-Harold B. Lee
You'll have to forgive me if the blog gets a bit personal sometimes. The blog is essentially my journal. I have never been a good journal keeper, so this is as good as it gets for me, I suppose. I imagine that one day I will print the whole thing off and save it.
Michelle and I attended a great Stake fireside last night. Our Stake President gave a great talk on marriage and communication. He talked about "agreeing to disagree agreeably". It was a great time and great counsel. We all went to Chili's afterwards for dinner. We drove over with the Stauffer's. On the way, Mike received a call from his boys at home saying that they smelled smoke in the house. After some quizzing, Mike decided to drop us off and run home to investigate. As he got out of the car at his house, he smelled smoke. It turns out that one of the neighbors was burning their swingset (don't ask) and that is what the boys smelled. I can't wait to see little Stauff at church and give him a hard time about that one.
Latest letter from Steve and Robin, serving in Cambodia:
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for the pictures. I especially like the one with your dad and the girls. Who is the third girl, one of Mike"s??
Anyway, about the missionary money. Thanks for wanting to help.
The $500 amount is to come from each missionary personally. After that the General Missionary fund kicks in.
If you donate money, we will make sure that the young men do some work for it. The problem they are having is
that the jobs do not pay enough here for them to save in a reasonable time (takes years to save). It is very discouraging and we have some wonderful
young men who really want to go, and need to get out on their missions while they are motivated. (you know how that is)
It is so interesting here (and a bit stupid) because the Khmer parents expect their children to take care of them
the rest of their lives financially. We have a young man who has a mother who was working and is very capable of working, yet because
she has children who are old enough to work, she quit work and is expecting them to pay for her living. She now spends
every day hanging out with the neighbors, going to the pagoda and spending money on the monks. Frustrating.
All the young men, except one, are the only members in their families. They are not only contending with the money
issue but are experiencing some verbal abuse from their families. They are proving to be particularly strong in still coming to
church because they "remember the feelings of the Holy Ghost". They amaze me.
Steve and I have been so blessed to know them. I have attached a picture of them that I took last Saturday at the church.
They spent all day at an Open House for our new church building. they sang in the Sacrament Meeting portion of the open
house which lasted from 9:00-5:00. They sang two songs each hour. They are so wonderful. I love them so much.
Okay, let me tell you about their " white" shirts.
I asked the "boys" (as I call them) to wear a white shirt for the Open House performance.Some of them had one and others did not.
I then asked them to wear their shirts to our last practice so I could see what they looked like and to give them a new tie that I had
made for them. When they came for the practice,some did not bring their shirts like I had asked.
I said, "Where are your shirts?" One young man pulled his out from behind his back and said "Sister, it's not very white."
It was the dirtiest "white" shirt I had ever seen. I said, "Well just put it on" Then for the others that didn't have
one I said, "Can you borrow a shirt?" One of the young men who was there, but not singing, said he would go home and
bring back the shirts he had. So he brought back three dingy white shirts and apologized about their color.
After looking the group over and realizing that they do their laundry by hand and with well water, I said, "Would you like
me to take your shirts home and wash and iron them for you?" Their faces lit up, "Oh yes!!" So after the practice, I had
them leave the shirts with me and I took them home. That night, when I was putting stain stick on their collars and on
their stains, I cried. I thought of each of them and how much I loved them. I hoped so much that I could get their shirts
clean. I added extra bleach in the water and said a silent prayer that by some miracle the shirts would turn white.
When I took the first batch out, I was so happy to see that the shirts were very clean (not exactly white, but closer than
they had been for a long time) and even the collars were clean. There were a couple of shirts that had to go back
in for a second wash, but after they dried and I ironed them they looked wonderful.
On Saturday, I met the boys early so they could put on their shirts and ties. They looked so handsome and felt so confident.
These "boys" are the best of the best. Words are inadequate for the love I have for each of them. I hope so much that they will all
be able to get out on a mission, they deserve it.
Their names are: Four up front (L to R) Darin, Sedeth, Dara, Rithy. Next row:
Monny, Chenna, Viriak. Top two: Kimyan, Seung
(Darin has his family in the church, the others are the only members). Dara is the branch
mission leader. Chenna is the Young Men's President, Kimyan teaches seminary. Monny
has a beautiful singing voice and would like to sing with the Tabernacle Choir. Rithy is the
newest member, being baptized two weeks ago. Viriak's family raises pigs and he struggles
the most with his parents. Seung is learning to be a tailor. Sedeth is a branch missionary.
Missing in the picture, because they were late are Rak Smey (the branch music leader) and
Sinah (the branch clerk).
Can you see why I love them?
Thanks for anything you can do.
Love,
Robyn
