Cambodia Is Not a Scary Place

It is interesting to watch our email. It has changed dramatically over the last thirteen months. Most of our email is related to our current assignment in our mission, but then there are the other emails that come in from time to time.

Today we received an email from the U.S. Embassy warning about a potential demonstration to be held this afternoon by the National Assembly Building. It is important to remember that Phnom Penh is the capital of the nation of Cambodia. Because of that it has all of the governmental buildings and the activities that are related to them, including demonstrations. As missionaries we are told to avoid large crowds of people, you never know what may happen, so be wise and safe.

We also received another alert today about a potential demonstration next Monday at the Senate Building because of a debate concerning a new cabinet for the Prime Minister. For those in the United States that are experiencing this interesting election season, just imagine two conflicting parties in a third-world country. There are two major parties in Cambodia, the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) the party in power and Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) the opposition party. And just as it is throughout the rest of the world they both accuse each other of dirty politics.

The U.S. Embassy also invited us to a Question and Answer meeting with the new ambassador on Thursday that we plan to attend. It is always good to know what their take is on what is going on around us. At least from our stand point, we get a clearer and more accurate view of what is happening here from the Embassy than we do from the newspapers.

Each Tuesday there is a devotional at the Service Center that we attend. Today they showed an excellent seminar for Church employees where Elder Renlund shared feelings and understanding about the importance of Rendering an Account.