no one has been posting lately so I thought that you might enjoy reading the latest letter from the Reiser's. It is a good letter gives you some food for thought.
February 7, 2010
Dear Ones,
Another week - another letter…Are you ready?
We had a nice visit from a Japanese delegation representing AAR - Association for Aid and Relief. We partner with them through the National Rehabilitation Center; AAR builds the wheelchairs. Very pleasant visit; very Japanese people. Another Japanese association this week: We attended a band concert at the Vientiane International School. Brother Koichi Takei and his son Ken are members of our branch, and Ken plays the oboe in the school’s advanced beginner’s band. We loved the concert - Christmas music because the band teacher had an accident just before the concert was scheduled in December, so it was postponed until this week. School bands always are amazing because you see raw talent - potential waiting to happen - and the kids are so excited and into it, if only for the concert. The Takei family returns to Tokyo on February 24, and we’re going to miss them. Brother Takei is one of our heroes - a Saint personified.
Another trip to Thailand for dental work - this has been an unexpected part of our mission, for sure. It’s not entirely awful - since the work needed to be done, it’s nice to get it done here where it’s cheaper at least. Have we mentioned that most of the dentists are women? I would guess 98%. More positives are that we usually stop in Nongkhai for supplies for the Branch that are shipped from Bangkok, we get to see the young elders, and we make a Tesco run and usually get a KFC ice cream cone or sundae! Sanity and soul food!
The rest of the week can be capsulized in one word: HANDOVERS. We had 6 well and toilet handovers…and that’s a lot of sticky rice! These wells and toilets have been done for a long time - most since September 2009 - but for one reason or another, the handovers haven’t been done. We did 2 a day for 3 days. It’s always overwhelming to see the schools, see the villages, and interact with the students and teachers. Our blessings, folks, cannot be numbered. I quote a sentence received this week from a letter from dear MTC friends who served in India: “I don't think I will ever understand in this life how I was given the blessing of being born in America.” That’s how we feel daily, but especially when we are with the people of this developing country and see first hand how they live, what the schools are like (even at best), and eat what they eat (and we recognize they feed us the good stuff). We’ve been here 20 months. This week we saw the first little girl with a doll in a village. We drove by and, regretfully, I didn’t get a picture (President Khamphee drives with focus, and anyway, if we had stopped she likely would have run away), but the image will be forever etched in my mind. She was a ragged, dirty, beautiful little Hmong girl, probably 3 or 4 years old. Her “baby” was on her back in a typical Hmong baby carrier, and she was standing in the yard in front of her woven bamboo house. One doll in 20 months! Our hope is that we can communicate how blessed we all have been and are still - even in the tough times - and what a debt and obligation we have to share what we have with Heavenly Father’s children everywhere…wherever we are. In his CES talk on January 10, 2010, Elder Neal A. Anderson enlarged on three main points:
Number 1: You are on a journey through mortality. Our foreordained opportunities and responsibilities help shape what we are to do in mortality. In ways not fully understood, “our actions in the spirit world influence us in mortality.”
Number 2: You are to be a spiritual captain in the Lord’s cause, with a specific mission to accomplish. You and I have a spiritual destiny, and it does not allow us to ride passively in the back of the plane traveling through mortality. You were chosen and foreordained to have the gospel in your life and to be a leader in the cause of the restored gospel.
Number 3: Your sacred duty is to return safely and bring many with you. Much of your spiritual destiny will be etched in the lives of those you help spiritually.
We recommend the entire, excellent talk or broadcast to you. It can be found on lds.org.
We send our love to all of you. You are in our thoughts and hearts and prayers - always,
Dad and Mom, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister Riser, Scott and Jolene
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