Temples treasured by Cambodian Saints

By Kristine Frederickson, For 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.

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.