The Battambang Branch

alex douglas, also known as big fat al (bfa). he lost about 20 pounds on his mission.

he gave everyone a huge hug-- except for kimberly, who got a very friendly and sturdy handshake.

kimberly and i shared a room with angie douglas, my sister-in-law, and we had a bathtub that made everyone look like a little child. hence, the pictures. notice the hair.

at church in battambang. everyone in alex's family was invited to speak--thomas, angie, michael, dianna, becky and john. the meeting went over time by about 45 minutes, and they left about 1 minute for alex's parting testimony.

being reverent in the back.

the pews in the battambang branch.

the children at church.

alex takes the stand one more time.

a family of six heading home from church on a motorcycle.

kimberly sharing some advice with soon-to-leave-on-his-own-mission michael from her years teaching at the mtc.

a khmer hello and goodbye.

alex took us around to meet some of the families in battambang he's ben teaching over the last few months. this family was just baptized. the father patches bicycle tires for a living. he's now a recovered alcoholic. slimy brackish water was visible thru the bamboo floor in their house. it was actually a new house, and the family was really proud.

we made a huge mistake and showed the bottoms of our feet to them as we sat on their floor. alex castigated us for our bad manners after we left.

at another house we visited, the village kids couldn't stop staring at all the big white folks who came lumbering through.

their attention soon turned to picking bugs.

we had to stop for a bathroom break at one house (too much tea, of course) and this woman helped us prepare for our trip to the outhouse. she talked to us non-stop in khmer, which was entertaining, but futile in the end.

a woman that we visited asked alex and my dad for a blessing. she had been sick with something that alex translated as "salty pee." i'm still not sure exactly what that would be.

this monkey attacked kimberly after she gave it a banana. it lunged for her, and she probably leapt 10 feet backwards.

the douglas' with one of alex's investigator families. the dad is going to english classes that the missionaries offer, and trying really hard to practice and learn.

they sleep under the pilings of another house. what do they do in the rain?

it was a real honor meeting cambodian people--members and investigators. such humble lives and such great faith! thanks, al.