Kandal or bust

Time’s getting away and the things I can write about are mounting up. Sadly I only have the stamina for one massive post every couple of weeks. The dreaded lurgy descended upon me in the last week and I was reduced to a wretched ball of coughing goo surrounded by boxes of tissues. Most unpleasant and not something I’m hoping to repeat, so I’m trying not to expose myself to the elements. That’s why I sat on the back of a moto out to the village of Kandal yesterday. Sunburnt on the way out and wet by rain on the way back. But I’m on the way up now, God willing, and back on the wheel after a brief stint of leaving everything to James (sorry!).
There’s nothing like the sore bum that comes with spending an hour or so on the back of a motorbike. The driver, a contact named ‘Meng Him’ (from here on, I will simply refer to ‘Him’ as ‘him’ or ‘he’ as the case demands), informed me that my bottom was obviously made in Vietnam and not Japan, where quality non-painful bottoms are produced. His Chinese manufactured bottom was apparently fine up until the last part of the trip partly due to the Japanese motorbike seat we were sitting on.
Please don’t be confused if some of these facts and events don’t quite ‘stack up’. We’ve actually taken the trip out to Kandal province twice and sometimes my memory has a nasty habit of mixing similar events together in some sort of gestalt timeline. But it all works out for the best, because in the telling, the story is greater than its individual parts. I hope I haven’t talked up the trip too much. I wouldn’t want you to be too disappointed. L
We received an invite through one of our contacts, to visit his village in Kandal Province and speak at a church of a Pastor he knows well. The village contained only one Christian church of a certain Pentecostal flavour. Being a Sunday, we had our own studies to teach in the morning, but a late departure would get us there by 2:00pm when we could give the sermon. So, we agreed to go and share what we thought might be the best message. We wanted to avoid something too controversial to begin with, so we decided to preach the basic repentance and forgiveness of sins lesson from the CBM 22 lesson course/ Resurrection and Kingdom of God.
Kandal province is the first province between Phnom Penh and Vietnam and seems to enjoy almost a ‘suburbs’ relation to the city. A short 20 minutes took us into Kandal and along a long stretch of main road which ‘Him’ informed me was where many Cambodians lost their lives through malnutrition and exhaustion as forced labour. It gives a unique perspective to roadwork when you know that so many people died to get you across the rice paddies. A quick peep to the right showed a hangar in the distance which I was informed was the personal transportation of the Prime Minister ‘Hung Sen’. He apparently lives out of the city...maybe it makes for a quick escape from Phnom Penh if things turn ugly. Turning right onto a dirt road provided the most picturesque part of our journey. There were trees hanging over the road from both sides providing a lovely shaded ride with a nice breeze as a storm thundered in the distance. The only downside in when you drive past a truck and you need to pull your visor down so you don’t get a mouthful of dust. Our second trip was in the blazing sun, so whilst still picturesque, not quite so comfortable.
The village was a rice farming village with lots of chickens, pigs and water buffalo wandering around everywhere. We were greeted warmly and ushered into a concrete shed (the temporary church whilst the real structure is built) and greeted by the church. The first time we arrived, our timing meant that we had missed the first part of the service and so I was asked to give the exhortation pretty much straight away. Our team was James, three of our contacts who were keen to attend and me. The second trip James, Him, Loy and me. Because we’d arrived early, we were subjected to a very interesting rendition of a ‘tongues’ service similar to the ones seen at your local Aussie AOG church. I turned to James and asked him whether he wanted to change his readings from Acts 1 – ‘the return of Jesus Christ’ to 1 Corinthians 14 – ‘all things should be done decently and in order’, but he just smiled. Loy was obviously freaked out.

1Co 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

Now this may not have been ‘real’ different languages, but the principle remains the same. We sat down with the Pastor afterwards and invited him come and study with us. He agreed and we’ll sit down with him this coming week and lay it all down and see whether he wants to continue with us.

The trip back was a little more painful than the trip out due to the already compressed bottom issue previously raised, but still lovely. We stopped briefly at the Kandal provincial LCDI campus and spent some time talking to the teachers and students before zooming back to the house for about 5:30pm.