The main reason to be making this trip at this time, is that 3 of my former English students in Japan are taking a trip to Saigon, and we have made plans to meet there.\u00a0 Also, i wish to push forward the stalled Khmer 1858gc printing.\u00a0 But i’m a bit afraid that i will be a burden to the people there.<\/p>\n
The Cambodian visa people are like always: “1,000baht”.\u00a0 No, i’ll only pay 20dollars.\u00a0 “900 baht”. No, here is 20dollars.\u00a0 “20dollars plus 100baht”.\u00a0 No!\u00a0 I’ve seen the Cambodian govt’s web site, and i know it only takes 20dollars.\u00a0 Here is 20dollars.\u00a0 Please give me a visa.\u00a0 “100 baht for express service”.\u00a0 No thank you.\u00a0 Five minutes later, there is my passport with the visa in it.\u00a0 The man standing outside the office talking to people doesn’t have a uniform on, but it is very evident that he is working with the immigration people, splitting all “proceeds” that come in.\u00a0 Well, have fun splitting the 0 you got from me.\u00a0 Just maybe you might think that if you didn’t do these kinds of shenanigans, more people might be interested in coming to your country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young motol-taxi driver tells me there is a bus to Phnom Penh.\u00a0 It is only 8:20am, so i believe him.\u00a0 We go to the central bus terminal, but are told that the last bus went out at 8am, and must wait till tomorrow, or else take a taxi.\u00a0 I ask how much a taxi is, and am told 20dollars just to Battambang.\u00a0 I tell them i paid 20dollars for all the way to Phnom Penh last year, and they just laugh at me.\u00a0 Perhaps they are thinking hired taxi, and i am thinking shared taxi.\u00a0 I’m upset with the whole Cambodian lying and cheating, and walk back towards the main road where i saw some bus company signs coming in.\u00a0 Sure enough, everything is gone today.\u00a0 One young man from the bus terminal tags me everywhere, and finally i write down the name on his badge, asking him yet again to leave me alone.\u00a0 He gets a bit agitated, asking who i plan to report him to, but he does leave me – whew!\u00a0 I find Capital Tours which charges 250baht to Phnom Penh.\u00a0 They take a mix of baht, dollars, and riel, and then i find a room in the hotel next door.<\/p>\n
The hotel has a big window, air-con that doesn’t work, TV with satellite that does, a toilet with shower, bed with dirty sheets, dirty towel, and a fan that pushes hot air around – good!\u00a0 150baht (4+usd) buys one whole day in this.\u00a0 I wonder what my mother would have said, remembering that she would go to the front office if she found a broken light bulb or something not right – ha!\u00a0 Venturing out at nite once for food, and deciding that i didn’t need what they have, was my only direct exposure to the world i looked down from my window – what a dusty mess!\u00a0 A truck gets stuck in the sand, every car that goes by blasts its horn (seems like), people pushing or pulling various things on wheels, and even the one or two white bullocks pulling a cart of pottery.\u00a0 I turn on National Geographic to watch the same thing in Africa,,,,,but a large part of the day is spent typing in stuff on the old laptop i plan to give to a pastor in Phnom Penh.<\/p>\n
The used laptop i bot in Bangkok, along with the heavy UPS device (because the battery is no good on the computer), are handed over to the Khmer 1858gc translator.\u00a0 As always, he is very humble, and expresses his gratitude for them.\u00a0 The pastor’s home i stay at is very near the one last year, near the Japanese embassy.\u00a0 I’m shown how to tie up the mosquito net so the strings can come undone easily in the morning.\u00a0 Yes, i’m a bit slow with these things, but finally i get it down.\u00a0 Thankfully, i’ve brought my electric repellant also, so those biting critters aren’t getting any of my life-giving blood.\u00a0 Well, OK, when the electricity goes out, or when i go to the toilet, or when i get out in the morning, or……fair game!<\/p>\n
The HIV home for children is a good place to teach English, and i enjoy my hour there very much.\u00a0 I’m sorry i took out my cards at the pastor’s home, just before coming here, as i didn’t know what there would be to do here.<\/p>\n
Ten dollars gets me all the way to Saigon the next day.\u00a0 Last year i spent a Sabbath in Svay Reing, then the Brother there took me to the border on his motorbike.\u00a0 But i see now, that THIS is the way to go.\u00a0 The bus stops for lunch at the border while the bus guide takes the passports to get the exit stamp.\u00a0 He returns them, and we all go to the Vietnamese entry point.\u00a0 This is where 2 officers last year asked me for a bribe, and i still see the table they talked to me at.\u00a0 However, this time we are one, and no one is talking extra cash.\u00a0 We mill around waiting for maybe 30 minutes, then they start calling out our names.\u00a0 I wonder if there will be a bus on the other side, or what we will have to do, but am pleasantly surprised to see the same bus waiting for us at the door.\u00a0 Soon we are all on our way again, and after a total of 7 hours, in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, usually abbreviated as HCMC, or called “Saigon” by the locals).<\/p>\n
I make a beeline for “Horenso”, the dormitory i stayed at last year.\u00a0 Whaaaa?\u00a0 It’s an internet cafe?\u00a0 Looking closely reveals that the first floor has changed from a used bookstore, to an internet cafe, with the dormitory still in operation.\u00a0 Instead of the 3rd floor like last year, i’m shown to the 2nd floor.\u00a0 Much nicer than the 3rd floor!\u00a0 And same price – 3dollars\/nite.\u00a0 We had 14 people in 2 rooms using one toilet last year, but this floor has 12 people in 2 rooms using 2 toilets.\u00a0 I get top bunk.\u00a0 Two places are free, an Israeli girl beneath me, a German girl over by the window, and a Japanese girl on top bunk at my feet.\u00a0 I had forgotten that Japanese like to smoke – a lot.\u00a0 But am very happy to hear that familiar tongue once again.\u00a0 And of course, happy to be able to witness to a variety of people.<\/p>\n
The church construction i saw last year while here, is now completely over, and a beautiful, big, light green church is standing there.\u00a0 It is probably 5 stories high, with a nice “wave” look to the roof.\u00a0 It was featured on Vietnamese television when they had the ribbon-cutting ceremony.\u00a0 The architect was the first one to use the baptismal!!!\u00a0 There are in fact many amazing stories of what is happening with God’s people in Vietnam, good and bad and just plain confusing ones, but it may be best to leave them for another day.<\/p>\n
My friend there treats me very nicely, just like last year.\u00a0 It is great to see that having a big, beautiful place to worship in hasn’t gone to his head.\u00a0 So often with God’s people, when we are richly blessed, we tend to get a “high nose”.\u00a0 God loves the humble, and we should always remember that everything we have is just a gift from God, and besides, even this beautiful church will burn one day.\u00a0 Hope that the donor has second thots, and doesn’t put his name in big letters on it, thus taking glory due to God to himself.\u00a0 At Friday evening worship, we hear a musical contest, and i get to meet a young man from West Virginia who is dating a girl who used to be a member here.<\/p>\n
Finding a moto-taxi to take one somewhere is no problem.\u00a0 Getting them to leave you alone when you don’t want one is.\u00a0 Always calling out, always honking or something to get you to look at them.\u00a0 It is very annoying.\u00a0 But very helpful when you DO want one.\u00a0 Of course their prices are about double for foreigners.\u00a0 I’m told that this is considered normal and proper, to charge foreigners about double for everything.\u00a0 Thankfully not everybody does it, but many do.\u00a0 I’m told that to the church it should be either 1dollar or 20,000dong (1.25usd).\u00a0 Sure enough, quoted 40,000, soon 30,000, i stick to 20, he sticks to 25.\u00a0 I walk off, and when just about to talk to another driver, the first one comes up, and says OK, 20,000.\u00a0 To pay over 1dollar for just 7km, he is getting decent money, so everyone is happy.\u00a0 His friend tries the same thing on me, with the same result.\u00a0 The third time they know already, and agree right off to 20,000.\u00a0 I don’t mind paying a fair price.\u00a0 I do mind getting gouged, paying more than necessary, as this money entrusted to me is all from God.<\/p>\n
I walk a bit Saturday evening, over to the hotel where my former English students are staying.\u00a0 They aren’t in, so i walk to a vegetarian restaurant, and walk back thru the park.\u00a0 It is amazing how many motorcyclists there are in this city.\u00a0 They are undisputed kings of the road here.\u00a0 In most cities of Asia motorcycles have to weave in and out of traffic, knowing that cars are boss, and they are poor cousins.\u00a0 But not here, they are kings, forcing the cars to look like poor cousins.\u00a0 It is so cool, looking like some huge migration of salmon.\u00a0 It is odd to see so many motorcycles lined up at the edge of the park, with couples entertwined tightly, kissing etc.\u00a0 I’ve never seen such a phenomenon anywhere else.\u00a0 I guess the feeling is, is that if they go where everyone is doing it, then it is acceptable, whereas if they were alone, then maybe it would not be acceptable.\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 My friends don’t come by 9:15, so i leave to come back in the morning.<\/p>\n
“Long time no see!” rings out in the atrium of the New World Hotel.\u00a0 Sunday morning finds us all together, ready to go meet my pastor friend.\u00a0 We look for a rickshaw, as there are still some for tourists.\u00a0 First they quote us 160,000dong\/each (10usd – exactly).\u00a0 I laugh, and we walk off, looking for a taxi.\u00a0 They come running after us, and after a minute or so, agree to take all 4 of us for 150,000.\u00a0 What a farce.\u00a0 It’s fun to ride thru the city in an open car.\u00a0 My friends’ faces are getting redder by the minute tho, and i remember that they are not used to something over 30 degrees, as it is winter back in Japan.\u00a0 My friend at church is still busy, so we find a back street to walk down.\u00a0 There is a small market, and we buy a few things and look at and question each other on some others.\u00a0 They have fun taking video of a back street, where many of the houses are open, and people are sprawled out in front of the TV, or just watching the world go by from their chair sitting outside the front door.\u00a0 Our friend takes us to a vegetarian restaurant, and i thot my students would have seen fake meat before, it seemed that they were genuinely impressed with the “chicken”, asking several times if it wasn’t “real”.\u00a0 We walk around Dong Khoi street awhile, and we all ogle the beautiful silk “paintings”, and they purchase a few souvenirs, and then back to their hotel.\u00a0 Thank you for the nice day, and remember you are in my prayers.\u00a0 May all of you come to Jesus Christ one day soon.<\/p>\n
Well that was over quick.\u00a0 Now what to do the rest of the time here in Vietnam?\u00a0 Or just how long should i stay?\u00a0 I wind up staying almost 2 weeks, being able to give many good witnesses to the travellers in the dormitory, especially the Japanese girl mentioned earlier.\u00a0 She only stayed one day, but we had a deep discussion about following the truth.\u00a0 The German girl is very interesting too, and i’m surprised to hear her world view is pretty close to mine, except in spiritual things.\u00a0 Next, 5 Japanese guys come in.\u00a0 One of them is very interesting, and we have some good discussions, altho he doesn’t seem much interested in spiritual things.\u00a0 One Japanese girl stays a few days.\u00a0 It is much more interesting somehow to have a mix, and the conversation is more lively.\u00a0 Thank whoever left the mostly-full can of “OFF!”\u00a0 I just sprayed some more on me as i type this blog entry 3 months later in Cambodia – so buzz OFF! (as i scratch the reason i remembered i need to spray some more ON! – haha).<\/p>\n
Most of the days i spend at the church, studying with any young people who are interested in studying, or just talking with my friend.\u00a0 It is more incredible than a soap opera to hear what is going on there, and MUCH more interesting.\u00a0 It is good to see that there are some young people who are dedicated, and wish to serve God with heart, soul, and mind.\u00a0 And it is great to hear about a new plan to strengthen the church there, a plan to have Bible training for young people.<\/p>\n
Around 6 of us study chapter 32 of the 1858gc.\u00a0 There is a good spirit present, and it is a solemn occasion.\u00a0 The next Sabbath we go to a church around 45mins out from Saigon.\u00a0 This church was taken over by a soldier for around 10 years, and finally an order from the Prime Minister got him evicted.\u00a0 The young people seemed a bit more on-fire and knowledgeable than in many churches i’ve been to in Asia.\u00a0 Some of the adults did not seem so dedicated tho, just like everywhere else.<\/p>\n
Two young men approach me one morning while waiting for my friend to come by motorcycle.\u00a0 One of them speaks English quite well, and tells me how he came from Hanoi, his dad was in the military, but is sick now, he has no mom, so he came here for work, but lost his identity card on the bus, so he has no place to sleep or work etc., so can i please help him?\u00a0 Being wary, yet aware that perhaps the Lord has sent this young man to me to save his soul, and to work on any covetous feelings in myself, i probe him a bit.\u00a0 He says if he can just get some shoe polish, he can polish shoes, and make enough money to live.\u00a0 I tell him to come back the next day at the same time.\u00a0 Thinking that if he is not sincere, he will not show, i look down from my balcony while eating breakfast the next morning.\u00a0 Sure enough, there he is.\u00a0 Well, OK, let’s go to the market and i’ll buy you some shoe polish.\u00a0 He tells me he needs brown, black, white, and a shoe box, brush etc. etc.\u00a0 I tell him that he can make his own box, and that he can use brown and black to make enough money to buy white if he needs it.\u00a0 He asks for more, even a new shirt, but i just buy one brush, and black and brown – around a 10dollar investment.\u00a0 Thinking that would probably be the end of him, it is with surprise that i see him again the next morning.\u00a0 I rush downstairs outside, to hear him say he made over 3dollars the day before, but almost got beat up because he used the black brush on someone’s brown shoes.\u00a0 I tell him to just do black shoes at first, until he can buy a brown brush.\u00a0 He is wearing a new T-shirt, and looks a bit cleaner.\u00a0 I’m happy, but not sure how good a witness i was.\u00a0 I see him one more time from the balcony, a few days later, talking to a foreigner, asking for something.\u00a0 He got a cigarrette.\u00a0 Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.<\/p>\n
I have a nice talk with a student of Kyoto University.\u00a0 He is quite different from most of the others, being much more refined in his manner of speaking, politeness level etc.\u00a0 But i don’t give a witness to him.\u00a0 I awaken at 4am, knowing that he is planning to leave around 5:30.\u00a0 Looking for, waiting for, praying for a chance, it finally comes, and i give a very short witness.\u00a0 Please Lord, excuse my short witness, but please work on that to change his heart, and make him want to become your child.<\/p>\n
It is great being with one of my best friends in the world, someone who is straighter than perhaps all i’ve seen, and more active in working out big plans to better God’s people than anyone else i know either.\u00a0 Quite an amazing combination.\u00a0 Don’t let it get to your head friend!\u00a0 He takes me out many lunchtimes to a vegetarian restaurant (maybe 70cents\/per?), and it is quite tasty.\u00a0 One day it is some Buddhist festival, and a church member takes me to a different vegetarian restaurant.\u00a0 I think the floor is the dirtiest i’ve ever seen in any restaurant in my life, but the food is good \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 It is really nice to study the 1858gc book several times with the young people at the church, and see them come to love this book too, even wondering if they can help somehow spread it in the future \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lord, please bless Vietnam.\u00a0 May those called by your name stand firm.\u00a0 Lord, you know those that are yours.\u00a0 May those who are not following you from a true heart feel their sin, and come to you.\u00a0 We know you will never turn away a truly humble, repentant heart.\u00a0 May we give glory to you, and may you work mightily to save many souls in this country.<\/p>\n
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\nNow back to Cambodia to really get this 1858gc book printed.\u00a0 I spend an extra day in Vietnam, so i can go together with my friend to Cambodia, as he has some training to do there.\u00a0 It surprises me that altho he is used to many hardship like sleeping on floors, even staying several years in India in tough conditions, that he gets a bit ill on long bus rides.\u00a0 Hang on!\u00a0 haha.\u00a0 We spend some time with me translating a Bible verse from my Japanese memory cards, and he telling me what book and chapter it is from.\u00a0 His success rate is over 90%, impressing me very much.\u00a0 I’ve been reading these 31 cards for over 6 years, and i don’t think i could say the book and chapter where they come from any better……Must study more.\u00a0 We have a “VIP” bus which is 2 dollars more than regular, so it costs 12 dollars and takes around 6 hours to go between Saigon and Phnom Penh.\u00a0 I watch the road carefully when coming into town, and have them dump me out where i can walk around 1km past the Thai and Japanese embassy to the internet cafe near the house i’ll be staying at.<\/p>\n
The next day is Sabbath, and i’m invited to give the sermon at SDA Centre.\u00a0 Around 35 adults and children who are HIV positive stay there.\u00a0 I talk about the three main doctrines that make us Seventh-day Adventists distinct from other Christians, and where to find that in the Bible.\u00a0 In the afternoon i go to a church planter’s home for his Sabbath worship service.\u00a0 It’s only his family and one boy from English class.\u00a0 It is interesting how they split up the various pastor’s and church planter’s worship services on Sabbaths, with half of them in the morning from 8:30 – 10:00, and half from around 2:30 – 4:00.\u00a0 That way, each Sabbath you can go to at least 2 different places.\u00a0 It is nice to see some of the same people you saw in the morning, worshipping with you in the afternoon too \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
At the training centre i meet a lady who i have been wanting to meet for many years – MaryAnn McNeilus.\u00a0 She is a health educator\/missionary\/book writer.\u00a0 Probably she has done as much to strengthen the right arm of the third angel as Agatha Thrash.\u00a0 She is as nice, sweet, and gentle as i had hoped for.\u00a0 These traits seem to be common among those who are really dedicated doing medical missionary work.\u00a0 I need to learn from them!\u00a0 She also seems genuinely happy to see the 1858gc, which of course may influence the way i feel towards her.<\/p>\n
At the same place, there is the president of ASAP.\u00a0 This organization has done a tremendous amount of good in SE Asia in building up the church.\u00a0 For example, over 60% of the Cambodia Mission’s funds are donated, and probably most of that is from ASAP.\u00a0 They have been active in this area for many years, and it is largely thru their help when many Cambodians were in refugee camps in Thailand, that there are any SDAs in Cambodia at all.\u00a0 I’ve heard good stories how ASAP has helped in neighboring countries too.\u00a0 Even with all the people clamoring for her attention, as you might imagine, she grants me a few minutes.\u00a0 She too seems interested in the 1858gc book, and happy to hear it is already in most of the languages where her organization is working.\u00a0 However, when i express my concern regarding things in Vietnam, she doesn’t agree, and we have quite a long discussion about what needs to be done there.\u00a0 I pray that we may not do or say or write anything that is putting the government down when it is making visible progress in helping and protecting our Seventh-day Adventist church.\u00a0 And i hope and pray that if anyone is making up stories to play upon the good will of the American donors, that they will repent and desist from doing those things, and learn of the meek and lowly Jesus how to work together with the brethren of like faith.
\nThe pastor i’m staying with takes me to Tual Sleng, the genocide museum in Phnom Penh.\u00a0 It is a school in the midst of the city, and except for the barbed wire covering two of the buildings, and the lack of kids, it still looks like a school.\u00a0 We walk into the first classroom.\u00a0 There is an old, metal bed with some of the steel supports broken, and a leg iron to lock down the legs.\u00a0 The floor has a fairly large blackened area.\u00a0 What is all this about?\u00a0 Looking up on the wall, you see the picture taken of this room when it was found, after the Khmer Rouge has left it.\u00a0 There is a piece of meat lying in the center of the black spot, just about making you throw up when you realize what kind of meat that is…..\u00a0 The next room and next room and next room are very similar.<\/p>\n
The next building has a large photographic display of the prisoners who came thru here.\u00a0 Many, most of the them are not even adults yet.\u00a0 Some look scared, some look hurt, and many of them have a blank look.\u00a0 There are some torture instruments, all of them very primitive, then some skulls with various holes and chopping marks on them.\u00a0 The next building has classrooms that have had “cells” built of brick to house prisoners in an improvised “room” just big enough to lay down in.\u00a0 Holes were opened in the walls leading outside, so that waste could be washed out.\u00a0 As you might imagine, hardly any food was given, so many of the people just plain starved to death.\u00a0 There is also a room upstairs with an impressive number of leg irons, where there locked down large numbers of prisoners who slept leg-to-leg to each other.<\/p>\n
The thing that bothered me most about the place, is the room showing pictures of some of the “guards” and workers today.\u00a0 They mostly look like your next-door-neighbor, with many of them farming or hawking things on the streets or living just like anyone else.\u00a0 They were asked what they thot of their involvement in this horror house.\u00a0 None of them expressed remorse at what they had done.\u00a0 Everyone said: “It was the only thing i could do”.\u00a0 Wrong, very wrong!\u00a0 No one ever forces you to kill anyone else.\u00a0 The fact is, you valued your belly more than you did anyone else’s.\u00a0 I pray you repent, and follow Jesus, or there will be a fearful reckoning in the day of judgment.<\/p>\n
ASAP director’s daughter has been here two weeks, and somehow contracted dengue – ouch!\u00a0 If found out quickly, they can cure it, and i understand she recovers nicely, but it makes me pause, and give praise to God for his protection to me over these many months of travelling around SE Asia with nothing worse than a cold (and durian attack!)<\/p>\n
The food is not so healthy here, not much variety, and not much in the way of protein.\u00a0 They do have some beans, but don’t know how to use them.\u00a0 The tofu is good tho, and the rice doesn’t have as many rocks or dirt as i remembered it having last year.\u00a0 Sure would be nice if you could find a steady supply of brown rice.<\/p>\n
The large Mission Church is very cold to me, but it is nice to see it full of worshippers.\u00a0 But are they worshipping, or playing games on cell phones and talking with their friends?\u00a0 It is hard to tell.\u00a0 The sermon is by a Pakistani man who says that he hugged a Catholic in his country, and said we all have the same faith.\u00a0 He got in his obligatory dig against America too.\u00a0 Somehow these ideas of “there is no difference between right and wrong” and “America is bad” go hand in hand all over the world today, as the newspapers, TV news, internet news etc. is full of this kind of stuff.\u00a0 For “America” you can also insert “Israel”.\u00a0 These are two countries all the world is being taught to hate.\u00a0 Might there be a good reason?\u00a0 Might it just be that those most promoting Sabbath observance are from these two countries?\u00a0 Satan is a master at getting all the world into one camp, one way of thinking, and then turning that on the few who do not believe that way – which is what i think he is doing with this ridiculous “no difference between right and wrong” and “global warming” nonsense.\u00a0 Most probably, it is spurred by envy too.\u00a0 After all, America is called by God: “the greatest nation”.\u00a0 I wish America would repent of her huge sin of killing babies, and spreading sorcery and evil thru her entertainment.\u00a0 If she did this, no doubt her judgment would be much lighter, but knowing these things are bad, and still doing them, her judgment will be greater.\u00a0 And yes, one day she will force the whole world to worship on Sunday.\u00a0 That will bring utter ruin, for great is the God who judges.\u00a0 He punished her strongly for the great evil of slavery, and no doubt her final punishment will be far worse.<\/p>\n
After church i stay behind outside to talk with 4 young men.\u00a0 We have quite a deep discussion, and it is great to hear that they wish to serve God more and more.\u00a0 They say they wish to study the 1858gc with me, but fail to come the next day.\u00a0 Thinking the day might turn out to be a waste, i’m gratified when 3 other young men come to study with me.\u00a0 Hope they understand something of the importance of it.\u00a0 Later they play some games brought from Japan on my computer, and seem to enjoy them, especially “Bomber Bomber”.\u00a0 That’s a game where you try to get all the keys and open the boxes to get to the next level.\u00a0 Brought back old memories of Japan, playing with the grandkids where i lived.<\/p>\n
The cat here teaches me an important lesson on “perseverance” (also called “pleading earnestly”, and\/or “begging”).\u00a0 That has been blogged about earlier.<\/p>\n
I ask one man who was on the team of proofreaders for the Khmer 1858gc to go over the book one more time.\u00a0 He finds 67 mistakes.\u00a0 Unbelieveable.\u00a0 How can this be?\u00a0 After one year, and being proofread by 6 pairs of eyes?\u00a0 I find many spacing and alignment errors too, but when finished, it looks quite nice.<\/p>\n
I go to a church planter’s home and teach English in the morning.\u00a0 Maybe 20 kids have gathered.\u00a0 We sing songs, use cards and toy animals etc., and the time passes quickly.\u00a0 In the afternoon i’m asked to give a talk to some believers living nearby, in the makeshift living quarters standing near the water.\u00a0 It seems hard for the people to follow, and my translator even doesn’t know “sanctuary”, so it’s difficult to give a good talk, but they all assemble to watch the 4 minute anime of the first chapter.\u00a0 Where did they all suddenly come from?\u00a0 I’m convinced that a movie of this book would reach a lot of people.<\/p>\n
Sabbath afternoon finds me giving a sermon at a church planter’s place.\u00a0 I’ve followed the pastor on a bicycle for around 4 or 5kms, and arrive very sweaty, but feeling good.\u00a0 After talking about how we need to show reverence for the house of God, and have home worship each morning, we go to the translator’s house.\u00a0 They lead the way, but miss the little road to turn right on.\u00a0 I see one that i think is it, but it has been over one year, plus they are natives here….When we turn back around, find out that i HAD remembered the right road \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 We worship together, and then watch all 3 of them get on a little motorbike (Honda Chaly), and ride off among the falling raindrops.<\/p>\n
The translator’s home is maybe 20km from the Mission Office.\u00a0 He said people wondered if he was thinking well when he moved out here years ago, but he loves it here.\u00a0 It looks like the garden of Eden compared to what i’m used to seeing in the city – lots of greenery and papaya, mango, and banana trees, making it tempting to chuck all work and just live like a king.\u00a0 Fortunately (!) the number of mosquitoes quickly bring me back to reality.\u00a0 The number of frogs hopping around at nite is impressive, and i ask why the cat isn’t interested.\u00a0 I’m told that if it is a young lizard, she gets very interested.\u00a0 Sure enough, the frogs hop just past her nose, but when a little lizard (gecko actually), she gobbles it up.\u00a0 Sure am glad we are not like in Egypt with frogs everywhere, as they are cute when few and small, but when they are everywhere, big, and show no fear of anything, they are scary.<\/p>\n
The boy of the house kindly lets me use his room, and he lets me copy lots of jpg files used for evangelism by the Korean\/American group that came last year.\u00a0 He even has some of the Ellen White biography video which is great – thanks!\u00a0 The huge papaya for breakfast will satisfy my papaya cravings for a couple of months i guess.<\/p>\n
While there, i find 2 books – “Desiring God” by John Piper, and a book explaining the sanctuary by a professor at Andrews.\u00a0 The first book was recommended by the Mission President, i understand, but am very concerned when it says that the writer is Baptist.\u00a0 Should we go to Babylon for new light?\u00a0 No way.\u00a0 My fears prove well founded, as he writes that the wicked burn eternally in hell just as eternally as the righteous live (similar).\u00a0 And he also says that “soul annihilation is not correct”.\u00a0 Of course us SDAs believe in soul annihilation.\u00a0 The other book is much better, making the sanctuary meanings easy to understand, with one caveat: He writes that Jesus is not confined to the Most Holy Place, and is no doubt going back and forth between the Holy and Most Holy.\u00a0 Why write about the importance of 1844, and then write something like this that undermines the whole thing?<\/p>\n
Monday morning the boy and i leave the house a few minutes after 6, to make the long bicycle ride into the city.\u00a0 The road is packed with people heading in, lots of motorcycles pulling big, flat-boards with an incredible number of people sitting\/hanging onto them.\u00a0 Looks like there are only about 10 factories in all of Cambodia (exaggeration perhaps), and most of them are in one little stretch – garment factories with Chinese names.\u00a0 This stretch of road is very crowded, not just with the workers, but with the attendent crowds of hawkers selling everything from chicken parts to fake rolexes.\u00a0 I was afraid i couldn’t keep up with the youngster, but looks like i’ve more than held my own.\u00a0 Now for a cooling bucket-bath and change out of these sweaty clothes.\u00a0 Even just 30 minutes can get one totally wet. (actually, just 3 minutes can get one pretty wet – ha!)<\/p>\n
The bath water and the water in the big pot used to wash clothes and dishes is full of mosquito larvae.\u00a0 It is fun to catch a few, and feed them to the guppies – gulp gulp gone!\u00a0 It isn’t so fun to think about how you might be getting some on your dishes or in your hair – yucko.<\/p>\n
Most of the week is spent reading, typing, and teaching Engish in the afternoons at a church planter’s house.\u00a0 The printer prints out a copy of the 1858gc that i’m very happy with, except for one very minor alignment mistake in one place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are at least 4 bus companies making the run to Poi Pet from Phnom Penh: Capitol Tour, Hua Lian, GST, and Mon Rithy.\u00a0 I happen to find Hua Lian, so buy the ticket.\u00a0 At 6.50dollars, it is 50cents higher than Capitol.\u00a0 Well, i’ll try it, and see how it is.\u00a0 Sunday morning finds me at the bus station just after 6.\u00a0 The bus is not a big, Greyhound type of thing, but a “mini-bus” from China.\u00a0 It turns out to be great for keeping out the dust, but terrible for the loudness (and constant-ness) of the horn.\u00a0 There is a driver, and two workers for a mini-bus holding maybe 30 people.\u00a0 Even then, they don’t call out the name of any of the stops, and just laugh and talk among themselves, and throw mango peel on the floor.\u00a0 Well, 3 foreigner-looking people pipe up and say “We want to go to Battambang”.\u00a0 I inform them that Battambang was over an hour back the way the came, and then they got quite upset.\u00a0 The driver keep acting like he was going to drive the rest of the way to the border anyway, but they would have none of it.\u00a0 Finally we went back about 10 minutes to a small town, where the bus people paid for a shared taxi to take these 3 people back to Battambang.\u00a0 What a joke.\u00a0 Why don’t these people work properly?\u00a0 Have they never been trained, or it is that they just don’t want to work?\u00a0 Probably a combination.\u00a0 I thank God for being able to be a witness to the Thai lady sitting next to me, and for a safe trip right up to the border.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cambodia, you sap my energy, and try my patience, but i hope and pray that your simple faith will continue to grow stronger and stronger, and that you will one day be strong enough to test for yourself what is truth and what is error, and some day send out missionaries to other lands.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The main reason to be making this trip at this time, is that 3 of my former English students in Japan are taking a trip to Saigon, and we have made plans to meet there.\u00a0 Also, i wish to push forward the stalled Khmer 1858gc printing.\u00a0 But i’m a bit afraid that i will be …<\/p>\n