“I want to come here every week for church!” 6-year-old River exclaimed.

River was wet from head to toe, with little drips of water running down his legs and pooling around his feet. His clothes were as soggy as he was, but he didn’t mind.

We had our Sabbath Bible study at a new location this week. Since the husband of one of our church members was sick, we decided to move our meeting point closer to him. We change church spots often, but this was a place we had not gone before.

We had our kids’ Sabbath school program, complete with a Bible story, singing and a craft, atop a wooden bed platform underneath a stilted house. The houses in Cambodia are on stilts because, in many areas, the Mekong River floods once a year and goes right under the houses! Building on stilts also provides more air-flow because their floors are wooden slats with gaps between them—so the air goes right through—a nice feature during the hot season.

Underneath their houses, they keep their motorbike, hang a hammock between the support beams, and usually have a wooden bed for sitting and working on. Today, we crowded all seven kids onto the bed to share markers to color their craft.

After church, we walked down a trail behind the house and found a shallow stream and a swimming hole. There was a lady there washing her laundry, a man had his motorbike parked in the water as he scrubbed it, and some kids were splashing around. We were dripping with sweat, so the kids could not resist getting in the water to cool off. Osiah had a blast lying on his tummy and letting the shallow water ripple over his back. Even little Selah got to splash around with the big kids.

Sometimes, we have church under the cashew trees. We sit cross-legged on mats on the ground and sing, read the Bible and pray together. Sometimes we bring a picnic to eat afterward. Other times, we have church up in a house with fans blowing as we sit on a rug. Sometimes mooing cows, crowing roosters, and a neighbor’s loud music compete with our worship. No matter what the church service looks, smells or sounds like that week, we are so happy that Jesus told us that “Where two or three gather together in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20).

• Twitter