Today has been a pretty good day. It started off with a 7:30AM service at a church down the road. About 50 or so adults were in attendance, and many more kids were playing outside. Tamara, Nikki and I sat in the service, and one of the men in the service translated for us (although I could not hear him). Multiple people got up and did special music; even though I have no idea what songs they sung it was beautiful-I could feel the presence of God in this small brick church. An elderly man who is blind played a Cambodian instrument that looked much like a crocket bat with a wire string, and was played with a bow. It was amazing to here, and watch: he was the worship music for this service. Everyone was so enthusiastic about getting up and singing, speaking, and interacting in the service. The second service was one for the youth. About 30 or so teenagers ran the service; they prepared the worship music that included an electric guitar, drums, and acoustic guitar. I knew a few of the songs, and the kids around us tried translating the whole service for us. I did not hear or understand much of the translation, but it was a good time.
This afternoon Tamara and I went to a church, or so we thought we were going to a church. We were told it was a 7km boat ride to this place, and it lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The boat was a long canoe type boat that had wooden slats across it that we sat on (mostly cross legged, and I learned my lesson about wearing a skirt while being a boat…not very comfortable). It was a beautiful boat ride through a meandering river where we saw a lot of rice, sand hill crane type birds, fishers, palm trees, etc. We could see a long way, and in many respects it reminded me of the Okavango Delta. Finally, we arrived at the village. It is a fishing village on a 1 km stretch of land that is no more than 20 feet wide, and there are about 80 houses. We were told that because it is the wet season, we could go by boat and that the village could fish close by. During the dry season, the land completely dries up and the villagers literally pick up their houses and move them to the lake that is 1km away.
The people have no seen many white people, so we were all started at (which is become an extremely common thing). One woman came up to me and poked my arm, then poked her arm to show me how white I am. These people want white skin, and we are constantly told how beautiful we are with our white skin. We had a short conversion that was filled with laughter and smiles.
The men in the village like to drink, and the women like to gamble. When the men get drunk they beat their families. But, since these people have come to spread the gospel there has been less of this. When this pastor first came, there was one Christian, and now there are thirty! Two pastors have come before this one, and they gave up because it was too hard-how sad is that. Thankfully, God has given this man a heart for the people. Tamara and I taught a class to the kids; it was very much on the spot and we had no idea what we were going to do once we got there. We sang a few songs with the kids, and taught them the story of Jesus walking on the water, and that they do not need to fear because Jesus will take care of them. Later, when we were walking through the village this pastor told us that the people here often fear because the wind and the rain take away the roofs on their houses. God provided a great word for them. We were also told that the government does not do anything for this village and that they used to be able to sell the fish they caught in the market but now they cannot because the government charges them a fee.
The way home was an adventure. The rudder was attached to a wheel by a rope that broke about three times, we saw a large snake that the guys stopped for (I think they wanted to hit it). Tamara and I wondered if we were ever going to make it home. During both rides, all I could think of was how beautiful God’s creation is! Also, how fortunate I am to be able to have this experience; how many people can say they boated through a Cambodian river to go to a fishing village? Not many I suspect. Times like these are what I need to remember when I am tired, what to go home and plain out miserable. I hope that I am able to go back to this village next week.
Funny things I have seen this week:
1. A cow running down the stream across from our house.
2. A few seconds later, a coconut fell out of a tree!
3. Two pigs were brought to the fishing village, and squealed away. This caused all the other pigs and dogs to come running to see what was happening. It was like a scene from ‘babe’ or ‘Animal Farm’.
4. A chick chilling out on a pig sleeping in the mud.
It has been a long day/week, and I am looking forward to having a day off tomorrow. I wonder what “trouble” we will get into!
