Morning Rain and the Quiet City

We commented recently that in the months we have been walking each morning it had yet to rain during the 6-8 a.m. time of our scheduled walks. There had been rain off and on over night. We were up early and found the skies overcast and gray. By halfway around the park we started to feel tiny raindrops. It never amounted to much more than a drizzle, but we can no longer say it doesn't rain during morning walk-time.

The office was very quiet today with several of the staff already away for the Pchum Ben holiday, which starts tomorrow. The Distribution Center was closed, and all around there were a significantly lower number of visitors to the Service Center. 

Because of how quiet things were we felt like we got a lot done. We are beginning to prepare for next week's Institute class, using the new "The Eternal Family" course. These lessons are based on "The Family: A Proclamation to the World".

Not only was the office quieter, but the city is as well. Mid morning we took a walk to the mission home and found businesses were already closed for the long holiday, or just moving their gates into position to close early. All the little sidewalk diners were closed, which made it much easier to get down the narrow roads on our way home.

Pchum Ben, or "Ancestor's Day" is one of the biggest holidays of the year. Everything shuts down almost like Thanksgiving or Christmas back home, without being so commercialized. There are many street shops, however, with gift baskets full of goodies. We understand they are to take to the Wat to offer food for your ancestors. In our opinion, doing Family History work would be a more productive way to celebrate Ancestor Day.