During Khmer New Year, which is also Thai New Year, we were able to go to the Church camp in Thailand. This is the 41st year of the camp at Chaam. Christians from all over the country meet together for several days and fellowship, sing, study, play, and enjoy each others company.
For me (Ronda) it is always especially great to get to see old friends. It is frustrating to understand some of what they say, but not be able to reply (since when I open my mouth the Khmer language comes out instead of Thai).
Rich was asked to teach 3 classes on Haggai.
The theme of the camp was "Keep On Keeping On". The main thrust was to remind the Christians to remember their purpose here as Christians and to get to work!
The first picture is Rich's first class. Glome, the preacher at the Soi 4 church in Bangkok, translated. I did manage to get to the back and take this picture. Rich taught the adults. There were other classes for the kids.
In the evenings, there was a Thai preacher who taught and then Lynn Nelson taught as well.
The singing was great! On of the many things that the Thais do well is sing! As our friend from Cambodia said, "They just sing from their hearts!!" It was wonderful to get to hear and be a part of that again.
This is Rich's 2nd class. On this day, my sister, Julie and her staff of 5 Cambodians attended as well. So Nung (shown here) translated for Rich from English into Thai. Then I sat by one of the Cambodian girls and translated into Khmer for her.
On Rich's 3rd class, Sam, another Thai Christian man, translated, but I somehow didn't get his picture.
Including children, there were about 400 people attending. Most stayed in tents on the grounds. This is the eating area.
And here are 2 sweet boys. I have known their grandfather since I lived in Thailand as a kid. These kids sat by their parents through 2 speakers in the morning and then 30 minutes of singing before their age class. Then in the evenings sat through another 2 hours of speakers. They did a terrific job! We were very impressed at how well they behaved.
Out past the meeting areas and tent area is the beach. Just beautiful! During free time, I got to enjoy long walks on the beach and picked up a few shells on the way.
It looks calm and serene now, but later in the day, when everyone is out playing, it is a little more exciting!
The camp came to a close too soon. Here Rich is with Prateep (the grandfather to the 2 cute boys in the other picture), Rung (the secretary at the Soi 4 church building and fantastic coordinator of so many things, including much of the things at camp), and Sam, Rich's translator for his 3rd lesson.
Here are some other sweet people that we enjoyed getting to spend time with.
We were truly blessed to be a part of this week and are so grateful for them inviting us.
Sweet, sweet brother and sisters in Christ.
Much love,
Ronda
Ps. On Saturday, we leave Cambodia for our US Tour! Savannah, GA; Houston, TX; Broken Arrow, OK; Moore, OK; Batesville, AR; and Seattle, WA. Would love to see as many of you as possible!!
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John Ward