Tropang Krosang village

We have ridden on a lot of busses on this trip. Pat has been generous to all the weary travellers offering polo mints at strategic time. We think she has an endless supply!

Today started with sunday school teaching for the sunday school teachers. The content was virtually identical to what we had in Prey Veng. Anita and Hans taught the theory.

Anita with translator Dara.

 The story of the lost sheep told with puppets to illustrate puppetry as a teaching method.

The day has been one of the hottest we have had and there was no fan or draught at all in the tin church. It did not take long to become like an oven!

After lunch we went to Tropang Krosang village for health care teaching similar to that which we have had in other rural villages.

Pat teaching

With a eurasion tree sparrow above her head.

Anita came to find me and asked me to join her, Situon and some others in praying for a lady. Of course we did once the church's pastor had been located and invited too. We prayed and she said the symptoms had lessoned, we asked for permission to pray again and the symptoms she had complained of were gone. She then asked us also to pray for another problem / ailment she had. We did  and we saw a partial healing for that. I prayed in english, Situon and the pastor and some VIDP workers in khmer and Anita in Norwegian. The lady spoke no english as she would have struggled to know what was said as we all prayed at the same time. Amongst other things I prayed that she would be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. When we had finnished praying she said she felt much better and felt full of joy! Prise God!

The Cambodian children are wonderful, here they are playing with the teenagers in the team.

 Cambodia is a country that is very hard to describe, the feel of the warm damp air, the smell of wood smoke on cooking fires, the sounds and sights that are not usual for us but also the way of life.

Fruit we don't recognise.

Cakes cooked in leaves.

Whole families transported in on moped.

Tuctuc is a moped with a trailer for paying passengers. They are everywhere.

Here is a man with a motorbike carrying chickens somewhere.

Look carefully at what this lorry is carrying, workers on their way home at the end of the day. Cambodians only get one day per month off!

I had an interesting if stinted (due to language difficulties) conversation with the pastor in Tropand Krosang he has a poor homeless family living behind a curtain in the back of his church. There are new people becoming Christians in his congregation and he asks that we pray for the church he dreams of building.

Pastor Chheuy Mit standing in front of the plot he dreams of building a church on. I have promised that we will remember him and his church in our prayers. Will you join me in praying for him to reach even more people with the good news of Jesus and that one day his vision of a church will become a reality?

VIDP

VIDP is the name of the project(s) which Norkirken supports. We have spent the day in two villages holding a health-care and hygeine seminar followed by treating injuries wounds and disease.

The lady in the picture below told us of how the project has helped her be more responsible for herself and her ecconomy which has in turn improved her quality of life.

This is her herb garden complete with aloe vera.

Wherever we go children gather to look at the white foreigners, the Cambodian children are so beautiful. This group lined up to have their picture taken every time they saw a camera.

Pat treated about 20 people for a huge variety of medical problems. She keeps saying how interesting she is finding it is seeing things that she has not seen in the UK in her 33 years as a GP.



 Pat and Dara one of our fantastic translators.











We then went home to a patient who'd been in a road traffic accident a couple of months earlier and was paralysed from the waiste down. The health team dealt with some bedsores he had and then we asked if we could pray or him. They allowed us to but I have no miracle to report.

The living conditions of much of the population are undescribeable. On comment made to Pat a lot today was that the people do not have enough to eat. Nor do they have access to clean water although they did not complain about it. This is the dam they use and below is a rain water collection pot. We looked into one and found all sorts of insects and even tadpoles living in it although it was used, unboiled, as drinking water. 

The last thing we did today was to teach an english class run by the church. I led a group of 8-13 year olds and had great fun with them.

In the picture below I would throw the ball to each child while asking them a question such as "What's your name?" and they would reply as they threw the ball back "My name is...".  All in all another good day.

how do we fit so much into day!

Our days are packed full and when I come to write this blog I can hardly believe so much has happened just since moning!

We started today with a trip to the white dove project.It is a fantastic project working with street children, former prostitutes and drug/alcohol adicted young men. They are having some fantastic results. For obvious reasons we are not allowed to take pictures there but here are some of the shopping bags they have made.

Next it was to the floating village which invilved hiring a boat on which to see the village.

It was fascinating, here is a picture of a cargo trailer the boats pull.

After that we headed back to Phnom Penh which would normally be a 6 hour drive. It turned out to take 8.5 hours as it had rained about 80km from the city and the road which at best is bumpy and made of dirt had been washed to a flooded hole covered mess. We eventually arrived back tired and glad of our hotel.

One prayer that we have had for this team is for unity. We have truely had our prayer answered, we are a great team and even when tired or under pressure we are united. It is a pleasure and a priviledge to be here with these people as we together see the country and serve Jesus here.

Angkor Wat

Today we went to Angkor Wat   http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668/  It was a wonderful trip. We rode on elephants, got caught in a massive storm and saw a lot of Angkor Wat complete with a guide.

In the evening we went out for a meal by water. It was Cambodian style and therefore we sat on mats on the floor and the food was served in bowls into the centre of the seated group. The problem was all the insects which came out as the sun set! They helped us with the food, used us a climbing frames and took a bit now and then to see if we tasted good too. Not everyone in the group was completely happy with this (understatement).


Rain at Angkor Wat.

We returned to the hotel after a very enjoyable day.

A bumpy ride

The day today began early as it does when we are working. The alarm went off at 6am and we were in church at just after 8am. We had been invited to join Situon, Lysom and the students for their morning service. We had a wonderful time. Here we all are wearing out "loved" tshirts.

There was worship led by the students.

Which included dancing.

I preached on Matthew 14 when Jesus walks on the water with Situon as interpreter. I have never preached with bare feet before - a first!

We then said our farewells and headed to the bus and a 7 hour very slow and bumpy ride to Seam Reap. We had two stops on the way. At the first stop there were all sorts of snacks for sale including bbq terrantula! several in the team were very brave and tried a leg, I was not one of them.

There have been many strange and new things on this holiday but Rebekka kissing a LIVE terrantula has to be one of the strangest! I was so surprised I forgot to take a picture!

We then got back on the bus for another couple of hours bumping before our meal. The scenery in absolutely beautiful here and I have not yet tired of looking out of the bus windows.

 In the bus.

We then went on to eat dinner in a wonderful restraunt overlooking what we think was a Cambodian fish farm. There were hammocks to relax in while waiting for the food and when the food arrived it was fantastic!

After a lovely meal we drove for another couple of hours and arrived safely at our hotel.



We have had a prayer meeting and team meeting so now it is bedtime.

Loved

Hi folks,   no pictures tonight cos Pat is in charge!
Tracy is coping well with some bad news, her dad has died over night in hospital of a massive stroke.
He had had mini strokes before and on this occasion Hazel found him unconcious from which he never woke and slipped away peacefully with the family with him.
This does not make it any easier to cope with thousands of miles away.

As a team we have had a very good day.
The LOVED party today.
This was a day based on the 5 love languages , Gary Chapman, to a group of students. http://www.5lovelanguages.com/learn-the-languages/the-five-love-languages/

The students are supported in dormitories by Sithoun and Lysom our Normision hosts. This enables them to move from families in the countryside and study at university. Some were studying to be nurses, midwifes, teachers etc.
They were a fantastic group, enjoyed the teaching presented by Hans and Anita magnificently.
There were games to show the various languages including moving sweets with a straw, writing on plates attached to your back,1st to eat a length of licorice,etc.
We had lunch together and then went on a boat on ther Mekong with some burgers.
The whole day included several tuk tuk rides with our tame driver Polly although we do feel that his tuk tuk is not well and may not last the week.Being out in such a busy, vibrant, young city at night is a fantastic experience and we are all enjoying it.
Anne-Kate who is rooming with Tracy and I is now telling jokes in english so we can safely say her english is better than my norwegian.
Tomorrow, sunday, we go to join the students for their service, at which Tracy is preaching,and then drive onto Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. Tracy is in the bath now polishing the sermon.
We have no idea about WiFi as we travel onward but will connect as soon as possible.

A bit of everything

We started today with a trip to the Russian Market where we could shop at the stalls. I don't think there is anything you would not be able to get at that market.

I did a lot of my Christmas shopping!

We then went to the only hill in Phnom Penh which has a uddist temple built on it. As soon as I went into it I thought again about Paul in Athens (Acts 17.24) and these words: The God who made the world and everything in it... does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands...for in him we live and move and have our being. The statues are so dead and lifeless. People try to placate them with all kinds of offerings. Here is one with a slice of bacon in its mouth as an offering.

Offerings are made to protect people from evil spirits. I was aware that we have the name of Jesus that we can call upon at any time and anywhere had he has all power in heaven and on earth and under the earth. we can pray for or against anything in this world knowing that we are not dependent on whether we have pleased the gods or not. Our sin is paid for on the cross once and for all.

At this temple there was a very interesting working grass clock.

Near the clock were som young women selling stir fried grass hoppers, some of the team were willing to try them.

Rebekka (picture over) was the only one who ate one, she said they tasted ok but the legs got stuck in her teeth!

We went for lunch in the "Daughters of Cambodia" project  http://www.daughtersofcambodia.blogspot.com/  and it was lovely! We then went downstairs to the beauty parlour and had a foot massage which was really wonderful! Non of us minded spending money there at such a worthwhile project and most of us have plans to return before the end of the trip.

We then went back to the hotel, ate during the evening and had a team planning and prayer meeting.

My evening meal, pineapple fried rice with chicken.