Today was the third day of retreat–and another day without rain until it started coming down as we were leaving the church to go supper.
This is the St. Michael Church building on the Catholic compound. It is one of only two Catholic churches not destroyed by the Khmer Rouge (because they used it for billeting troops).
At breakfast time, these two women were already preparing vegetables for lunch.
There was a delay in starting the talk this morning because Fr. Rayappan decided to use the projector and it took some effort to move aside the dark-colored curtain at the back of the stage.
Coming back after the morning talk, I took some photos from the church’s hilltop toward the sea. Before there was nothing visible except trees. Now the Chinese have bought the town–the province!—and things have changed.
Another view toward the sea from the hilltop. I used to moan that you could not see the sea for the trees. Now you can see neither the sea or the trees.
The mass this morning was organized by the Battambang diocese.
Earlier I was mentioning the quirks–or maybe it’s better to just call them “differences”—noticeable in a country not your own. So many of the places I stay in Cambodia provide the basic bed complete with a bolster. The bolsters seem to be standard equipment for sleeping for an awful lot of Cambodians. This one is especially large and heavy.
We were late getting started but Fr. Rayappan finally was able to complete his talk with the projector.