“Do You Have Name Tags?”

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union arranged for many young men and women from Africa and Asia to study in communist countries. Vibol Pen left Cambodia and spent 10 years in St. Petersburg, Russia, studying electrical engineering. In 1991, two years before he returned home, he met two missionaries. Although he described himself as a “very strong Leninist,” he studied with the missionaries and attended Church. He asked them many questions, especially about Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. However, he did not accept baptism at that time.

Back home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, he had a difficult time finding a job. Many employers rejected him because he had studied in the Soviet Union. He developed the habit of praying each time he applied for work, although he prayed in Russian rather than in his native language.

He told his wife, Vanny You, about the Church and started teaching her about Jesus Christ. At first, she was not interested, but over a five-year period, she had a change of heart and finally suggested that they go to church. “What church?” Vibol asked. “The church you went to in Russia,” she said.

Vibol could not translate the name of the Church from Russian into Khmer, but he remembered that the missionaries had name tags. So, the couple cycled around Phnom Penh, going from church to church asking, “Do you have name tags?” After two weeks, they met two young men with name tags, Elders Daniels and Haight. Vibol spoke to them in English, and they replied in Khmer. Vibol and Vanny invited the elders to teach them, and, on October 28, 1998, they were baptized.

The Pen family became Church stalwarts in the Phnom Penh area. Vibol served as a branch president, district president, and Church Educational System director for Cambodia. Even though he often struggled with feelings of inadequacy, Vibol’s faith helped him accept these new callings. “Because when we have faith,” he said, “everything comes to us, so we are able to serve.”

Vibol treasured the increased unity the gospel brought to his family. If the Church had not come to Cambodia, he wondered, “maybe we would not be a good family. My son and my daughter would not be return missionaries, and maybe sometimes they would be fighting each other like other families in Cambodia.” On May 9, 2000, Vibol and Vanny were sealed to one another and to their four children—Bun Naa Roat, Phiroum, Wirak, and Viriya—in the Hong Kong China Temple.