Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Trambodia Tidbits

Trammell's first mission companion in Cambodia was a RoCK STaR! We've never met him, but we love him. We love his family too! We especially love them because they sent us pics. So, today I will share. And I'll even share some random info on the Church in Cambodia. The first missionaries arrived in Cambodia in 1998. There were 16 of them and they were able to convert 800 members in the next year or so. Now there are around 80 and they are trying to build up to about 125. This photo shows a group of the missionaries with the mission president. The president has been serving for 2 1/2 years. He's the one in the center of the front row with the suit coat on. his wife is on the left. Trammell, at 6 feet, is one of the shorter missionaries. He is on the third row, second from the left. There are several senior missionary couples and the Church utilizes leadership from Hong Kong to come help people train on Family History, the Young Men/Young Women's program and other Church programs. Trammell's first assignment was in Siem Reap. This town is a 6 hour bus ride north of Phnom Penh. His first companion/trainer was one of the zone leaders. Here is a pic of the Siem Reap zone near Angkor Wat. Ankgor Wat is one of the most famous(if not the most famous) temples in Cambodia and it dates back to the 12th century.Trammell and Elder Godfrey are not just being goofy by wading into a mud puddle. This is the road! Many of the roads are flooded during monsoon season (from May to October) and are nearly impassable until December. After spending three months with his first companion in Siem Reap. He was very disappointed to leave Siem Reap and Elder Godfrey. He transferred on a Wednesday. They had a big baptism scheduled for 2 families the following Saturday and he was bummed he couldn't be there. Here is a picture of the families at their baptism. There are currently about 8,000 members of the Church. Although about 40% are less active. A large part of the missionary efforts are seeking the less active out and reactivating them. There are 22 congregations throughout the country. There are no wards, just branches, and not all the branches have branch presidents. The entire country is included in one district and the mission president also functions as the District President. Trammell is currently serving in the capitol of Cambodia: Phnom Penh. There are several branches in Phnom Penh including a Vietnamese branch. The Cambodian mission encompasses Vietnam. When elders/sisters receive their mission call, they are told whether they will speak Cambodian or Vietnamese. The Vietnamese speaking missionaries serve in Vietnam or in the city of Phnom Penh because there is a large population of Vietnamese there. So, just one year ago, I knew NOTHING about Cambodia. If you had given us 100 guesses as to where Trammell would go on his mission, we would never have guessed Cambodia. We didn't even know the Church existed in Cambodia. And now we love this country, we love these people and our ears perk up at the mere mention of Cambodia!

1 comment:

{amy} said...

Wow! Wonderful to hear about it. Great pictures!!