Elder & Sister Stone

Under Contract

This past week has been an intense week of submitting more projects for approval and developing contracts. We have submitted 7 projects last week, which translate into about 10 contracts. We have 4 more projects we submitted this week which will amount to about 12 more contracts. We do extensive work to prepare projects that contain the detail and the clarity of how the money will be spent and how the recipients will support and help in the project.

A completed incinerator. The ash falls to the bottom and is cleaned out at the access point. The fire breaths through that hole, trash is added at the top. It creates a better way to dispose of the trash that accumulates.

After a project meets criteria and is approved, there is a great deal of work to codify what will be done, by who, when it will be done and how much we will spend. It indicates who will own it and what their obligation is. The contract includes the details about the three parties to the contract. Each step is carefully crafted and when fully complete and again approved, it is printed in 3 copies, signed by the three parties and then work can begin. The three parties to a contract include the contractor, the beneficiary (a school or health center) and the Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (The legal name of the Church here in Cambodia)

An incinerator under construction. We build these for schools and health centers. Trash pick up generally doesn’t exist in the provinces. People burn garbage to get rid of it, often just on the ground at the school yard or behind the health center. An incinerator helps to minimize smoke and burn the garbage in a more confined area.

We have a team in Hong Kong that oversees the process and manages the funds that will be consumed. Remarkably, the church has an extensive communication system that allows documents to flow safely, to communicate by voice and video, and to bring multiple parties together, and not even pick up a phone to do it. We communicate across the earth with people who are working in Humanitarian. Coordination of time zones is the main consideration when sending a call.

A completed water tower at the Sonya Health Center. Water from the well is pumped to the water tank and the water reservoir is at a height that it becomes pressurized for the use of the health center. We are building these for schools and health centers.

This coming week, we will continue to complete contracts and also begin collecting signatures on the many contracts that are approved. Even now, I have a contractor anxious to begin drilling 1 of several wells he is expected to drill.

This past Wednesday, we met with Dr Hussein and Dr Samnang who are in the National WHO office in Phnom Penh. They outlined the dramatic work they are doing to bring vaccinations to Cambodia. The Church has partnered with WHO in Cambodia over the past several years to assist in the prevention of several infectious diseases.

Our meeting with the WHO. Dr Hussein, from Bangladesh is working in Cambodia. Dr Samnang next to Sister Stone is native Cambodian. Their staff is working around the clock to help train Health Care workers around the country on how to treat for Covid inoculation reactions, and symptoms. They do this in addition to training and providing other typical vaccines in the country.
A neighborhood cat gingerly moving through the razor wire at our apartment. He is careful but seems unmoved that he is surrounded by razor sharp barbs. Not sure if there are very many mice up there!

We also learned this week of some folks who left their quarantine early. As a result, many things have been curtailed here. Today we had church in our apartment. We hope that the restrictions in the country will be lifted and our activities can resume.

There is much to do. We are anxious to do as much as we can as quick as we can. We do love the country here. The people are marvelous. As I write this, I am thinking of my family at home. Each of your faces are in my mind. Each of you are so important to me. You all are precious. Each of you. To my grandchildren…I was there when your parent was born. It was a miracle to watch them as a baby be born and take its first breath…They grew up way too fast and married your other parent. I love them too. Please watch their example. They are smarter and better parents than I was. As a parent I always wanted what was best for my children. As I watch your parents, I see that they want what is best for their families. Trust them and love them… I miss all of my family. I wish I could pull each of you close and look into your eyes and tell you how proud I am of you.

Will all of our love…

Elder & Sister Stone