slat floor.  She lay in a hammock with her two day old baby in heat well over 110 degrees.  The baby couldn’t thrive  because of the heat.  She lay still and listless and wouldn’t take her mother’s milk during the heat of the day, only at night when the temperatures were  more tolerable.  She had a fever when we visited. The living conditions are so harsh, it’s a wonder babies survive!   It’s hard for me to see these sad conditions but I’m learning to trust the Lord in all things.   He has a plan for all of us,  I know  he has a  plan for this sweet mother and baby.  This baby will be raised in the Church, she will have a better chance for a good life! 

The gospel light is shining brightly and it shows in the faces of our beautiful members, especially those who have been to the temple. What joy they feel when they complete the temple work for their families, especially those that died in the Khmer Rouge genocide.  There are several families in the Branch who’ve been to the Hong Kong temple, escorted by Senior Couples and translators.  All the missionaries take out their endowments when they go to the MTC in the Philippines.   It’s very expensive to fly to Hong Kong and stay for one week.  When  the members are worthy and save all they can, the Church pays the rest.

It was our great privilege and one of the miracles of our mission to escort three families to the Hong Kong Temple to receive their temple blessings.  They completed their family history sheets and ordered their garments weeks ahead.  They were so excited they could hardly sleep at night!  They gathered all their family names to do their temple work, which is no easy thing in Cambodia.  Most of the records were destroyed during Pol Pot times so it’s difficult to find names of ancestors.    

On a Sunday morning we rode the bus to Phnom Penh with fifteen excited members from Battambang.  They were very nervous but happy! The mission vans picked us up from the bus station and took us to a  Sacrament meeting,   then to the mission home for a last minute instruction and temple preparation class.  Under the direction of President and Sister Winegar, everything was organized for our temple excursion by Elder and Sister Fairchild.  Every detail was planned and prepared for!  We slept in the mission home that night and the members were taken  to guest houses,  very small air conditioned rooms with bathrooms,  a wonderful  treat for the members who live in humble huts with no power,  running water or bathrooms. 

The next morning the mission vans arrived to take everyone to the airport.  Everyone was up early and excited.  At the airport we were introduced to our eighteen Phnom Penh traveling companions, all excited to go to the temple with their families!  Elder and Sister Richards were the escorts for these members, making it thirty seven  of us traveling to Hong Kong, the largest group to go to the temple from Cambodia!  President Winegar also traveled along with us for his Mission President Training in Hong Kong.   

Getting all of us through the airports, with passports, visas, luggage and children  was a chore but Elder and Sister Fairchild organized every detail.  We felt help from above and everything opened up for us as  we walked into the unknown.  Our members had never been on escalators let alone cars, boats  and airplanes.  It was fun watching them figure out how to get on and off the escalators!  It was even more fun seeing their eyes get big as our plane started up the engines and rolled down the runway!  My peppermint essential oil became everyone’s best friend when they started feeling car sick and air sick.  I put a few drops in the palms of their hands and they took big breaths of  peppermint oil whenever they felt sick.  It truly was an “essential oil,”   much better for the Khmer people than medication which made them light headed.  After taking the medication one young lady said,  Sister, I feel like a drunkard,  I cannot walk.” We decided to forget the medication and stick with the peppermint oil!   Even though the  entire plane smelled like peppermint the members felt good and were happy!  Most everyone loved flying above the clouds especially the children.

It was a big challenge finding everyone’s luggage in the  huge Hong Kong airport, but all thirty seven  of us finally made it to  the bus.  Hong Kong is a beautiful city, with many tall buildings,  mostly apartment buildings, unlike anything  in Cambodia!  The people live in high rise apartment buildings and we saw laundry hanging from the rails many stories up.  Most people use the public transit systems,  trains, buses, and taxi’s.  The cars on the modern and clean freeways were new and expensive.   

We drove over beautiful bridges spanning the amazing harbor, winding and speeding along on a two story bus.  The views were magnificent!  After thirty minutes we arrived at our temple patron housing where each family was given their own room.  We shared a tiny bedroom with Elder and Sister Richards.  It was humid and crowded with four of us,  and  Wilf and I slept on a bunk bed.   We were just a small step up from camping, but our members were giant steps up from their living conditions in Cambodia.  The fully equipped kitchens were wonderful for our members who do their cooking on the ground in Cambodia.  They loved the bathrooms with showers, toilets and basins and running hot and cold water.  They especially loved the refrigerator and had fun making ice, something they’d never done before! 

We took everyone shopping for food!  Each family was given their own  food money for the week so we let them choose and plan their meals.   Most had never shopped in a supermarket before and they loved buying food all packaged and wrapped.  We couldn’t all get on the same bus so we sent them on without a senior couple and we grabbed a taxi to follow.  They were all nervous on the bus without any escorts but we told them where to get off.  They were very happy to see us when our taxi drove up soon after. 

The next four and a half days were filled with temple work.  The first day they did sealings and endowments for themselves and their own children, the following days they did work for their ancestors.  We were privileged to witness their sealings to their children when they came out of the beautiful celestial room.  We felt inexpressible joy watching these beautiful Cambodian Saints receive their temple blessings. 

The temple presidency and their wives were kind and generous, helping us arrange our sessions in the Cambodian language and assisting our members with everything.  President Goo is Hawaiian and his wife is Chinese.  Sister Goo  baked four beautiful braided  loaves of sweet bread for our members. Some of the Chinese members gave us money for our Cambodian Saints and boxes of clothing and other items for them to choose from.  We witnessed the love of the Chinese Saints as they loved and cared for their Cambodian brothers and sisters!      

It was wonderful being in the temple again.  It was especially sweet attending a sessions with President Winegar and Mary and Sda.  I attended nine endowment sessions in those four and one half days.  Our  members were baptized for many  of their own ancestors and others,  mostly Chinese.   Tung Chun Ting Fu Yan, was one of the nine sisters I did work for.  The prayers were often in Chinese, it was  an international experience!  Elder Stagg and Elder Richards  performed and witnessed many  baptisms,  along with our members who loved working in the baptistry.  The temple is beautiful and the workers are angels.  Our members cried the last day when their  temple work was completed.  They worked night and day and they were exhausted,  but each one hated to say goodbye to the temple, knowing they would probably never return. 

Our last day we toured  Hong Kong, with  Brother Chan as our  guide.  We  hired a bus and driver  to take us around Hong Kong and we rode a ferry across the beautiful Hong Kong harbor.  The harbor ride was a highlight,  even though it was very foggy  it was still a marvelous experience.  The bus took us all to Victoria Peak, the highest peak in Hong Kong,  but  the fog was too thick to see the city and harbor.  We still had a great time eating at McDonalds and Burger King, the members loved hamburgers and french fries.   We toured around the city and visited the Church office building in Hong Kong, then back to the harbor for a laser light show at night.

Our last day in Hong Kong, we attended Sacrament meeting in the chapel beneath the temple.  It was, of course,  in the Chinese language, but our members were given head sets for their language.  Mary was kind enough to translate for us,  from Chinese to English to Khmer then back to English.  We had a bit of a delay but at least we understood what was being said!   The Chinese saints are very faithful and beautiful! 

We made it to the airport and through customs,  immigration and security gates without any problems.  We bought everyone chicken and more french fries at the airport, and  we were served a good meal on our Dragon Air flight even though it was only two hours and fifteen minutes long.  Flying back to Cambodia and making our way through the tiny Phnom Penh airport was easy after Hong Kong.  Everyone was happy to be home and a sweet welcoming committee from the mission home was there to greet us, even President and Sister Winegar.  Everyone felt  joy and gratitude for the wonderful week at the Hong Kong temple, the  most cherished experience of a life time!  

With every newly endowed member the Church increases in beauty and strength and the light grows  brighter.  It is a new day in the Kingdom of  Cambodia!  The light of the gospel is breaking through the darkness of the past.  Dark clouds are parting as the light shines brighter and brighter every day until the perfect day when the gospel fills all of Cambodia and temples dot the land. The  kingdom of the Lamb will be received by the  Lamb!

Even though things are getting worse in the world we are untouched by it all,  it’s  hard  to fathom the wickedness and corruption in our own country  as we carry on the Lord’s work in Cambodia.  The  great work of the Lord moves forward throughout  the world,  bringing precious souls  into the protection of the Kingdom of God so they can be safe in  the coming storms.  “They shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day…neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds…when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place….the storm cannot penetrate to them…neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them… they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest….they are his…and he will raise them up at the last day.”    Shall we not go on in so great a cause!