November Report From Siem Reap

                                                November 2015

November was the start of two crazy busy months. I am amazed at how quickly the time went by. As I look back on the month it seems like it was so long ago that I experienced these things. The Lord is teaching me something new almost every day and I feel so blessed that God has lead me to ministry in the way he has. I want to do my best, to make the most of everyday that God has given me, to serve Him here in Cambodia.
On the 9th of November Sarorn and I traveled back to Bangkok, to obtain results from the biopsy. The problem ended up being the same on the bottom of the eye as it was on the top before. However, we were encouraged to hear that the doctor thinks it will heal with some steroids. Sarorn is still healing; please continue to pray for her. It was a short 2 day trip but we had some experiences along the way. Initially we were dropped off near the market we were staying in, but the driver stopped early and told us it was time to get out. After we had gotten out, two women and a man who had been on the van with us came to speak with us. They told us they had overheard that we were going to the same market as them, so they offered to share their taxi. Now at the time, Sarorn and I were unsure where we would be staying for the night. We were praying God would provide us with a place to stay. After we packed up the taxi and got in, we all started talking. It turned out the three of them were very strong Christians from the Philippines. It was an encouragement to speak with them about life. They told us they would be praying for Sarorns health, and then they even paid for the taxi when we stopped. When we realized the hotel that they were staying at was reasonably priced, we checked it out. We were guided by the Lord, it was not only a blessing to get acquainted with those people, but God provided a place for us, through them. We ran into them a few more times after that and spoke some more. They were such kind and godly people. 
Update on the motorbike accident recovery; praise the Lord all is well! Sister Sothiya is back on her normal schedule, translating and such. She has the normal after effects of a traumatic event like that, but is continuing to regain her strength in her body and especially her back. As for Sheanghai, she had some trouble with her back for a bit, after the accident. However, she said it has stopped hurting now. She has also returned to her normal schedule on the circuit. Health at the school has been good for the most part. We get the occasional ear ache, stomach ache, or headache, but overall it’s a thumbs up. My cough has gone away with the help of a steroid inhaler. A thanks is owed to a volunteer teacher here who referred me to a good doctor.
Times of fellowship and resting in each other’s presence are special. It was such a blessing to be a part of the baptism celebration for Sister Sinoun and Brother Uran. We joined that festivity together with five different birthday’s from here at the base. All of us drove out to the lake here in Siem Reap and started by just looking at the beauty around us for a while. After, we began with, prayer, worship, the word of God with teacher Nelly, and a few words from Uran and Sinoun. When Pastor Shannon and teacher Nelly had finished baptizing them, we all prayed for them, ate, took pictures, swam, spent time together, and ate some more! It was such a good experience to be a part of. I am always especially amazed at the way they pray here. It’s just like when we lay hands on someone and pray for them, we pray out loud, all at once. Well, they always pray like that, and you can feel the presence of the Lord. 
A few days after that, we had to say goodbye to Pastor Shannon. It was nice to have him around for the short time that he was here. He is a handy man so it turned out; he was able to get some things done around here that couldn’t be accomplished before. We all enjoyed his company and humor and are looking forward to seeing him return with his family in June. Please pray for the preparation of their hearts and their minds as they are preparing to uproot their lives to come serve the Lord in Cambodia. 
Around the same time Pastor left I decided I wanted to really start learning the Khmer Alphabet. So I asked an intern, Somaly, to help me and she did a great job of teaching me on my days off. Recently I have been taking a break because the start of the term means that everyone is very busy. However, I just began taking some lessons with another intern, Shanghai. Somaly is now teaching a three hour Old testament class and guitar along with preparing to head down south shortly. So I think for now I am going to give her a chance to focus on that. All of the staff interns and students do a great job of helping me continue to learn the language. My strong desire to learn Khmer continues to grow!
The day before Thanksgiving I was blessed enough to go with the students and interns to a Khmer celebration called The Water Festival. This celebration is about victory over their enemies and being thankful for water that they have to plant their rice. They celebrate for three consecutive days in Siem Reap. They don’t celebrate in villages and they stopped celebrating in Phnom Phen because the amount of people got out of control. I feel really lucky to go and see this holiday celebration with some true locals, getting some real perspective, in contrast with the tourists celebrating. We celebrated by going downtown in the evening and walking on the streets with all the people, looking around at all the different stands and booths. We all had a really good time of fellowship together and I was happy I got to experience it with them. 
As Thanksgiving came around I wondered what I was going to do to celebrate the holiday. I wanted to remember that it was about being thankful and spending time with people we love, not just about the food. I started with trying to make my room look a little fall like. Saron and Sothiya helped me make some candles to put in the room along with some paper colored leafs to hang. I also drew a cross and Turkey, surrounded with the things that I am thankful for. I hung that in my room to remind me of what I have to be thankful for. I also spent the month doing a few devotionals focused on thanksgiving and shared in chapel about being thankful. As for food, I knew it wouldn’t be possible to have a nice buffet of mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. However, Siem Reap has a Korean buffet downtown. I knew it wouldn’t feel the same but hey, it was still an excessive amount of food! I decided to take my roommate Saron with me and we had a nice time speaking and spending time together while filling our bellies to the maximum of its capacity. It ended up being a pretty good day, later on in the evening I watched a little bit of A Charlie Browns Thanksgiving. I missed my family and friends that day, but I can say I am so very thankful for the life that God has given me here. At that time I was in the beginning stage of really getting to know the people here and starting to feel like this is was home. 
Shortly after thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to attend a Khmer wedding. The couple was a pair of former bible school students from the south. I didn’t happen to know the bride or groom but my friend and intern (Shanghai) was kind enough to invite me to go as her plus one. I didn’t know what I was going to wear so I consulted the interns and staff. They suggested that we go shopping in the market to find a dress. However, when we went to find one, it was a bit harder to locate than I might have thought. Some of you may know how much of a nightmare it is to go dress shopping with me. So you can imagine what it might be like to go with me, in a country that on average is full of ninety five pound women. We couldn’t find a dress that I especially liked so we decided to “throw in the towel” for the day. When one of the volunteer teachers, from Switzerland, heard I was having some trouble finding a suitable outfit for the wedding, she offered to lend me her traditional Khmer clothes. At first I was a bit skeptical about the clothes, but I came around to it and decided I needed to just cease the opportunity. After going to the village in the day time we came home and all spent the evening together doing our hair and makeup. I think everybody knows I am not really a make-up girl, so Sreymom had a good time dolling me up. As for my hair, the humidity here, made my attempt at straightening it like I do at home, fail. So Anoun was kind enough to finish it up for me. I want to say another thank you to them for helping me get ready! When we were ready to leave in the evening, we took off in a tuk tuk. We spent some of the night eating a lot of very nice food, listening to music, sitting with people visiting and congratulating the bride and groom. I will say that I remember thinking that that evening felt more like a Thanksgiving meal than the actual day itself. We had a chicken that was dressed like a turkey, fish, soup, salad, fruit and lots more. I can truly say it was a really cool experience with some of the people I hold dear to my heart. I am glad I decided to push through my doubts and discomfort to experience my first Khmer wedding!
Ministry in the village was good in November. I remember we started to let the students do some of the teaching. The kids smiling faces are always a blessing to see. I feel privileged to have spent November continuing on the circuit. Getting closer to not only the kids but with Sreymom and Sheanghai, the young women that I go with. As for ministry at the school, in November I was working in the office on off days. I also taught computers and did a few lessons of English with the BMW students. I also really enjoyed teaching some grammar to the interns in the evenings. I am just trying to do whatever needs to be done. In November we started to play movies on the weekends for the BMW students. Marvel movies, Christian movies, Comedies and Action! I really enjoyed spending that time with them. On a sadder note, we had our puppy Teddy die at the end of the month. We were not sure what he was sick with, but he got sick very quickly. I had planned on taking him to the doctor in the afternoon, after I had gotten back from the village. By that time he was so very weak and about ten minutes after we arrived at the vets, he passed. For a few of us it was harder than others, we loved Teddy a lot. He was a special dog and we miss his spunky personality around here.
We praise God and thank Him for the work that he did here in November. As he continues to work, we all do our best to try and learn from observing through the things around us. My apologies for the delay in this report, life has been so busy and time has gone by quick. I just thank God that he has given me joy and strength every day. He never fails me and brings me back to Him when I fail, His grace and mercy continues to baffle me. I am able to rest in Him and value the time and the people as it all goes by. Thank you all for your prayers for me and the people here. Again, I really cannot express how grateful we are for those prayers.