Senior Couples Retreat

Today was the final activity of our Senior Couple Conference. We met at the mission home before being loaded onto Tuk Tuks and headed for the river front for a boat ride to Silk Island. Cambodia is famous for their silk, which are still produced by hand. It was amazing to see how silk is produced. They still do so much by hand her in Cambodia. One piece of equipment they used was created using a bicycle wheel. The natural color of the silk is yellow, then they use leaves, bark, berries, and other natural things to create their dies, which are boiled into the fibers. We saw the intricate weaving of  this delicate fabric. Banana and Anathoth trees were two mentioned that they use for some of the colors. The fruit on the Anathoth tree has a green she'll, but opens to expose bright red center. After the color is boiled into the thread, Allum is used to set the color.

Here is a list of the couple missionaries serving in the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission with their assigned focus:
*Elder and Sister Meinzer, LDS Charities, are serving in Cambodia . They make a 1,000 kilometer trip around the country a couple of times a month checking on their projects.
*Elder and Sister VanBrocklin, Public Affairs. They meet with government officials, as well as taking pictures and posting to social media. They are the ones who keep the history of the church in Cambodia.
*Elder and Sister Spencer, Member Leader Support (MLS), serve in Battambang. They do so much in looking out for members and missionaries out in the far North sections of the mission.
*Elder and Sister Leavitt, office missionaries. Elder Leavitt is the finance secretary. They are amazing at keeping the paperwork done for the mission.
*.Elder and Sister Hymas, LDS Charities in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. They have special projects they are working on. He grew up in Murray, in the same stake as Elder Oveson.
*Elder and Sister Hassell,  MLS in Hanoi, Vietnam. Elder Hassell is a Pathologist by profession, so he spends time every week doing training in the hospitals. Sister Hassell teaches English classes, and they teach Family Relations class in the community.
*Elder and Sister Noorda, LDS Charities in Hanoi, Vietnam. They have been out about 6 weeks on their third mission. They have spent the past few days in Phnom Penh waiting for visas. They return to Hanoi on Monday.
*President and Sister Christensen do so much for the members and missionaries in The Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission. President is over all the missionaries in Cambodia and in Vietnam, as well as being over all the Districts and Branches here. Sister Christensen is responsible for the medical needs of the missionaries. They hardly slow down. They probably wonder what it would be like to have a mission with Stakes and no districts.
*Elder and Sister Oveson - our assignment as Self Reliance and PEF missionaries keeps us busy and round out the needs for the members here.

We are so blessed to serve with these wonderful and talented missionaries. So happy we were called to serve in the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission!