Here's a video that we took about a month ago that I've been meaning to put up. Enjoy!
28 November 2008
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.
Here's what it looks like on the wall and a close up.
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!
06 November 2008
Jehovah Jireh
God the provider. It's so easy to say, but to know it and experience it is something out of this world.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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