Missionaries help improve
a university in Mozambique,
00:00:18.18\00:00:21.68
a woman who lost two
legs becomes a church planter,
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and the story of
two pioneer missionaries
00:00:25.19\00:00:27.29
in Cambodia
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coming up next.
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Hello and
welcome to Mission 360.
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I'm Gary Krause.
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Today's program is coming to you
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from Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
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and I'm actually
standing in a museum here
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in Phnom Penh
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that records documents
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a very dark chapter
in Cambodia's history.
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That was the period
of the Cambodian genocide
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in between 1975 and 1979.
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Different estimates,
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but probably some 1.7
million people were killed
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during that time.
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And as you walk
through this museum,
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you go into the cells
where people were detained.
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Some of the thousands of
photos of the Khmer Rouge
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took of their
victims are on display.
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And as you look into
the eyes of these people,
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older people,
young people, children,
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it's just a record
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of how dark the
human soul can be
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without the love
of Jesus in dictating,
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directing people's lives.
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And that dark chapter is now
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something that is
in the distant past
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in terms of young people today.
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They weren't part of it,
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but it's a history
that cannot be forgotten.
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And today we'll
be talking more about
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what has
happened here in Cambodia.
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We'll be talking
about mission in Cambodia.
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We'll be talking
to Dr. and Mrs. Ng
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who are missionaries here
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and left about three weeks
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before the Khmer
Rouge took power.
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First up,
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let's meet some missionaries
in Mozambique, Africa.
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We are in front of Adventist
University of Mozambique,
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which is located Beira,
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which is near the
center of the country
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and right of the sea.
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The story of how
we arrived in here
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is interesting.
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I was a geology
professor in pharma,
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the Adventist
University of the Amazon
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near Belem, Brazil.
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Malu my wife was the
educational coordinator
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in the same institution.
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We were very comfortable,
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but then I received an email
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inviting me to teach
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at the Adventist
University of Mozambique.
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I was uncertain at first,
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I had never thought
about overseas mission.
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What would it be like?
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How would my family adjust?
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Many things
went through my mind,
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but I had to share the
news with my wife first.
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When he told me about
the email I responded,
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"Really? Let's go.
Let's go right away."
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Malu's response caught
Dr. Heraldo by surprise.
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Part of him hoped
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she would turn
down the invitation,
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but when she
immediately accepted it,
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he saw it as
God's approval to go.
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When they arrived,
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the university
campus was in decay
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and the
students and staff lacked
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the most basic
necessities like food.
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This is a charcoal oven.
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You put the charcoal
below and the pan on top.
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It is a typical
oven in this nation.
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One day I found a school worker
cooking rice in a small pan
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with a bit of cabbage on top.
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I asked him
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if that was his
only meal for the day,
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the man said,
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"Yes, this is my
only meal today."
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So I asked him
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if that was going to
be enough to feed him.
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And he said,
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"Oh, no, this
is not just for me.
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It's for me and
two other people.
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Dr. Heraldo returned
to his office in tears.
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He and my Malu knew
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the students couldn't study
and learn on empty stomachs.
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So they prayed
together for God to provide.
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He answered their
prayer through a missionary
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who donated funds
to start a cafeteria.
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Now the
university serves daily meals
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to students and staff.
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Many other positive
changes are happening
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at the Adventist
University of Mozambique.
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New school buildings
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and fields of
study have been added.
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And the student body
has doubled in two years.
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The campus
church was dilapidated
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and the roof
leaked when it rained.
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But now it has been renovated.
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A new library was
built and books were donated
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and the
university has now received
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the highest
level of accreditation
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in Mozambique.
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The faculty has also
developed a mission institute
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to equip students
for mission and action.
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After lunch on Sabbath,
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the students come
here to receive training.
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Then they are
divided into groups
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to visit children, elderly,
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former member of
the Adventist Church
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and the sick
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given Bible studies as they go.
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Visiting the surrounding
area has greatly impacted both
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the community and the
lives of the students.
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Some people we reach out
to have already accepted Jesus
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and were baptized.
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In the previous year alone,
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this program has
strengthened the faith of many
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even resulting in 17 baptisms.
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And the excitement for
mission continues to grow.
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We aim to develop
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a fully mission
minded university
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that prepares student
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to fulfill God's mission for us.
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God can use us
even in simple ways.
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God has used us
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and we feel like we're
making a difference here.
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But there are still
many challenges ahead.
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Students and staff
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at the Adventist
University of Mozambique
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now pray for funds
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to expand the food
and nutrition department
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with a hands-on
learning environment.
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Their goal is to
hold health expos,
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so they can share
the health message
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with the community.
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Please pray for
cross-cultural missionaries
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like Dr. Heraldo and Malu
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who are serving in
remote parts of the world.
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Pray also for the goals
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of the Adventist
University of Mozambique.
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And thank you for your
support of Adventist Mission.
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My guests are Dr. and Mrs. Ng.
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And Dr. Ng is my boss,
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and he's the secretary
for the General Conference
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of Seventh-day Adventists.
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And Mrs. Ng works
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for the Hope
Channel International.
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And thanks for joining us.
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Now, for you, this
is bit of sweet memories
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coming back to
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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How does it feel like
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to come back after
all these years, Mrs. Ng?
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This is the first
time since we left in 1975
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and I really feel so
excited to come back,
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you know, after so many years,
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40 some years. Yeah.
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And you came here as
young missionaries from?
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Yes.
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We just finished our graduation
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in November, 1972.
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In Singapore. In Singapore.
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And before graduating
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the Southeast Asia Union
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had already assigned
us to go to Cambodia.
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At that time,
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the president of the
union was Ralph Vas Jr.
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When we first went to Cambodia,
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we thought we must
have done something wrong.
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This is a punishment,
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but a perceived punishment
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turned out to be a
great blessing to us,
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you know, an
experience we will not,
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will not exchange
for anything else.
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Now you were
trained as a pastor, right?
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Yes.
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And now they've trained
you how to be a missionary?
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Not really.
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The curriculum
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did not really
cover a mission service,
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mission training,
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cross-cultural training as such.
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In fact, the mission
component was rather meeker.
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Mission was not as
emphasized as it should be,
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you know, and we were brand new.
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We did not know
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what mission
service was all about.
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We were not IDE missionary
or international employee,
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missionaries send from
the General Conference.
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We were just interim missionary
within a far Eastern division.
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And we went there
without mission institute,
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without adequate training,
without anyone instructing us,
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what mission
service was all about.
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And I think,
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for example, a group
of people from the union
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and from the church sent us
off at the airport in Singapore.
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You know, they were
so happy to see off,
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see us off only to find out
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we did not have visa
to go to the country.
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A mere technicality.
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And so we had to
return to the school
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where we were located
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and a week or two
later we applied visa.
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Then off, we went again.
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And, of course, this time,
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the well-wishers were much fewer
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than what it was before.
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So the standard of living
in Singapore was very different
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to what you
encountered when you came here?
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What was it like
when you arrived here?
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How did you feel?
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It was not too bad,
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you know, we were young
and ready to do some venturing.
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Yes. Yeah.
00:10:02.26\00:10:04.43
The student
missionaries told to us,
00:10:04.47\00:10:06.63
they say, we are preparing
your honeymoon suite for you.
00:10:06.67\00:10:10.81
And honeymoon suite
turned out to be an empty nest,
00:10:10.84\00:10:13.88
empty apartment,
00:10:13.91\00:10:15.28
but they were very kind,
00:10:15.31\00:10:16.64
they painted the whole apartment
00:10:16.68\00:10:18.08
in the Russian
Information Center
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on the top floor of
a four-story building.
00:10:20.38\00:10:23.72
So we were very
grateful for their warm welcome,
00:10:23.75\00:10:28.96
but it was a stark contrast
to what life was in Singapore.
00:10:28.99\00:10:33.80
You know, we were spoiled
00:10:33.83\00:10:35.70
with all the
conveniences in Singapore.
00:10:35.73\00:10:39.13
And Cambodia
being a foreign country,
00:10:39.17\00:10:43.64
we did not quite
know how to behave,
00:10:43.67\00:10:47.48
you know, and how
to relate to people.
00:10:47.51\00:10:51.45
And the first
assignment given by the union
00:10:51.48\00:10:54.85
was to study the Khmer language.
00:10:54.88\00:10:57.12
So this was an area
where we make a lot of errors.
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We had no language
preparation whatsoever.
00:11:01.36\00:11:04.83
And so we merely hire
elementary school teacher
00:11:04.86\00:11:10.43
to teach us Khmer.
00:11:10.47\00:11:12.73
And of course,
00:11:12.77\00:11:14.10
elementary school
teacher did what he used to do.
00:11:14.14\00:11:18.61
And that is to use
grade one textbook.
00:11:18.64\00:11:24.15
Memorize all the
consonants and alphabets
00:11:24.18\00:11:27.55
of the Cambodian language,
00:11:27.58\00:11:29.48
which had its roots in Sanskrit.
00:11:29.52\00:11:33.05
You know, so it's
extremely complicated language.
00:11:33.09\00:11:37.49
And so we memorize
all, a lot of words,
00:11:37.53\00:11:41.76
memorize a lot of sentences,
but we couldn't put them to use
00:11:41.80\00:11:46.84
because we could not communicate
00:11:46.87\00:11:49.80
when we went
marketing and so on.
00:11:49.84\00:11:52.31
Only to find out later that
00:11:52.34\00:11:55.84
that was not the best
way to study language.
00:11:55.88\00:11:58.58
And it was only months
later, we discovered by chance,
00:11:58.61\00:12:03.62
a textbook published
00:12:03.65\00:12:05.72
by the State Department of
the United States government
00:12:05.75\00:12:08.66
in which they train missionaries
00:12:08.69\00:12:11.33
within a short period
of time, like three months
00:12:11.36\00:12:14.20
to speak the Khmer language
00:12:14.23\00:12:15.83
emphasizing only on conversation
00:12:15.86\00:12:19.07
and not on the vocabulary.
00:12:19.10\00:12:21.34
The aim was to
build up your confidence,
00:12:21.37\00:12:23.10
to speak the language,
00:12:23.14\00:12:24.47
to be able to communicate
with people, you know.
00:12:24.51\00:12:27.21
After that you
learn the consonants,
00:12:27.24\00:12:29.18
the alphabets, the
vocabulary and so on.
00:12:29.21\00:12:33.31
So we began to
make headway after that.
00:12:33.35\00:12:35.65
Yeah.
00:12:35.68\00:12:37.02
How, how many
church members were there
00:12:37.05\00:12:38.39
when you came?
00:12:38.42\00:12:40.26
There were very few of
them, probably 17, 18 of them,
00:12:40.29\00:12:45.33
but we have good attendance.
00:12:45.36\00:12:47.30
Every Sabbath,
00:12:47.33\00:12:48.66
most of them came from
the language school itself,
00:12:48.70\00:12:52.13
students from language school.
00:12:52.17\00:12:53.67
They relished
coming to Sabbath school
00:12:53.70\00:12:56.20
and worship service
00:12:56.24\00:12:57.57
because they receive
free English tuition,
00:12:57.61\00:13:00.91
so to speak.
00:13:00.94\00:13:02.78
So they got to
practice their English.
00:13:02.81\00:13:06.21
They got to listen
to English lectures.
00:13:06.25\00:13:10.25
And so the
attendance was always good.
00:13:10.29\00:13:13.19
The chapel was always full.
00:13:13.22\00:13:15.66
Even Sabbath afternoon we
had what we call the story hour,
00:13:15.69\00:13:20.23
making use of the 10 volume,
00:13:20.26\00:13:22.70
a Bible story
written by Arthur Maxwell.
00:13:22.73\00:13:26.20
And that's where we
got a lot of converts.
00:13:26.23\00:13:30.27
And so every few
months we will have baptisms.
00:13:30.31\00:13:34.84
So when we had baptisms,
00:13:34.88\00:13:36.21
we had to go to the church
by the presidential palace.
00:13:36.24\00:13:42.52
The baptistery was there
00:13:42.55\00:13:44.45
and it was a time
of great rejoicing
00:13:44.49\00:13:47.76
when, before we
left, we had 33 members.
00:13:47.79\00:13:50.79
Wonderful.
00:13:50.83\00:13:52.33
Well, thank you so
much for joining us.
00:13:52.36\00:13:53.80
And we're going to be talking
00:13:53.83\00:13:55.16
a little bit
later in the program.
00:13:55.20\00:13:56.90
We actually here at
the genocide museum,
00:13:56.93\00:13:59.67
which commemorates
00:13:59.70\00:14:01.24
a very unfortunate
time in Cambodia's history,
00:14:01.27\00:14:04.64
which actually
began about three weeks
00:14:04.67\00:14:06.51
after the Ng's were
evacuated out of Cambodia.
00:14:06.54\00:14:09.44
But we'll talk about
that some more, a bit later.
00:14:09.48\00:14:11.55