An end to village life

The time has come to leave Toch Village. There are so many things I’ll miss about this little place. I’ll miss the fact that I could buy 16 ice-cream treats for a dollar. I’ll miss watching the kids climb trees to get mangos for us. I’ll miss Vuthy. He’s been a good friend.

Our last couple of days here were monumental. Near the beginning of the month, we planned to have a crusade for the village. We ordered over fifty Bibles and picked them up in Phnom Penh. We even had fancy invitations printed. Each day we braved the sun and went door to door to deliver the invitations and encourage people to come. The fact that we were providing dinner was a nice incentive. Sunday finally arrived. It was hot, just like every other day. We prayed for it to rain so it would be cooled off before the crusade started. Of course, we didn’t want it to be rained out, so we asked that it rain early, cool off, and stop. We were scheduled to start at 4:30. The rain began to fall around 2:00. It was a torrential downpour. It was the most rain we had seen all month. This could be a problem. There was no end in sight. Would we have to reschedule the crusade to the next day? We had worked so hard to put everything together.

The rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun around 4:00. The dark clouds rolled away, but the sun was

still hidden. It had to have cooled off at least ten degrees. I guess God wanted to show off a little more, so he also gave us the most beautiful sunset we’d seen all month. Go figure. People began arriving right on time. There were people of all ages that came to our little home. People continued to show up on bicycles and motorbikes. We began the evening with worship. We had been teaching the youth a few English worship songs – All in All, Sanctuary, and Every Move I Make. Couldn’t get any cheesier. We then performed a short drama. It was cheesy as well, but you can get away with that in other countries. It was then time to feed everyone. We served rice soup to almost 200 people.

The next day, we had our final English lesson with the youth. Since we still had the projector from the crusade, we let them watch Spiderman. There were gasps of excitement as Spidey swung through the city. I’m sure it was the first time most of them had seen a movie. Saying goodbye was hard, but they made it entertaining. It’s hard not to develop a celebrity complex in other countries. We’re always the center of attention, which can have ups and downs. It boosts your self-esteem, but it can also be draining. People yell at you to come buy from their shop. Many people even rub our arms and faces to see what our skin feels like. I never understood why celebrities would get overwhelmed by being famous until this experience. Sometimes you just want to relax without twenty children pushing the limits of your personal bubble. It keeps us entertained.

 

The kids decided to have a photoshoot with us. It’s interesting because they will never see the pictures. They stood in line to get multiple pictures with multiple poses. I’m not sure where they came up with some of them. Here are some examples.