So, I am writing this from Carmel Mansfield's house on the outskirts of Sydney having only had about 6 hours sleep in two nights. The first night I spent packing and completing info on my students and preparing my final talk to the Dorm. The second night was on the plane and therefore pretty sleepless. I left the BEC at 5.45am to go to the Dorm to say goodbye and lead the morning service and left there at 7.15am to the airport with an entourage of Loy, Saroun, Kez, Dan, Samrach, Chem, Channa and Saoury. It was great to have them come along as I'd imagine going to the airport alone would have been pretty hard.
The last few days in Cambodia were very good. Saturday morning I was treated to a trip to the Royal Palace by some of my students, Sokiem, Chakriya, Socheat, Chantry and Vanny. They also gave me a couple of t-shirts and a scarf. Lots of pictures ensued where I was encouraged to 'model' the presents. Thankfully, the owners of the cameras do not have access to Facebook so those pictures should not surface.
Saturday evening we had the usual seminar and afterwards I was surprised as the Dormers told me to close my eyes as they filled my hands with presents! A shirt, a belt, another scarf and various other trinkets. All of it was very sweet. Again, various 'modelling' shots ensued. While I truly appreciated all of this, I was looking at my belt on the plane and read the writing on the buckle only to find it said "Dolce & Gabbana Women's Collection"! I spent a few hours...scraping the 'Wo' off! I'm sure it was an oversight as opposed to a comment on my general (and blatent) manliness. Although, the Khmer dancing probably didn't help.
The Sunday was the best though, we all headed back to Koh Dach Island where we had four baptisms! Brothers Samrach & Channa and Sisters Navy & Vichem. I was leading the service and it wasn't a bad setting for a my first one, a warm lake, sun beating down, idyllic huts built in the water. Although these guys have had many teachers over the years, it was an even more special service for me because I had been at the last stage for all four and had been teaching them recently. Obviously, it's not some kind of personal baptism tally but I'm sure you can appreciate how fantastic it was to see my students giving their life to Jesus.
The only downside to the day was crashing the moto on the way (don't panic, Mum). I have a few scrapes and bruises, but it was more embarassing than anything else, because it was on my students moto and she was on the back. Oops. Basically, I was following someone to the Island and he is a fast driver so I was trying to keep up. I had been driving a moto for about 3 months up until that point with no issues so I was over confident and enjoying the scenic countryside and also thinking about what I was going to say for the service and then suddenly a car is in front of me! Turns out the brakes on my student's moto weren't as good as the one I usually drive, so I hit the back of the car and over we went. Nothing too dramatic, just...well, fell off really. We asked each other if we were ok, then got back on and carried on. I thought I would be a bit shaken by it, but not too much probably because as soon as I started driving I had assumed that at some point I would crash because of the horrendous driving in PP, so when it happened it was kind of like "well, there we go, it's happened, on we go." Of course, I realise how blessed we were, it could have been a lot worse, there could have been a car behind us that could have run us over when we fell off. But when you fall off your moto it no big deal in Cambodia, you join the large club of everyone else whose done it. Needless to say, though, I didn't enjoy the journey back home as I was paranoid about everything.
So, anyway, here ends my Cambodian adventure, here starts my Australian one. Leaving places like Cambodia makes me look forward to Jesus coming back and setting up his Kingdom so much, so I can spend the rest of eternity with the people I've left behind.
I hope to see you there.
Simon
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love Ming Jonno swar