Day 4: Performance at Nanaimo

Sorry about the lateness of this blog post. Scheduling conflicts made me unable to access my laptop for almost the entire day.

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This was a fun day. It marked the first Sunday of the Family Road Trip, so the team got to take part in their first morning church service. We arrived at Departure Bay Baptist Church before the service, setting ourselves up in the church lobby and basement for the night's performance. The kids were practically bouncing off the walls, as they seemed to be more at ease with the idea of performing at a new church.

The kids got dressed up in their school clothes for the morning service. Once introduced, they got on the stage along with Sokthon, Andet and Thavin. The audience was already won over by their smiles. Sokthon introduced himself and the other two adults, before allowing each child to introduce and give some information about themselves in English. It was a very cute moment, as most of the kids experienced minor stage fright, but they came through, telling the congregation their name, age, grade at school, and a brief closing statement. Highlights include Minea telling everyone that he loves Canada, Veasna taking a leisurely pace with his introduction before Sokthon humorously cut him off, and twins Chantha and Chanthy blitzing through their introductions like they had somewhere to be.

After appearing before the church congregation, the kids all went downstairs to the church rec room. They immediately descended on the foosball table, with everyone grasping for a handle. It started off as rather aimless, but soon descended into a surprisingly intense competition. There was nearly an intergender brawl before Thavin stepped in to deescalate the situation. When the Departure Bay church kids came down, the two groups of kids began to play with each other, with only a few staying by the foosball table. A game of freeze-tag was initiated, although I am of the opinion that the Cambodians had no idea what was going on and just liked chasing Canadians around.

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The time in between the morning service and the evening performance was divided into having lunch, preparing the church, and visiting the beach. I always find it interesting to watch the kids during meal time, as they seem to adopt a different seating arrangement each time. There does not seem to be any cliques or exclusive friend-groups.

Preparation went very smoothly, with no obstacles encountered. Well, there was one rather humorous fix needed. The boys decided to use one of the basement rooms as their place to change out of their clothes. The problem was that the room they chose had a window into the hallway, giving them no privacy. After trying to get them to go somewhere else to change, I resorted to taping several sheets of paper on the window to block the view. It all felt rather silly.

The team then went to a beach on the Nanaimo coastline. Shelly and I stayed behind to finish up some projects before heading out to see them just as they were wrapping things up. Thankfully, Thavin and Sany were there to document the visit. It seems like the team enjoyed the beach, which is radically different than the kind they see back home!

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The performance for the evening went great. All of the dances went as planned, and the audience enjoyed all of it. The 'praying mantis' dance seemed to be the favorite, as applause occurred during the dance itself, which does not happen often. I was mostly impressed by the 'stick dance'; not for the performance itself, but that the kids were able to navigate an awkward stairwell and stage entrance while carrying lengthy planks of wood.

The videos and testimonies were well-received, with a rather humorous misunderstanding occurring during Thavin's testimony. Part of Thavin's story is her recalling how Marie gifted her a teddy bear when she arrived at Rescue as a young girl. While Thavin's grasp of the English language and its vocabulary is incredible, her Khmer accent betrayed her on stage. What Thavin said was, "Marie gave me a bear", but what the audience heard was, "Marie gave me a beer." Needless to say, there were a few confused whispers around the room. Shelly later clarified to the audience that Thavin must have meant a soda, before later finding out about the teddy bear. So if any of you come to visit Marie in Cambodia, don't expect a beer.

The fine people of Nanaimo were gracious givers. We gained seven new sponsorships and a sizeable amount of donations. Marie's books proved to be a hit, as several different copies came by the payment desk that I run. It was a very pleasant experience for everyone involved.

God bless & Jesus saves