Cambodian church members greet President Nelson and learn of new temple site

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia is young. The median age is 25, the same number of years The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been operating in the country.

That faith’s leader, President Russell M. Nelson, has been an apostle a decade longer than that, but while he has visited more than 130 nations he had never reached Cambodia.

When he arrived here on Tuesday, he found a growing church in the middle of a Buddhist nation, then sent a jolt through a meeting of almost 3,000 church members by unveiling an artist’s rendering of the planned Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple and announcing its location.

He also received a warm welcome from Cambodian government officials who told him they are grateful for the church’s aid, which has touched the lives of nearly a third of the people in a country of 16.5 million.

After three days in Vietnam to start his four-nation Southeast Asia Ministry, President Nelson landed in Phnom Penh on Tuesday morning and made an afternoon call on Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An, who is responsible for humanitarian and social work.

He characterized the meeting as wonderful and called the deputy prime minister “a wonderful, extraordinary woman.”

“She was warm and gracious, accepting,” President Nelson said. “She understood what the church has been doing to help. She was grateful for the members of the church for their strong families, for the help that we’ve given with wheelchairs, medical assistance and other projects.”

In a quarter century, the church has provided $14 million in church-sponsored humanitarian aid to projects, helping more than 5.2 million Cambodians.

“We were graciously received,” said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who is traveling with President Nelson. “It was clear that they have a good understanding of what the church has contributed in the past. That is one of the reasons we do meet with them, so that they know we are here and wanting to help and actually are helping. And she was aware of those things.”

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Cambodia is 98% Buddhist. Christians make up 0.5% of the population. Still, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown from a small group meeting in a home in 1994 to a membership of 15,062.

“This has been a fruitful field for the church,” Elder Christofferson said, “and I think it will continue to be because of the character of the people that President Nelson just mentioned. We want to bless them. It says a lot that the president of the church would be here. Even though the numbers aren’t great at this point in time, as he said to the deputy prime minister every one is precious. We’re here to give them that message.”

Some 3,000 of them filled the hall with gasps at the Premier Centre Sen Sok when President Nelson unveiled the rendering of the temple, which had five Cambodian-style spires. He said it would be built on Russian Confederation Boulevard next to the Cambodian Institute of Technology and opposite the national pediatric hospital.

Elder Christofferson said he was encouraged that An, the deputy prime minister, was anxious to see the Latter-day Saint temple built and completed, a fact confirmed by Sopheak Thavy, secretary of state of the Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection, who joined the meeting and afterward told President Nelson to reach out to her for any help the church needed.

“Speaking of the temple,” President Nelson said, “when we build a temple, we really want it to be an asset to the community, an asset to the country. We’re here to help them, to bless their lives. So it’s important for their government leaders to be in on the takeoff as well as the landing on a project like that, so that they’re a part of the solution and never a part of wondering, ‘what are those people doing.’”

He noted that Cambodia has a “very tragic past,” referring to the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge beginning in 1975. More than 1.5 million people died. The vast majority of the population is too young to remember that time, though a joint United Nations-Cambodian war crimes tribunal convicted two Khmer Rouge leaders last year.

Today, the country faces steep challenges. The literacy rate is 81%. The per capita GDP is $4,000, which ranks 177th in the world, according to the CIA Factbook.

However, the economy has grown by 7% for three straight years.

President Nelson said he was impressed with the way the Cambodian people are lifting themselves.

“I am very optimistic about the future of Cambodia,” President Nelson told the members Tuesday night. “Part of that assurety comes as I look in your faces and I feel your spiritual strength and capacity.”

During the meeting, he told them to remember and share with their friends what he called the four fundamental cornerstones of the church’s faith — the Godhead, prophets, scriptures and priesthood authority.

He also told them that although he didn’t know when the temple would be completed, they should begin to prepare themselves.

“As difficult as it is to build a temple, it is more difficult to build a people ready for a temple. Now is the time to start preparing for a temple. Not the building or the grounds, but preparing your souls to be worthy of the temple.”