Easter and Khmer New Year Family Party

We are so happy you were all together on Easter.  Wait... Easter, did it really happen?
So, thankfully as I said in the family email, Dad asked the Branch President to let him take a few minutes and read The First Presidency Message and bear his testimony. 
( because it really was Easter!))  Our branch had no idea it was Easter or had ever really celebrated or talked about it.

Dad told me after, he just had to do it.  It is hard not to shout out the joy of Easter and the amazing gift of our Savior.  

Here is our dinner, not to bad right?  I found celery and made this potato salad.  It was delicious. and the frozen berry salad, but the meat left a little to be desired.  It was left over from a home delivery that was too spicy, so I washed it off and froze it a week or so earlier.   It seemed to fit in to make a complete Easter dinner!


Khmer New Year Family Party

Khmer New Year isn't until April 14.  It is a huge holiday here as we told you last year.   Cambodians celebrate it for almost a week.  Everything closes on about the 13th-18th, and 2 million people leave the city to go to their home province to gather as families.  We sent some pictures last year of the empty streets.  Anyway, our Stake didn't want to interfere with the New Year holiday by having a New Year holiday party, so they had it Saturday.  There was  a really good turn out and they played games, ate and had music and danced.  They find such pleasure in simple games, and watching each other be happy.

This game simply has two teams one on each side lined up.  The boy in the white clothes drops the branch in the middle and one person from each side goes to the middle and the first one to grab the leaf gets that person on their team.

This one is kind of like bocci ball.

They use a fruit as their balls.  It has a hard shell.  I don't know what it is called.  They told me, but it is a Khmer fruit with no translation in English.   They are flat on one side and they stand them up in the cracks of the tiles . And throw/roll some to hit them.