Walking the red carpet as we honorably finish our mission and depart for home the evening of May 18, 2012.  The last two days were spent in full work mode processing more than 20 incoming missionaries from the Provo and Manila MTC's, opening five new missionary homes, and helping with the huge transfer of missionaries.  There was a lot of happy noise in the mission home--the perfect way to finish our mission!

The mission postcard we distributed, as per tradition, prior to our departure.  The moto belongs to Chhoeun Kunthy.  Yes, it is only a staged photo and we weren't actually riding.   ;-)

Saying goodbye to Kok Sokchea and his wife and daughter.  Sokchea is the travel agent that performed many miracles for the mission.

Saying goodbye to Elder Sok.  Earlier in his mission, he faithfully tried to pay $30 that he didn't owe.

Saying goodbye to Sisters My Hoa and Yen.

All four of these beautiful missionaries are from Branch 3.

Saying goodbye to President Chhoeun and his son, Kunthea, who is a returned missionary and one of our favorite security guards at the mission home.

Eating Durian (outside) with Horl Mon, a returned missionary and one of our favorite security guards.  The pungent fruit was purchased as a going away gift by Kha Ai, the Central District Relief Society President.

Saying goodbye to Tay Phirum and Soy Kosal and their beautiful families.  The photo was taken at Mike's Burger.

Passing the 'senior-senior' torch to Elder Spencer.  The wooden box contained historical documents important to senior missionaries serving in Cambodia and Vietnam.  The Snyder's served as the 'senior' senior missionaries for 10 months, believed to be a mission record.

Saying goodbye to Central District President Son Vu Trieu.

Saying goodbye to Anh Ny and his family.  He was baptized within the last year, received the Melchizedek Priesthood, and is faithfully serving.  He is 66 years old.

Saying goodbye to President and Sister Choung.  She is an energetic Sunday School teacher and he is a member of the district presidency who said at a conference, "You cannot put on and take off the priesthood like an old coat."

Last Saturday we took the bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon, Vietnam.  The six-hour trip was an adventure in itself.  We attended Church meetings in the Ho Chi Minh City Branch and then visited in the apartment of Elder and Sister Blinn, humanitarian missionaries from Maine.  While there, Sister Snyder helped prepare a U.S. visa application in behalf of Sister Bui (seated) who has recently been called to serve a mission in Atlanta, Georgia.  Standing are the effervescent missionaries, Sisters Huong and Huong, who are both from Hanoi.

The view from our room on the 7th floor of the Lan Lan 1 Hotel close to Ben Thanh Market in District 1 of Saigon.  The 3-star hotel was immaculate and the service incredible.  The cost was $42 per night, including a very-nice breakfast buffet.  We stayed for four nights and on the last night we celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary at a posh restaurant on the 23rd floor of the Sheraton Hotel overlooking the city lights.

We spent Monday on a special excursion to the Mekong Delta, accompanied by (former) Elder Ly and the four missionaries serving in the HCMC Branch.
Our first stop was to the snake farm where many varieties slithered their way into our cameras. This movie star wannabe posed on top of the sign describing him and his extended family.

This 68-year-old woman was the lead paddler and guide for our two-boat, 15-minute glide through a jungle area.  To say that she was physically fit for her age would be an understatement.  The boats each held four passengers plus two guides, one on the front and one on the back.  Passengers were expected to paddle as well.  People later asked if the boat trip evoked memories of my earlier years in Vietnam, but it was not an issue since my units operated in hilly regions further north where the terrain was different.  (I did, however, on Tuesday visit a war museum that brought those memories front and center.)

Lunch was served in this comfortable structure.  We had Asian spring rolls, pork and rice, and the main dish shown in the next slide.

The guest of honor at our meal was this Elephant Ear fish.  It was raised in the stream running through the island.  Only the bones remained after the meal.  Our driver polished off the head.

Just a couple of kids journeying through life.  We are so fortunate and grateful.

Sister Snyder is a rock star!  Members of the three Viet-speaking branches put on a special party in honor of her May 2 birthday.  It was so much fun to be with these special people.  In addition to the traditional birthday cake and song, we played charades that had everyone laughing.  It also was a bit of a farewell party, so we had opportunity to express our love and admiration for these beautiful people.  We will miss them so much.  (The other couple in the photo are the Westover's who are replacing us.  They are already doing a great job!)

These 12 missionaries are on their way to Manila for three weeks of training prior to their return to Cambodia.  The young woman at the right is Chhoeun Kunthy, a returned missionary who serves as their translator during the English-speaking training at Manila.  It is a testimony to the strength of youth that they are all alert and happy.  Most of them were so excited that they didn't get any sleep the night before.  They all speak the Khmer language and three also speak Vietnamese.  None of them (except Kunthy) had ever been on a plane and they were excited about that, too.

The excited missionaries with well-wishers at the airport.

Special friends--the Kiet's and the Snyder's.

Elder Jacob Nguyen just before baptizing 84-year-old Ke Sum, a delightful individual with a keen mind and beautiful countenance.

Wat Phnom (Hill Temple) is a local landmark that was repainted within the last few weeks for the Khmer New Year celebration.  This bamboo seven-headed snake was constructed just before the celebration.  Decorated with lights, it is even a more striking display in the evening.

Long Saret and Som Mondavy in a recent pre-wedding photo.  They will have a civil ceremony on May 9th, and then fly to the Hong Kong Temple to be sealed for time and eternity on May 15th.  Saret is a returned missionary who works as an admin assistant in the mission office while attending university studies in the evening.  Davy is a returned missionary who works for a charitable organization in Phnom Penh.  She already has her university degree and serves as the Country History Director for the Church.

Saret and Davy in a photo taken at the mission home.

Horl Mon and his wife, Lim, at their wedding.  Mon is a returned missionary who is now working as a guard at the mission home while attending the university in the evenings.  Lim works in a garment factory.  They are a sweet young couple with bright futures.

Mon and Lim at a birthday party a few days before their wedding.

Although we did not take this photo, and it was taken in another Asian country, we couldn't resist posting the imagery of a loyal son supporting his father in a unique way.

Since Siem Reap is such a popular tourist attraction, it has several large buffet-style restaurants which feature traditional Khmer dance performances.  We enjoyed the graceful dancers and elaborate costumes.

When your home is the water, any "boat" will do.

Anyone for a foot massage?  No, these are not piranhas, they are little fish that eat the dead skin off your feet.  For $3 you can leave your feet in for as long as you like and they advertise that anyone who does it for 30 minutes gets their money back.  Sister Snyder made it five minutes and laughed the whole time. She said it wasn't ticklish, just weird.  Our fearless daughter put her hand in the water for a few seconds and declined to join her mother.  Elder Snyder sagely focused on the camera work.

We spent an hour at the Siem Reap Silk Farm watching the process of making silk start to finish. It was very informative and interesting, especially seeing how they take the strands of silk from the cocoons. Silk worms are very picky about what they eat, restricting their diet to mulberry leaves. Here they are munching away.

This was taken inside a Buddhist Temple that was open to the public and photographs were allowed. The temple, Wat Thmei, was at a Killing Fields memorial. Many Cambodian communities have these memorials.

After our morning excursion to Angkor Wat, we were driven to a docking area for boats taking tourists to a nearby floating village. Our captain looked to be about 10, and that age was confirmed in later conversation. He did a nice job piloting our craft through a low-water channel to the open waters of the Tonle Sap Lake where exist many Vietnamese and Cham floating villages. We spent several hours touring around the homes, and docking at a large platform complete with gift shop, food and observation deck.

We passed many homes like this and noted that they are larger than many of the homes we visit along the riverside areas of Phnom Penh-most of which are built in levels to accommodate the annual flooding. The lake homes shown here rise with the water level and are anchored to keep them more or less in the same area. During the rainy, high-water season, they band closely together for protection from the rain storms and rising waters.

The village has its own stores, school and church. Here is a store complete with TV antenna. The white containers on the 'porch' are for clean water. Latter-day Saint Charities (LDSC) has helped install clean-water generators for floating villages. Our friends, Lynne and Craig Peterson, facilitated one such project when they served as humanitarian missionaries here. Clean water is a huge health issue for floating villagers who, for centuries, have used lake water for both drinking and waste disposal.

Notice the backpacks on two of the children being taken home from school by their mother. This mother's journey homeward may be less stressful than that encountered by USA moms fighting traffic to pick up their kids. As for the kids? Well, no worries about constraining car seats, just a casual hand trailing in the water.

This group of people were enjoying visiting with each other toward the end of the day. The Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asia. In the dry season, it covers about 2700 sq. km but grows to over 16,000 sq. km during the rainy season because the force of the Mekong pushes water back up the Tonle Sap River--a unique reverse flow phenomenon. Some parts of the lake are only a meter or two deep in the dry season but the depth increases to nine meters or more during the wet season.

We stopped at a floating platform for tourists and saw these friendly fellows checking us out.

The sun was starting to set as our young captain piloted the boat back toward Siem Reap.

Time is racing by and we haven't yet posted photos of our two-day trip (March 29-30) to Siem Reap with our daughter. All missionaries serving in Cambodia are allotted one trip to see the Angkor Wat Temple complex, and our daughter's visit made this the perfect time for us. We flew to Siem Reap late afternoon of the 28th, ate supper at a tourist buffet with Khmer dancers, and stayed in a simple guesthouse for $16 per night. Our merciless guide had us up at 4 am to leave by 5 for Angkor Wat via a tuk tuk driven by popular Church member Dara. They wanted to make sure we saw the sunrise over the temple. Then we rode the elephant and toured the Bayon and Ta Prohm temple areas before a quick lunch and trip to the Tonle Sap Lake for a tour of the floating village (more on that next week). That took a while so we barely had time to meet another senior couple at the Viva Restaurant in Siem Reap for a nice Khmer/Mexican dinner. We were too tired to do the night market and returned to the guest house at 8:30. The next day we went to Angkor Artisans, the Silk Farm, a Killing Fields display, a Buddhist temple, and then back to the airport. Of course, the plane was delayed so we didn't get back to Phnom Penh until late--so late that we opted for a $9 taxi ride instead of a $7 tuk tuk ride. It was worth it! The following six postings show photos from the temples, with a promise of more highlights next week.

Note: Our daughter is a busy mother so was only able to spend five days with us--two were spent in Siem Reap, and three were taken up with Phnom Penh sightseeing, shopping at Russian, Central and Olympic markets, and attending Church meetings on Sunday.

Rebecca Anne (Snyder) Mengwasser, our beautiful adventuresome daughter. The mother of three gorgeous daughters and the wife of Navy Lieutenant Commander Alan Mengwasser, Rebecca joined us in Cambodia for the fastest days of our mission.

The famed Angkor Wat, roughly translated as 'City Temple', as seen just after dawn with the reflecting pool in the foreground. It is a great source of national pride, (its image is on the Cambodian flag) and the country's prime tourist attraction. Built over hundreds of years starting in the early 12th century, it is the best preserved temple of antiquity in the country. With a distinct Hindu influence (prior to Buddhism) it was built with a massive moat and an outer wall 2.2 miles long. Our guide was quick to point out that the moat no longer contains man-eating crocodiles.

We loved the elephants! Prior to the ride, we purchased a big 'bunch' of bananas for a dollar and fed them up close and personal, stroking their trunks under the watchful supervision of their handlers. A 15-minute ride around the Bayon Temple complex cost $15 for each passenger.

This photo was taken from the top of our elephant. Bayon Temple is the central temple of the ancient walled city of Angkor Thom, located just to the north of Angkor Wat. It is a Buddhist temple with elements of Hinduism. The temple represents the intersection of heaven and earth. It was built in 1190 AD by King Jayavarman VII.

Three smiling faces. Bayon is known for its huge stone faces--well over 200 of them.

The third temple site we visited was Ta Prohm, unique in that it has (as cited at sacred-destinations.com) been largely left to the clutches of the living jungle. With its dynamic interaction between nature and man-made art, this atmospheric temple is a favorite for many - who can't help but feel a little like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft (which was filmed here) as they pick through the rubble.

Construction on Ta Prohm began in 1186 AD. Originally known as Rajavihara (Monastery of the King), Ta Prohm was a Buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of King Jayavarman VII. An inscription at Ta Prohm provides statistics on the temple's workers. Allowing for some exaggeration to honor the king, the inscription's report of around 80,000 workers, including 2700 officials and 615 dancers, is still astounding. Sadly, Ta Prohm has been looted in recent years due to its relative isolation, and many of its ancient stone reliquaries have been lost.