Missionaries, Apartment Inspections & New Years Lunch

Today was definitely a Missionary Day! Even though it was a holiday (Khmer New Year day 2), we still got up at our usual time and took our walk.

We had two mission apartments to inspect this morning, one with elders and one with sisters. We can see they are trying to Raise the Dignity of the mission. They are trying to keep their apartments clean and uncluttered. With four young adults in an apartment that can be difficult at times. Since they are only short term in any area they always have some level of living out of suitcases. The apartments today were pretty good! They all deserved the donuts we brought as rewards.


Today was also a good day for the mission to celebrate the new year by gathering for lunch together. The plan was to gather as zones, but the zones in Phnom Penh are close enough together that they all came together to Tonle Bassac II Restaurant.  Having 77 missionaries in one place at one time is truly cause for celebration. This included 65 young missionaries and 12 not so young. It was good to see so many faces we haven't seen in a while, and be able to give and receive hugs and greetings.

Today was a day of visiting with friends as the young missionaries saw former companions and those with whom they have shared so many profound life experiences. The missionary couples loved seeing the elders and sisters we have interacted with over the months, and were so grateful to see Elder and Sister Spencer who have not visited from Battambang for six months.

Of course we also made new friends today. There always seem to be missionaries in the group who we have not met previously, and others we met once when they arrived and now we see again and try to remember names and faces together. We will no longer forget Elder Medley's name (we have had a different name attached to his face for all this time.) He says he will make sure to quiz us tomorrow to make sure we got it.