Two Years+ Reunion

August 15, 2009. Excellent! Couldn't have been a better day yesterday. The highlight, of course, was seeing Ben for the first time in two years and three weeks. We rented a tuk-tuk to get to the mission home--a couple of elders waved at us as we were coming down the street. As we walked through the gate, Ben shot out from the behind the gate and surprised us--we were teary-happy and other elders were snapping our pictures.

We enjoyed a lasagna dinner, especially the delicious fresh fruits for dessert. The best dessert was the devotional where we all sang, "Called to Serve," President and Sister Smedley each spoke briefly, we watched a DVD about John Moyle entitled "Only a Stonecutter" (Moyle was a stonecutter at the SLC temple), and then we got to hear each of the nine departing missionaries bear his testimony. When Ben bore his testimony, he mentioned how he never would have dreamed of serving a mission a short three years ago--he was emotional and mentioned how he never cries when he bears his testimony--so he credited his dad who was quite choked up himself for the tears. Absolutely a perfect day.

August 13, 2009. New experience: when I got out of the air-conditioned taxi from the Phnom Penh airport in front of our hotel, my glasses fogged up. Serious! It was a bit of the opposite experience of walking into a warm house after being outside on a cold winter day. The humid Phnom Penh evening left me in a fog--and I chuckled.

The Asiana airlines which we flew from Seattle to Seoul (12 hours) and then Seoul to Phnom Penh (5.5 hours) is the Airline of the Year 2009. And we could certainly see why! The service was "top rate," as Don kept saying . . . hot towels; two full meals; snacks; a sandwich; an endless supply of water, juice, and pop; toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Daniel smiled big when the headphones were handed out--plenty of movie-watching time.

My favorite quote of the day is by Daniel as we were standing at the rear of the last flight waiting for all the other passengers to unload. We were talking about getting to see Ben tomorrow night at 6, and Daniel said, "I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it!" Me, too, Daniel. Me, too!!