Cambodia: Day 3
Start at the beginning.Baptise in the Name...
We went on a special trip to the river for a little swimming and to baptise some kids. They gave us the pleasure of helping them baptise. For the trip, they rented these two trucks and used 2x4s as benches to load everyone on them.
The trip gave us a chance to really see the countryside. There were a lot of naked boys and rice fields. Houses on stilts and water buffalo. Even though people are poor, at least they have rice.
On the way to the beach, Guh and the kids kept singing. It was nice, because all their songs sounded happy. A stark contrast to most American Christian songs, which sound so somber and "woe is me".
After a ways on the pavement, we made a turn on to a dirt path. the dirt path just got bumpier and bumpier. It was to the point where it was difficult to sit and I had to use my knees as shocks. The ride was especially hard on the kid next to me. Not before long, he started hurling.
We arrived at our destination and it was a short walk to the "beach". The water looked especially suspect. It was all brown and didn't look healthy at all. We later learned that the water definately was not healthy, and most likely, infected with the HIV. This was all unbeknownest to us as it entered our mouths and noses.
They put some mats down and sang some songs. Then Patrick gave a short message about baptism and choosing who to serve, God or Satan.
The kids were really excited and pretty much hit the water right away. It was funny because some of them wore life vests, even while we were back at the school, they were rocking the vests. It became even funnier when we learned that the water was only a little more than waste deep at its deepest point.
About 20 kids got in a line to get baptised. Jeff dunked, while I took pictures. When the kid came out of the water, Cher, Chaan, and Guh would pray over them. It was a great blessing to see so many people choose Jesus. Later, Jeff shared that after these baptisms, a good number of them stop going to church. Hopefully, the majority of these baptisms are "genuine". We really won't know 'til it's all over.HIV Water
It was getting pretty hot, so we decided to get in the water and try to cool off. There were these low hanging branches near the river bank. The cliffs were kind of climbable which made me miss New Jersey.
After lunch, it was back in the water. I met this one girl in the water that played this zombie game, where she would try to eat me. She would grab a leg or arm and pull me through the water. I also got to do some Cambodian Kickboxing with her. As I performed a suplex on her, the water came up over my face and knocked my sunglass clip-ons off and they were gone.
The whole zombie game tired me out big time, so I went back on the beach. It wasn't long before Jeff and I got some bad sun burn. Not soon after, we made our way back to Kampong Chnang.
It was a good chance to relax and get away. It was especially good for the kids because they don't really get to do stuff like this that often.
Tomorrow, I will get a chance to see Cambodians worship our Lord.
posted by w3y at
8/12/2006 11:34:00 PM
