Wow! I have only one week left here! I have so many wonderful
experiences and have seen so much. I have such a wonderful time, but each
day I miss home a little more.
I will be arriving back home late evening on Tuesday July 23rd and look
forward to spending time with friends and I have a few things at the top of my
list I would like to do shortly after returning.
1) Eat a meal without rice! I actually have been craving Mexican
and a Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew. Can you believe I have not had one ounce of
Dr. Pepper?
2) Rest at home in my own bed. Our beds are really uncomfortable
and I wake up with a soar body. Also it would be nice not having to look
around for giant cockroaches before I enter the bathroom. LOL!
3) Visit the chiropractor. This would be due to point #2. A
facial also sounds very nice:)
4) I would also love some Starbucks coffee since there are none here in
Cambodia!!! I couldn’t believe it either!
This week has gone by incredibly fast! It
seems like yesterday we were just halfway through and now just a little left.
We called this Wednesday "Western Wednesday." We eat
lunch after at the school after teaching and occasionally they will make
something we are a little more familiar with. So that day we had pasta!
It was so good but we could tell that we were the only ones that liked
it, but we have had some very interesting stuff here. We had that
afternoon off to rest and relax, so we ordered bubble tea and went swimming.
We stay really busy around here so it was nice to have that time to
refresh. Later that evening, we watched "Up" (which I have
never seen before...so cute!) and then our house helper made us chicken
strips!! Two Western meals in one day! We were stoked!
Thursday presented a
very long day. We teach in the morning,
after lunch we go to New Life school and teach there for a couple of hours, and
return to Logos school for the VBS kids that evening. I taught my students about rockets and they
got to make rockets and fly them. My
kindergartners learned about adjectives and we described our rockets, and my
preschoolers learned how to countdown from 10 to Blastoff!
We had about an hour
before VBS started and Deanne, Hannah, Amber and I walked up the road for some
iced coffee. We had a good time just talking and I got to know them a little
better. I was still dragging even after
the coffee, but the neighborhood kids have so much energy it’s impossible to
stay tired. I spent most of the evening
in a tickle war with a sweet little girl.
The team decided to go
to a movie Friday night. Despicable Me 2
just came out here. It only cost $5 to
watch a 3D movie and $3 for a drink and caramel popcorn! We walked around City Mall and many of us
purchased some movies for only $1 each!
Here the only way to purchase them is buying the copy. It isn’t illegal here.
Saturday was the best
thing this week! We traveled to an orphanage outside of the city called “Place
of Rescue.” A woman named Marie Ens was a missionary in Cambodia for many years
before returning to Canada because of the Khmer Rouge. Her husband had passed away and she returned
to Cambodia with the desire to start an orphanage. She is 78 years old and has a passion for the
Lord. Unfortunately, we did not get to
meet her yesterday, but the pastor showed us around the orphanage. There are women and their children who live
together in a small home. They also
house AIDS families and help with doctor’s visits and medicine.
A house mom
stays in a home with 10 boys or 10 girls and they live there as a family until
they are old enough to go to college. As
we walked by each orphan house, the pastor told us their stories. They aren’t just providing food and shelter
for the precious ones, but they know and love them. Smiles and bright eyes were at each doorway
as we passed. We saw little babies and
got to hold them. I wanted to take all
of them home! My heart broke to hear
stories of how they go there. One little
girl had a severe handicap and did not have hands. She is considered “unlucky” and so they
didn’t want her. Another little girl
could not walk because her parents strapped her to a cart to beg for money and
she never got to walk or exercise her legs. Many children are there because
their fathers killed their mothers. “Place
of Refuge” even provides a place for grannies that have no one to take care of
them. I am so inspired that Marie is
such a servant of the Lord and a testimony that you are never too old to be
used by God!
Please check out the
website at www.placeofrescue.org
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and
faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”
-James 1:27
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