I used this illustration in a few previous posts, here, here, here, here, and here, the first one of those was even before we arrived. The sense that I tried to convey was that a missionary is a connector of two cultures. They stand at the intersection between two ways of life. While joining a new culture you lose some of your own culture, yet you never fully enter the new culture as an insider. You receive the blessing of two cultures, so instead of just grieving the loss of your passport country culture, you become a 150% sort of person (75% old culture and 75% the new). I know all the math brains are shaking their heads at this. Holding both cultures in our person, we become the instrument of sharing In the same way that a bridge enables sharing. As I said in the previous post, it allows riches to pass from both locations to the other. These riches are ideas, habits, resources and most importantly relationships. This sharing happens through the mediation of the missionary. The clash of cultures in the missionary shapes them and they no longer fit in their passport country, but neither in their location fully. Instead, like a bridge, they hover over the water, occupying the midway between two.

Now in the picture I’m not really hovering, but it seems more like I will crumble in a second. The value of this picture is a further implicit meaning. Unintentionally my local friend is bearing most of my weight, while my expat friend gets off lightly. This does represent a truth as well. Locals often bear the burdens of missionaries in heavier ways than those from the missionary’s country. There is both blessing and burden. Or someone wise might say that the burden is the blessing.

This is the second installment in a series that we hope helps convey some of the basics of life in Cambodia. If you missed the first one, it’s here.

Jenny: What’s something that your kids get to experience that they wouldn’t get to enjoy in Australia?

Sam: The thing I love most about living in our borey (housing complex) is that our children have the freedom to visit their friends whenever they want. Clare can go to meet her friends and buy a soft drink at the drink stand, and ride bikes around the streets (traffic is slow and usually resident vehicles). Hannah can walk to the corner store with her pocket money to buy candy, alone or with a friend. Joel gets on his scooter to go play with his friends at their house or at the playground. There is some grass, some run down swings, and the boys also love climbing trees and running around.

Jenny: What’s church like for your family?

Sam: When churches were given permission to meet in person in November 2021 (they were online for 80 weeks!), we joined the International Christian Fellowship (ICF). ICF meets in 2 locations, the closest to us meets at HOPE International School. This feels like a church plant, as we are small in number and are in the process of finding a Pastor (Sam is on the Pastor Search Committee). Sam helps with the kids ministry and roster, and Craig helps with preaching and the preaching roster, as well as with music and service leading. Craig has also joined the church council. Our children don’t usually join the kids program and are learning how to sit during the entire service. They enjoy kicking a soccer ball after the service or playing on the school playground. They also like eating morning tea, if there is any.

It has been a challenge to serve in a church without a pastor for a year now, and Craig has taken on a lot of the responsibilities with organizing a preaching roster and preaching regularly, and some pastoral responsibilities as well, on top of his other full-time job at the bible school.