Tboug Khmum day 1

We set off at 7am in search of breakfast which we found at a street cafe we have eaten in before. I had marinated chicken leg and rice, the others had a variety of things including noodle soup, meat filled dumpling. There was no bread or breakfast cereal, such things are not eaten here.










We are in a part of the country which is rich and fertile, farming communities abound here. It is however not a place visited by tourists, in fact very few westerners venture this far into the country.

The church is not on a highway but an orange sand road.

We started the day with worship, some songs are translated from English and familiar to me while others are not. 









The next hour and a half was spent revisiting the previous teaching from last November when we were here and asking hearing feedback from the eighty or so people who were gathered there about how their action plans have gone.

Steve had the first session of new teaching based on Matthew 28 verses 18-20. As the morning progressed the temperature climbed up the thermometer. By lunch time the feels like temperature was 44 degrees centigrade! We were struggling, all our clothing was completely wet through with sweat and our skin was shiny with it. At times like this it is reassuring to notice that the Cambodians were also struggling.

Lunch was outside under colourful tents. We ate rice with two different meat and vegetable sauces.

After lunch was nap time. It really was too hot and humid to do anything else!









Isn't the teaching session after lunch known as the "graveyard slot?" That was the one I got but somewhat surprisingly everyone stayed awake and engaged, some even taking notes. I had a session on "We are sent" based on Luke 10:1-12.

Then a bit of fun, a game called robots and penguins. 

Tom Kenneth rounded off the afternoon with a session on "Acts of kindness" acts of kindness done in love can change the world. In the group feedback we saw that many of the churches represented here are engaged in this and they enthusiastically shared testimony about what they are doing.






The day was good but the heat was exhausting. We came back to the guest house
to have a cold shower; had we wanted a hot one we wouldn't have been able to have one as there is only cold water. The we went out for supper, some had fruit smoothie, others had dumpling filled with meat and vegetables.









As I write I am sitting under a mosquito net on my bed, Anne Kate who I share  room with thinks I ought to share with you what I look like.