Thursday, August 5

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONAH! I missed both of the kids birthdays on this trip. However, I have an Asian dinner plan for a celebration after I catch up on my rest. I have 3 recipes to try out:) This morning the teen girls needed one more short trip to the market so four of us ate an early breakfast and took a tuk-tuk to the market for an hour. The Asia's Hope van was waiting when we returned so we quickly changed clothes into painting garb and headed to the school. Along the way we stopped at the newly opened KFC, yes KFC - only rice is served instead of mashed potatoes and gravy. Jenna did find out that potatoes were available upon request. She was a happy girl. Most of the team has reached the rice limit as have I.
Knowing that a paint brush is a weapon in my hand, I brought all of the teaching gear to work on during the painting time. I sat in a small gazebo on the school grounds for over 3 hours. The director's wife and I cut and assembled several phonics games. The school kids were all sleeping. I am not kidding! They come to school at 7:30. They break for lunch at 11:00 and then ALL of the kids nap for an hour. There is something about the heat, the humidity, the dust, I don't know what all - but you really are ready for that siesta or rest when early afternoon rolls around. No rest for us today, however. When the kids got up we all spent the afternoon outside working on English with the games we had assembled. Of course there was play and a return of the wonderful banana chips that we sampled yesterday. The children leave school at 4:00. Some ride bikes and carry a buddy on the back of the bike. Some go in the school van. Sometimes there are tuk-tuks. We followed the kids home from PrekEng 4. This home is sponsored by a family from Brandenton, Fla. We only had about 45 minutes to spend with them but we had a wonderful, wet time. We filled around 100 water balloons, gave minimum directions and the balloons started to fly. What a hoot! It was over in a few short minutes - many wet hugs and goodbyes. We repeated the same sequence with PrekEng 3. This is Vista's (Dublin church) house. Neither of these groups of kids had ever experienced water balloons. They have now been initiated! We had to rush back to the hotel, shower and dress and walk to a nice restaurant around the corner from our hotel. We treated all of the house directors and their wives to dinner. It was very nice. I shared with them that I remember how special it was when Bob and I had the occasion to slip away from our three children for a quiet dinner. I can't imagine how nice it must be for these couples to slip away from their 25 children for a couple of quiet hours!!
It is time to go to my room and pack. We leave the hotel at 8 am on Friday. We arrive in Columbus sometime Saturday afternoon. So, that's a lot of flying and a lot of time hanging out in the airports - LAX and Dallas. Thank you for prayers for our flights, luggage, safety, etc. God is blessing the people of Cambodia through Asia's Hope. He has blessed each of us as we've had a chance to watch this organization in action. Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Wednesday, August 4

On Facebook I mentioned the fact that people might be able to visit Cambodia cheaper than coming on an Asia's Hope team. But the extras that we have been able to provide have been so rewarding. Among them are painting walls inside and out, providing pneumonia vaccine for all of the children and staff at the newest home, repairing a kitchen roof that was leaking, buying 200 elementary writing notebooks for one home, providing two meals for the kids as part of the party evening, taking 170 kids and all of the staff from Battenbang to the swimming pool with slides and sprays for the afternoon, and taking the director of each home and his wife out to dinner tomorrow night. I'm sure there was more but you get the point. These things are not a part of their regular budgets so we have the chance to be a part of these special projects while we are here.
Today we did our tourist shopping at the Russian Market. We met Jen Morgan for lunch at a place she suggested. It was great. Most of us, but not all, are about done with the rice and veggies. I had a great bagel with cream cheese and cauliflower soup. Oh, yes!
The Daughters of Cambodia organization works with girls and ladies who want to get out of the sex trade. Most of them have been sold by their family or tricked into the business by people promising them a good paying job. Then they are locked up and their stories are very sad. If they are able to get to Daughthers they are given the chance to recover, to learn a trade, and to learn their worth. Our friend Jen Morgan worked with them for awhile. They have a small gift shop that we visited and they offer manicure and pedicure services provided by the girls who are learning this trade. So the five ladies took advantage of this opportunity this afternoon and got our $3.50 pedicures. They also have a cute little cafe upstairs from the salon room where a group learning to bake provides wonderful pasteries - well at least the brownies were great!
We visited Prek Eng 1 and 2 today and spent a couple of hours at each home with no goals except to enjoy the kids and play with them - active games, conversation, Uno, duck-duck-goose, etc. PrekEng 2 is Central Vineyard's home. These kids love to sing. They are the only group who offers to sing for us everytime we visit. Dinner was at 9:00 pm again by the time we got back to the hotel.
Oh yes, I mentioned my distaste for my small ugly room with no window! I did ask Sherrod if he thought it was appropriate to ask for another room and found out that Aaron who also had a single room was in a room just like mine only on another floor. We had to pay $5.00 more for different rooms, but the new rooms and the old ones are like two totally different hotels!! I now have a large room with a nice balcony and a full-sized bath. Thanks, Lord. I really didn't feel safe in the other location.
Tomorrow we will make one more market stop. We'll need snacks for a very long day. We will drive to Asia's Hope School where we will be painting, then teaching English. The driving here is more than crazy as some of you know. So please continue to pray for our safety as we move around the city.

Tuesday, August 2

The days in Battenbang were so good. My last trip we were very rushed there. Now there are 6 orphan homes, three of them in once location with a lovely large pavillion area where they all meet together. Church was there on Sunday. After church I was dropped off at Kent and Becky Good's house to see what our GBIM missionaries do in Cambodia. Becky was a lovely hostess. She served an Asian dinner of three different dishes, a fresh salad that I could eat (I've missed my salads), bread and brownie with ice cream. She had another guest from Lyon, France who is visiting Cambodia for a month doing outreach. It was fun to tell Samuel that I had visited his church and that his pastor's wife had been a babysitter for my children years ago. The Kanes and Goods have a ministry center in the middle of Battenbang where there are daily classes, Bible studies, English teaching for children, church on Sunday afternoon and a couple of young men who live there and are being discipled by the caretaker. I enjoyed the worship music with them in their service and watched the children in their worship time for a little bit before Becky took a tuk-tuk with me back to the hotel.
Monday was a wonderful/awful day. We visited three orphan homes in the morning. We kept the kids busy with crafts, playing ball, doing nails, and hair while the nurses saw everyone that had medical problems. The highlights were providing pneumonia vaccinations for all of the latest orphan home kids and staff - now they are free from this common illness for life; providing 200 writing notebooks for BB3 (Crossroads Community home). I got my second moto ride this trip to go to the market and back to buy the books. We took time for lunch and an hour nap and then returned to the large complex. I met my sweet little girl that I sponsor, RakSa on Sunday. When we arrived on Monday she was glued to my side. We did more crafts - 3 different things and played with everyone. Then the awful - the goodbyes, over and over during the day. The last one was at 7 pm. We went to a small restaurant called the Bungalow for dinner - the rice and veggies are all starting to look alike at this point!
This morning we packed up and when it was time to leave the lobby all 6 of the directors - house dads- were at the hotel to say goodbye. We headed for the bus station - very bumpy ride for 5 1/2 hours back to Phnom Penh. We are there now. We've had very nice accomodations the whole trip until now - this hotel makes me clostrophobic. Tonight we are going by the river, having pizza and doing sight seeing.
Everyone has done so well! No illness! We are, however, wearing down and looking a little glassy-eyed. Pray for our endurance and continued good health. Pray the kids we will see and interact with only once or twice more. Thanks for your prayers and notes!

Wednesday, July 28

Limited time and computer access to write about our days. Monday we went to the genocide museum and in the afternoon to the Killing Fields. I had not been there before. It has been over 30 years since the events of the Khmer Rouge, and there are still bones, teeth and clothing fragments in the earth where mass graves were uncovered. It was difficult to see but necessary to understand the Cambodian people and the country that they are having to remake.

Tuesday was a very long but fun day. We went to the Cambodian market - huge Walmart only no big box - hundreds of little boxes of vendors selling everything. We bought fabric and paint and then went to each of the Prek Eng homes. Between 12:30 and 8:00 pm we did well-clinics, played games and did hair, and used our paint to create a banner for each home with every child and staff member's handprints on it along with their name. Great day! Very tired.

Today we rode a bus for 6 hours to the northern part of the country where Angkor Wat temples are that we will see tomorrow. This evening we took a boat ride - similar to the Jesus Boat - out to the Floating Village - people too poor to own land live on these boats in the lake. Amazing - I need to pass on the computer. One of the computers that was brought on the trip died. So there aren't too many chances to share this around with our schedules. Thanks for your prayers and for your comments. I love to hear from you.

Sunday, July 25

Church this morning was at the Asia's Hope Christian School outside of the capital city. All of the children from the 4 homes in Prek Eng attend church together there. Today they offered a medical clinic for the neighborhood following the morning service. They estimated that about 30 neighbors came to the service and about sixty were seen in the clinic. From 11 am until a little after 2 pm three nurses and several other volunteers helped the people that had come. I was a pill counter:) We spent two hours at Prek Eng 4 - this was one of the homes started by Momemtum last year.
We went to lunch at around 3:00 to a Khmer restaurant and tried several dishes and soups. Home to the guesthouse for one hour and then back to the school for a party. The kids wanted chicken wings and soda. So that was the kid meal followed by an hour plus of crazy dancing. I only tried one dance - I still have the elephant feet. I just can't get the swelling down.
We have the chance to sleep in tomorrow morning and we are all anxious to do that before we start another busy day. Tomorrow will be a hard day emotionally with visits to the Killing Fields and to the museum that describes the Cambodian genocide.
It was a good day. God is working in the lives of these kids as evidenced by their singing, their sharing, their entire countenance.

Saturday, July 24

Feeling much more rested, we ventured to a village far outside of the city today. The idea was to take some of "our kids" from Asia's Hope and give them the chance to serve in ministry to these kids in the village. We bagged treats for each child that contained toothbrush, toothpaste, candy, flavored milk and soap. We prepared 120 of them and we were 80 short. So we guessed that we had over 200 children there. We are making arrangements to get bags to the other children who gave their names to the people at the village church. They all sat patiently on the floor of the church while we waited for everyone to get there and begin their time together. Some of the kids gave their testimonies. There was a craft and some relay races and everyone seemed to enjoy their time together. Our kids were really helpful with the English translation as we moved from event to event. After the very long ride back we went to the National Museum that holds findings from many centuries past. We had an English speaking guide -NOT! The girls didn't even know she was speaking English!! It was interesting. Contrasts are everywhere. Here is this beautiful Asian-looking complex, lush with greenery and outside the walls there is little beauty in the surroundings. We dodged some rain today a couple of times. We did supper later - more very good fried rice with bacon and shrimp and a large fried egg topping the dish. Please pray for church tomorrow with the kids. Also please pray that the swelling will go down in my feet. They are still very uncomfortable. Everyone is healthy and working well as a team.

The Flight is Complete

Good evening from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The team arrived around 10:00 am this morning after 22 hours in the air and several hours of waiting in Dallas, LA, and Taipei. We are housed in a beautiful guesthouse that is run by the pastor of one of the churches here. We are all on one floor (with air in the bedrooms). There are two common areas with minikitchens and a beautiful open courtyard of plants between the two house areas. I am blessed with my own room complete with a bath AND a tub! We rode through the busy city today. Think about Red-White-and-Boom and all the people there. Put half of them on motorbikes and you can get the idea what this city is like. After time to shower and unpack, we went to lunch - great shrimp fried rice. Then we rode out to Asia's Hope Christian School. The kids were waiting at the gate and they smother all of the guests with hugs. Most of the kids from the four Prek Eng (suburb of the city) homes were there. Of course, each home did a musical dance presentation. Prek Eng 3 boys were all wearing their new tie dye shirts and bandanas made with the last Vista team. We are all very tired but we are trying to get on Cambodia time so we're waiting until 9 pm to sleep. Tomorrow we are doing outreach, taking some of the kids from Prek Eng with us. This is the first time they are trying this venture with some of the Asia's Hope kids. Pray that it will be a blessing to those that go and to all of the kids that should be there.