WITH CHRIST IN INDOCHINA - IndoChina1911

of France, it was still exclusively Buddhist, and the
French Government prefers to keep it so. Several
different missionary societies tried unsuccessfully to
get a foothold there. The king was adamant, and
the French Government just as unwilling to allow
the missionaries to come. The way in which the
Lord opened the door to The Christian and Mission¬
ary Alliance makes a story worth telling.
One of the new missionaries felt called to Cambodia,
and the field conference of 1922 appointed
him to open a station at Pnom Penh. He and another
missionary visited the Resident Superieur and told
him their desire. The official was not at all enthusiastic.
He tried to discourage the brethren, but
finally said that if they persisted in coming to Pnom
Penh, he could not stop them. This was a new story,
for former incumbents of his office had consistently
refused other missionaries and other missions.
In February, 1923, the missionary and his wife
moved to Pnom Penh and opened the first Protestant
mission station in Cambodia. In October of
the same year another couple went to Battambang,
180 miles north of the capital, and opened a second
station. Neither of these missionary couples encountered
any governmental difficulty.
It was not until several years later that the mis¬
sionaries learned the secret of their easy entry into
this stronghold of Buddhism. Some time before the
station at Pnom Penh was opened, the agent of