It's time for us to set out to go to village "Tung Kea" located in the province of Takeo today! We woke up really early for breakfast, and packed up to get ready to go to the village which was 2 hours away from Phnom Penh. We had never been there before, so we did not really know what to expect. Our goal was to take a look and survey the place, as we were considering if we want to adopt this village. Also on the village pastor's agenda was for us to evangelise from house to house and to pray for the families. So here we go!
On the way to the village, we passed by some other villages, and the road was really bumpy. Most of them were sand tracks. There were no paved roads. Also, we can see that it is harvest season! The fields are beautifully golden from the rice crops which were ready for harvest. However, the workers are so few, and even little children were harvesting. Looking around, we can also see how skinny the cows were, they almost looked like goats!
Ben: Skinny cows makes the beef quite tough in Cambodia. Very chewy.
This is what the village church looked like :D
Do not be deceived! The church was the ONLY cement building there... the rest of the village were more of kampong-like houses which moved when you walk inside!
This was what one of the better houses looked like on the inside- we had our meals here :)
Ben: Yeah, some of the houses look like they were made of straw actually. Ok, may be in straw, but those thin strips of wood you find on baskets.
Once we reached and unloaded our stuff, we started with the women's ministry :- Paul shared about how it is important to be a woman of good character.
Ben: His message was that true beauty is a good character and that women should pursue the real beauty and not just outward appearances. Since everything Paul said had to be translated, the message took quite long. Ah the pains of not being able to speak the local language.
We then had our first lunch, which was prepared by the pastor's family ( i think). Because we come from a country which food is always clean, we had to pray really hard before we eat our meals - anywhere in Cambodia because the water is not drinkable. However, as we were eating at the village, we had to be extra prayerful. The first meal we had was better than what we expected actually, it was fried beef ( very tough cos the cows are sooooo skinny) and rice and... vegetables.
Ben: I still remember when I saw our 1st meal at the village, no thanks to the flies. They were landing all over some of the uncovered vegetables. Of course I didn't eat any.
After lunch, we went out made a trip to the families in the village to pray for their needs... (wah the walk was very long)
We then came to this house. The pastor told us that the couple in the house had moved away as every night for 3 weeks a fire will appear and surround the house. The lady who lives there will also hear voices calling her name at the same time, so she was so frightened that she went to stay at her relative's house. When she came over from her relative's place, she really had a very fearful look in her eyes.
We prayed for deliverance, and in prayer we took down an altar in their house which they had obtained from the temple .... actually to be quite honest, i was quite fearful :) after taking down the altar, we thanked God and blessed the house. After visiting some more houses, we went back for the youth party- which turned into a children's party.
Ben: Since it was harvest season, a lot of the youths had to work in the fields.
We were told to plan games on the spot -____- but thankfully we had planned some games for the kids at the Bykota house so we could use those games also! Thanks to our translators, Con and Dan ( i dont know their full names ). And the kids are VERY good at games!
Ben: We played a game called "Freeze". It is a game where the kids are suppose to stay absolutely still when the music stops playing. Of course we threw in some distractions in the form of Ke Wei and Edmund, but the kids were just too good at it. We had about 7 winners and even when we told them they won, they still refused to move!
After a long day, we waited for our dinner. dinner was.....vegetables and U.F.O (unidentified Food object) which smells like cow intestines actually.. culture shock...........................
Ben: I took one bite and that was it for me. The rest of my meal was rice and veggies.
After dinner we were supposed to get ready to sleep cos there was nothing in the village at all and it was all dark. There were armies of insects in the church hall. ARMIES. We attacked them with BYGON! BE GONE! And also tonnes of repellent haha.. But when i went out and looked at the stars.. .they were so amazing! They filled the whole sky, simply beautiful!
Ben: Lurong was going "WAH!" and we could all hear it from inside the church. But the stars were really amazing. When I see such stuff I remind myself that though such things are beautiful, God is so much more.
Even though we had really good floormats and also blankets, sleeping on floor mats at night was rather uncomfortable and it was so cold at night.... Also, one of our poor teammates caught diarhorrea... but we salute him cos he never ever grumbled :)
Ben: Yup, I guess they village stay gave the team a great opportunity to talk to each other and share our experiences. I benefited and learnt alot from what was shared that night. We talked alot about our experiences with God and how He has been molding and shaping our lives. Also, the good and the bad experiences from the different churches we come from and some of our personal theological beliefs. I just liked how the conversations we had were open and honest.
Up next, village stay part 2!
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