Dear Family and Friends,

Halloween just wasn't the same this year, but we hope yours has been grand.

If you have a few moments, here are five photos. Although meaningful, the first will not necessarily appeal to youngsters (unless they like grandparents!), but the other four will enthrall with elephants, tigers, deer and an exotic treat--frog kabob anyone?

It hasn't gotten below 70 yet, but it seems almost chilly. The locals are wearing sweaters and jackets.

Much love to all,

The Snyders

This distinguished group of North Americans serve without pay and at their own expense for 18-23 months in callings including humanitarian, welfare, education, family history, and member and leader support in all areas of the mission--Vietnam and Battambang, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Kampong Cham, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Led with vision by President and Sister Smedley, they recently met for a one-day conference and training at the mission home in Phnom Penh. The following week it was back to work for everyone, but one lucky couple got to provide transport to a group of younger missionaries enjoying a couple of hours of their precious preparation day time to visit the Phnom Tamao Zoo. The following photos provide just a glimpse of that excursion.

Sister Snyder introducing herself to a local inhabitant. She has now played with Tasmanian kangaroos and Cambodian elephants. It makes one wonder what exotic clime will be her next stop!

Not seemingly friendly, this tiger nonetheless engaged his audience.

Making friends with a Sambar deer. One of the missions of the Phnom Tamao Zoo is to preserve wildlife at risk, and the horns of a Sambar deer are prized in Asia to the tune of $300 each--making them prey to illegal predators.

The trip back to Phnom Penh offered refreshment to weary travelers via foodstands filled with local cuisine. Featured here is a selection of stuffed (chili sauce and lemon grass) frog kabob.

Dear Family and Friends,

We have five photos this week, three of the recent Ta Khmao deluge and flood, one of our security guard, and one of a construction site close to our apartment. The big news of today was. . . we found Miracle Whip in a local grocery store! All of the senior missionaries have been watching the markets to see if it would ever appear on the shelves, and we got a call this morning that a shipment arrived. Along those lines, we spotted a small frozen turkey (only one) in a market today with a price tag over $40. We couldn't buy it because it wouldn't fit in our freezer. If one is available closer to Thanksgiving, we may purchase it to help put on a traditional dinner for the younger missionaries serving in our area.

On a more spiritual note, one of our newly-arrived young missionaries contracted a form of typhus/meningitis seven days ago and had to be put in the hospital. Along with the medical care, he received a priesthood blessing. While in the hospital, the young man received a message from his stateside father saying that the Lord knew his situation and would bless him with sufficient health to resume his missionary service. Two days later the young man was released from the hospital in fine shape and is now back working with the people.

Hope you are all well and happy.

Much love,

The Snyders

This is an intrepid missionary (Elder Draper) standing in the street in front of the Ta Khmao Branch building. Fortunately, the building entrances are high enough off the ground that no water got inside. Of course, it was all a great adventure for the missionaries as they helped local people move belongings and performed other service for them. Ta Khmao is about five miles out of Phnom Penh and was the hardest hit area. Although some Phnom Penh streets had 12-18 inches of water, it quickly drained and there was only minor flooding in some of the buildings.

After it stopped raining, the neighborhood streets started to fill with children (and adults) taking the opportunity to have some fun or check on family, friends and neighbors. When displaced by water, it is very routine for neighbors to move in with each other until the water recedes.

This is the Ta Khmao missionary home that was flooded. This photo was taken when the water was already starting to recede, so the high level was a few inches more. Elder Ang Kosal has been serving for a couple of months as a "part-time" missionary prior to departing in November for his two-year assignment to a Khmer-speaking area in Boston, Massachusetts.

This is Prak, the reliable, tireless parking guard at our apartment. He works 12-hour shifts seven days a week. He is 23, unmarried and has finished his first year at college. We found out in August that he had to sit out a year to save enough money to pay another year's tuition. As a guard, he makes about $100 a month, and a year's tuition is $320. Thanks to the senior missionary couple who found a group of Americans willing to pay Prak's tuition via their non-profit Cambodian Education Fund, he is now back in school studying accounting.

We are watching this construction project from our kitchen window. Their use of bamboo for scaffolding and support is innovative. Wish I could spend some time on the building to get a closer view. We've watched some of the cement being hauled up in a five-gallon bucket by rope and pulley. However, they have used a modern cement truck and upper story chute for the big pours. While some city neighborhoods are definitely up-scale and some strictly poverty-level, most are a mix of upper and lower class homes. It is not unusual to see a large mansion in what Americans would view as an undesireable location.

Dear Family and Friends,

We had some excitement this week with a 24-hour rain that brought flooding to the Takhmao area about 5 miles from Phnom Penh. One of our missionary homes had three feet of water in it, and the roads were impassable for several days. It was a pretty big deal to us, but not so much for the Cambodians since they experience this from time to time and know how to deal with it. We hope to have some photos next week from the intrepid young missionaries serving in that area.

In the meantime, we've posted pics of an entrepreneur and her creations, plus some of the local flora.

Much love to all. . .

The Snyders

P.S. LDS church members on this distribution list will be interested to know that we watched the semi-annual general conference yesterday and today via DVD's. It was a great conference!

Meet Sophal. She is a housekeeper by day for one of our senior missionary couples in Kampong Thom, about 3 hours north of Phnom Penh. When they saw her talent for sewing, they suggested she try to make men's ties with the hope she could sell them to missionaries. Her first ones were a little shaky, but she soon became very professional and now sends 30-40 ties to the mission home every six weeks for sale at $2.50 each. They are quickly purchased and some of them even find their way to the U.S. and other locations as gifts for family members.

The photo doesn't really show how unique and attractive the ties are. Note the elephant theme in the third tie, and the elegant material of all of them.

Sophal always labels her ties.

There are so many beautiful and exotic (at least to our untrained eyes) flowers in Cambodia. One day last week, Sister Snyder strolled around the neighborhood of our Mission Home and snapped some quick photos. This is a flowering tree on the street.

Three more photos follow. Anyone who can identify the names of the flowers is encouraged to send us a message.

Orchids on the Mission Home grounds.

Another flower close to the Mission Home.

More flowers close to the Mission Home.

Dear Family and Friends,

Lots of rain and challenge this week, sprinkled with some great moments. Here are photos of our Bak Ku dinner, thumb wrestling, bike riding, wading through the street, and two fine young men starting a great adventure.

A quick story: I was asked to go pick up a young missionary from a clinic in a part of town unknown to me. After wandering the back streets of that neighborhood, I called back to our admin assistant, Tay, to see if he could help me. When realizing that my description of the neighborhood wasn't matching where I was supposed to be, he asked, "Are there any people around you?" I responded with, "Of course, there's always people on these streets", he said, "Stop and give your phone to one of them." I immediately pulled over to the curb, got out of the van, and handed my phone to a very-surprized man sitting at a cafe table. After a few moments of conversation, he handed the phone back to me and gestured, "Follow me!" He hopped on his moto, I followed, and it wasn't long before he started pointing at my destination. When he saw that I pulled into the parking lot, he waved and rode off. That's my moto GPS story.

Hope everything is well with you and yours.

Much love to all,

The Snyders

We went to Bak Ku a few weeks ago to help provide a meal to the Bu Phuo family and their friends who have so graciously fed us on earlier visits. We bought eight rotisserie chickens from street vendors plus a case of orange Fanta soda and a big jar of Cambodian candies. The young missionaries brought the vegetables and Bu Phuo's wife--Sophia--made the rice. It was a grand evening.

The beautiful children of Bak Ku enjoying our party. They loved the orange Fanta, the candies, and the family fun.

Passing on the ancient art of thumb wrestling to the younger generation. I was also given a lesson in Cambodian etiquette by a 10-year-old girl who was watching. I offered to thumb wrestle with her and was politely informed that girls don't do that sort of thing.

A bicycle ride in the Bak Ku neighborhood. The kids didn't think "look taa" (grandfather) could really ride a bike.

Two happy young men on their way to the Manila Missionary Training Center. Elder Tran (signalling "V") is from Hanoi and will return to the Cambodia mission. Elder Sin is going on to Australia for two years. Since their languages are different, they both communicated in English. It was delightful watching them meet for the first time. They made an instant connection and were so happy to be companions at the start of their great adventure.

October is annually the wettest month in Phnom Penh. Late this week it rained hard for about an hour and a half. One of our guards snapped a picture of an old guy wading to the van to pick up a few missionaries who were walking home from a career seminar. The missionaries had finished their two years and getting ready to go home.

Dear Family and Friends,

We just posted four photos--one of a youngster riding to school, and three of our local traffic police. Don't be too alarmed that Elder Snyder has already been pulled over three times. It's a common occurrence in Phnom Penh, plus a certain young missionary twice advised him to go down one-way streets. The young missionary has promised to repay the fines whenever he has money--not likely in the immediate future anyway. ;-)

We should mention, too, that Sister Snyder remains steadfast in her refusal to get behind the wheel. Smart woman!

We're missing the holiday season. Not much fall weather here, and turkeys, even if they'd fit in our little ovens, are $40+.

Hope everything is well with you and yours.

Much love,

The Snyders

A youngster riding his bicycle to school. He is probably carrying 500 Riel (equivalent to 12.5 cents) that he gives to his teacher to supplement her salary. Teachers are only paid 60-100 dollars a month, somewhat low even by Cambodian standards, and it is expected that the families of students subsidize teacher pay.

We are so impressed with the Phnom Penh traffic control system. Here are three of their finest enforcers. Since we've had personal experience with them (3 times), we feel relatively competent to discuss the system. Here's how it works. First, Phnom Penh cops generally buy their way into the job--somewhere between $2000 and $3000 which is a lot of money in Cambodia. Second, they work a specific block all the time. They stand at the corner and motion over any rulebreakers. Some people speed away from them, but some pull over. The cop then explains your infraction, checks your license, and asks for money. Although they have a keen eye for those with money--mainly foreigners--there is a range of expectation depending on the severity of the infraction. Phnom Penh has a lot of one-way streets that only run for a block or so. Finding yourself heading the wrong way will generally cost $5. Running a red light is $10 unless you have a Khmer passenger who is willing to fight for you. In that case, you can negotiate down to $2.50. We've known nascent (foreign) drivers who have mistakenly paid up to $50 for a fine. It should be known that the cops make their livings off of this money, though they pay a percentage to the area captain--an officer who "owns" the area and sells the jobs. Of course, the area owner reports to (pays?) the next guy up the chain. To the average Joe, this sounds like corruption, but it can be thought of a little more positively. The system is wonderfully efficient. It keeps people in line by providing great coverage (most busy city blocks), and judge, jury, and prosecuting attorney all wrapped up into one. No worries about going to court, no worries about making an appeal, no points taken from your license--just a simple negotiation and it's done. In fact, we have some Khmer drivers (of luxury vehicles) who have perfected the drive-through payment method. They drive down the one-way street and stick a $5 bill out the window as they go by the cops. Think, too, that there are no worries about putting the officers on the public payroll or even downsizing the police force during a recession. They are paid by us traffic scofflaws. What could be better?

A friendly guy, he's just trying to make a living like everybody else.

Note the radio which is used to inform other nearby officers of those motos or cars that need to be pulled over.