For the past few months we have been doing some kind of travel on the Sabbath, so we welcomed a relaxing morning in our hotel. We took a tuk tuk to a Khmer ward at 1:00. Khmer-speaking wards are at 8:00, 1:00 or 3:00. They don't mess around with their lunch hour, so the English-speaking, International ward takes the 10:00 slot.
The church has only been in Cambodia for 20 years, and there are already two stakes in Phnom Penh. The two stake centers are enormous and beautiful. The parking lots during the week are filled with school children of all ages playing futbol or another game called Shuttle Cock, or hanging out near their motos. (Any age can drive a moto here, with parental consent.)
Going to church in other countries is always a treat. The good feeling and sense of unity and love is the same. The music and truths and structure is familiar. The people and culture add their own personality. Because the church is relatively new here, people don't always follow "protocol", which is mostly a man-made standard anyway. Speakers are sometimes inexperienced, kids run around without being gently detained, and a favorite today were two women who entered the chapel as the sacrament was being passed, talking in normal voices, and both took a piece of bread from a tray as they walked down the aisle! We had a young missionary from Connecticut translate for us, which was nice.
After church we visited a nearby Buddhist temple.
We could hear someone speaking over one of those ultra-loud speakers you might hear at a fairground and followed the voice into some kind of Buddhist worship gathering. We took our shoes off and went in. A monk sat up on an elevated stand in a throne-like seat speaking to his audience of about 70 people who sat on the ground, mostly women wearing white shirts. As we sat on the floor a young woman brought us a tray of cold, bottled water, and another tray of bananas and some unrecognizable treats. We felt so welcome.
Unlike the fat, Chinese Buddha, Khmer Buddhas are skinny.
This is the cute, young woman who brought us refreshments. We're standing in front of the chapel.
After a while we went out and found a super tiny, malnourished kitten. Buddhists respect all living things, so it is common on Buddhist temple grounds to find stray cats, dogs and monkeys who find a little nourishment, protection and kindness. Ceci gently pet this little creature for a long while, and I think she was probably the first one to show it physical affection. It weakly followed her around, grateful for any and every touch. All abandoned things long for love.
This was a small, run-down temple, surrounded by monk-housing, small huts of worship and tombs.
Monks are highly revered here. They devote themselves to a life of celibacy, so a female is not to even brush them in passing. We asked a small group of younger monks if we could take a picture with them. They agreed and scooted to one bench so Adele and Ceci could have the other. Another young monk came out and we invited him in the picture. The sitting monks offered the seat next to the girls, in jest. He quickly moved to the male side and traded Geoff spots. It was a peek into their youthfulness and innocent mischievousness. You can see it in their faces!
The Khmer (pronounced Kmī, and used in place of "Cambodian") people are so quick to smile. For being oppressed in so many ways, they are a happy and friendly people.
We went to the Thurston's home for dinner, where we ate familiar food, vegetables and fruit! We don't eat anything fresh here, to be safe, so clean, prepared fruits and veggies after only three days were so amazingly delicious.
The Thurstons took us out into the Sunday night traffic to a boardwalk along a waterway. It seemed every Khmer family was out and about! It was fun to see the city at night. It was so alive!
Another great day.
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