Well folks it’s been a while since the last one. I know that some of you have been hanging out for a blog, so my apologies for the wait. A fair few things have of course happened, so here it is…
Going back about two weeks ago we had a week of holidays here for what the Khmer call something like “Phjumben day”. It was a pretty funny era of listening to the array of ‘barang’ (us foreign folk) try to correctly pronounce the word. Basically, you could tell if your pronunciation was correct judging by the amount of laughter that was that was hea
rd following the attempt. So the days around a public holiday are usually deemed holidays also, and all bar one of the dorm students went back to their home province for about half a week. Before they all left we put on a movie night over at the dorms. It was a great afternoon and evening involving ‘Kungfu Panda’ (a lot of laughter) and ‘Get Smart’. The Khmer love Kungfu movies so therefore quite enjoyed the sight of an overweight Panda performing highly skilled Kungfu moves. We had a great meal together that night and it was a good time had by all. Well, almost all. Sadly I must admit that I spent the later end of the evening with my head in the garden, not at all due to the meal at the dorm, but instead an unsuspecting Ham & Cheese toasted sandwich from earlier that morning. Thanks, Monte’Christo.
Some great ne
ws we have is the baptism of one of the long term boy dormers, Sophorn. You know how I mentioned already that only one of the dormers remained in Phnom Penh during the week of holidays? Well that one dormer was Sophorn, and he was keen to be baptised asap. So even though none of the other dormers were around, Sophorn was happily baptised at the BEC one and a half weeks ago by brothers Dan and K, with the rest of the field workers there as a witness. It was wonderful yet again to witness yet another dormer actively choose to follow God and to be baptised into Christ’s saving name.
Each week two of us go out to LCDI on a Wednesday night to take a bible class with a small group of students there. It’s always great to get out there and spend some time with our friends at LCDI. Last Wednesday Esther and I were on our usual one hour journey to LCDI. Esther was riding with Tut from the boy dorm and I was on the other Moto with Loy and Sokhorn. It rained on us most of the way out there which is fairly normal, and the dirt road had turned to quite slushy mud in most places. After about an hour of travelling through thick traffic and negotiating our way through the mud and the stupendously pot-hole filled road, it’s dark and we have nearly reached the town a few ks before LCDI. Suddenly the Moto starts to wobble around a bit and sink somewhat, so Loy pulls over to the side only to find we have a flat tyre. Luckily we’re not too far off from the hub of the small town, otherwise we’d of been taking a long walk to the nearest tyre seller – pushing a Moto through the mud and rain. The tyre tube is soon replaced and we make it out to LCDI after what seemed like a bit of a trek. When I thought that would be the end of our Moto troubles for the evening, I should have thought twice. We taught our lesson to our especially small group of students this week (due to pub. Holiday) and then it was time to head back to the BEC. We’re about halfway home on the fairly deserted road by night, when the headlight of Tut and Esther’s Moto seems to be getting farther and farther behind us, and somewhat dimmer. After a while I figure I should probably call Esther, just to make sure their ok – being her loving niece and all : D. She tells me that they’ve run out of fuel, even though the fuel gauge does claim to be half full. So Sokhorn and I then set off on a mission to find someone who is hopefully still able to sell us a bottle of fuel at this time of night. Thankfully, we find someone still open and we grab a bottle of Pepsi I mean fuel and a funnel, and head back in the opposite direction. As there are few street lights out there, we were driving along looking into the darkness on the side of the road with the intention of locating our buddies. I spot a dark clump on the side of the road so I point Sokorn in their direction. As we get closer and our headlight shines quite brightly into their faces, we quickly realize that the three confused looking guys on the Moto are not our friends, but just three guys sitting on a Moto in the dark. Haha, sorry fellas. But back on the road we drive a little further only to find Tut and Est shutting the fuel tank after already walking their Moto to the nearest place and filling up there. After a quick chuckle, we instead fill up our Moto with the pre-purchased fuel and then head home, dropping off the kindly leant funnel on the way back into PP. Quite an eventful night you could say, but worth it none the less. We’re heading off again tonight, wonder what adventures we’ll embark upon this evening!
Last weekend we held an Outreach weekend for a small group of contacts who were able to attend. We ran a series of talks on ‘The Gospel Message’ including: Who is Jesus?, What Jesus taught, Rejoicing in Hope (The Resurrection), and The Good News of the Kingdom. It was received quite well by the small number of attendees, and we are hoping to run the series again this weekend with the LCDI bible class students here at the BEC.
So, a lot of baptisms you say? Well guess what, there’s more! This Sunday just gone we were once again blessed to witness a baptism, this time of Sorphea who lives at the girl’s dorm. It was held at the dorms an
d Sorphea was baptised in the rain by Bro Vitou and Sis Kimsrean, with all of her dorm friends watching on of course. I guess you could say it was quite a wet afternoon!
After the baptism the ecclesia embarked on an outing to the Hammock Place about 45 minutes out of town. We had a fantastic afternoon where we were treated with a most chngan lunch, followed by worship service together for Sorphea’s first day as a new Sis in Christ. It was so good to spend an afternoon together by the water, reclining in our hammocks with good company, and good food. We realize how blessed we are to be able to spend time with the ecclesia here in Phnom Penh, and are thankful for this time.
Going back about two weeks ago we had a week of holidays here for what the Khmer call something like “Phjumben day”. It was a pretty funny era of listening to the array of ‘barang’ (us foreign folk) try to correctly pronounce the word. Basically, you could tell if your pronunciation was correct judging by the amount of laughter that was that was hea
rd following the attempt. So the days around a public holiday are usually deemed holidays also, and all bar one of the dorm students went back to their home province for about half a week. Before they all left we put on a movie night over at the dorms. It was a great afternoon and evening involving ‘Kungfu Panda’ (a lot of laughter) and ‘Get Smart’. The Khmer love Kungfu movies so therefore quite enjoyed the sight of an overweight Panda performing highly skilled Kungfu moves. We had a great meal together that night and it was a good time had by all. Well, almost all. Sadly I must admit that I spent the later end of the evening with my head in the garden, not at all due to the meal at the dorm, but instead an unsuspecting Ham & Cheese toasted sandwich from earlier that morning. Thanks, Monte’Christo.Some great ne
ws we have is the baptism of one of the long term boy dormers, Sophorn. You know how I mentioned already that only one of the dormers remained in Phnom Penh during the week of holidays? Well that one dormer was Sophorn, and he was keen to be baptised asap. So even though none of the other dormers were around, Sophorn was happily baptised at the BEC one and a half weeks ago by brothers Dan and K, with the rest of the field workers there as a witness. It was wonderful yet again to witness yet another dormer actively choose to follow God and to be baptised into Christ’s saving name.Each week two of us go out to LCDI on a Wednesday night to take a bible class with a small group of students there. It’s always great to get out there and spend some time with our friends at LCDI. Last Wednesday Esther and I were on our usual one hour journey to LCDI. Esther was riding with Tut from the boy dorm and I was on the other Moto with Loy and Sokhorn. It rained on us most of the way out there which is fairly normal, and the dirt road had turned to quite slushy mud in most places. After about an hour of travelling through thick traffic and negotiating our way through the mud and the stupendously pot-hole filled road, it’s dark and we have nearly reached the town a few ks before LCDI. Suddenly the Moto starts to wobble around a bit and sink somewhat, so Loy pulls over to the side only to find we have a flat tyre. Luckily we’re not too far off from the hub of the small town, otherwise we’d of been taking a long walk to the nearest tyre seller – pushing a Moto through the mud and rain. The tyre tube is soon replaced and we make it out to LCDI after what seemed like a bit of a trek. When I thought that would be the end of our Moto troubles for the evening, I should have thought twice. We taught our lesson to our especially small group of students this week (due to pub. Holiday) and then it was time to head back to the BEC. We’re about halfway home on the fairly deserted road by night, when the headlight of Tut and Esther’s Moto seems to be getting farther and farther behind us, and somewhat dimmer. After a while I figure I should probably call Esther, just to make sure their ok – being her loving niece and all : D. She tells me that they’ve run out of fuel, even though the fuel gauge does claim to be half full. So Sokhorn and I then set off on a mission to find someone who is hopefully still able to sell us a bottle of fuel at this time of night. Thankfully, we find someone still open and we grab a bottle of Pepsi I mean fuel and a funnel, and head back in the opposite direction. As there are few street lights out there, we were driving along looking into the darkness on the side of the road with the intention of locating our buddies. I spot a dark clump on the side of the road so I point Sokorn in their direction. As we get closer and our headlight shines quite brightly into their faces, we quickly realize that the three confused looking guys on the Moto are not our friends, but just three guys sitting on a Moto in the dark. Haha, sorry fellas. But back on the road we drive a little further only to find Tut and Est shutting the fuel tank after already walking their Moto to the nearest place and filling up there. After a quick chuckle, we instead fill up our Moto with the pre-purchased fuel and then head home, dropping off the kindly leant funnel on the way back into PP. Quite an eventful night you could say, but worth it none the less. We’re heading off again tonight, wonder what adventures we’ll embark upon this evening!
Last weekend we held an Outreach weekend for a small group of contacts who were able to attend. We ran a series of talks on ‘The Gospel Message’ including: Who is Jesus?, What Jesus taught, Rejoicing in Hope (The Resurrection), and The Good News of the Kingdom. It was received quite well by the small number of attendees, and we are hoping to run the series again this weekend with the LCDI bible class students here at the BEC.
So, a lot of baptisms you say? Well guess what, there’s more! This Sunday just gone we were once again blessed to witness a baptism, this time of Sorphea who lives at the girl’s dorm. It was held at the dorms an
d Sorphea was baptised in the rain by Bro Vitou and Sis Kimsrean, with all of her dorm friends watching on of course. I guess you could say it was quite a wet afternoon!After the baptism the ecclesia embarked on an outing to the Hammock Place about 45 minutes out of town. We had a fantastic afternoon where we were treated with a most chngan lunch, followed by worship service together for Sorphea’s first day as a new Sis in Christ. It was so good to spend an afternoon together by the water, reclining in our hammocks with good company, and good food. We realize how blessed we are to be able to spend time with the ecclesia here in Phnom Penh, and are thankful for this time.
Girls at the Hammock Place
On Friday this week my mum & dad, and Jess P will be
arriving here for a couple of weeks. We are all really looking forward to seeing them and are sure they will thoroughly enjoy their time here in Cambodia.
Oh by the way, for those of you are sitting on the edge of your seats with great anticipation of an update on the BEC mouse situation. You’ll be extremely pleased to know that mouse glue is a very effective tool for catching those naughty little mice, plural. With the consistency of tar, and the enticing appearance of delicious chewy caramel – mouse glue is the one for you ;) but not the mouse as we have discovered. So the score board currently reads as follows - BEC: 2, MICE: 0 (if you don’t count the hole in the toddies bar of soap).
Flooded streets of Phnom Penh - note the kid swimming up to his neck
Talk again soon,
Love Deb
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