Manook Christmas Outreach and other Christmas Parties...

It's been a busy week with many Christmas outreaches/parties going on. Christmas morning proved to be a pretty amazing, 56 of our students turned up, and we had a great time singing songs, playing games and snacking together. But the best thing was when many of the kids opened up their hands and prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour. It was a great way to spend Christmas morning, and it'll definitely be one that we'll never forget. I've put together a video but can't seem to get it onto the blog, will try again when I'm in Phnom Penh in a few weeks time.

On Sunday we attended two other Christmas parties. In the morning we went to Pastor Ron's church Protaung, 25Km south of Baray, where Alvin was preaching. Many of the children and some of the adults prayed to accept Jesus following his sermon, pretty amazing huh?! Although he's not quite sure why he always looks confused when he gives his sermons because he did prepare quite thoroughly for them....

In the afternoon we attended a party at Pastor Savan's church - Chatalauk, which is a little closer to home, just 4-5Km down the road. Alvin didn't have to preach, but we did do a short sketch about how to get to heaven. It was fun as the youth at this church had practiced a number of other skits and songs, so it was quite an entertaining afternoon.

We've got another two more parties to go on Thursday. In the morning we're going to Pastor Seng's church Chroneing about 18Km down the road, Alvin will be preaching again so please pray for him. Somrong and Tuol Dam Nak are having parties in the afternoon, we'll see how we feel and then decide where to go.

The Youth Christmas Party...

I feel like I've aged 10 years since Saturday, kind of look like it too, we are so beat. It's been stressful to
say the least. Out of the 600 over people who registered for the party, only around 400 turned up...is it a
coincidence that 400 was the number that Alvin originally budgeted for? I think not. According to Pastor
Kea the youths all really enjoyed themselves, they ate till they were full, had fun watching and
participating in the games, and over 200 listened attentively to Pastor's message. I have no idea if any
received Christ, but I guess it doesn't matter, because God knows. And even if they didn't accept Christ,
a seed was planted and God will do something with it. This is the side of things that Alvin and I are
trying to cling onto, these things make the day worthwhile. Many things went wrong on the day and we
learnt a great deal about the attitude and mindset of many of the Christian youth here, things that we are
really discouraged by and are still trying to process.

Alvin and I had really high expectations for the day and the run up to it, but looking back now it seems
as though we were only part of a handful. For the past two months we have been trying to encourage the
youth to pray and to plan for the event, to look outside of themselves and forward into the future. I
mentioned in a previous prayer request email that it had been quite a challenge trying to teach the youth
to plan and to pray for the event. I think we may have failed on both counts despite our efforts. When we
first started out the youth were all excited about the event and said "yes, we can do anything!" However
come Saturday morning the majority didn't turn up to help, even though we had briefed them on Friday
evening about what needed to be done. Of those that did turn up only two really helped in anyway, some
others just came to watch them work. This not only frustrated us but also the two youths who were
doing much of the work. They complained about the laziness of their brothers and sisters in Christ, so
we tried to have a word with the youth...a pointless exercise, it went in one ear and out the other.

We couldn't understand why the youth were not helping each other, why they just sat and watched
others doing the work, even though they had said they would help. We have since found out that many
of the youth have no concept of a servant attitude. Everything is "I put myself first, others second," and "I
don't need to do anything, someone else will do it." This frustrated us no end on Sunday, as the youths
assigned to the different areas to work either didn't materialise, did half a job or just wondered off. The
result...Alvin and I were left running around like headless chickens, stressed beyond belief.

Aside from the lack of team work and self-serving attitude there was just no initiative on the part of the
youths. We have been trying to teach them about thinking about the next step, consequences of
actions, teaching them about responsibility as well. Nothing seems to have been learnt by the majority.
They say yes to everything because they are too proud to say they don't understand. You ask them to
do something, explain it to them and then ask them if they understand or not, they yes. But yet when
you say "ok, go do it then" they respond with "I don't know what to do." Either that or they will forget, or
whilst they are doing it they are distracted and just wonder off. There is just no initiative. One example is
the fruit stalls, the team who were responsible for organising the fruit stations had gone home, even
though their leader had told them not to. So there I was setting up one of the stalls, and explaining to a
different bunch of youths that I had managed to find how to make the display look nice and telling them
to keep putting out more fruit when it had finished, to keep the place clean and tidy, use the now empty
cardboard boxes for rubbish. What happened in the end? They put some fruit out, sat there, ate some of
it themselves, threw the seeds or peel on the floor, and when the guests came they didn't bother to add
more fruit. Every little thing had to be prompted, it drove us insane, absolutely no initiative.

Now where were the youths who were initially supposed to be minding the fruit? Oh, they had gone
home to have a shower, put on their nicest clothes and came back to join the party, not to serve might I
add, but to be served. Sorry, did I not mention that they were supposed to be at the party to serve the
friends they had invited? I'm sure I did as did Alvin.

One event which was extremely infuriating was that one of the girls who was supposed to be in the
blessing dance at the beginning of the programme couldn't be found anywhere. We were already running
late due to problems with starting the generator for electricity. But once it had started Alvin got the
worship team to do a sound test and asked for the girls to be ready. So I asked one out of the handful of
responsible youths to get the five girls ready. There were only four of them, the other was nowhere to be
found. Jonathan managed to find out that she was at the hairdressers getting her hair straightened and
then crimped, so he borrowed a moto and drove to town to bring her back. Luckily for her Jonathan had
the good judgement not to tell Alvin or myself that she was at the hairdressers, he only told us at the
end of the evening, otherwise I think I really would have just lost it completely. But then I did lose it when
Jonathan told us she had spent $14 doing her hair. Fourteen dollars? Since when do these kids have
$14 dollars to spend on their hair? I have had conversations with some of these girls, and they said to
me that they are not happy, because they don't have money to study, to go to tuition. And now I find out
that one of them spent $14 on her hair. I also found out that some of the youth who were supposed to be
helping had gone to town to buy new clothes and shoes. Why? I just don't understand.

We have been told that many people here have an attitude that if something is from an NGO or "Ongkar"
as they call it then it's ok to take. Because the NGO's are foreigners, they have lots of money, they
won't mind if something is taken. Apparently it's not stealing because the NGO's have plenty. Alvin and I
didn't want to believe this, we wanted to give the youth the benefit of the doubt. But we have been proved
wrong. We had charcoal, sweet potato, cordial, about 15Kg of sugar left, lots of fruit and Khmer Noodle
left over. With all this food left we thought it would be a good idea to sell it on, re-coup the money and
give it to CMS for use in another area, Pastor agreed with us. The charcoal, sweet potato, cordial and
sugar was left in the church overnight, the noodle was taken away to be sold, and we got the youth to
finish off the fruit because it wouldn't keep. The next morning when Alvin went to bring the stuff back to
CMS he found the youth sitting there grilling sweet potato, and drinking the cordial. Somehow half the
sugar had also gone missing, and strangely enough no-one knew where it had gone, even though the three youths sitting there grilling the sweet potato had stayed the night. When asked why they had eaten the sweet potato they said because they were hungry. Alvin told them to stop eating it. However when he went back later in the afternoon to church to bring more things back the youth were there again grilling and eating the sweet potato. Now Alvin had already told them not to have anymore. So we really wonder why they thought it was ok for them to eat more. Is it because it belongs to an Ongkar, so it's alright to take? The attitude is the same when it comes to asking for sponsorship to go to study in Phnom Penh. It is judgemental of me to say, but why should someone be given hundreds of dollars to go and study when they can spend $14 on their hair. Could that money not be saved for their education or living expenses? What is priority here? There are so many other incidents that I could write about which confirms this attitude of "take take take", but what would be the point of talking about them? It just makes me despair.

It's so so hard right now for us not to be angry, we feel that there has been great injustice here. I have
never seen Alvin so angry before, he is usually very good at keeping cool, but even he is cracking. So
many things went wrong or didn't happen at all because the youth were busy looking after themselves.
We can't begin to express just how disappointed and discouraged we are. Right now as I type this the
tent frame and stage is stilll in the field outside the church, waiting to be dismantled. The rubbish hasn't
been cleared away, all of the youth are suddenly too busy. Normally they are here hanging around CMS
not doing very much, now it's a ghost town, not a youth to be seen. Are Alvin and I supposed to do the
work ourselves? Maybe, because then we would be showing them what it is to serve others, to do the
things that no one wants to do. But what's the point when they don't notice such things, when they don't
learn the lesson? They wouldn't even notice that the rubbish had been cleared away and the frame taken
down. I honestly think it would only serve to reinforce the idea that "someone else will do it, I don't have
to." What Alvin wants to do is basically shout at them all, ask them "What is wrong with you? Why do
you only serve yourselves? What makes you think you can take things which don't belong to you?" I on
the other hand have just lost all patience and hope with these youth. I don't want to see them or talk to
them, to me it would be a waste of my time and energy trying to explain.

I wonder if we expected too much of them, bringing our big western ideas to their small village. But then
again I don't think it was too big an idea. The problem lies not in the idea but in the attitude and heart of
the person. With so many hearts pointed inward, this event was never going to be a success. We are
trying to remember that God is sovereign over the non-Christian youth who came, that they wouldn't see
the selfish nature of their Christian counterparts. We both know that we need to forgive the youth for their
actions, please pray that the Holy Spirit would heal and soothe us. And please pray for the youth, that
they would be convicted by the Holy Spirit to change.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

We've all heard the phrase before and know that beauty is relative, it changes depending on where in the world you are. Well, here's a blog about what the Cambodians consider to be beautiful.

On Wednesday Alvin and I were invited to attend the wedding of an aunty of one of the youths. Luckily for us we had the foresight when packing to bring something smart, so Alvin had shirt and trousers and I had a dress. But the youth forbade us from wearing western style clothing, insisting that we dressed in traditional Cambodian attire. So Alvin borrowed one of Pastor Kea's shirts, and I borrowed a dress from Phallim, a girl who works at CMS. I went to a beauty salon in town and got my hair and make up done to Cambodian standard. I apologise in advance to all those who may be scarred for life because of the photos below. Don't look if you have a weak disposition. Anyway, this was the result...

It's not exactly au natural is it? I have never had so much make up on in my entire life, and wiping it off was a mission. I was least keen on the eyebrows, but it's what they consider to be beautiful. I did quite like the fake eyelashes though, even if they were a pain to peel off. It's funny because I thought I looked absolutely ridiculous, like something out of a bad 80's horror movie or rock video, yet everybody was starring at me smiling, saying to each other how beautiful I looked. Three of the girls from Somrong youth group basically just stood there staring at me and sighing "sa-aat" which is "beautiful". Very strange and totally twisted. It was also commented that we looked like film stars, so here's us pretending to be film stars.

Some of the youth now want us to wear traditional Cambodian dress to Kristy and Chun Yip's wedding, represent them or something. I guess it's a nice idea, but don't worry Kristy, I'll do my make up western style so as not to ruin your wedding pictures!! :P

The Road to Church

Here's a video that we took about a month ago that I've been meaning to put up. Enjoy!

Thing's We've Been Getting Up To...

So as mentioned in my weekly email, a mission team came from DUMC for a week. We were able to go with them on outreach and home visitation on Friday. We went to two different villages along with the mobile clinic, so you could say there was physical as well as spiritual healing.

Here's one of Pastor Samrath and Pastor Allan from DUMC giving the talk.

This lady received salvation that day.

We both got stuck into helping out with the medical side of things, taking peoples blood pressure and counting pills. We had a little pharmacy going on, and I bagged up a couple of 1000 paracetamol and vitamin C tablets.

We had a rest at the second village before we started the mobile clinic and outreach, but Alvin decided he'd rather pound rice than have a nap. Here he is pounding whilst Esther toasts the rice. The Cambodians call this Am Bok, and they eat it mixed with coconut water, young coconut, banana and sugar. They can only make this when the rice has just been harvested, so you can only get it twice a year. So if you're ever in Cambodia during the rice harvest then do try it, it's very yummy.

The Christmas presents are going well. In the email I mentioned that we had passed the 400 mark. But after 2 solid days of wrapping, and with a lot of help from the youth we have now wrapped just over a 1000 presents. Hopefully we'll be finished during this next week. The pastors are going to start distiributing them to the people next Friday, please pray that the gifts would bring children and adults into the church.

The Youth Christmas party is just three weeks away!!! Still lots to be done. We're in Phnom Penh at the moment trying to organise t-shirts, buying cups, plastic bags, electrical wiring and decorations, sorting out song sheets for worship, and other random things. Other news on the party front - the invitations have been distributed to the pastors to pass onto their youth this Sunday.

So yeah, you could say there's been a lot going on with us. We're both pretty tired but God is giving us His strength and joy. Hope you are all well wherever you are :)

Alvin says "I can't take it anymore!!"

"Take what?" you may ask. In short - Basketball ...or the lack of. When packing to come out here I told Alvin basketball wasn't big, that the Cambodians liked volleyball (which is true). But he was sure there would be basketball courts galore as there are in other asian countries. So he packed his basketball trainers, his basketball tops and shorts, and even a basketball and pump. But guess what? No basketball courts anywhere in sight. There is one basketball court that the youths know of, and it's in the high school, but no one plays because they don't have a teacher. So after two months of basketball inactivity Alvin decided to take action. This is the work in progress.

Two days later it was finished and hung up. And just as they were about to start playing the heavens opened and the rain came down. But being as desperate as Alvin was at this point, he couldn't be bothered to wait for the rain to stop, so he played anyway.

All the pastors have really enjoyed having the basketball hoop. Some refused to eat their dinner until they managed to get a basket in from the imaginery 3-point line. Alvin's next plan is to concrete an area 5x8m around the ring...any sponsors?? :P

Moving onto a completely different topic. We've told you about the creepy crawlies and snakes but haven't as yet managed to tell you about our night visitor - the Gekko. There's actually a family of three gekkos living in our roof, I assume a mum, dad and a baby one. The other night I managed to get a close up of the biggest one which is about 25cm long - we'll call it the big daddy.

Here's what it looks like on the wall and a close up.

There's also something else in the roof but we're not sure what. We know there are mice sometimes, as the other night one managed to chew it's way through the roof and poked it's head into the room. But there's something bigger up there that comes and goes, at night we sometimes hear loud scuttling and collision type noises. I wish I had one of those night cameras to film the action and see what's up there, Alvin just wishes they would go away!

Jehovah Jireh

God the provider. It's so easy to say, but to know it and experience it is something out of this world.

Just over two weeks ago on Monday I jotted down some notes about the possibility of putting together some Christmas shoebox type presents for some of the poorer families in Baray. Alvin thought it was a good idea so then we talked about it further, things like what to put in the box. We presented a basic plan to two of the pastors and contacted CCIL on the Tuesday. On Thursday we received an email from CCIL saying that prior to receiving our email someone had donated £1000 to us to use in whatever way we wanted. We were absolutely gobsmacked. Even before we had asked the money was ready for us. Amazing! But there's more....

Now that we knew we had this lump sum of money we started to calculate how many presents we could put together based on prices of things in Baray. Alvin calculated we could put together between 500 to 700 boxes. However prices in Baray were quite expensive, and we figured it would be cheaper in Phnom Penh. So last Friday Alvin and I went to Phnom Penh. On the journey there we were blessed again with $500. We thought "Great!! That's another 250 presents!!"

Whilst in Phnom Penh we spent a lot of time going around the market trying to get a good wholesale price for things like toothbrushes and exercise books. The prices were a lot cheaper in Phnom Penh, Alvin's been blessed with some pretty good bargaining skills, and more usefully the ability to speak Mandarin. Many of the stall owners were Chinese, so Alvin ended up speaking more Mandarin than English and Khmer combined!

In the evenings Alvin would calculate how much each box would cost to put together. However what we neglected to do was check what the exchange rate was. When we left the UK it was USD$1.9 to £1, and in our ignorance of the chaos going on at home all Alvin's calculations were based on this exchange rate. With no access to foreign tv and very limited internet we had no idea that the rate had decreased to USD$1.5 to every £1. We just happened to see it on the news in our hotel room, and imagine the panic that followed.

BUT!!! I reminded Alvin of the $500 we had received earlier and told him that it would be enough to cover the loss. After a few more calculations Alvin sat there staring at the laptop in disbelief. God had made up for our exchange rate error completely! And further more, the $100 bills we received state "In God we trust". How true, how very very true!

Now we are back in Baray with all the things we need to put the presents together. And guess how many presents we can afford? That's right, 1700!!! Jehovah Jirah, God the provider :)

All we have to do now is wrap ALL the presents!! Not only has God provided the funds, but He has also given us a team of youth who are pretty much up for doing anything! I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun wrapping everything, and even more joy giving out the presents to the children in December.

The Future

For a long time when people asked us about our future the answer was "We're going to Cambodia for 6 months and we'll see what happens when we come back." But we've now been here for almost 2 months and with only 4 months to go we've been talking a lot about what we will do when we get back to London. Some of the options we discussed included me going to work in radiotherapy, Alvin going back to work at Channels, maybe buying a house and starting a family. But none of these ever seemed the best option, we just never felt satisfied with the outcome of these conversations. To me it felt as though just going back to work and living a "normal" life would be as though our 6 months in Cambodia never happened. There must be something else.

God has been prompting us in strange ways since before we came out here. Whilst I was still studying and planning to go to Cambodia I questioned whether I would ever work in radiotherapy or in a hospital at all, I wondered why God wanted me to study radiotherapy. I guess apart from learning about cancer treatment one of the other major lessons I learnt was to not worry, and to trust in God. Could this be the only reason for me to study radiotherapy?

For Alvin it was something completely different. Life in London had become very comfortable, Alvin was good at what he did and enjoyed it, it was a life of contentment . Alvin believes that part of the reason why God brought him to Cambodia was to take him out of his job otherwise he didn't think he would ever leave. One night he said to me "I think God wants me to go to Bible school", he then quickly followed this up with "but I hate reading and writing. You can write my essays for me, actually you go to Bible school instead." Er, I don't think so...remember what happened to Jonah??!!

So where is this all leading? Last week three Malaysian ladies came for a short holiday in Esther's homestay. They were Christians, and Esther asked them to bless the pastors and leaders through a sharing. We spent Tuesday afternoon with them in a time of worship and prayer. As I mentioned in my prayer requests God revealed and confirmed a number of things to some of the leaders and to Alvin and myself. After praying for two of the pastors, one of the ladies Deborah said she felt strongly pulled to one of the youth leaders and to Alvin and myself. There was something about the three of us, that God would use us as well as all the pastors as He had already been doing. Before I go on, I have to say that we hadn't said more than hi and what's your name to Deborah, none of us knew each other. But yet whilst she was speaking to us, she said to Alvin that in order for him to grow he should go to Bible school (Alvin went "oh no!"). She also said that our higher education would not be redundant, it would come in useful. She then went on to say that she felt we were very much involved with the youth and we would be in the future, but our work would not just be with the youth but also with professionals. She saw Alvin in the market place, somehow making a difference. And she saw that my womb would be blessed (ekk!). God's revelation and confirmation is amazing, scary and oh so exciting.

Things We Do For Fun in Baray

Baray isn't the most exciting place to be if you think about it in terms of going out or leisure activities. There is no cinema, no bowling alley, no ice skating, no paintball, no shopping mall, no park, no swimming pools (but you know that one already of course). What we do have is lots of trees, mud, sticks, random insects and animals. So what do the kiddies do here for fun?

1. Dragon-fly on a leash - this involves catch dragon flies and tying a string around them, this in effect gives you a dragon-fly on a leash. This is quite a nice thing to have, I remember my dad doing this for me in the park when I was young. It's a bit fiddly, and more often than not the poor dragon-fly is decapitated during the string tying.

2. Digging holes - this involves finding whatever "tool" you can and digging a hole, then maybe filling it back up again or planting something in it. On some occasions during the excavation you may come across a worm which leads me to the next activity.

3. Worm Whacking - on finding the worm, whack it so that it is stunned and not wriggling as much. The black worms here are poisonous so killing them is a good thing, as they could kill your chickens/ducks. This activity is linked to number 4.

4. Roadkill - once the worm is half dead, carefully place it on the highway and wait for a moto/car/lorry/coach to run it over. Cheer when there is contact between the worm and any sort of vehicle.

5. Snakes - catch it if you can, somehow get it tangled in a net. Tease it a bit with a long stick. When bored revert to the Roadkill game....this one was just plain cruel, at least last time the snake was eaten.

6. Play with Luca - Luca is bags of fun, here he is flirting with the camera.

7. Bamboo shooters - kind of like a potato gun. Hard to explain how they make it, but when it's ready you can stuff wet paper in one end and fire it at things/animals/people.

8. Baby animals - there are many kittens and puppies around, just grab one to play with when it walks past.

9. The Flip Flop game - not sure exactly how it works but it involves kicking one of your flip flops at your opponents flip flops. It sounds like nothing, but there is real skill involved with curving a flip flop.

10. Skipping - a universal activity I think, so far I have declined to actually jump as it's just too hot, but I did turn the skipping rope for them. Actually, it's not even a rope, more like a very long vine, or vines twisted together.

Things We Do For Fun in Baray

Baray isn't the most exciting place to be if you think about it in terms of going out or leisure activities. There is no cinema, no bowling alley, no ice skating, no paintball, no shopping mall, no park, no swimming pools (but you know that one already of course). What we do have is lots of trees, mud, sticks, random insects and animals. So what do the kiddies do here for fun?

1. Dragon-fly on a leash - this involves catch dragon flies and tying a string around them, this in effect gives you a dragon-fly on a leash. This is quite a nice thing to have, I remember my dad doing this for me in the park when I was young. It's a bit fiddly, and more often than not the poor dragon-fly is decapitated during the string tying.

2. Digging holes - this involves finding whatever "tool" you can and digging a hole, then maybe filling it back up again or planting something in it. On some occasions during the excavation you may come across a worm which leads me to the next activity.

3. Worm Whacking - on finding the worm, whack it so that it is stunned and not wriggling as much. The black worms here are poisonous so killing them is a good thing, as they could kill your chickens/ducks. This activity is linked to number 4.

4. Roadkill - once the worm is half dead, carefully place it on the highway and wait for a moto/car/lorry/coach to run it over. Cheer when there is contact between the worm and any sort of vehicle.

5. Snakes - catch it if you can, somehow get it tangled in a net. Tease it a bit with a long stick. When bored revert to the Roadkill game....this one was just plain cruel, at least last time the snake was eaten.

6. Play with Luca - Luca is bags of fun, here he is flirting with the camera.

7. Bamboo shooters - kind of like a potato gun. Hard to explain how they make it, but when it's ready you can stuff wet paper in one end and fire it at things/animals/people.

8. Baby animals - there are many kittens and puppies around, just grab one to play with when it walks past.

9. The Flip Flop game - not sure exactly how it works but it involves kicking one of your flip flops at your opponents flip flops. It sounds like nothing, but there is real skill involved with curving a flip flop.

10. Skipping - a universal activity I think, so far I have declined to actually jump as it's just too hot, but I did turn the skipping rope for them. Actually, it's not even a rope, more like a very long vine, or vines twisted together.

First Proper Food Blog of Cambodia

So it's been a while since I did a foodie blog....since Malaysia actually. Many people told us before we came out to Cambodia that:

1. You are never full no matter how much you eat

2. The food is bland

3. There isn't much variety.

4. The meat doesn't fill you up, the chicken's, cows, etc are all skinny.

Well, what can we say, this isn't completely true. Yes the animals are skinny, but we haven't been hungry since being here. Granted it has taken us a while to find the good stuff, but found it we have.

The market in Baray is quite small compared to markets in other villages, but it has pretty much all we need. And anything we don't have we just get in Phnom Penh. When we were there last we went to one of the supermarkets and bought a tub of Thai Green Curry paste. On coming back to Baray we searched high and low for coconut milk. We couldn't find it anywhere, but that's because we weren't being very clever. In an area abundant with coconuts why would anyone want coconut milk in a can? We were introduced to a lady in the market who cracks open mature coconuts and then extracts the white coconut out for you with her spinning machine thing. We bought about 200g of this and carried it off home for squeezing. God is good in that He made sure Alvin had 12 years in Malaysia to learn and see various things such as how to extract coconut milk. After a good hour of squeezing this was the fruit of our..er I mean Alvin's labour. The first press was so yummy, so rich and creamy. The curry was very very very nice, but I don't think we'll be having it too often...it's just too much work.

We go to the market at least once a day, and it's been great getting to know the stall owners. We have our trusted veg lady and pork lady who we buy from, they give us a good price and show us how to pick the nice stuff....well at least I think that's what they're doing!! Usually we'll just see what's fresh in the market that day and then buy it for lunch/dinner. Last week I managed to get my hands on a block of tofu, they don't always have it, and when they do it goes quickly. So I was very happy with my purchase and scoffed it all for lunch.

On Monday to Wednesday mornings Alvin and I go to the market for breakfast before we go to teach at Manook school. This has allowed us to try a lot of the local cooking. Here are some of my favourites.

Noodles with pork and beef - squeeze lots of lime into this and add chilli....ahhh so good. Next to it is my daily cup of iced coffee, better than any frappucino!! They like to have their iced coffee with fried dough (Yew char gwai), actually they call it char gwai as well, Chinese influence obviously.


Khmer noodles with curry soup, a small kind of yellow flower (no idea what it's called) and chopped lotus stem. The lady is Pastor Kea's sister, she makes the noodles at home every night.

Rice noodles with fried pig ear and intestine type stuff - don't be put off it is soooo good!!

After being fed and watered we go off to school and teach our grade 6 and 5. Hmm, whilst we're on the subject of school, last week we marked the student's books and made corrections. Alvin started first whilst I cooked lunch, after lunch however I checked through what he had done so I could do the same thing and be consistent. However this is what I found...prize to the first person to spot the mistake. So much for teaching the kids english!

Last Sunday the youths came across a snake. After teasing it at a distance they killed it by putting a stick through it's head. Here's Jonathan posing with the catch, he was the one who killed it. The snake was to be dinner afterwards. This is what we had, braised snake with onions, tomatoes and long bean over rice. Delightful :)

There's also so much fruit around, mountains of bananas, papayas, pineapples, coconuts, oranges, dragon fruit and guava. Some of the youths were helping to harvest the coconuts from the trees around CMS. Not sure whether you can see it in the photo or not, but Timothy here is one of the many Cambodian spidermen around, he just scuttles up and down coconut trees like he's walking down the road. Thanks to him, Alvin and I had fresh coconuts to drink from.

This is the lady who sells fried banana and fried yam about 10mins walk down the road from us. Alvin has become a regular and she now fries stuff for him fresh. I'm not sure how much he spends a week at this stall, but he visits it at least 3 times a week!
With all this good food around, we're not sure how but we've lost weight. Maybe it's because everything is fresh and not processed? Who knows?

Ok, that's all for now. Will write another food blog once I've accumulated enough material! Oh and by the way, it wasn't really snake in the photo, that was just my canned mackeral in tomato sauce...although Pastor Kea's wife Vuthy did cook snake one night last week with banana flower which was very tasty...just don't eat the skin as it's a bit tough.

An Education...

It's been a real learning experience living in this village, and I thought it would be nice to give you a little
list of things we have learnt or come to realise:

1. When we first got here we were intent on minimising the number of insects in the apartment,
especially the ants. Now we can't be bothered, and in fact we quite like having the ants around as they
clean up the place for us. Luca was up in our apartment yesterday and was eating a toffee, he dribbled
everywhere. There were little round pools of sticky sugary saliva in various places. I cleaned up some but
missed others, later on I noticed little circles of ants. Turns out they were eating up the sugary saliva.
Within half and hour they were gone as was the saliva. Last night I dropped a bit of food on the worktop
whilst cooking and thought I'd clean it when I did the washing up. When I went back into the kitchen to
wash up, there was a group of ants happily munching away. Alvin told me to leave it and see if they
cleared it all away. I check the worktop this morning and it was spotless. Fab, I don't have to clean
anymore!! I just wish they also took away dust and hair so I don't have to sweep up!!

2. Mosquito repellent doesn't work. The mosquitos here are like commando mosquitos, they are not
fazed at all by our repellent, in fact I suspect they are drawn to it!!. We think the next best thing is to
burn something like a mosquito coil, or in fact anything which creates smoke is good at getting rid of
them. The locals however don't use the coils much or any repellent. Instead there is a leaf they eat as
part of their diet, roughly translated as duck egg leaf (because it's similar in shape), which if you eat
enough of it makes you sweat a certain odour which mosquitos don't like. Alvin and I have taken to
eating A LOT of this leaf. It's really nice in a salad with some cucumber and chilli sauce :)

3. Two nights ago there was a massive storm, crazy lightning and thunder. When the lightning struck
the sound was like the earth tearing apart, a massive cracking sound. Our little wooden apartment was
shaking away and being battered by the rain. The next morning Pastor Kea told Alvin that next time
there is big storm we should switch our phones off as it acts like a mast. He was praying all night for us
hoping we would know to switch our mobile phone off, he himself doesn't have a phone so he couldn't
call us to tell us. We of course didn't know, but I'm sure his prayers kept us safe. So peeps, when you
are living in an unearthed wooden house with a corrugated metal roof at your entrance and there's an
electrical storm going on outside, switch your phone off.

4. I have learnt how to prepare and preserve fish you buy at the market in the morning so you can keep it
until the evening for your dinner. Wash the fish out, cut lots of slits along the fleshy bit and rub salt in.
Then in the evening when you want to cook it, wash the salt out and cook it...or just leave the salt in if
you want to have salted fish. Living in the UK we just bung everything in the fridge and know it'll be fine,
it's good to learn new ways of keeping things fresh.

5. Do not leave any food in plastic bags! I thought it would be good to leave stuff in the bag we bought it
in, all tied up and stuff, so the ants and flies wouldn't be able to get in and eat it. One of the Khmer girls
here saw a ready cut pineapple we had bought sitting in the bag in the kitchen, she shrieked, ran over to
the bag and opened it, then proceeded to scold me for tying it up as it would go off. Food left in bags in
a hot country is not a good idea, better to leave it open, if the ants and flies get on it then just wash the
food off before you eat it...I'm sure a lot of you are cringing at the thought of still eating the food. It's not
so bad, Alvin and I are ok. Hopefully our immune systems are stronger because of it!!!

The Past Week and a Half - New Experiences

It's been a really busy but fun week and a half just gone. The Cambodians have just celebrated a festival
called Pro Chum Banh (or something like that!), one of their favourite past times during the rainy season
is to go swimming. However, this isn't swimming like you and I know it to be, there are no swimming
costumes or swimming pools involved. Last Monday Pastor Kea invited us to go for a boat ride and then
swimming with his family, we thought this would be good fun so said yes. So Monday afternoon after
lunch, we all got on our motos and drove down to catch the boat. The boat was about 3 metres long and
about a metre wide, we managed to fit 11 adults, 2 teenagers, 3 children, plus all the food, life jackets
and bags onto the boat. The Cambodians sure do like to cram people onto every type of transport they
have!!

The boat ride took about 20 mins, and along the way we got to see some really amazing scenery. We
tried to take some pictures, but it really just doesn't match up to actually being there so I'd rather not
show you the photo. Just imagine land that is flooded as far as the eye can see, then picture some
really tall palm trees along the horizon. When we got to the swimming area there were so many people,
and everyone is fully clothed jumping around and swimming in the water. Some girls were swimming in
long trousers, a long sleeve top and then a cardigan over it! Not sure why they bothered with the
cardigan really. It was really good fun, and a fantastic way to cool down, although I was a little
apprehensive at first because the water looked so muddy. But in the end I just thought, "ah, who cares!"
and jumped in.

Luca and I

Example of the fully clothed swimmers

From Wednesday to Friday we went back into Phnom Penh in order to get our visas extended. Whilst
there we stayed in a hotel instead of at the Khmer Life hostel. As you all know Alvin has had the
opportunity to work and stay in some really nice hotels in the UK, so when we go on holiday he's quite
fussy when it comes to hotels...especially the way they are furnished. I think his fussyness has
changed now since staying in the village. The hotel was very basic, a bed, desk, tv, wardrobe and clean
bathroom - with a western style toilet (thank you God!!)....but most importantly it was bug free and there
was air conditioning!!! What a luxury. We throughly enjoyed the respite from the creepy crawlies, but
then we did miss our little apartment in Baray and it was nice to come back after a few days.



On Sunday Alvin preached at the youth service for the first time. The youth at Som Roun church have
their own service separate from the adults, I guess you could say it's like TJ's or TPF (or Alive as I've
been told it's now called!), they have worship, prayer, sharing, tithes and offertory and a sermon. Pastor
Kea asked Alvin on Saturday evening (6pmish) if he could preach, the conversation went something like
this:

Pastor Kea: Alvin can you share the word tomorrow?
Alvin: Preach?
Pastor Kea: Yes, at youth service
Alvin: Tomorrow?
Pastor Kea: Yes, tomorrow
Alvin: Er...ok, what's the topic?
Pastor Kea: No topic
Alvin and me: Huh!!??
Pastor Kea: I preach on vision in adult service, maybe you can do the same.
Alvin: Er...ok then.

So he did. And here he is in action, with Abednego translating for him.



On Monday we were able to meet with the principle and assistant principle of Manook Primary school.
We decided that we would teach english three times a week to grades 6 and 5, there are about 30 kids
in each class. Lessons start at 7am and teach grade 6 for an hour and then move next door to teach
grade 5. It's been really fun teaching the kids, we chose not to have translation so there has been a lot
of actions and over exaggerated facial expressions the past two days. But the kids understand, and now
they can all say:

1) Hello, what is your name? My name is...
2) How are you? I am fine thank you.

And grade 6 are also able to distinguish between his and her, all in all pretty good progress for only 2
hours of lesson time! All the kids are so well behaved and eager to learn. One difficult thing is learning
their names, so then we got them all to make name plates. Here's a pic of our grade 6 busy drawing
their names.


On Monday night we also launched the boy/girl discussion group. It was then decided that the girl's
group would meet on Monday night, there would be a mixed English Bible study on Tuesday evenings
and then a boy's group on Thursdays.

A couple of the youths also asked Alvin to teach them how to dance "like hip hop style", even though
Alvin doesn't really know how to dance "like hip hop style". But he taught them what little he does
know, the 6 step arm wave. Here's the teacher and his two students (l-r Vannier & Jonathan) hard at work. Us girls just sat around eating papaya and laughing at them.

Day 11

Wow, can't believe we've been in Baray now for 11 days....and I'm still alive!!

It's been a busy weekend for the local church as Pastor Ling and Aunty Helen from DUMC have come to visit. This weekend Alvin and I got to sit in on the youth's worship practice. They had their bass guitar, electric guitar and mics out, all hooked up to an amp powered by a car battery and their seriously know how to rock and roll!! Somehow the car battery makes things more grunge. Whilst the youth were belting out their tunes the cows outside were munching on grass and the kids ran around half naked playing games I don't understand. All in all this place is kind of surreal.

Here are a couple of pics of the youth of Somrong church. Alvin wants to attempt a 5-tier pyramid next time.

(From top to bottom, left to right. Jeremiah, Abednego, Vannier, Rutta, Jonathan and Alvin)

I guess you could say we've settled in, after some initial teething problems. We've kitted out our little apartment with some furniture so it's a bit more homey now. We bought a rattan wardrobe and a shoe rack from Tuol Dam Nak village about 5km down the road and carried it home on the moped in two goes. We should have taken a photo of us on the bike, really looked like the locals and how they stack things on their bikes, except we had helmets on. We have a little routine going on as well, once we wake up and sort ourselves out then we do our laundry, tie up the mosquito net, dust the bed of dead bugs, sweep the floor, wash the bathroom and then go find some breakfast. The bugs aren't as big a deal as they were when we first got here, guess we're learning to live with them, well, at least the little ones anyway. The big ones still send us cowering into a corner. We've had praying mantis, stag beetles and strange looking leave insects come to visit us at night. We are constantly amazed at the people here and how brave they are...or maybe it's just because we're wimps. This little kid is Luca, he lives next door to us and is one of Pastor Kea's sons. He was holding this leaf insect and was totally ok with it. Amazing.

We're still suffering quite a bit from bites from both mosquitoes and ants, so far it seems all we've been good for is feeding the local insect population. I have a bite on the sole of my foot, it is driving me insane. It's been rainy a lot here the past two days and so the mosquitoes are reproducing rapidly, there are some monsterr sized ones too. Usually I'm quite clap happy and smack em dead with my hands, but these ones are big and scary. We just wave our hands around or run away.

Alvin's also been making use of his handy man skills and fixed our coffee table. Here he is in action with the local women looking on.
We've also been busy getting to know the local area, going to the market to shop and trying out some of the Khmer food. And before all the adults start yelling at us, yes we have been responsible about what we've chosen to eat. No prolonged toilet episodes thus far, praise God! We've found some very yummy things to eat out here, the yummiest of all has to be durian milkshake/smoothie. One of the youths at the Saturday night youth group we are helping with told us to go to this juice bar. We went one night last week and ordered one mixed fruit and one durian shake. They were soooooo delicious. I think the fact that we don't have a fridge or freezer here made the coldness of the drink all the more amazing. Another night we were in the market and bought two cokes out of a cooler box, and it was just so good. Coke has never tasted so good before. It was such a treat, so sweet and cooling. Mmmm. It makes me think back to that story that Pastor Ong told about being given a can of coke whilst in the depths of the jungle, we can appreciate that story now!!

"Work" wise....We're currently still waiting for word from the primary school principal about teaching English. We can't really decide on other areas to serve in until we know whether we are required there, as it would take up a lot of our time. School starts on the 1st October, so we should know by then whether we are needed or not. We've also been approached about teaching English to a number of groups of youths, and we know it's going to be difficult to choose between them.

First Blog From Baray

We've only been in Baray for 4 days yet it feels like a lifetime. There have been a lot of things to get used to and we now see how luxurious a life we led in the UK. I think it's been a bit more difficult for me than for Alvin. To set the scene, here are some pictures of our living arrangments.

Yes I know it looks like we're squatting, with our mosquito net strung up like that, bed on the floor and clothes everywhere. We don't have much in the way of drawers or cupboards so we're basically still living out of our suitcases.

And here is our bathroom. Yep, the infamous squat toilet. Just in case you're wondering the brownish colours on the tiles and loo are not poo stains, the water here is slightly yellow due to the colour of the soil. It hasn't been too bad using the squat, our only concern is getting bitten on the butt by a hungry mosquito. However we have had to train ourselves to remember to throw the toilet paper into the bin and not down the loo as it could block it up.

We've also had to get used to doing things in the dark. The generator kicks in at 6:30pm and is switched off at 9:30pm. We could actually use the lights during this time but then it attracts a large variety of bugs. So we try and do things in the dark. The first night we found out that the mosquito net isn't fine enough to keep out the smallest bugs. I'd just be drifting off and then suddenly something would either buzz in my ear or crawl through my ear. There was a lot of slapping of the air and shrieking that first night. We've both been bitten so many times by all sorts of bugs, we're constantly itchy and uncomfortable.

Apart from the bugs sleeping has been a problem because of the noise of passing trucks, the drunks across the road blaring their music out at random times in the night. Last night it was 4am hey started. Then there is a youth retreat going on at the moment downstairs. Boy do they love to worship, they get up at about 5am and start singing, clapping and shouting.
The lack of sleep, the weather and the cold showers have also made us ill. Last night I had a very fitful night going from hot to cold and back to hot again. The night before that alvin had a slight fever. Now we're both coughing and have runny and blocked up noses, another sleep depravator. My coughing is aggravating my back, shock waves go up and down my back when I sneeze....I just want to come back to London now really. I've pretty much had enough.

I've moaned and whinged a lot since being here about all sorts of things, that I want to go home, that I've had enough. But I know that I'm not going anywhere, God has said we are to stay here, Alvin has been hearing this really loud and clear and there is no way I can go against that. I have chosen to obey God but I'm finding it really difficult right now. So guys, I would really appreciate your prayers for God's strength and for us to trust in Him and rely on Him. It's really hard to accept the current situation, and just typing it all up is making me cry buckets.
Yesterday at one of the churches we visited (pictured below), thecongregation prayed for us, and it made me realise how much I miss you all and the sharing we have at home, church and central DG. So what did I do? Yep, you guessed it, I cried. That's 4 times in the past four days, it's a record!I've felt empty these past couple of days, unable to communicate with the locals, can't sing their songs or understand the sermons because they're in Khmer.

However it's not all bad, there are things that I can praise God for. We have a mattress to sleep on for one. There is clean water to drink, there's someone cooking for us at the moment so I don't have to think about that. I'm glad I'm not doing this by myself and that Alvin is beside me, I would have left on Friday when we arrived otherwise.

I also praise God for all the things that He is doing in this province of Baray, there are many small churches in various villages. The youth are hungry for the word and for their cell groups to grow and the children are all really enthusiatic about memorising scripture and their lessons. The primary school nearby is open to us teaching english and also about Jesus there. Currently Cambodia does not allow evangelism in their schools, but the principal of this school became a Christian and is very open to having us. So we praise God for this opportunity. However, Alvin and I have never taught English before so we know it'll be a steep learning curve, and we'll be spending many hours planning. I'll finally be able to identify with you teachers out there!

Ok, I've stopped crying now. It makes a difference when you look at God rather than yourself. Look into yourself and all you'll find is despair as you grasp at nothing. But God knows us through and through, He won't give you more than you can bear...it makes me wonder just how much I can bear...but then again I don't really want to find out. Obeying God is tough, make no joke out of it. I pray that all of you in the UK would strive to obey and submit to God as well, I'm still in the process of this but I can't wait for the joy that will come from it.

Phnom Penh

We’ve been in Phnom Penh for only 2 days, but I look like I’ve been here for longer because the back of my neck and my arms are black! To be brief here’s a quick time-line of what’s been going on the past two days.

Day 1

• Picked up from the airport, transportation? A tuk tuk!
• Went to CMS hostel and had our first Cambodian meal.
• Picked up Emily from the bus station.
• Went to see Khmer Life – the shop run by CMS selling handicrafts, met Esther.
• Went to Tuol Sleng Museum which is just next to the shop, it was a Khmer Rouge centre for torture, interrogation and imprisonment.
• Had dinner in a local restaurant.
• Went back to the hostel and set up our mosquito nets and mats for bed.

Day 2

• Visited the Royal Palace
• Visited Central Market
• Visited the Russian Market
• Went back to the hostel after lunch
• Emily and I drove the tuk tuk round the courtyard, and Emily learnt to ride a motorbike as well…sort of.
• Sent Emily off to the airport.
• Learning Khmer from one of the students – Kum He.
• Chilling out with the peeps in the hostel, holding impromptu English and Khmer lessons.

Day 3:

• Went for a walk around the local area
• Learnt how to sew with the sewing machines – made a phone case and a toiletry bag.
• Dinner in the hostel, spent the night hanging out playing cards – taught them snap and they had to count in english!

So yeah, it’s been a pretty packed couple of days. Currently we feel more like tourists than people on a mission trip.

It’s been nice staying in the hostel as we’ve gotten to know some of the students staying here. We have our own little room with a bathroom attached and western style toilet, so it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. We’re getting used to the cold showers, and eating rice at every meal, but our Cambodian style beds i.e. mat on the floor is a little harder to adapt to. Alvin is all achy and my back is really stiff as well. I think we’re gona see what Baray is like and then possibly invest in a mattress if we want to be well rested.

The students have been great at teaching us Khmer, they are all really eager to tell us what things are. We were trying to learn part of the Khmer alphabet, so the lot of them sung it to us. Kind of like how we sing ABC, but all their letters sound the same. We’ve managed to learn quite a bit in just two days, and give the students much to laugh about as our Khmer pronunciation is terrible!

Tonight we are joining a boat cruise for a team of Australian short term missions. Not sure what they’re doing in PP. But we’re going to be waiters for the night and helping the chef, think we’re supposed to be chatting with the team as well but we’re not quite sure what we’re required to do. We will be in Phnom Penh until Friday morning, when we will make our way up to the village of Baray. Will see what internet connection there is like.

God Bless

Last Evening in KL

What a high cholesterol evening this was!! First of all bak kuh the for dinner, went home, I blogged and Alvin watched F1 with the Teoh family and then we went out again after for supper. Nasi goreng (fried rice) fried with pork lard and sprinkled with pork lardoons (heart attack on a plate), hokkien mee again, oyster egg pancake. Oh my goodness the pain! But you know what? It was so worth it, because we were able to spend a good 4 hours talking with Alvin’s cousin and also a guy whom I’ll call Rod – one of the Teoh family we stayed with.

It all started off with talking about girls! Rod commented that Alvin had met me at church and Chun Yip and Kristy had met at church, therefore he thought it would be a good idea if he went to church as well in order to meet a girl. What followed was a conversation where we talked about what his beliefs are and what we believed. He said he was open to going anywhere, and asked us at the end when we would take him to church!! He has grown up with Buddhist parents, going to temple and encouraged to pray but somehow going away feeling like it’s pointless. He said he believed in setting your own boundaries and hard work. However when we asked him what these boundaries were based on and what would stop him from pushing them further he couldn’t answer.

Later on when Alvin’s cousin (I’ll call him Will) arrived as well there was yet more talk. We shared with them our experience of DUMC. They both asked questions on lots and we had a great time of discussion and sharing. Rod asked me if I was born a Christian, so I was then able to explain how no-one is born a Christian and I ended up giving him my testimony. You know what? I have never actually given my testimony to a none-Christian before. But it felt good to share, it feels like another step for me.

Anyway, it seems like a lot happened those few days in KL. God is evidently working in those around us and giving us opportunity to talk to them about our faith. I pray that this would continue, and I pray that both would come to know the real God. Please continue to pray for these two guys, they really really need our prayer.

Jumping Children and Basketball Courts...

We have just come back from spending a day with Pastor Ling and Aunty Helen from DUMC church. We arrived at the church Saturday afternoon and were whisked away to the children’s and youth services. Alvin went and joined the youth cell group whereas I went and observed the children’s Sunday School. Here’s just a short video of part of the worship set. I’ve got to say that the video doesn’t do it justice, the atmosphere was electric! Kids jumping up and down, doing all the hand actions, singing loudly and shouting “We love Jesus!! YA YA YA YA” It was something amazing to see a hundred over kids worshipping God with no self-consciousness

DUMC was a pretty big church, with services on Saturday and Sunday, each with about 1000 people attending. We were the only new people at the Saturday evening service, and had a taste of what it feels like to be a newcomer when we had to stand up in front of the other 1000 people. The most hilarious thing was then having all the pastors and ushers come up to us to shake our hands. I think I shook hands with about 14 or so people in the space of 10 seconds, they just rushed at us!! Ha ha ha. Alvin was really impressed with the AV side of things, he had to stop himself from dribbling all over the different pieces of very expensive equipment...don't ask me what they were...just had LOADS of buttons on it. He was equally impresed by the sports facilities. There’s a gym, but best of all….6 basketball courts…or at least that was how many he counted and could see!

It was really great to spend time with Pastor Ling and Aunty Helen as well. They showed us videos and photos, and told us many stories of the things going on in Cambodia that really helped to prepare us for what lies ahead.

As I shared earlier, we were hoping that Alvin’s cousin would join us for a service at DUMC. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to make either Saturday or Sunday due to work commitments. We have bought him a couple of books about Christianity and also about what Jehovah Witnesses believe, please continue to pray with us for him as he searches for the truth.

We will be flying to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning and staying there for 5 days before heading up to Baray.

Till the next blog…God bless!

p.s. I've put up a few more photos on facebook if you're interested.

Fear of Fish - A Random Post

Today we were in a local shopping mall just hanging out, walking around not doing much when we came across a Fish Spa. For those who haven't heard about this new craze, it's basically where you go and dunk your feet into a tank of water with fish in it, they then nibble at your feet eating off your krusty dead skin. Nice.

Alvin's always had a fear of fish - ask Kristy and she will testify to this. So we walked past the spa and I told him to look. Ha ha, you should have seen the look of horror on his face when he saw the fish nibbling at people's feet. So anyway, being the very supportive wife that I am I dared him to have a go as it would help him in facing his fear of fish. He agreed after about 10mins of me badgering him, but only on condition that I did it as well. So anyway, here's what happened...

That was fun. Alvin is now no longer scared of little fish, and we both have silky soft feet!

Day 2 in KL

So day 2 in KL. And what have we eaten? Roti canai with teh tarik, hainanese chicken rice, hokkien mee, char kway teow, to name but a few things.

Ha ha, this is almost turning into a food blog! Ok, onto some serious stuff…

Last night I sent out our prayer requests for the week, one of the requests was for us to be effective witnesses to our relatives in KL who aren’t Christians. Today we met up with one of Alvin’s cousins and spent most of the day with him. It was funny because when he rang us up last night he asked us what we would be doing today. Alvin told him he wanted to get a hair cut and go camera shopping, and his cousin said that he was intending to do exactly the same thing, so why not go together?! So he picked us up in the morning and we went off to the hairdressers.

In his car I found a Bible and also a book titled “What does the Bible teach us?” On looking into the book however I found that it was actually produced by the Watchtower society i.e. Jehovah Witnesses. I wasn’t sure if the stuff was his, so I asked and he said yes. He told us that he had been curious to find out about Christianity ever since coming back from the UK, when he stayed with one of his and Alvin’s uncle who is a Christian. He mentioned that he’d been to visit some charismatic churches, and some others which he found very boring. Then he came across this couple who were very well versed in “the bible” and who showed him a lot of care. He is currently meeting with them every week to study the aforementioned book. He asked us what we thought of it because he wasn’t sure. We told him what we knew of Jehovah’s witnesses, what they believe and how it is different from Christianity.

I guess the point of all this is that I want us all to pray for him. He is obviously searching and openly shared that he has a lot of questions to ask, and that he is trying to find a church that is suitable for him. We are hoping to bring him along with us when we go for the evening service on Saturday evening at DUMC. The church itself is a little far away for him to travel to, but hopefully they’ll be able to connect him up with one more local to him.

First stop - Kuala Lumpur

We have arrived safely in KL. The flight was alright, a bit of turbulence, but we both managed to get a good 6hrs sleep at least. Although my back is playing up now due to 12.5hrs of sitting. Hopefully a good nights rest on a flat bed will do the trick and my back will be all better again.

We're currently staying with an old family friend in KL. They picked us up from the airport and we pretty much went straight to dinner. Oh how we have missed Malaysian food! Here's us with our very tasty fish, frogs legs, chicken, tofu and veg...mmm yum!

After we returned home aunty brought out a tub of durian segments. Alvin procedded to gobble up quite a few in a very short space of time. And to my surprise I also managed to eat a whole segment myself, and even holding it in with my own fingers. The king of fruits and I have had our differences in the past, but it seems we have now come to an understanding, and I quite like the creaminess! I'm sure a lot of you will be very surprised to hear that I liked it. Mum - this one's for you!!

Leaving with a bang...

Wow what a weekend to experience before we leave! It'll be one that will stay in our memories for a long time I'm sure. Some memories made this weekend:

1. watching with pride as Mervin & Jun Yi danced their first dance.
2. seeing all the laughing and smiling faces of the congregation during our commissioning - especially when Alvin said "no!"
3. seeing so many of our loved ones feasting on satay in the back garden and taking pictures with them.
3. being prayed for and then building a human pyramid.

And now we're packing. We really do just have so much STUFF. Friends - please try to live simply, declutter your lifes!! We're trying to be wise with what we're bringing, taking what is essential. This seems to have been a little easier for me than for Alvin who wants to bring just about everything, for those "just in case" situations.

Ok, so just to give you guys the low down on what's going to happen over the next week. We're leaving tonight at 10pm on a flight bound for Kuala Lumpar. We'll be there for 5 nights, and whilst we're there we will be visiting Pastor Ong's home church Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC), this is the church which set up Cambodia Methodist Services (CMS).

We will be attending Super Saturday Children/Youth Church in the afternoon and then the evening service. Super Saturday sounds like it'll be a lot of fun, really crazy and loud. Alvin thinks it'll be like his uncle's church in Tawau, East Malaysia where all the kids scream at the top of their lungs during worship. We're really looking forward to attending and connecting with all the Sunday School and Youth pastors and seeing how they do things out there. Then on Sunday we will be going to the church's mission centre and meeting some more people.

So there you are, our timetable for the coming week. We'll wave to you all from the plane when we lift off!

blog ya later.
Alvin & Chu

Cambodian for Beginners

Jum-riab-sua!

That's hello in Khmer by the way. Alvin and Chu Yee here, we're not quite in Cambodia yet, in fact it's still about 3 weeks away, but we thought we'd get a start on this blog and let you all in on why we're going and how our preparations are going. We weren't initially going to write a blog but then thought it would be a nice way of recording what will happen. For the purpose of narrative, it'll be me Chu Yee writing.

Who are we?
For those who don't know us. Two Christians who married each other 2 years ago. We're Chinese with black hair; one wears glasses the other doesn't, we’re alright at maths. One is a born and bred Londoner; the other arrived in the UK from Malaysia about 14 years ago...he forgets. The Chinese Church in London is our home church and we love it dearly, warts and all.

The Why:
Why are we going?...basically because God wants us to. Back in September 2007 when I had just started the second year of my radiotherapy course I asked Alvin if he thought it would be possible to take 6 months out after I had finished my course in order to do something together. He said it was an option, so then I started dreaming about going away travelling around the world for 6 months - backpacking and that sort of thing. I talked to Alvin about this travel bug and he pretty much put a stop to it. He was ok with us taking 6 months out but not if it was to backpack. The topic of missions then very quickly came up, and one evening after praying together we knew it was what God wanted. So we knew God wanted us to go for 6 months on mission. But where?

The Where:
Looking back it was funny, we kept saying to each other "yeah, we're really open to going wherever God wants us to go." But on discussion we knew for certain there were places we didn't want to go. Sometimes I would suggest a place and he would say no, and vice versa. The only place we were in agreement with was Cambodia. We decided to speak to Pastor Ong about missions and guess where he suggested? Yep, Cambodia. Later on we spoke to Kenny Gan from OM and he also suggested Cambodia to us. So we thought "that's it, Cambodia it is!!"

The Work:
Many people have asked us what we'll be doing and we always respond with "don't know exactly, we're just going to be flexible, see the different areas of work and see where God leads us." However, the tentative scope of work and ministry could include youth work, teaching English, involvement in the performing arts, engineering/technical/health projects, income-generating programmes, anything else CMS (Cambodia Methodist Services) can think of. So you see, being flexible is probably the best way to go about this!

Cambodian for Beginners: The name is taken from our language book and cd and sums up not only our knowledge of the language but also how we feel about going on this mission trip! Neither of us has been to Cambodia before, and up until a few months ago knew little or nothing about the country. Furthermore neither of us has ever done anything like this before so we really are beginners. We feel pretty inadequate about the whole thing but know that God has prepared the way. Only He knows what lies ahead and I'm sure He has a whole bunch of lessons to teach these two beginners about who He is and how much He loves the people of Cambodia.