On the 15th of January 2016 Jess, Tim, Carolyn
and I hopped on a night bus heading to Siem Reap! We were quite excited and
apprehensive for what lay before us on the night bus. It was a restless nights
sleep snuggled up against one another and waking often to swerving, screaming
and toilet stops. At 6am the following
morning we made it in 4 pieces and went straight to the TLJ bakery. Jess was
disappointed with the lack of peppermint tea, but the bakery goods were much
enjoyed. With the arrival of Loy came
further joy. Then it was off to BEC Siem Reap to settle in, rest, meet the
brothers and sisters and last but not least the Siem Reap BEC babies, Cushy and
Jackie (puppies!!!!).
On Sunday morning Carolyn, Jess and I Tuktuked
with brother Veasna to his village, to teach Sunday school. I taught the kids
the letter Y, and then Carolyn taught them about Daniel and the Lions Den,
which was followed by making lion puppets. The kids were rewarded with stickers
from Ming Jess and brother Daran translated for us. During the lesson Ming
Carolyn got one of the little boys named Resmey to act out Daniel praying to
God by the window. Once Sunday school was finished we handed out fruit and
travelled back to the BEC for the memorial meeting.
In the seminars, led by Brother Tim, we looked
at “Why we need God in our lives?” and “How we can be saved from sin?” Tim
covered a range of ideas from the origin of man and sin to the importance of
belief, repentance and baptism. Sister Loy did an awesome job choosing the
seminar topics. For those contacts who are fairly new to Bible study the
seminars were a good introduction to the Christian faith. It was also good to
consider these things with the Brothers and Sisters and contacts who have been
coming along for longer as they form not only the basis of our faith but also
our fellowship. We had an attendance of around 25 including the 6 local
brothers and sisters. Brothers Veasna (or Veasna Small as he is commonly known
amongst the Phnom Penh brothers and sisters to avoid confusion with Veasna
Medium and Veasna Tall) and Daran handled translating duties very well. It was
awesome to see the level of discussion the seminars generated both that night
over dinner and the next day during the morning Bible class. Brother Tim also
ran this bible class with translation from Cham Rong who previously lived at
the Bethezer dorm in Phnom Penh before making the move to Siem Reap for work.
Tim said how great it was to see the amount of enthusiasm that came out in
discussion over the bible readings and told how once things got going he could
barely get a word in because of howmuch some of the Khmer had to say.
After the Memorial Meeting brother Veasna took us to the temples,
which were absolutely breathtaking! With such detail to the designs of the
temples I found myself taking pictures of everything. After visiting the Ta Prohm temple Jess and I
decided to experience an elephant ride. With much excitement and instability we
fumbled onto the adorable elephant and off we went. Jess and I held on for dear
life while going up the hill to the next temple. The elephant ride was an
incredible experience, which both Jess and I thoroughly enjoyed. The last temple that we had time for was the
beautiful Angkor Wat temple. This temple was my personal favorite as there was
just so much to it, corridors, courtyards and beautiful beams that caught my
eye.
In the evening Sister Loy gave us on a tour of the best
local cuisine (including tarantula!!) and night markets.
The following morning we travelled back to Phnom Pehn,
thankful for the time we were able to spend with the brothers and sisters and
contacts in Siem Reap. We pray God will continue to bless the work there!
“A lot of things happening, yeah?” – Quote Vitou, January
2016
By Nadia
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