I have a lot of random things on my mind today including all the things we’ve been doing in these past couple of weeks, the fact that I came down with a nasty virus in the past couple of days, and that a big old plate of nachos sounds really good right now. But first things first.
Cambodia has really grown on me. At first it was hard to find because it is still such a war-torn country, but I am starting to see beauty here. It is not where you expect. I see it in the smiles of the children, the wrinkles on the faces of the elderly, in the vibrant colors of the country side, and in the sound of the language. I even see it in the many temples and temple gates scattered throughout the city. And though the beliefs are extremely misled, the temples themselves something to behold.
As I have said before, the church is a light on a hill here in Phnom Penh. Last week I went out with their Children at Risk department out to the province. The department sponsors children throughout this side of Cambodia. It is a three year program. Most of the children come from a single parent home where there is no money coming in at all. The families are starving and have no schooling. With the sponsorship, however, they are given school fees, uniforms, and enough food to last for the month (which will usually feed the entire family as well). In the second and third year, the church helps get the family going on a small business so that they can sustain themselves.
Each month, the department at the church goes to check up on the kiddos and last week I went along (with Chris and Anne too!) We played with the kids, taught them a Bible story, played Heads up, 3up (formerly known as heads up 7up…which is basically the best elementary school game ever known.) But since we only had 8 kids, we had to revise it a bit!
Guess who was always the one chosen… 🙂
I love that God fulfills his promise to take care of the widowed and orphaned. I see it over and over again this year that he has not abandoned them. I love what the church here is doing becuase they are seeing needs and actually meeting them! It’s so awesome!
In other news, I am driving again these days. Last night, we were checking out a celebration of a Chinese holiday (not sure which one) down by the riverfront. So we decided to ride home in “style” on an oh so trendy rickshaw. Well, I made grand friends with my driver and he let me drive him around a little bit when we arrived home! Ok..just about three feet. I could tell he was really nervous that I was “driving.” But hey, I can ride a bike real good!
Please pray for my team right now as some of us have come down with an ugly bug. I was a vegetable for about 4 days. I started antobiotics two days ago and have been on the uphill climb since then. I hate being weak and am just anxious to be 100% again along with my team.
As for the nachos, I will have to just wait on those.
