Kampong Cham Open House

It is always interesting to see how well the internet works in a Cambodian Hotel. We know that the internet at the Service Center, which is right in the middle of the largest city, can be very spotty when we have video calls. This morning we started off Skyping, FaceTiming and Google Hangout with our five daughters. We started on Skype but, it only worked without the cameras going with our third daughter and her family. FaceTime had its issues as well, with connecting, poor connection and freezing. And with our youngest daughter her internet was not working so we had to Google Hangout. Even with the issues we were blessed to talk with each of them, we are so blessed to live in a time of instant communication.

We were asked to be to the new Kampong Cham building at 10:00 a.m. because the VIPs would be there at 11:00. They finally came through our area about 11:30 and the Open House program started at 12:00. Originally there were only about 150 extra chairs set up in the Cultural Hall, but as the crowds kept filing in they soon had the maximum of 400 up. We heard attendance estimates of 620, all the way up to 800, it was probably somewhere between those two numbers.

The program was suppose to be one hour, but when you have government and political individuals invited to speak there is no control. One speaker went for an hour, and so the meeting lasted until 2:00 p.m. After the ribbon cutting and food, everyone was tired and went home so very few came through our Open House display area. New building Open Houses do not happen very often in Cambodia, so it is hard to know from one time until the next, but hopefully they will learn from this one.

Sameth's parents-in-law live in Kampong Cham, he is a Branch President. We went to their home one time and saw the beautiful flowers that they grow and sell. This evening they had a big party at their home and we were invited for chicken, eel, fish and beef. They told use we do not need to eat if we do not want to, but come and enjoy the company. We did try the soup and noodles and some chicken. We did not stay to late, so as we got back to our hotel the Joneses were just headed to the Senior Missionary gathering so we joined them. Over all it was a fun and great day.