Christmas Eve In Cambodia

We have often shared that we do something here on what is a holiday back home that we will probably never do again on that holiday. Today was another one of those days that we can honestly say we did things that we have never done before on Christmas Eve and will most likely never do again.

With it being Saturday we started our day teaching Institute to twenty wonderful Cambodians that have become our friends. They are always so eager to learn about the gospel and in many ways about Christianity, since only 2% of the population here are Christians. Before our class started one of those dear friends asked us what some of the symbols of Christmas meant, like the tree and star. We were able to share what we could in our limited time before class.

Right after Institute we headed across town to the Phnom Penh North Stake Center to attend a wedding. Both the bride and groom have attended our Institute Class in the past, the groom more than the bride. Weddings are not a normal Christmas Eve activity, but we had time and wanted to attend.

Tomorrow we are hosting a gathering of Missionaries for Christmas, so we had to get the major preparation for it ready. There were four Crock Pots of chicken breasts to cook, about three quarts of gravy, pick up bread, desert, napkins and water. Likewise we decided to give them a little Christmas Tree ornament and candy as a gift from us. Sister Oveson came up with a great idea to use a half of a legal envelope for a little gift sack. We think that they look good, we hope the missionaries enjoy the dinner and gift.

This evening we went to a Christmas Party that was for two of the Wards from the South Stake that meet in the Stake Center. The only thing that looked anything like our Christmas in the U.S. was the costumes for one dance, but the music was not familiar at all. We will most likely never see another Christmas program like that in the future, especially on Christmas Eve.