Recent happenings of the BEC

Well I have been here in Phnom Penh for a bit over 2 weeks now, and am really enjoying my time here. Bro Raju Devis arrived late Tuesday night, Bro John managed to drop in for a few days during his travels, and Bro Dan arrived on Saturday and will remain here for just under a month. It’s been a colourful week of baptisms, glutinous rice-balls, broken toasters and holes in toilets!

Most importantly of these of course, was the baptism of our new Sister Rasmey, which took place on the rooftop of the BEC on Wednesday night. Rasmey gave a good account of her faith a week earlier in the presence of Bro Terry & Sis Karen Bro K , and Sis Kimsrean. It was wonderful for everyone here to be able to witness the baptism, which was followed by a Memorial Meeting where Bro Dan P in his exhort gave some words of encouragement to our new Sister. I am certain that all of you who know Rasmey will be overjoyed to have such a beautiful person as our new Sister in Christ, as am I!

As for the glutinous rice-balls...just a word of advice. If anyone at the BEC ever asks you if you would like to try a delicious or perhaps even a “chngyan” glutinous rice-ball, I would strongly suggest that you reply “No thanks, I’ve already eaten...quite full, but thankyou anyway”. Unless of course you like the taste of things slightly resembling the texture of a mucus ball, filled with a gritty paste that is an offence to your taste buds, leaving an aftertaste of unsweetened grit as if you accidentally copped a mouthful of sand at the beach. Then by all means say “yes please!”

Finally I would like to make you aware of the ‘Fickit Man’. He is a man who you can call upon whenever anything or everything breaks in your house. Why he fixed the air-con in my room the other day, put a new tap head on the kitchen sink, put a new hot water system in the Hewitt’s bathroom, and...he apparently amended the blockage in the Hewitt’s toilet by removing the current toilet and replacing it with another toilet. Hmn? I did wonder at the time if that final measure spoken off was just too good to be true. Turns out yesterday as I proceeded to flush the Hewitt’s toilet that I heard an unnatural sound of spouting water, and followed the sound only to find a fountain of “water”, gushing out the base of the porcelain throne through an apparent deliberate hole. Let’s just say that the water wasn’t exactly coming from the cistern above but instead as I found out from Dan the Plumber-man later, a blockage in the pipes that was perhaps not previously rectified by the Fickit man days earlier. I can’t understand why though, I mean I always thought that if you just changed to toilet itself and mortared a new one on, the blockage would go away, problem solved! Oh, perhaps not.

Anyhow, just some of the adventures encountered in the last week here at the BEC. Many other great things have of course continued to go on as per the weekly schedule. Until next time...”Chum reap leah!”

Deb