WEDDING IN CAMBODIA

Hoem Sovannara and Leap Sokuntheary (Theary) were married in her childhood village home.  This village was about 2 hours from Phnom Penh by auto on an island that can only be reached by a ferry which is large enough to carry a car and a few motorcycles across a large river.  All of the students that live in the BEST CENTER attended as Theary lived in the dorm throughout her 4 years at the university.  It was a beautiful wedding but not like any that I have witnessed near my home in Kansas, USA.  There are many traditions at a Cambodian Wedding. 

Not many years ago a wedding took 7 days, but now only 1 to 3 days.  Most of the events at this wedding took place on Monday, January 29, 2018. 

The Bride and Groom experience a long day on their special day.  It includes at least 4 different matching formalwear outfits.  These outfits were rented.  There were also coordinated clothing selections for the bride and groom's attendants. There were several traditional ceremonies that primarily the family attended.

All of the weddings that I have witnessed have been held in large beautiful tents.  You can see the one above that was set up on the grounds of the Bride's family home.  In the cities, the tents are usually set up in the streets, which are merely blocked off to traffic for the duration of the wedding (and funerals also share this tradition).  This can be quite disruptive to traffic as the streets are narrow.  Sometimes even highways are blocked off to only one lane or worse.

January is a popular month to hold weddings as it is the dry season.  But this year that did not hold true to this wedding.  It rained all morning in the village.  With no pavement in the village, it became quite slippery and muddy.

This was one of the better places to walk.  As you can see, the women wear very beautiful and formal dresses.  This year it was the fashion to wear long dresses which turned out to be quite a challenge to keep clean.

This is a tropical island with banana trees, mango trees and other fruits and vegetables.  Notice the background in this photo.  The village is in what I would call a jungle.  What beautiful surroundings for a wedding or any other event!

People arrived from early morning to late in the day. 

One of the first events was a parade of all the guests there who were provided with gifts of food which included fruit plates, canned goods, meat, candy, etc.  We marched in two lines by couples, each couple carrying duplicate beautiful food plates which were wrapped with clear plastic.  They were presented to the bride's family for the wedding.  This is also the time that the groom officially asks the bride's hand in marriage.

All of the guest who arrived in time for the parade were then served breakfast in the large tent by caterers.  You can see that the meals were served beautifully.  We were also served lunch and dinner (which is shown to the right).  Most guests also brought changes of clothing so that they could wear their most beautiful dresses in the evening.  

One does not bring wrapped gifts for the bride and groom.  Guests are provided with envelopes with their invitations (which are also beautiful by the way) to slip some money into and was to be given at the wedding.  This money is usually used to help pay for the wedding which is quite expensive.

As the evening meal began a band had been arranged for across the road from the tent.  Some of the dorm students ended up on the stage singing with the band.  They seemed to really enjoy it.  There was a relative of the bride in the group.  You can see that especially the girls go all out to look beautiful for the event, including special hair dos and makeup.  They were all beautiful.  There was also traditional dancing in the street and professional traditional dancers on the stage.

 This photo of Tom and Helen with 2 dorm students, Makara and Da, was taken in front of the homes in this village.  They are built on stilts about 8 feet off the ground.  There are tables for sitting or laying on under the houses.  This area is used extensively for visiting, etc.  Electricity has recently been added to this island as well and a fresh water source.  During the rainy season it is not unusual for the island to flood.  All outside supplies must come over on the ferry.  

This photo was taken of the parents and grandparents of the couple.  The inside of their home was decorated for several of the traditional ceremonies that take place, pledging care for each other and wishing the couple a good life together.  These homes are usually rather bare inside, with plastic mats on the floor for sleeping and eating.  Marriage appears to be a very important event for Cambodians to go to all of the trouble and expense to provide a memorable event for the couple.

I had to include the photos of the dorm students, at least most of them.

NEW BIBLE CLASS

 Tom and Helen are using a Bible Timeline to give the university students who are living at the BEST CENTER a different perspective about God's Plan in scripture.  Since few of the students are fluent in English, Dara interpreted the lesson that Tom taught.  The lesson began by emphasizing that a timeline tells the important events and people in the story being presented.  The scriptures read included John 1:1-5, 14 and Luke 1:1-5 to emphasize that this timeline began 'In the beginning' and that it was a true historical story.

 Tom told some of the important events and people in his timeline, then asked the students to do the same in their notebooks, noting that some years received more notice than others in each timeline.  Some of the students even continued to write what they hoped would happen in their timelines (Prophecy).  

As the Bible Timeline was considered each student was given a strip with a Bible Book (in English as well as in Khmer languages) to add to the timeline.  The Bible Timeline was also translated into the Khmer language, the top pages being in English and the bottom in Khmer.  The years that occurred in the events of the book were also written on the strip.  Each strip was added to the Timeline to get a picture of when all of the events in the Bible took place.  This was an interesting exercise that pointed out what events seemed most important in God's Plan in scripture.

We look forward to continuing with the study of God's Plan and how it was carried out in scripture.

STUDIES PROGRESS

 Tom and Sinoun study at 10:00 am following her trip to the market with the Center cook and helping her begin meal preparations.  Each student here has duties to help make the Center run smoothly.

She is one of upperclasswomen at the Center.  Her leadership is amazing and her English skills have improved so much since we started coming to the Center.  The first year she was living at the Center she did not want to study with Tom as she was afraid to speak.  Now they have good conversations.

 Sreynich is a Sophomore at a University here.  Students that live at the BEST Center attend about 4 Universities across this big city of about 2 million people.  The students who live here come from villages some distance away so it must be rather a shock to them, but the Center provides a safe place where they can develop relationships, learn about God and the current program will also provide an improved method to develop their English speaking skills.

 Sidet, a sophomore, is hesitant with her English skills.  We consulted an English dictionary this week about the word 'afraid'.  I emphasized that fear is the quickest way to fail in anything one tried, including learning English.  What a joy to see students begin to relax and learn.  He university studies are important to her as well as her Bible and English studies at the BEST Center.  

 Titya is a junior at the university.  His English skills are good but he still wants to learn more.  He loves to play football (soccer in the US) and is an aggressive player.  The guys get together and play every Saturday afternoon, playing the students from CBI (Cambodia Bible Institute).  

Makara is a freshman and a quiet person who seems to meditate on her studies.  This is the first year for Tom and I to teach this series of lessons and it has been good to teach more English grammar, spelling and sentence writing.  We keep hearing that the students who apply for jobs here are almost always asked about their English skills.  What a blessing to help them with those skills in a place where we can also emphasize our faith and know that these students will know God and English when they leave this place to go to their families. 

 Chey Sen is a freshman, his first year at the Center.  Every time I see him in the courtyard he is playing with a soccer ball.  English is new to him and he struggles, but I can see improvement.  I think that I have convinced him that he can ask questions.  His convincing smile can get him anywhere.

Samrith also joins in the soccer games.  He is an agricultural major.  He will begin studying with Paul within the week.  Paul has been on leave in the States but lives in Phnom Penh to teach at the BEST Center.  Tom will miss him.

Sreyrath is also a junior majoring in Vet Science.  She wants to work with chickens.  She likes to teach the children of those whose families come for our worship times on Sunday.  We are thankful that one of her duties is to clean our bedroom each week.  Thanks Sreyrath.

 Kakda (left) and Sinat (right) are a good team.  They are sophomores and have progressed in their English skills since last year.  I am so happy to work with this team as they are learning to avoid the fear of speaking English that they had.  We are using an online course and then I review and emphasize the points of the lessons.  They also are given 40 vocabulary words from the lessons that are probably new to them and have a test each Friday.  These girls are doing great with at least 90% each test so far.  

 Kimleang (female) is a freshman and the third student from her family to live at the BEST Center.  She is more advanced in English than some of the students here.

Bun Thou is also a freshman and is catching on to English quickly.  His brother is also living here and is a little older and is studying with Dara, who is part of the Cambodian staff here.  Bun Thou will also begin studying with Paul soon.

 Sros is a very dedicated English student.  He takes comprehensive notes and obviously studies them.  English does not come as easy for him as some, but he is progressing.  He is not afraid to ask questions, which is a good thing.  He is also dedicated to his Bible studies.  Every student here studies Bible 2 hours each day.  When they graduate and must leave this place they should have a good knowledge of scripture and most have a strong faith in God.

Orsoth is also a freshman student and is learning English quickly.  He is a lot of fun to teach since he can now carry on a conversation in English.  This week we provided WORDSEARCH puzzles with their Vocabulary words and he completed that search faster than any other student.

Dara (left) has been a staff member at the BEST Center for a long time.  He teaches many Bible Classes to the dorm students, along with Awy and Piseth.  Each student living here studies Bible 2 hours each day.  Dara also teaches English to those students who do not know enough English to study with a foreigner.  These are 2 beginning students.

BEGINNING 2018 CAMBODIAN VISIT

It is a new year to study with university students at the BEST CENTER (Bible & English Study & Training Center).  In the past we have used English to study the Bible.  But these students are studying the Bible in their native language and want to learn English from English speakers.  So this year we are concentrating more on teaching English.  Some of our students know quite a lot of English, others not so much.  We have one week completed and look forward to more time with them.  There are 18 university students living at the center.  They come from villages across this country.  They live here and work here between classes.  Most of them live here for 4 years while they complete their degrees.

After the week of studying individually and giving them their Friday Vocabulary Test, we have 'Fun Friday'.  This week we were working on English numbers.  You may recognize Rummikub.    We brought this to the center a few years ago and most of the older students like to play it.  Those who didn't know how, now do.  We had a good day.

Tom and I are also working on some sessions during their group Bible study using a Bible Timeline.  One of the advantages of the English language is that there so many Bible Study helps.  The Bible has been translated into the Khmai (Cambodian) language, but they have practically no other study helps.  We hope that this study will give new insights into God's Plan for man.