Having informed you of this event, deserving of superlatives that so far elude me, I shall rewind the tale to the beginning of the weekend for a more blow by blow account.
Our local BEC workers, Sister Loy and Brother Vitou, having been commissioned both by BEC Management and the ecclesia itself, diligently prepared a weekend away for the second Phnom Penh ecclesial study weekend. Eschewing the BEC as a too familiar locale for the weekend, the ecclesia chose to visit the beach town of Kampot. Kampot is the family home of our Brother Kem Kunthea and with his invitation the matter was settled.
The bus departed at an hour usually reserved for those terminally obsessed by exercise and bleary eyed and sullen, we took our seats for the four hour journey. Having dressed and fed the children, it only remained to keep them quiet, yet entertained for a mere four hours. How hard could that be, really? Sigh. I would elucidate, but it would be mostly fanciful dramatics for the benefit of the reader. All in all, they were pretty good.
The bus driver was a master of his craft, if somewhat impatient. On occasions, he would find himself travelling a little too fast and encountering unevenness in the road. In these moments, the bus would buck, everyone in the back 2/3rds of the bus would scream and be catapulted into the air. After that he would slow down, for a time.
Having stopped briefly at a restaurant for breakfast, our arrival in Kampot was relaxed and leisurely. We took a bus trip down to Kep beach for a blustery afternoon stroll. The wind was very gusty with sand stinging our eyes and the water was dark and broiled. Only a couple ventured in and were rewarded with cuts and scratches from some sharp rocks under the surface. The wind could not deter the sellers however and plenty of snacks were to be had.
We began the studies by running a couple of sessions in the afternoon for the ecclesia. The first was on different ways we could contribute to the operations of the ecclesia and the second on the necessary strengthening of the bonds of fellowship we must strive for.
The Saturday began with our trip to Rabbit Island for the baptisms. Despite dark rolling clouds and patchy rain, the morning was very hot and the sun merciless. Fears that an afternoon trip would encounter the same gusty wind had changed the schedule and we formed up on the pier ready to catch three boats out to the Island. Gaye, childrens treat bearer, had stocked up on ‘Hari-bo’ and various other goodies at the nearby and yours truly had negotiated purchase of a very handsome hat, now being seen on a facebook near you.
Two boats departed, well stocked with our lunch, passengers and red life-jackets. Sadly, all the other
boats were already at anchor at the Island, so the rest of our crew just had to wait in the hot sun for another 25 minutes and we slowly smouldered (I was later to see a dull sunburn colour on even some of the Khmer). The trip was to be exciting. The wind came up, the clouds came over and the boat rocked hard. Due to the large number of visitors, our boat was short life vests, just to build confidence. Waves came over the side drenching us and every so often, the boat went up in such a way, that I doubted it would return in the same condition. God was with us, however and I could see from the pilot’s inscrutable face that there was nothing to worry about. Thinking that was better than assuming the opposite.
Having arrived on the Island, there was swimming in the surf, lying in the sand and two baptisms to witness. Both Saory and Phab gave a short talk about how they had come to understand the Gospel and wanted to be baptised into Christ. After this, the crowd followed them into the surf and they were immersed, rising again anew.
After a delicious lunch prepared by Loy and some of the other Sisters, we packed up to return back to Kunthea’s house. By some bizarre twist of fate, the first two parties climbed into their boats and disappeared quickly into the distance while our boat didn’t seem to be going anywhere. We’d followed the same process, yet it remained anchored and in position. I was then that I realised that we were all sitting in the boat, but we had no pilot. About 50 metres away was a house with a group of fishermen/pilots sitting watching use. We watched them and they watched us sitting in our bright orange lifejackets, in the sun, in a boat going nowhere. Eventually we sent one of our party to parley with the seemingly unsympathetic staff. Saruon slopped back to shore, and hope of keeping her trousers dry irrevocably gone.
We watched as she shouted at them for a while. Suddenly, she turned around and shouted at us instead. “5 minutes!” and promptly lay down on a ragtag hammock hung on some dying trees. Five minutes passed and we sat there burning and grumbling. I considered trying to start the motor, figuring that such an attempt might bring someone very quickly indeed. More shouting took place and Saruon stood up and yelled “25 minutes!! Koat gnam baay!”. “Great”, I thought. Our pilot had chosen this moment to have lunch. Fortunately, he arrived after another 10 minutes of uncomfortable burning and he only managed to foul the engine with the ropes of another boat once.
The trip back was as rough as the first, but slightly more exciting and less terrifying because we knew what to expect. It wasn’t long before we were back on shore, in the bus, back at Kunthea’s house and in the two hour line for the bathroom. Come late afternoon, we regrouped for another session on marriage and a testimony from Brother Him on ‘marriage in the faith’.
The final morning saw our first Memorial Meeting with Bro Saory and Sister Phab. Bro Saory very ably gave his first prayer as we shared fellowship around the table of the Lord. This brought our Study Weekend to a close and we readied for the four hour trip home. All in all, it was a great weekend and honour goes to Bro Vitou and Sis Loy for all the hard work that went into organising this event.
With Love in Christ
Michael
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