What a difference 3 hours can make. At 11 a.m. we can be shopping for a violin in a modern music store in Phnom Penh (except no AC). By 2 p.m. we're in the hillbilly backyard of Kampong Cham - sharing our message with rice farmers and water buffaloes. The old, the middle and the new live side-by-side-by-side. The one constant among all the groups is long working hours. 8 to 5 doesn't exist for most people in Cambodia - unless you work for the government or an NGO (Non-Government Organization). It's dawn (about 5:30 a.m.) to dusk (about 6:30 p.m.) for most people, 7 days/week. EXCEPT the afternoon siesta period (about Noon to about 2 p.m.) when EVERYONE watches this cheesy soap opera from India. We walk into a store and nobody moves. All are fixated on a small CRT TV screen - watching "As the World Turns in Mumbai" (I'm sure that's not what it's called, but it might as well be). It's a perfect time for a robbery - except all the thieves are also watching the same dumb show.

SQUIRREL! Back to the farm.

Today we helped a family shell lotus pods. As we understood it (which could be totally wrong) they wade into the backyard swamp and harvest pods that are extensions of lotus plants. They are flat on one side, rounded up on the other, and about 4 inches in diameter across the flat side. Each rubbery pod contains about 25 acorn-sized "seeds." When the outer green covering of the seed is removed (easy to do), a tasty white-fleshed "kernel" remains. It tastes like a cross between sweet peas and water chestnuts. However, you must do a personal memory wipe of where the seeds came from before eating them. The swamps are disgusting. We brought two pods home and will disinfect them in our chlorine water (which seems like it should have its own side effects) before throwing them in a stir fry.

As always, the people are genuine in spite of the swamps. Their testimonies of, and faith in the Savior are pristine. Those that can read, do so with humility. Their prayers are always sincere. Some day their living conditions will change - but not their faith in God. I hope I can "be in that number" to watch these saints when they come marching in.