November 1 to November 3, 2021
Couple missionary retreat
One of the funniest things that we did this week was going on a couple missionary trip. Back when President and Sister John Lewis was mission president here, Sister Lewis had put a deposit on this Koh Andet Eco resort for the senior missionary to come out for a retreat, unfortunately with Covid missionaries were sent home so this deposit was on hold. The reservation was made back in 2020 and the Lewis and most of the previous couple missionaries are now gone. However, President Neang and his wife decided that instead of forfeiting the deposit, we should use the it for all the five couples: the Jensens (Randall & Karen), the Dandoys (Brad & Kimie), the Sellers (Dan and Marian), Yans and President and Sister Neang to come out for a 3 days 2 nights retreat.
It was a 5 Hours drive to get Koh Andet Eco Resort; we left early in the morning and drive out of the city to go to this province called Tatai and the near by Tatai River that flow out to South China Sea; it feels very much in nature: each of the room is built on the river and is floating; there are queen size bed in each room, mosquito net over the bed, a full bathroom with a shower in wooden tub, the back door opens to the river; I can sit on the steps of the open balcony and soak my feet in the river.
During the wet season, the water in the river is fed by rain water from the mountains so it is fresh water, during the dry season, there is not much rain so sea water will come in from the ocean and the water become sea water, bringing to it squid, crab and fish from the ocean. The journey to the resort was pleasant, we rode with the Neang; we are almost to the resort but the road turned muddy! It took some engineering to get the SUV unstuck from the mud; our day one journey ends with us all sitting on the floating balcony, enjoying the sound of water beating against our floating room, rain coming down and a nice cool breezes!
After dinner, we play a fun get to know you game lead by Elder and Sister Dandoy, it’s questions we are asked of our spouses, a like of the newly wed games! It was fun! One of the interesting question asked the men was: What kind of car do you feel you are? choices: an Sedan car, a Black Ford Truck or a tuk tuk. All of the man said they are heavy duty truck; when it was my turn, I said most man would feel like they are the truck, but I feel Ted is a tuk tuk to me, a tuk tuk can weave in and out of traffic quickly, get to places very fast and able to carry many small/big load, plus very efficient! I am so grateful for Ted, he has been the best man for me!
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| Sitting on the porch outside our room, enjoying the quiet scenery |
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| Stopped by a restaurant, they have real size wood elephants |
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| This is our room for 2 night |
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| A view from the river looking at the bunkers |
Day 2: we have a morning get together studying Doctrine and Covenant section 128 lead by Elder Jensen about baptism for the death and keeping records; there were more questions answered: why is our salvation depend on our deceased! How can record be kept when there is none to be found? What is the book of life? Is it us - we are the book of life? One thing we do know is that God knows and all He requires of us is obedient, when we do what He asked, although we don’t understand, it is for our benefit!
After breakfast we chartered a boat to go out to the ocean to see the menglobe trees, then the boat drove around the largest island in Cambodia called Kok Kong, we stopped at a nice beach, soak our feet in the South China Sea, saw Thailand at a distance, what was supposed to be a 6 hours trip turned into more than 11 hours! After the beach if we would have gone back to the way we came, we would have been back to the resort in no time (2 hours) but our young guides insisted on going around the island which takes over 4 hours, than we run out of gas and has to stop at Phumi Chrouy Pros, another small fishing village, then our boat got stuck in the low tide, has to turn back and take the longer route!
We did have some interesting adventures; we visited a fishing town along the river, in town, visited a pagoda with beautiful painting adorned the walls of the temple, ancestry shrine outside the temple, saw a school, and used an opened bathroom!
All in all, it didn’t quite turned out the way we envisioned it, but it was interesting to experience it!
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| We all boarded a boat, ready for the 6 hours boat ride, which turned out to be more than 10 hours! |
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| Fishing village |
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| Fishing village, houses on stiltes |
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| Getting off the boat to enjoy the beach, you can see the Indian ocean. |
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| Pagoda on a hill in the fishing village, beautiful wall paintings adorn the inside of the temple |
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| Found this baby boy (probably no more than 2) bathing himself. |
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Then, after the bath, we were surprised to see that he also washes his own clothes! They are teaching them right young!
 | | We were surprised to find a Turkey on the Resort we were staying at! We are ready for our Thanksgiving dinner! |
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