Days 23 & 24: Vermilion and special performance at Edmonton

6 days ago

3 min read

Sarah doesn't know how to smile, pray for her to overcome this issue

Before I begin, I must apologize to the volunteers who helped us pack up at Parkview Alliance Church in Vermilion, as it appears I accidentally deleted the videos of our farewell songs when I was making room for storage on my phone. Your assistance was greatly appreciated, and we will remember your kindness!

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When we awoke and gathered at Southridge Community Church in Lloydminster, we had a fun moment where the entire team was gifted elephant pants from the marketplace. The kids greatly enjoyed adding this new piece of clothing to their ensemble, and they have worn them as pajama bottoms numerous times since. We took our time taking down the marketplace, and we allowed the kids to have more time in the gym to play as our drive to Vermilion would be our shortest so far at only 40 minutes. After saying our farewells, we made the short drive.

When we arrived at Parkview Alliance Church, we took our time unpacking and setting up, since we had plenty of time to spare. Once we were fully unloaded at the church, the kids played in the gym, continuing to hone their hockey skills. By the time supper rolled around, some of the teens from the church's youth group had joined us, and they ate with the kids on the floor, Cambodian-style. The teens then got some time to play with the Cambodian kids in the gym, where they showed restraint in a game of floor hockey.

The performance at Parkview was another success, bolstered by the attendance of several people who have been helping Rescue for quite some time. There was one surprising error, as for the second performance in a row, the girls were very late to the stage for the Coconut Dance. Since I am the one who introduces the dance after my presentation, I was concerned that I was not giving the kids enough time to get ready, but my fears were quickly dissuaded as I was told that the girls had encountered some wardrobe troubles. Thankfully the error was more humorous than problematic, as the audience clapped when the girls made their way to the stage.

After spending the night at various billets' homes, we bid farewell to Vermilion and made our way to Edmonton for a special event. The Cambodian community in Edmonton had rented out the Canadian Druze Center to celebrate Pchum Ben, a Khmer celebration heavily tied to Buddhism. Despite us being a Christian organization, the Khmer community in Edmonton graciously invited us to join them and perform some dances, and give some of our testimonies. The environment was a little chaotic, as it was difficult to tell how many members of the rather large audience were paying attention to what we were doing, but the generous donations after showed us that they appreciated our presence. We were greatly impressed by the children, as this was the largest and loudest audience they had performed in front of, but they showed no signs of stage fright.

After the performance for the Edmonton Cambodian community was over, we made the drive to Lamont Alliance Church, where we would set up for the next morning's Sunday service performance. Once we were finished, we headed off to our billets, where everyone would be provided separate suppers. As this was the earliest we had ever departed to our hosts, my phone was quickly flooded with photos and videos of everyone enjoying themselves. Two of the photos startled me, and I'm sure you can tell which they were.