Published: Sunday, June 12, 201
By Kristine Frederickson,
The Mormon Times
Seiha sat in his rented house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, eager to talk with fellow LDS Church members, Chelsea and Tiffany, who were in Cambodia from Utah for one month to work in orphanages teaching English and helping the people in any way they could.
Seiha, his mother, older sister, her husband, their son and Seiha’s cousin/adopted sister, all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, share a small, wooden-planked, one-room house that sits on stilts over murky water filled with refuse in a poor part of the capital of Cambodia. A Third-World country, Cambodia is recovering from the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge — the Communist party of Kampuchea — in power from 1975-1979, responsible for a genocide that left 1.7 to 2.5 million people dead and depleted the nation’s population by 21 percent.
A guide for Global Outreach Foundation, an organization that sponsors Americans who go to Third-World countries to help improve people’s lives, Seiha, his sister and brother-in-law are all returned missionaries. Once young people convert, it is their hearts' desire to serve missions, and without fail every LDS young woman Chelsea and Tiffany met was a returned missionary.
This day, as always, Seiha was eager to talk about the church and especially about temples. In Cambodia today, the LDS Church is seeing great success. In Phnom Penh alone there are four branches, and missionaries are not only baptizing individuals, but they are seeing whole families join the church. There are about 10 baptisms per week in the capital, and each ward has three sets of busy missionaries.
Tiffany and Chelsea noted that the Cambodian people, since Pol Pot, innately care for one another. The brutality of the Khmer Rouge left the nation shattered. And while there are still individuals who were part of the regime and remain brutal and callous to human misery and suffering — sexual trafficking in women and children is a serious problem in Cambodia — the majority of the people were victims of the Communists. As society rebounded from the horrors perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, the way people treated each other changed. They are more caring; they cherish relationships and look out for one another.
It's no surprise that when Seiha talked to Tiffany and Chelsea, he wanted to learn all he could about the Mormon church in the United States and to talk about temples. Seiha explained the sacrifice required for a person to attend the temple, as the closest temples are in Korea (1,100 miles away) and the Philippines (2,256 miles). On average, it takes three years to save the $600 to go to the temple, and many never have the privilege. Yet the desire is great because so many long to make eternal covenants and to do work for loved ones who died under the Khmer Rouge.
Click to enlarge
Image
When someone is able to go, upon returning, virtually the entire three-hour block of Sunday meetings is altered so temple attendees can share their experiences. A recently returned Cambodian sister described the temple as the “most peaceful place on earth.” Often overcome with emotion, she explained that for three days she was in the Philippines doing baptisms, initiatory work, sealings and endowments. She eagerly entered the temple when the doors were first unlocked and stayed until they shut, never taking time from her precious experience to eat until the temple closed. She expressed the joy she felt when sealed to relatives who lost their lives under the Khmer Rouge. Seiha stated that every general conference the Cambodian Saints eagerly listen to the announcement of new temples, hoping that someday soon one will be built in Southeast Asia.
It is hard for Seiha to believe that in Utah there are so many temples, yet “not everyone who is Mormon acts Mormon.” Aware that temples dot the Wasatch Front, he told Chelsea and Tiffany, “Sisters, I don’t understand that some people do bad. Don’t they see temples all around them? How could they do bad?”
Chelsea and Tiffany were also struck by the fact that although the Cambodian people have little, and the orphanages are packed with children who have virtually nothing, the people are happy. They smile and laugh and appreciate what they have.
Being a member of an international church, it is lovely to observe the faith of converts throughout the world who do not take their membership in Christ’s church lightly. In Cambodia, the Saints appreciate their baptismal covenants, treasure temples and understand that true joy lies in knowing Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. They understand that it is a great privilege to make covenants with God and to worship in the temple.
By Kristine Frederickson,
The Mormon Times
Seiha sat in his rented house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, eager to talk with fellow LDS Church members, Chelsea and Tiffany, who were in Cambodia from Utah for one month to work in orphanages teaching English and helping the people in any way they could.
Seiha, his mother, older sister, her husband, their son and Seiha’s cousin/adopted sister, all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, share a small, wooden-planked, one-room house that sits on stilts over murky water filled with refuse in a poor part of the capital of Cambodia. A Third-World country, Cambodia is recovering from the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge — the Communist party of Kampuchea — in power from 1975-1979, responsible for a genocide that left 1.7 to 2.5 million people dead and depleted the nation’s population by 21 percent.
A guide for Global Outreach Foundation, an organization that sponsors Americans who go to Third-World countries to help improve people’s lives, Seiha, his sister and brother-in-law are all returned missionaries. Once young people convert, it is their hearts' desire to serve missions, and without fail every LDS young woman Chelsea and Tiffany met was a returned missionary.
This day, as always, Seiha was eager to talk about the church and especially about temples. In Cambodia today, the LDS Church is seeing great success. In Phnom Penh alone there are four branches, and missionaries are not only baptizing individuals, but they are seeing whole families join the church. There are about 10 baptisms per week in the capital, and each ward has three sets of busy missionaries.
Tiffany and Chelsea noted that the Cambodian people, since Pol Pot, innately care for one another. The brutality of the Khmer Rouge left the nation shattered. And while there are still individuals who were part of the regime and remain brutal and callous to human misery and suffering — sexual trafficking in women and children is a serious problem in Cambodia — the majority of the people were victims of the Communists. As society rebounded from the horrors perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, the way people treated each other changed. They are more caring; they cherish relationships and look out for one another.
It's no surprise that when Seiha talked to Tiffany and Chelsea, he wanted to learn all he could about the Mormon church in the United States and to talk about temples. Seiha explained the sacrifice required for a person to attend the temple, as the closest temples are in Korea (1,100 miles away) and the Philippines (2,256 miles). On average, it takes three years to save the $600 to go to the temple, and many never have the privilege. Yet the desire is great because so many long to make eternal covenants and to do work for loved ones who died under the Khmer Rouge.
Click to enlarge
Image
When someone is able to go, upon returning, virtually the entire three-hour block of Sunday meetings is altered so temple attendees can share their experiences. A recently returned Cambodian sister described the temple as the “most peaceful place on earth.” Often overcome with emotion, she explained that for three days she was in the Philippines doing baptisms, initiatory work, sealings and endowments. She eagerly entered the temple when the doors were first unlocked and stayed until they shut, never taking time from her precious experience to eat until the temple closed. She expressed the joy she felt when sealed to relatives who lost their lives under the Khmer Rouge. Seiha stated that every general conference the Cambodian Saints eagerly listen to the announcement of new temples, hoping that someday soon one will be built in Southeast Asia.
It is hard for Seiha to believe that in Utah there are so many temples, yet “not everyone who is Mormon acts Mormon.” Aware that temples dot the Wasatch Front, he told Chelsea and Tiffany, “Sisters, I don’t understand that some people do bad. Don’t they see temples all around them? How could they do bad?”
Chelsea and Tiffany were also struck by the fact that although the Cambodian people have little, and the orphanages are packed with children who have virtually nothing, the people are happy. They smile and laugh and appreciate what they have.
Being a member of an international church, it is lovely to observe the faith of converts throughout the world who do not take their membership in Christ’s church lightly. In Cambodia, the Saints appreciate their baptismal covenants, treasure temples and understand that true joy lies in knowing Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. They understand that it is a great privilege to make covenants with God and to worship in the temple.
6 comments:
I have nothing against Christians but they really need to learn tolerance. Khmer people will lose pride in the Hindu and Buddhist temples they built if this keeps up.
One after another Christians opportunist bastards trying to grabhold of Cambodian populations through exploitation of their disadavantages by injecting Jesus Christ into their lives. These Christian are on the bring of madness to convert every living human being on earth to believe that only Jesus Christ can save them. The white Christian are nortoriously tenatious in their mission of conversion. This is why there are attack on Christian all over the world.
These Christians are helping poor Khmers so we should welcome their works. When you are poor, religion is secondary, you tend to follow whatever religion that can fed your stomach. Good job.
Something is wrong with the social fabric in Cambodia. I blame on the believing system that contribute to this social ill. You can see the poor kids work and skip school while the capable adults and young adults lived a sedentary lives in monasteries. Monks engaged in outrageous sexual scandals and made money by performing some questionable rituals. Domestic violence and rape are sky rocketing and other crimes and drugs abusing are widespread. I'm coming to admire our Khmer Islam minority whose community is more safe in term of rarely have rape,less vices etc...
Also the new Christian faith groups are doing well too. Khmer spent a lot of time and resources on Buddhism,let's hope this main stream believing system can serve the society well in this present live and the next.
1:00 PM, you're a digrace for insulting Buddhism, assuming you're not a Buddhist, assuming your'e Christian or Catholic. These two faiths have committed so much sin onto themselves that they don't even realize it. The history of atrosity committed by these two faiths by the believers have earned themselves a special place in hell. You're just picking and choosing the negative side of a few misbehaved Buddhism monks who have committed sin and generalized that as the fault of Buddhism and blaming the poor and suffering of people who are Buddhist. This is base on your Christian or Catholic ignorant.
You're telling me that Christian or Catholic have no scandals? Well, I hope you remember those the huge scandals involving priests molesting and having sex with young boys? Should I blame that on the priests or your faiths?
Buddha, Yesua(Jesus Chirst), and Mohammed are masters or great teachers. Please try to open your eyes and realize that all those great masters of each religion preaches to people to do good to one another. As time past, believers take things into their own hands and twisted a bit to serve their purpose. If you don't agree then you are not practicing the teaching of your religion. If you are practicing the teaching of your religion, don't do it because you are a Christian or a Catholic, but do it because you want to help another human being. If we can do that, we are all god's(whoever he or she might be) children. I'm a Buddhist, when I help another person for whatever reason. I did it not because I'm a Buddhist or make any hint that I'm a Buddhist. I did it because I want to help that human being. His/her appreciation for my help is what god see in me. This why I love god and fear god.
HUMANITY DIVIDED BY RELIGIONS,
I can't help it but to say a few more things. Religions seems to be connected with violence virtually everywhere. In recent years, religions violence has erupted among right-wing Christians in America, angry Muslims and Jews in the Middle East, quarrelling Hindus and Muslims in South Asia, and violence clashed in Southeast Asia between 2 Buddhist neighbors of Cambodia and Thailand. The human family is divided by religions with several major religious power locked in perptual rivalry. Is there any reason to believe that Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims will ever help each other to ever exist together peacefully?
Another sad reality is the fragmentation that exist within each of those principle religious blocks. According to one estimate, Christiandom is broken up into more than 30,000 demominations. Islam is also devided by conflicting beliefs. Disunity amongs Muslims is the root cause of the problems in the Islamic world. other influential religions such as Hinduism and Judaism are like wise, fractured into many conflicing sects.
Religions seem to influence nearly every aspect of secular life. Religious people are getting more vocal and misrepresent in all sorts of fields in business and politic. Religion is also creeping up in economics. The more damaging influence has to do with the long-standing history of religion meddling in politic. They should be seperated. Religions is more likley to be the cause of war when relegion and the state authorities become closely allied or intertwined. Religion has been to this day, tightly interlocked with politic. In many part of the world, predominant religions have become symbols of patriotic and racial identities. As a result, the line between nationalistic hatred, racial prejudice, ethnic rivalry and religious enmity are vitually indistinguishable. This explosive cocktail has the necessary ingredients to tear the world apart. The perplexing paradox in all of this is that much of the religions such as Christian, claim to represent the God of the Bible, the Creator. Does it make any sense that an almighty, all-wise, see-all, know-all, loving Creator would have anything to do with divisive and bloodguilty religions?
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