Saturday, October 9, 2010

A visit to Bon-lit

Why is Jesus hardly in the church but was always with the people and at different villages? Apart from him loving the people, I think another reason could be because he really wanted to understand them and by understanding them he could communicate effectively with them.

One of the best ways to get to know or even to understand a person is when you visit their homes. I find this very true for myself.

Yesterday two of us visited the homes of our kids at their village. It took about an hour motorbike ride on the highway to arrive at the village. The first home we visited was Kim Sung’s home. It is a nice simple wooden house by the paddy field. We met her parents and family. During our conversation they never stop praising God and sharing testimonies on how God has been so good to them. Then we head out on the bike for another 20 minutes to visit another girl. This village that we went to is called Bon-lit.

As we rode into the village I saw many youngsters and little children. It is the Cambodian All Soul Day (something similar to the Chinese’s All Soul Day – Qing Ming. During this time the people will visit the temple with offerings (food) to offer to the ancestors.). There’s a BIG temple located in this village and because of the celebration many people gathered at the temple, some to perform their religious duty and some especially the children and youth gathered to have fun. As we rode further in I saw men and young people gathered in groups blasting loud music and playing snooker.

Then we arrived at Imm’s home. Her house is a simple wooden house on stilts. Comparing with the houses around hers, you can tell that they are not very rich. We sat and chit chat and they began to share how their neighbors would laugh at them for being Christian. But still they never stop believing in Jesus.

As we were heading home, we made another stop at Ramorn and Sokvanah’s home. Their parents are church leaders and they work as paddy farmer to feed the family. During the conversation, they kept praising God for the good things that He has done for them especially for their son, Ramorn. When I first knew Ramorn, I couldn’t understand why he is such a challenging boy. I was told that he used to smoke and drink and was thinking how is that possible. But now that I’ve seen the environment where he grew up I begin to understand. In this village, young people gathered together for fun, and in the fun there were smoking and drinking. So, it is very easy for young children without proper guidance to follow what the majority is doing.

It was a worthwhile trip although riding on the bike under the hot sun for an hour and having to ride through some VERY bumpy roads were no fun at all. The trip gave me a glimpse of another side of Cambodian community and helping me to understand them better.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did the ride rattle your bones? :P
SH

Christine Law said...

*LOL* Not really, it was not comfortable but there's nothing to complain about it too :) Just something for experience :)

Anonymous said...

A few days ago it was hot. . . now the whole town is flooded! We are glad the center is dry, but we are praying for you.