At 7:00 AM on Wednesday, I hopped on the back of Arun’s motorcycle (yes, Mom, I wore my helmet!) and was whisked away to the village of Ban Krum. After about an hour by moto and a ferry across the Mekong River, we arrived. I rode with Lokru Arun, the young pastor of the church in Ban Krum. The church has 65 members and is growing quickly- growing so fast in fact, that the village leaders are afraid that there will be no more Buddhists in the village. So, in an attempt to intimidate him, the village and Buddhist leaders burnt down Arun’s house. But, Arun doesn’t seem phased. He is continuing his pastoral ministry, which now includes teaching English to 8 Buddhist monks. One of the Monks wants to learn more about Jesus!On the Moto with Arun
Kiet, World Hope’s field worker for their rural development projects, drove Allyn on the World Hope moto. The purpose for our visit to Ban Krum was to teach a seminar on animal healthcare. Kiet taught the seminar, which is part of the cattle reproduction project. In Ban Krum, three families will receive a cow. These families must not already own cattle, must be widowed or disabled, and must be poor relative to the rest of the community. The cow’s first two offspring will be given away (one is given back to World Hope and another to another deserving family to sustain the project).
We stayed in Ban Krum overnight, and returned to Phnom Penh the next morning.