Streets Are Not Necessarily For Driving On and President Vichit

This morning both of us woke up shortly after 5:00, we quickly realized that what woke us up was a low chanting voice we could hear over a sound system.  Here in Cambodia when you hear chanting over a sound system it means that there is either a funeral or wedding going on near by.  We were told if the chanting is mournful it is a funeral, but if it is happy then it is a wedding.

Even though we stayed in bed until about 6:00, we did not sleep much.  We were already up and going when the volume of the chanting and now singing increased at 6:00.  As we left for our office we were on the look out for the tent in the street to determine where it was.  We discovered that the tent was on the next street over basically below our bedroom window.  Hopefully they will get the funeral over with today and we will not have the chanting and singing tonight.

As we made the turn to go onto a little alley we take to the main road on our way to the office, the street was completely blocked by another large tent, another funeral or wedding.  We had to take about a two block detour, but when we looked on our way home that tent was gone. No detour tomorrow. (We hope!)

This morning we got a call from the Branch President of the International Branch, Ith Vichit, who
wanted to come and talk with us about a couple of brethren in his branch.  He arranged to come at 4:00 p.m. to our office to talk.  What an absolute delight it was to get to know him better.  He is Cambodian, but his wife is from Singapore and his primary home is in Singapore.  Because he has business here in Cambodia he spends a lot of time here and was called to lead the International Branch.  He joined the Church twenty-nine years ago in Singapore just before he got married.  He was very influential in helping the Church get permission to be in Cambodia.

Another thing that impressed me about President Vichit is that he is the first priesthood leader to ask us for help.  We brought Phanna into the discussion and we do have a path for one of the brothers in the branch.  What a good feeling to see the Lord's initiative work to help change a life, now we will see how it works over the next nineteen months while we are here.