Short break February 20, 2010

This has been a busy week of traveling and goodbyes and sight-seeing and, of course, lots of love.

Our week started on Sunday – Valentine’s Day – with a special treat from the two guys on our team.  They surprised us girls with muesli, milk, fruit, and roses for each of us on Valentine’s Day morning.  It was really sweet.  Later that day we said our final goodbyes at the Youth Center party.  Several of the students made valentines for several of us, which was pretty special.  We finished our work at the orphanage and said tearful goodbyes there, as well, this week.

We left Battambang on Wednesday morning and headed for Siem Reap for a short break before Rattanakiri.  We rode on a nice, air-conditioned bus and stayed in a guest house that had nice, air-conditioned rooms for two nights.  We watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat and saw lots and lots of foreigners.  The touristy atmosphere of Siem Reap was quite the contrast to Battambang.  I found it strange.

Yesterday we left Siem Reap and arrived in Phnom Penh.  We’ll stay here in Phnom Penh (no air conditioning in this guest house – that was a short-lived treat) for one more night and then we’ll make the 10-hour trip to Rattanakiri tomorrow.  We don’t have all our ministries set up yet, so please pray for direction there.

I’m thankful to have had the short break before our next stop.  Please keep our team in your prayers as we have yet another new beginning.

Saying Goodbye in Battambang February 13, 2010

This has been an exhausting week, mentally and physically. The weather just keeps getting hotter and we’ve been working hard to finish the projects we’ve started.  We’re preparing to move on to Rattanakiri, which means saying goodbye to our friends in Battambang.

On Sunday we had a great time at the orphanage church. I gave the message about the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15), then we planted seeds with the kids in bags of good soil, which we’ll transplant into their garden once we’ve finished all the preparations.

Monday we went to the YWAM base for worship, then the work began. We’re planning to build a water tank there, so we had to dig a trench for the pipe connecting the tank to the Rus pump we’ll have in the pond, and finish building the base for the tank. We got more help from our Philippino friend Regie with mixing the concrete – his help and advice on technique was very useful. On Monday evening Barbara – the lady who actually lives in the house we’re staying in – arrived from her vacation at home in the US.  It’s been nice getting to know her this week.

On Tuesday we had apples for breakfast, which was very exciting. Most of us hadn’t eaten apples since we left New Zealand … we used up almost a whole container of peanut butter that morning! The non-Americans on our team like to laugh at our obsession with peanut butter. We had more HOT work at the orphanage in the morning. It’s really cool how the children greet us when they get home from school – each of them comes up to each of us and greets us in a very respectful, traditional way. They are so very polite and sweet.

I did a devotion on Tuesday afternoon using the proof of the Pythagorean Theorem! It was so fun for me – especially since I got to use my compass (yes, I brought a compass) to help draw the triangles. I talked about how the trick to the proof is looking at a figure in two different ways, and using those two ways to look at the same thing to derive this really important formula. I tied in some scripture about many parts in the one body of Christ and loving each other and working together (1 Cor 12: 12-20, Col 3:12-14, John 13:34-35).

Our group split up on Wednesday – some did some prep work for our big Thursday at the orphanage, and the rest went to the YWAM base where we got the tank and pipes set up and part of Rus pump all ready.

Thursday was a hot, memorable day. Our friends, the team from the Philippines, joined us in our work at the orphanage – what a blessing!!  We were working on leveling the giant pile of dirt (yes, we’re still working on that) when some of the people digging found a snake … but not just any snake – a cobra that was about a meter long! About half of us ran in terror and the other half stood there staring in shock. But praise the Lord for Seang – the only one who came running toward the snake.  He came to our rescue and killed the thing, which the kids later cooked and ate.  It’s times like these when it really hits me that I’m not in Kansas anymore.

Thursday afternoon we put on a kids carnival at orphanage – we had party hat making, fingernail painting, game playing, a fish pond, musical lily pads, pin the tail on the scorpion – an exhausting afternoon after an exhausting morning … but quite fun.

On Friday I woke up exhausted and not at all ready for the day, but God spoke to me through a scripture:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

Armed with my new refreshment from the Lord, I went with half of the team to the orphanage (the other half went to the YWAM base).  That day, God gave us supernatural strength and joy – we worked really hard, and by the time we left the fence was almost finished and the ground was level. The kids and the pastor were still working on the fence, but they were making fast progress and seemed to be pretty excited about it. We’ll be all ready to start spreading manure and planting next time we go, and maybe get a water tank built, too.

We started saying goodbye to our friends at the Youth Center Friday afternoon – this was the last time we’d attend classes there.  Kunthea, the teacher in the first class that Anna and I attend, gave Anna and me a big bag of green bananas from her house to thank us for helping out in the class.  It was so sweet of her – we were really touched.  It wasn’t quite a final goodbye, because we’ll see the staff and hopefully lots of the students at the Youth Center party on Sunday.

We heard from Rus and Made in Bali, and they said that the people in the villages are still talking about the Christmas play we performed there.  That was pretty exciting to hear.  We’ve also gotten word from the rest of our Oxford family – the backpackers are back in New Zealand about to have their DTS graduation.  We’re quite proud of them, but sad that we can’t all be together for graduation.

So next week we’re off to Siem Reap for a couple of days, Phnom Penh for a night, then Rattanikiri for the next two weeks.  We’re sad to leave the new friends we’ve made, but excited about the next leg of our trip.

I read another scripture this morning that came at just the right time.  I hope you can also find encouragement in this -

“May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.
Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
O Lord, save the king!
Answer us when we call!”
Psalm 20

Hot days, hard work, good times February 6, 2010

This has been a week of early mornings. It’s my week to help buy and set up breakfast so I’ve been getting up around 5:30 every morning to try to get my quiet time with the Lord in before we start our day. We’ve been having early breakfasts and leaving the house as soon as we can to try to get to work before it gets too hot outside … and boy is it hot!

This week we finished preparing the beds for planting and saw some newborn piglets at the orphanage. We prepared the ground, raised beds, set up drip lines, and planted corn and beans at a village called Phnom Kol just outside of Battambang. We also set up drip lines at the garden the Khmer Earth Care students have planted near the YWAM base. We built the foundation for a water tank we’ll build at the YWAM base (with some unexpected help from a guy named Regie who’s here on outreach with a team from the Philippines), and I almost fell in a pond. It’s been a hot, busy week of hard work, but it’s also been really good.

We’ve had lots of nice treats this week, too. The hot weather has made most of us quite keen on running to the shop down the street and around the corner from our house for ice cream any time we have some time to spare for it. Some of the girls have also taken advantage of leftover rice and made delicious banana rice pudding (and they are very sweet to always set some aside for me without bananas) a couple of times this week.

The Blakelys (Rob, Jenny, Rachel, Johanna, Jonathan, and Susie) left on Wednesday morning, and we certainly miss them. They had to go for the good of Rob’s health. We were sad to see them go, but we all respect their decision to do what they need to do as a family. Most of us will see them again when we’re back in New Zealand next month, but it was a sad good-bye because the day they left was the last time during this DTS that our whole outreach team would be together.

Thursday was “God Day” at the youth center and Anna and I shared a little testimony/teaching in the two classes we go to. We talked about hearing from God. We believe that God is already speaking to the students who aren’t Christians and calling them to himself. We told the stories of how we each heard the call from God to come here, and gave the students time to ask questions. They have very good questions. It’s so cool that they are so open to learning about Jesus. The youth center is an amazing place. Several of the teachers used to be students there themselves and came to know Christ during that time.

We have just about a week and a half left in Battambang. We’ll spend a few days in Siem Reap (and probably visit Angkor Wat) and then head on to Rattanakiri (a province in the east of Cambodia) for about two weeks for some more ministry there. After that we have a few days of “debrief” time in Cambodia, then it’s back to NZ. Our time is getting short here. Please pray that we will make good use of our last few weeks of outreach. I would also appreciate your prayers that I would be able to focus on my time here and not dwell on how sad it’s going to be to say good-bye. One more prayer request – I’m sharing in church on Sunday and I don’t have it worked out what to say yet. Please ask God to speak through me and give me the right words at the right time.

I’ve added a link to the Earth Care DTS Team blog. Feel free to visit the page to see updates on things we’ve been doing here from others’ perspectives.

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“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Titus 2:3-5a