Our new church building in Kampong Cham is nearing completion, but still probably 3-4 months away. It was supposed to have been completed nearly a year ago, but communication snafus have made it difficult. Building oversight comes out of Hong Kong and the overseers hired a French architect, who hired a Khmae general contractor and sub contractors. Local communications occur between English-speaking senior missionaries and the architect. As you can guess, it has been difficult. Four different languages, multiple cultures and local construction people who don't fully understand American expectations.

The building itself is huge (the chapel and cultural hall would rival most LDS church buildings in Utah). Classrooms and kitchen on the main floor, chapel and cultural hall upstairs. It sits on a prime piece of land near the main government buildings, hospital and university. But the delays have come with a cost. From what we understand, the general contractor is out of money and the contingency back-up is gone. Cambodia doesn't utilize bonds or other guarantee procedures that are a normal course of business in the US. The Church will be on the hook to get it completed. In spite of all this, the building will be beautiful and a great addition to the city. The ongoing challenge will be to teach our local membership how to keep the building beautiful. It will require establishing a new culture different from what they have known. I think about the migration of people moving West (in the US) in the mid-1800's. Those from the East were horrified by the conditions and habits of those on the frontier. But things changed over time. This is not that different.

Chapel - President Christensen and Elder Van Brocklin

Cultural hall - complete with stage