THANKS FOR GIVING TO LDS CHARITIES AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The rice was purchased

Bagged and sent.

Our time was never 

Better spent.

This was in the province of Champasak  in southern Laos.

There was flooding here in September. It was said to be the worst in 35 years.

Their rice crop was destroyed.

Inside the homes you could see the water line that was chest deep.

We were grateful for the young volunteers who speak Pathed Lao

THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN': VISION CLINIC IN LAOS

THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN'

This joint was really jumpin'!

IT'S REALLY JUMPIN'
COME IN CATS, AND CHECK YOUR HATS
THIS JOINT IS REALLY JUMPIN'!----Fats Waller

This is Dr. Anson Call and his wife Kathy being honored for their part in the vision clinic here at the Mahosot Hospital. We were really busy helping with this.

Elder Kyle Wright and a happy patient. She giggled as I walked her over to be fitted with reading glasses. I wonder if she had ever talked to Americans before. She she was really delightful.

We couldn't have done it without our Branch members' translation skills. This is David Burton from Eye Care 4 Kids and his two helpers: Puy and her sister Puy. I'm not kidding. You say one Puy with a different voice inflection than the other. I love these girls.

The whole Eye Care 4 Kids crew and the Forbes family fundraisers and Chandy who brought us such delicious lunches.

We dispensed almost 2,000 pairs of eyeglasses in four days.That is Elder Johnson in the back. 

Have you ever seen a finer bunch of nurses? They were there to have their eyes checked, too.

The chair next to me dropped me to the floor when it broke. 

This is the head nurse with her able assistant.  A laugh a minute, this one.

This is Joseph Carbon of Eye Care 4 Kids hard at work. His able assistant Elder Murray.

E. and S. Singley, E. Murray, E. Johnson, E. Xiong, E. Wright,     S. and E.  Jorgensen

You can see Dr. Anson Call, here on the far left, training hospital staff in Occular Surgery. He also performed surgeries at the hospital each day. We rarely saw him, he was so busy. His wife worked by his side through the day, every day.

Everyone worked so hard and we loved it.
"Every Mose was on his toes. This joint was really jumpin'!"

THREE GRADUATIONS, TWO WEDDINGS, A BAPTISM AND A PRIMARY PROGRAM

There's a party going on right here.

A celebration to last throughout the year.

So bring your good times

And your laughter too.

We'll celebrate your party with you!

This is the party after the hand-over of certificates. These are module 2 students Glenn and I taught together. We're singing, "Yesterday Once More" ----Carpenters. They also love "Country Roads" ----John Denver

These are all our students from Vientiane Capital Education and Sports Department. Glenn taught a Module one class and I taught another.  We team taught Module two. Glenn is sitting next to a representative from the Ministry of Education and I am sitting next to the Director of our school. The other couple with name tags are the Jorgensons, the missionary couple we serve with. These are good people that surround us.

These are the students we taught at our church headquarters, DIC.  Great group.

This is one of Elder and Sister Jorgensen's students.  Priceless.

Jorgenson's school.

 

Our friend Anne at her niece's wedding.

This is the tuk tuk we rode home in.

The next wedding.
 The son of our friends and his bride.

More friends at the second wedding.
Good food and good friends at both weddings. 

The first primary program ever in the Laos Branch. Great job everyone.

Top that off with a baptism and you've got a great couple of weeks. 

THIS IS WHY WE ARE HERE

Teeter totter
Bread and water
Wash your face
In dirty water.

Remember the old see saw rhyme?

 This morning, I hopped in the shower. It was nice and warm but it is unfiltered water of course. So you keep your mouth shut and don't drink it. The picture above is not my shower. It is a sink outside a toilet facility at a school. Many of the sinks in these schools do not have water because the wells go dry in the dry season or their well is an open well that has to be hand drawn as Jack and Jill did when they went up the hill. Not only that, when the well goes dry, the toilets have to be locked because there is no water to flush them.

Some schools do have water but the water is salty or has high bacteria count. It can be used for flushing toilets. So that is better than nothing.

All this sink needs is a tap and some water. Sounds simple, no?

Here is the process for bringing water to the pupils.

First the schools ask for some help from our charity. We have so many requests, it takes a while to get to the most needy schools. 

Then, we make a visit to the school and look at the situation to see if they have any sources of water that are underutilized; have wells that can be rehabilitated; or really have sufficient water for their needs.

This one is an open well that is used for hauling bucket loads out by hand to flush toilets(as they have been doing). It will be filled in once the new well is working.

If we decide we can drill a well for them, the well must be on high ground far away from any contamination. This is just a pond near a school.

 Our contractor begins pinpointing where to put the well once the contracts have been signed and approved by the school, village leaders and  Deseret International Charities (DIC is our charity that is funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Also, the toilets we build must be far enough away  to not be a source of contamination later. 

This is Earl Jorgenson facing the camera. He and his wife are also serving as humanitarian missionaries here in Laos. The contractors in the distance are building toilets for the school now that the well is drilled. Our driver is the one with his back to the camera.

The water tank is then hoisted up so the water can be stored for use. The school builds a concrete and brick structure around the well and the pump so that the well remains clean and the pump isn't stolen. After the trenches are dug by the village residents, the pipe is laid to connect sinks, toilets and faucets to the tank.
A handover ceremony is held to turn everything over to the school so that they can take care of it and use it. It is a festive occasion.

'Tis a Gift to Be Simple

'Tis the gift to be simple,

'Tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down

Where we ought to be,

A couple of weeks ago, a student in one of our English classes lamented the fact that Vientiane has changed so much in the last 30 years.  He remembered streets that were not crowded with cars and life was more simple. He said people were more content. Now there are so many vehicles of all sorts, it takes lots of time just to go a few kilometers. I see his point for sure.

I am, however, experiencing just the opposite. There is something quite peaceful about having only two suitcases full of personal belongings  to fill my drawers and closet. Remember, that includes clothing and personal items like lots of mosquito repellent.

I know, I know. That's not a mosquito and no amount of repellent will help with this big boy (who by the way probably doesn't bite).

I once read a book by Anne Morrow Lindberg called Gift from the Sea. She took a few items with her to a beach house and unwound her complicated life by living simply.

I am not living like that. But, in a way life is simpler here. We are very busy everyday with our projects and our teaching. We have things waiting in the wings like a project to take 25 tons of rice to some flood victims in Southern Laos. But, at least I don't have a lot of possessions to worry about. Which means, I do laundry a little more often but they are smaller batches that are easily washed and hung out on the line.

Tonight as I was heating up the water with which to rinse the dishes, I thought about how at home my water is already hot and clean out of the tap. I throw the dishes into the dishwasher and do a load once a day. But, even boiling water for drinking doesn't really take that much time compared to the time some of my distractions take at home. By the way, I don't count my children and grandchildren as distractions.  I do miss my kids and grandchildren. But, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to keep connected with video chats and email.

Life here took a little getting used to at first but I have a gas stove and oven; a washer; a fridge, a water purifier that takes out most of the impurities;  a computer with the internet; and a microwave. I think the most important thing I have is a comfortable bed. Life is good. 
The only thing I buy is food and household supplies.

But, have I mentioned that one of the biggest blessings is that we don't have to drive in this traffic. We walked to the grocery store the other day and the bank. Today we walked to the mall.

 We have the best driver to drive us to all of our well sites and our English Classes and a million other places that we can't walk to easily. If we had to find the schools on those back roads....we'd be lost for days. And now we've come full circle where I'm talking about the traffic my student was complaining about.

We reminded him that the life expectancy has gone up and people generally don't have as much back breaking work. He shrugged and still yearned for the good old days.