Self Reliance Service History Lesson and Date Night at Brooklyn Pizza & Bistro

When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, they were told that they would have to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows.  Throughout the history of the earth mankind have been reminded about this important responsibility.  Likewise since the restoration of the gospel in the latter-days the members have been taught the doctrines of Self Reliance.  In April 2001 President Gordon B. Hinckley announced a new opportunity for members in the developing world to borrow the funds to go to school to better provide for their families.  Three years ago the First Presidency directed a merger of the Perpetual Education Fund and Employment Resource Services in international areas to create Self Reliance Services.  With the initiative only three years old, much of the training guides or support documents are still being developed.

Now for the reason of providing the background above; about 4:30 this afternoon we received an email from the Area Office.  There were a dozen attachments that were recent training guides for us to review and comment on "in the next few days."  So, serving in the Church is similar to working in the business world; Friday afternoon is when the most important projects come in.

This week Elder Oveson has been calling some of the Perpetual Education Fund participants that speak English.  He focused on the ones that he did not speak to last month, and had an amazing 60% success, which was wonderful.  It is also amazing how kind they are on the phone. There is a real respect for Senior Missionaries.

Over the years we have tried very hard to make sure that we have a date night, where we go out for at least dinner.  There is no reason why that should not continue, even if we are on a mission.  We decided that Friday nights should be the night we go out to eat here in Phnom Penh.  One of our favorite places to go is only a few blocks from our apartment, it is call Brooklyn Pizza and Bistro.  They have the best pork ribs that we have tasted here and tonight we found out that they have the best smoothies too.  Sister Oveson had a yummy coconut smoothy and Elder Oveson had a delicious pineapple smoothy and when you combined them you got wonderful pina colada smoothy.