Lessons Learned At Church

Over the last three or four weeks there have been four young children that have sat on the front row at the Chaktomuk Ward. We were told that they actually live in another ward that meets at 8:00 a.m. which they also attend. Watching them today was very educational and interesting. The oldest is a girl about ten, a boy about eight, a six year old girl and a four year old girl. As the meeting went on three of the four were up and down and all over and then eventually gone. The little six year old sat so well and listened. That is so much like the members of the Church,  There are those who do not catch the spirit and quietly listen and eventually they are gone. And then there are those who just quietly go about and do, that are so faithful. We want to be like the little six year old girl.

Over the years as we have visited Sacrament Meetings in various states, countries and now on a different continent, it is always interesting to see what is the same and what is different. Even within the same stake we have observed a difference in how Bishops lead out in their ward.

In the Phnom Penh South Stake the High Council speak on the third Sunday. In Steung Mean Chey 3rd Ward as Sacrament Meeting started there were no High Counselors at all on the stand. Shortly after the meeting started one of the faithful High Counselors made it, but he was the only one as the meeting progressed. When the meeting had about fifteen minutes left the Stake President came into the meeting and wanted to take some time at the end. The High Counselor said that he had been told he was to take the whole meeting, now he needed to end. We did take another three to five minutes to share a story. The Stake President said he would only take about ten minutes, but had more to say and spoke for about twenty. that put us going into Sunday School late and things just kind of cascaded from there.

In the Chaktomuk Ward they sustained a young man to be a Deacon a couple of weeks ago. The Melchizedek Priesthood has always taken care of the Sacrament because there has not been any Aaronic Priesthood. Today this new Deacon passed the Sacrament for the first time. Elder Oveson was asked to be the other priesthood holder to pass today. What a joy to watch this young man serve today.

Our photos for today show the typical family transportation we have seen recently. There is the five passenger "van", the "convertible" truck, extra cargo space, and the "back seat driver", Just to name a few. Elder Oveson has decided one thing he won't miss when we leave Cambodia is the traffic.