Fun

Last evening we met Angela and her Cambodian friend Ratta at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel. We shared Khmer fried rice, chatted and laughed.

The Bloom staff has a retreat this weekend so Angela and Ratta needed to make a funny video. They decided to do scenes from The Titanic. First Angela leaned into the corner of the railing as if over the bow of a ship and sang My Heart Will Go On. The next scene was Angela trying to wake Ratta whose face was slowly sinking under the water and the Angela blowing her whistle. Then Ratta pretended to be an old woman and dropped a necklace in the water. We laughed and laughed. We decided the out takes will be as fun as the actual footage. Oh!  We had a fake boat hitting a fake iceberg , too !  I hope the staff enjoys it. 

Bloom

This morning we went on a tour of Bloom and spent some time with a Bloom staff member, Kat, from Australia. Bloom has about 7 foreign volunteers. There are about 50 women at Bloom. We saw each of the classrooms where the women are taught baking, cake decorating, card making, hospitality, English and barista training. Downstairs is a cafe serving coffees, teas, and cupcakes. People also come in to order elaborate cakes. It is quite high end and extremely impressive. 

Cupcakes, bubble tea, latte, and some of the cakes displayed:

We had a quick lunch at Brown, a high end cafe nearby that had food. We had a good talk during lunch hoping to really encourage Angela. 

This afternoon, we got to help Angela with two of her English classes and spend time with six of the girls. Angela has developed an entire curriculum for teaching English. The girls are learning conversation skills and are learning to read and write English. The whole time, Angela herself is learning Khmer. The classes were instructive but also fun. The girls seemed to truly enjoy them. Angela is such a blessing to Bloom and she contributes so much to the work they do there. 

Cambodia Sunday

Deb and I both woke up tired Sunday morning, our bodies still not getting the time difference. We got ready and I had my quiet time with God by the pool wih my feet dipped in it. 

I also got some treasured Facebook messages from home. 

Angela came to the hotel for breakfast again then we got into our tuk tuk and took a 30 minute ride to Angela's church. The ride was dusty and insane as we went through a traffic jam near a construction site. 

Its very hard to describe the traffic here but it feels and sounds like bees buzzing and swarming and flowing around us. 

Angela attends a large interdenominational church called ICA or International Christian Assembly. It is very large and has a school and Bible institute with it. It is made up of people from about thirty different countries, many of whom are here on mission. This is where Angela leads worship about one out of five Sundays. She took this Sunday off. 

We very much enjoyed the worship which lasted close to an hour. We knew many of the songs. It is always awesome to worship in another country with people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world. Even the worship team were from six or so different countries. 

The message was also good, about taking up the staff for God and also being willing to throw it down for Him. 

After church we ate lunch at Mike's Burgers. 

It was very hot outside and our tuk tuk driver napped while he waited for us. 

After lunch we were tired and Angela was getting a headache so we took another afternoon of rest in the air conditioning. 

In the evening, Angela wanted to shop at a vintage clothing store that only opens a few times a year here. It was run by a girl with an Australian accent who travels the world collecting vintage pieces. She had them displayed in the room of a beautiful home in a nicer section of Penom Penh. My girls would have absolutely loved it. Angela bought a yellow dress and a plaid skirt. 

Next we drove through more crazy fun traffic around a traffic circle near the Prime Minister's house, to Angela's favorite cafe, Java. My girls would have loved this also. It is a cafe and coffee shop decorated with random eclectic retro furniture. It had unique drinks and food. Angela had a pink lemonade and a salad and deb had a drink called a ladybug that had watermelon and lime juice, and a salad. I had chocolate chip pancakes with butter and honey and a vanilla steamer. I think I will gain about 10 pounds on his trip. 

A friend of Angela's,  Rodda, from thePhilippines,  met us at Java and we enjoyed getting to know her. She is on the worship team at ICA with Angela, teaches some English classes and is supported in part by her home church. 

We had a lovely time laughing and eating and chatting. We returned to our hotel and crashed early yet again. 

Saturday Evening Cambodia Style

After an afternoon of much needed and appreciated rest in the air conditioning, we went with Angela to the supermarket to buy ingredients for dinner. Lucky's market is very westernized. It had many of the same things we have but they were displayed in weird order. Things were very pricey. The check out was more technologically advanced than in the US as a picture of each item appeared with the price. 

We then went to Angela's apartment. It is small but adequate by our standards but considered large and luxurious here. 

We cooked dinner, taco salad, and took it upstairs to the top floor to Angela's neighbors, Jackie and Steve. Their apartment was larger and had a huge lovely patio where we ate dinner and fruit and drank mango smoothies.

We enjoyed our time with them very much. 

Dragon fruit 

Jackie and Steve are here to learn the language initially but also on Christian mission. They are supported by their business back home. They are starting small businesses here using Cambodians to teach them how to run sustainable business. They were fascinating as they spoke about a Cambodia that they love. Jackie also talked about food and clothes and decorating. We returned to our hotel early and crashed. 

Prayer requests:

We continue to try to acclimate to the time change and intense heat. Air conditioning is sparse. There is also sort of a spiritual oppression all around us. We are intensely aware of the Buddhism all around us and the poverty. We are frequently approached by beggars including seeing a baby in diapers near the busy street with her hands out not very supervised. 

Please keep Angela in your prayers. We are looking forward to seeing more of her work and encouraging her and letting you know how you can pray. 

Day Two Cambodia

Today was harder. Last night I started to feel the jet lag so we turned in early. I slept ok but not great. We got up and got ready and had breakfast at the hotel just Deb and I and then Bunton,  our tuk tuk driver picked us up and we picked up Angela. Bunton is a Christian Cambodian man who is a dear. Angela hires him for all her driving and she has reserved him basically all week to tote us around and look out for us. He is so kind and has a gentle smile. 

We drove through the crazy traffic downtown the red light district where the clubs, bars and brothels are and we prayed. 

We then toured the Royal Palace and Buddhist temple.  It was interesting and sort of creepy with all the serpents and spirit houses and Buddas. It was crazy hot and I started to feel pretty icky. 

We then had lunch at FCC which is an open air cafe overlooking the river where the journalists went in the 70's during the Khmer Rouge. We had a very good talk there which was hopefully helpful to Angela. 

After lunch we visited Daughters which is another organization here that helps women escape sex trafficking. They have 7 sustainable businesses that teach trades to the girls and they offer traing, employment and a variety of counseling services. 

After lunch we felt sort of overwhelmed between the culture and the heat so we are chilling out at the hotel. Tonight we will go to the supermarket then cook at Angela's apartment. We have vhurch tomorrow and then a few fun things Angela wants to do and meet some of her friends. Next week we will spend time at the organization where Angela works. We will help with the English classes and attend the devotional where I will give my testimony. 

Evening One

Tonight we went to a restaurant that trains at risk youth. It was very nice. 

The best dish had beef and peppers and nuts and I could taste lime also. Upstairs was a gift shop with unique things made by the youth. 

Here are some random pics of the city for your enjoyment. 

View of the city from our hotel rooftop. 

Our room and the cool pantaloons I bought today. 

Our tuk tuk. 

On the way to the restaurant we pulled out into a large intersection and it was so scary!  There are no traffic rules. Everyone just goes everywhere. And it works!  People turn from the right lane into the left lane when the turn left and then sort of merge right eventually. One huge Lexus vehicle pulled over to the left going the wrong direction right in front of to order food to go. It is pretty crazy. 

After dinner we stopped for gelato and it was delicious. I had praline chocolate. 

Right now we are sitting on the rooftop enjoying the breeze. I am pretty tired and have big dark circles under my eyes. 

Here is another view of my cool pantaloons in the elevator. Yes I will wear these to work at home. 

Day One Cambodia

It is Friday, our first day in Cambodia. While you were sleeping Thursay night, we had our Friday. 

We slept very well and got up at 8. We showered which felt amazing after our two day trip. Angela met us in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. 

We chatted and ate omelettes and bread and fresh fruit and drank coffee and mango juice.  

After breakfast we took a short tuk tuk ride to buy a SIM cell phone card and to exchange some money. 

Phomn penh is similar in many ways to some of the cities I've been in, 

Guatemala City, quayaquil,  Mexican City, loud, crazy traffic. Lots of horns honking, people and vehicles. Here there are more motorcycles and tuk Tuks. We were amazed that there were not more sirens sounding. We saw children on motorcycles with their parents and even a woman with an infant on one shoulder driving her motorcycle with one hand. 

We stopped by the Russian market where I immediately made two delightful purchases for myself even though I was looking for gifts for others. 

We then stopped by a Christian run cafe called Jars of Clay and shared a banana chocolate chip muffin and frozen lime aids. 

While visiting, I asked Angela what she looked forward to most about our visit, hoping she'd give us insight into how we could bless her. She said what she'd really like most is to just have fun, to laugh and go do fun things and relax. When we told her that sounded perfect, she was touched. The work that Angela does here is very difficult. We are happy to just hang out, have fun, and just spend time with her in this amazing city. As Deb and I were discussing this later, we decided that we are, in fact, gifted in the area of fun!

Deb and I spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool as Angela said that jet lag would hit and she also had something she needed to do. As I was laying there with the warm sun and the cool breeze and the sounds of the city far below, I shut my eyes and God seemed to be saying, "Just rest in Me."  I realized that maybe having fun, hanging out and relaxing is exactly what Deb and I need to. As a Pastor and a social worker and our work with Homestead, we both tend to burn the candle at both ends. It's good for us, too, to take time to rest in Him.