In the U.S. the streets are pretty quiet early on Sunday mornings. In Cambodia there is very little difference between Sunday and any other day. As we rode in tuk tuks back to the Asia Hope compound for church the difference I noticed was not in the traffic but in the temperature – it finally rained last night and cooled things down a little, settled a bit of the dust. This is normally their rainy season but this year there has been no rain for several months. One house parent told us that his wife and the kids carry water out to their garden every day in the evening to keep the plants alive. And I heard the rain last night as I was trying to sleep my headache away – there is a metal roof right outside my window and the rain was heavy and noisy, but welcome.
We had a good time at church with the children from all five homes. As usual we were the guests of honor with children holding our hands and sitting with us, fanning us, and being attentive in general. We spent an hour and a half after church visiting one family house, went to lunch at the White Elephant (beautiful place!), and then returned to spend time with the other house. (Our team is sponsoring or closely connected to two of the five homes.) We then returned to our guest house and are having some “down time” until this evening when I get to go to the airport to welcome my daughter!
On our tuk tuk rides, which take nearly an hour when we go to Asia Hope) we talk about many things we see along the way. There are Buddhist temples. There are Muslim mosques and neighborhoods where women wear Muslim dress. There is much construction. There are many strange sights. Today the talk was about parasites and worms of various kinds. Yesterday at the medical clinic we had medicine for parasites that was given to several patients. The physician’s assistant on our team suggested that we might want to take some of this medicine back home with us to treat ourselves after getting back. I have not done that before but it sounded like a good idea after hearing some of the stories he told us. And it is not at all hard to imagine getting parasites with the lack of sanitation that is evident everywhere.
Later: Julia arrived early at the airport and in no time at all we were heading back to the guest house. It was good for her first glimpse of Phnom Penh at night to be from a tuk tuk – all the sights and smells are very close and real. We settled down in our room to sleep but once again I had a hard time being tired. I kept thinking about my client Jack back in Florida and decided to check my phone for messages. From three different people I had messages that Jack had died in surgery of a heart attack. What a disturbing night it was from that point on – even though there was nothing I could do. I will miss him so much. But death is not a scary thing for me. I worry more for others who do not have hope as I do, that death is not the end. I know it was not the end for Jack, more a change of venue. On to Monday…
I used to think I was tough. Today, I made it through the day but am very aware that I would not last long in this climate, doing what people do who live here. We had our medical outreach clinic for four hours in the morning, a lunch break, and almost four hours more in the afternoon. It was inside out of the sun but very hot and of course, there was no AC to cool us or the patients. I’m most likely just dehydrated but it has given me a serious headache, and I can think of little else but getting rid of it.
However it was a successful outreach. Of the 130 people in the community who were invited, 136 patients came through. Some were staff at Asia’s Hope which swelled the number. All received medical attention. Many received eyeglasses. All heard the gospel of Christ presented to them and 78 responded. Their names and addresses were recorded for follow-up so they could be invited to church to learn more.
We went to one of the Asia’s Hope homes for lunch – it was on the same compound as the outreach. The house mothers had prepared a nice meal and we sat around the room and ate. One of the treats midway through was the prepared coconuts with a straw stuck in the middle. We were each offered one and since it was delicious and I was thirsty, I drank the whole thing. They hold more than you might think. After I drained it, houseparent An chopped it in half and I scooped out the soft meat inside which was also very good. I had never had a “green” coconut before. Some of the others were talking about having gotten sick eating (or overeating) on green coconuts but I’m not going to hear that. It probably saved my life today – and that’s the story I’m sticking to.
My room has windows on two walls but in spite of that, no light comes in. The buildings next to our building are only three or four feet away and the small alleyway between them is only wide enough for a (small) person to pass through, and almost no light. There is constant building construction going on all around us and on every street. If a person has enough money, they can get permission to build almost anything they want to build and there is very little code enforcement. There is also very little skilled labor so it is a little scary to think of living in some of the bigger apartment buildings. All this to say that I have no sense of when night is over and it is time to get up.
Our expanded team had prayer together and breakfast before heading out for supplies for the day’s activities. I stayed back in the room to put together our game for the dorm students tonight. They are going to learn some team work skills. They have to study and describe my “creation” to others, who pass it on to others, who finally make the creation again from the description. The team coming closest to the model gets the prize. The Cambodian young people love to do things together and are enthusiastic about games. They are such fun to work with and watch.
The shopping was also done for the medical outreach which is tomorrow and we sorted and bagged items to give away. We have 130 tickets given out in the neighborhood – these people will be the patients. They each receive a bag with some basic health items, a visit with a medical professional to discuss their problems, have their vital signs recorded and their blood sugar checked and a vision test. We have used prescription eye glasses to give to those who need them. Some medications are given out and some referrals are made to local clinics. Our station will be at the Asia’s Hope compound which is in Prek Eng, a suburb of Phnom Penh.
Later: It was a blessing to be able to spend most of the day inside out of the heat, sorting medicines and resting and talking with other team members. Time kind of slipped past and suddenly we were in danger of being late for the evening meeting of the dorm students. They were already doing worship songs when we arrived and I didn’t have time to set up the games I brought. If there is one thing I have learned about these trips it is the need to be flexible, suddenly. Since the games started right after the songs I was making mental adjustments as we progressed. We took the simplest game first and even that took nearly 15 minutes to explain. Just dividing the crowd of 80 young people into teams was like trying to herd turtles. And forget any rules that might have been part of the game – once they started having fun and being competitive things were wild. The second game was more quiet and contemplative, as they sat in groups trying to copy a creation I had made out of “stuff” we got at the market. Over all, they had a lot of fun and so did I. We finished out the evening with a good message and food. Always food…
An active crowd of 80 young university studentsWhat is that thing? Laugh much…
I slept pretty well. I was awakened early by some soft noises, like a door opening, and then my light went on briefly and off again. I still haven’t figured out what happened. There are three rooms in our unit which come off a larger common room where the front door is. On my other visits all rooms in our unit have been occupied by our team so we didn’t lock the inside doors. I think I will do that from now on.
Another surprise was the Inn’s new restaurant where breakfast is served. It is across the street. The new manager, Vendent, has expanded the business into an additional building. The outdoor courtyard is where we eat. There are only three tables and two of them fill up with young university students from the U.S. who are here doing medical missions in outlying provinces. They are all from the same church in Fayetteville. AR. My breakfast comes out in 30 seconds, literally. I think they cook ahead expecting a rush. I’m hungry and it looks good.
I go back later with Trish and Mike and watch them eat. We plan our day and go back to our rooms to do some research on games for our Friday night time with the university students in the dorms. Our time has been split between the orphanage children and the dorm students these last two years and it is interesting to see how the Asia’s Hope children transition to being university students. Some of them have taken leadership roles at the dorm.
Later: It is now evening. I am very tired but have felt pretty good all day. After breakfast today Trish and I brainstormed for games that the college students could play tomorrow night at a gathering. We have two, both of which will be challenging to explain but a lot of fun if we do them right.
We went to the Russian market to get materials for the games. The market is within walking distance of our guest house. This particular market is large, unbelievably crowded and claustrophobic even in cooler weather, but it is sweltering heat now so everything is magnified. In spite of Trish and I being thoroughly wet and sweating, the Cambodian women can be seen wearing sweaters and long sleeved blouses as they sit and cook on their charcoal burners, or their mile high stacks of garments for sale. There are no breezes, no fans, no air. It is quite an experience. But there is so much to see that I love to go anyway and can’t wait to show it to Julie.
Russian market, where you can find almost anything if you can stand to look long enough…Russian market food section has many small vendors like this lady.
We had lunch at Jars of Clay restaurant (very good) and then went by tuk tuk to Prek Eng to see the children. We spent a couple hours at each of the two houses just to catch up on their news. They are so hospitable and welcoming. Unlike children in the U.S. who say hi and then usually disappear, these kids love to sit and talk or just listen. There is always someone sitting on my lap or holding my hand or massaging my neck. They smile and laugh easily and try to communicate in English much more than they did in the past. We were served dragon fruit, leechee, mangosteen, and fried banana chips along with cold water and coffee. Mike played soccer with some of the boys – they have a special ball that is light and small when they are playing in close quarters, but were kicking a regular soccer ball out in the open, with their bare feet! They are tough!
The tuk tuk ride takes nearly an hour each way, through terrible road construction. It is a rough ride with lots of dust and potential traffic danger. Back at Green Pastures Inn Bora was waiting for us. She is the student midwife who works on the medical outreach with us. She and Sophat, one of the Asia Hope students who has graduated and is in university, came to dinner with us at Brooklyn Pizza. This is another good place to eat within walking distance, started by a man from, you guessed it, Brooklyn.
Home again to meet newly arrived members of the team, the Hamilton’s and Lydia. I have been talking with Lydia for half an hour and find her very interesting. She is just out of high school, the youngest of five children of long term missionaries. They live in the U.S. now but do a lot of traveling. This is Lydia’s first time in Cambodia and she had a lot of questions. Time to get some sleep now and I am so ready for that
As we three travelers finished our journey to Cambodia, it was hard to keep track of what day it was. It was actually early on Thursday that I finished this, or so I’m told. You will probably also be confused by the time you finish reading.
Our flight to Phnom Penh is only six hours long and I am on it now, as I write. FT is 9 am Wednesday but over here when we land it will be exactly 12 hours later. I can tell my body thinks I should be awake, although I am confused enough that I will be able to go to sleep when we get to the guest house. It is always good to have that rest at the end of a long time of being in a non-restful position.
I have been studying the pictures of the children in PE 4 and PE 5, hoping to learn the boys names and review the girls. Even though I have seen them for three visits now it is still hard to remember the names that are very similar, especially when I have not done anything specific with them. I would like to call them all by name but it is unlikely…
We are in a fairly large plane and it is full. We have been given the only meal we will have on this leg of the journey. We were given papers to fill out to apply for our visas. The price of a visa has gone up from $25 to $37 and we will get ours at the airport when we land. So far the trip has been uneventful but I am almost afraid to say that.
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FT 12:45 pm Wednesday but in PP (Phnom Penh) it is 12:45 am on Thursday. At about 10:30 pm we had a rather rough landing and disembarked. Some of this detail is going to be boring to many but I’m hoping it will give daughter Julia an idea of where to go and what to do when she travels here alone on Saturday. I have never had to do it unaccompanied, thankfully. Everyone getting off the plane does pretty much the same thing so following the crowd is a good way to go. This airport is older, has a few holes in the walls, and a lot of strange additions to it – not at all like Korean airports. We are directed into a large room where lines are forming along the left wall. There is a counter with a lot of uniformed men, some women, behind it. They take our passports and $2 for a picture, then we stand in a group at the right of the long counter. Our passports are passed along the officials and end up at the last man who tries to pronounce our names in a way that we will recognize. Good luck there. He also holds it up so the picture can be seen. We pay $30 for the visa and get our passport handed to us again.
One more checkpoint as we move through the large room. There are several stations with an agent waiting to take another look at the passport, stamp it three or four times and give it back. We are now official tourists and the next stop is right in front of us – the baggage carousel. And by this time the bags are there and circling. Everything arrived undamaged and on time. There are carts to help us move it all. As we get near the door the waiting crowd spills through and starts the greeting and hugging. A lot of the kids have come, some of the dorm students, and a number of adults from Asia’s Hope. It is a royal welcome.
We are driven to the Green Pasture Inn, which is the guest house we have always stayed in, but now it has new management and some changes. Still it is familiar and feels like “home, sweet home” as Mike says. I have my double room, since Julie will be joining me in a few days. The “air con” gets turned on and, as usual, the password for the wifi doesn’t work. We’ll have to figure that one out in the morning. So for now, goodnight.
FT (Florida time)7 am, out the door and on the way to JAX, Julie drops me off, 50 lb. bags get checked all the way to Phnom Penh (thank you Lord), I go through security on pre-check (thank you again) and am waiting for my first flight
FT 10:30 am, ATL, sitting in the waiting area for the international flight. I was able to move by tram from concourse B to concourse F, which was marked as the international terminal. At the help desk I found out I was really supposed to be at concourse E, so I walked back rather than ride the tram all the way around the circle. Easy check in at the gate, hardly anyone else there. FT 10:45, Mike and Trish arrive. They started in ATL and the security check made them unwrap the video projectors Trish had so carefully bubble wrapped, towel wrapped and duct taped. We visit and catch up on each other’s status while waiting.
I want to keep track of how they plan events on the trip to make us think in the time of our destination. I’m not going to buy food in the airports, hoping that what we get on the flight will be plenty as it usually is. Still fighting this headache for the third day now but perhaps it is getting better. Wishing I had some noise canceling headphones for this trip. I settled for new earbuds that have soft rubber cradles to keep them on my ears. My ears seem to be different from the average human since most everything pops right out the minute I put it in.
My biggest source of confusion on these trips is my back pack with it’s zillion different pockets, compartments and zippers. I’ve named it Helper, hoping that it will take the hint. I always try to have as little “stuff” to keep track of as possible, but on this long a flight you do need to have some things handy. I’ve already nearly left my driver’s license at the bag check place in Jacksonville. I’ve had to hunt for my baggage claim checks when at the Korean Air desk. I needed my fingernail clippers after tearing off a nail stowing my pack under the seat, and of course, I needed my ibuprofen. I got the Kindle out on the flight from Jacksonville but as it turned out I only opened my eyes long enough to drink my cup of coffee. All this stuff has to come out and go back in handily or I look like an idiot.
FT 12:50 We take off and are soon at over 500 mph at great height. By 1:15 we are being served beverage and snacks, I decide to watch a movie “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” which I saw on the plane coming from Minneapolis but couldn’t hear any of the words. By 2:00 we are being served a meal. I take chicken. By 3:00 the lights are being dimmed and by 3:30 it is quite dark and most are watching a movie or sleeping. I will also try to sleep because my headache is coming back.
FT 8 pm. I did try to sleep as it was a bit like taking a late afternoon nap. However, these seats are every bit as hard as I remember them being and that is what keeps me from being comfortable for long. I am sitting on actual pain, even though I have used my blanket as a cushion. Numbness.
Around FT 6pm we were offered a glass of juice and choice of a brownie, peanuts or a hot bun. I’ve had the hot bun before and it was good – has something in the middle that tastes like a spicy stew gravy. Nothing like it in our country. So that’s what I had. Decided to watch another movie. Cinderella, just because I’m curious about this recent remake.
My Helper, with it’s many pockets, compartments and zippers…
Now we have just crossed the international date line, so it is no longer Tuesday here. We are at 36,000 feet going 537 mph and a little over half way there. I smell food again. I have been smelling something not so good as food for which the young boy sitting behind me is responsible, I think. He is also the one creating “turbulence” by kicking the back of my seat periodically. When we were all strapped in our seats during takeoff, he released himself from the seat belt and took off down the aisle. Two attendants quickly left their jump seats and grabbed him which was a bit dramatic since the plane was on quite an incline. They all three kind of fell down the hill, and then climbed back up. I’ve done pretty good finding things in my helper, except for my glasses case. I searched every compartment before I remembered where it was. That happens. As I said it’s now 8pm in Florida where I started, I’ve had a good nap but the plane is still dark. It’s disorienting to sit in this room with no outside view and with a constant loud white noise of the engines. I think they are counting on people being disoriented so they can play with our internal time clocks…
FT 4am on Wednesday morning. I am in Seoul, South Korea where it is 5:10 pm Wednesday. Confused yet? As I said about six hours ago, I smelled food. Meal number two was served at FT 9:30 after hot, warm washcloths were passed to all. We ate and the room was darkened again. I was sitting on both the pillow and the blanket which made my seat much more comfortable and I was able to sleep for several hours. This would have been normal sleep time for me at home. At about FT 2:30 we were awakened and readied for landing.
Incheon aiport is very nice, very busy. We followed the crowd to the line for International Transfers and went through another security check. My backpack was carefully examined by x-ray and then a manual search was requested. For some reason my wooden jewelry box with its two pair of earrings was hard for them to identify and after seeing what it was, all was good again.
There was sufficient time for us to find food, use the restroom and find Gate 20 where the next flight to Phnom Penh will board. I have gotten a welcome message on my phone from South Korea stating that I can receive calls and texts but cannot make them until some special authorization. I may not have wifi until we reach the guest house later tonight. All for now.
I had the privilege of giving the eulogy at my Father’s memorial service on Saturday. The church was full and I was overwhelmed by the way family and friends came out to honor this man. You may have heard about him in many of my family stories but this kind of rounds the story out, and I believe it belongs here for others to read.
One of my favorite pictures of Dad and Mom
Thank you all, family and friends, for being here for this last formal celebration of my dad’s life. There are 28 of us from all over the country staying over at Par Place. You have blessed our family overwhelmingly with meals, campers for temporary lodging, your visits that have been welcome distraction from our grieving and your words of caring. Thank you from all of us.
Last Monday as we were sitting int the conference room with Mike, the funeral director, talking about this service, I got a call and stepped out to talk a few minutes with my aunt Irene, Dad’s sister. I came back in the room and found out I was giving the eulogy. Is there a lesson in that? I think so. I decided I probably could do that without trouble. It is not hard for me to think of many good things to say about Owen Smith, my Dad.
These days there aren’t many people who can say that they spent their whole life in one community of people. Dad was born on the same property where he was on the day he died. He attended the Wesleyan church as a child, was married in that church, took his own children there for many years, and now here we are, again in the Wesleyan church, remembering all that in the same community of people. There was something very dear to dad about this community of people. For many years his workaholic nature made it difficult to have a lot of close friendships but even then he was adding to his network – clients he worked for, business people in town, visitors he met at church, neighbors, parents of his childen’s friends. Roots were growing deep. He loved Hayward. In the last few years each time one of us children came home there were drives out in the country, or motorcycle rides that Dad looked forward to and he would point out places “I dug that basement”, “I put that driveway in.” “We hunted that 40 over there” He liked pretty much everyone he met. His big sister Irene told me that from boyhood on she couldn’t think of anyone that didn’t like her little brother Owen, or anyone that he didn’t like. And as another one of us put it “he was overall a conservative person but when it came to his time he was generous to a fault” usually ready and able to help those with physical needs.
Typically you would not hear Dad talking about his spiritual life or his inner thoughts. You would hear him talking about his work and his people. The Bible tells us that God had a work to rest ratio of six to one and Dad had at least that. One of our nicknames for Dad was after the cartoon character “Tasmanian devil” because he was attacking his work with a sort of frenzy that seemed never ending to us. Of course farming meant long hours, so did the excavation work. I can imagine the pressure of providing for a growing family weighed heavily on him and he took it very seriously. He was a good provider. But it often meant coming home late and missing out on family time. We started knowing our Dad better when we became old enough to join him in his work, sometimes in the field or in the barn, or out on the job.
Work was his escape and stress reliever but also the source of much of his stress. I remember one summer, coming home to visit after my parents had moved to their cabin on Round Lake. There had been a lot of frustration about remodeling it to be their permanent home and Dad followed an impulse to put the house up on jacks and dig a basement under it. And that’s how we found things. The house up swaying on it’s stilts, and Dad not knowing what to do next with an anxiety level so high he was having heart arrhythmias. And of course, in all his occupations he had close bonds with his machines that always needed some kind of fixing. I have seen Dad, hands covered in grease, lying under one machine or the other all my life. As recent as last year I arrived on a visit and found Dad with a gash healing on his head – he had been under a big mower which had fallen on him and trapped him until help came.
We always knew that Dad loved us. He rescued me from various perils, he surprised me with my first car, he always stopped in to check on us when we lived on the farm for a few years, he was willing to change his wintering place to the town in Florida where we moved, always glad to see us when we visited. But because he was always doing something, or looking for something to do, there wasn’t a whole lot of relational talking going on. I think toward the end of his life, Dad realized that friendships could be rather superficial and he wanted more than that.
Some of that changed in these last few years. His eyesight diminished and he could no longer see to do much of his work. He had to stop driving. His hearing loss often left him unaware of things being said around him. As frustrating as his disabilities were to him, I really believe that God used those disabilities for Dad’s good. When he couldn’t see to work anymore, he got in touch with humility in a different way because he often had to ask for help. He became more dependent on Mom. Every morning after coffee, she would read out loud to him. They would do a few chapter of scripture and then spend a while in some other book Mom chose – usually something she thought would be especially interesting to him. They would talk about what they were reading. He really enjoyed this time with her.
He started looking after friends in his neighborhood, checking to see how they were every day. He got an iphone, as intimidating as that might be to any elderly person, and learned to use it to keep in touch with people on his call list. When he wasn’t talking on it, he learned to set it to his Pandora app. He would put it in his pocket, loudly playing his country favorites, and walk around in a cloud of music. We could always hear him coming.
I think we all have had the experience of knowing something in our life was not right, that God wanted us to work on it and was patiently dealing with us, and that maybe we were avoiding his efforts. These past couple of years I think Dad was going through this process. It was important to me as his daughter to see him respond positively to this spiritual assignment. He became more humble, more open about questions and doubts, more grateful for God’s blessings, more sweetly loving and appreciative of family members. I think he was in a better position with God when he died. And some of that is even evident in the circumstances of his death. Dad saw his own father and many others go through their last years with confusion, dementia, and some with cancer, and pain, He had expressed how nice it would be to just be here one minute and gone the next without all that struggle. And that is how he went. Having just asked Mom a question, he left and went elsewhere to have it answered. By God’s mercy, he was not the surviving spouse left to deal with the issues of what to do next. By God’s mercy Mom was not alone with him when this happened but had her grandson there to help her. By God’s mercy there was no crucial unfinished business. By God’s mercy we all have made it here to remember him, to celebrate who he was and to comfort each other.
I had a good father. I knew I was loved. He worked hard to provide for us and to give us a secure childhood, but also had fun times. In this day and age I realize how blessed I am to be able to say these things. At the same time I know that in some of this telling I may have sounded a bit harder on my dad than you would expect in a eulogy. What I want to leave you with, … what I’ve learned from knowing my Dad, is that none of us has to be perfect to be deeply loved. As children and on into our adult lives, we Smith kids weren’t perfect but Dad loved us, worried about us, kept on trying to provide for and parent us. As a father, a husband, and all the other hats he wore, Dad wasn’t perfect either but it is clear that he touched many lives. He touched mine. I loved him so much and will miss him in so many ways.
It’s Tuesday again. I’m very glad that I worked on packing the bags I had been given last week. I looked through all of the contents so I would know what I was carrying, added my own contributions and then stepped on the scale with them. They all should be just under the 50 lb. limit. Thankfully they were.
I’m glad I got this done because Saturday night I got a call from my hometown that my dad had died – a heart attack most likely. The rest of the night was spent making travel arrangements, not to Cambodia but to Hayward, Wisconsin. It’s always a complicated procedure to get ticketed on a reasonable flight, at a reasonable price, at the last minute. Even more of a chore when I’m not thinking clearly. There was another decision to be made every five minutes and they all seemed hard, even the little inconsequential ones. I had to persist and get there as quickly as I could. Around 1 am I finally found a way to get home by the next afternoon.
Travel next week will be on Sunday again – back to Bradenton, hopefully in time to wash clothes, pack again and travel to Jacksonville on Monday, to fly on Tuesday to Atlanta and then on to Cambodia. I feel well traveled. Maybe over traveled. This is not the time for me to write about how I’m feeling here, getting ready for my dad’s memorial service. I am thankful to be surrounded by friends and family, by love and support. I will only say that my dad, Owen Smith, will be missed a lot. We weren’t really prepared to be without him but in some ways the timing was providential. God knew.
Love you Dad. It’s so evident now that the body is only a shell to hold the real person for a limited time. We are really made and groomed for what lies ahead, after we leave this present reality.
with Dad and daughter Julia at her graduation from vet schoolDad in his younger years… a handsome guy.
* sorting several large boxes of dusty, small items
* showering, hair washing, cooking, petting animals, opening packaging, scraping “stuff” off counters, loads and loads of laundry
These are not hands on vacation! I have worn gloves to do yard work but that is about all the protection the jamberry wraps have gotten. After the first day I could sometimes feel a roughness at the nail tips and was afraid they were coming loose but clipping or filing the nail seemed to help. And what helped the most was to QUIT FEELING MY NAILS. I’m not used to having anything on my nails and my tendency is to keep checking to see if they feel smooth. Lately I just don’t do that unless something is rough enough to catch on clothing, then I attend to it.
Lots of people have remarked about my nails. I was around several children on Memorial Day and of course they noticed and were impressed. One of my friends said (in a friendly way) “Oh how seventeen!” by which I think she meant people our age don’t often do something fun and flashy. I don’t feel bad about changing that. Last night my daughter and I walked in to order dinner at a trendy Mexican place full of “cool” people with tatoos. The girl taking our order noticed right away and said she really liked the pattern on my nails, which of course made me feel like I fit right in with the crowd, just in a different way.
So… day 6 and counting, still on.
I’ve cut them a little shorter whenever I feel a rough edge.
Donated craft supplies that I sorted – the girls will love making jewelry from all this!
This week we got assignments – aaaaagh! I’ve had nightmares about being back in school ever since. I’ve done some of mine already, the most fun one of course. I’ve learned how to make ninja balls and you can too if you go here http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyfxIryiD8A.(please disregard the annoying movie commercial that comes first…) I will definitely be using this little idea to make gifts for kids.
Also on the assignment list was to pick out some songs and print song sheets. Daughter Julia has been asked to take her guitar and we will be singing worship songs with our missions team every morning and teaching a few more active songs to the kids. A number of the children show real musical talent both in singing and playing keyboard and guitar. They just seem to pick it up from watching others and, you guessed it, from youtube. They often create dances based on the songs. All of them like to clap and move so music is one of our favorite things to share with them.
We have a memorization assignment. That is going to be the hardest because we have to try to learn some Khmer, which is the language they speak. One of the house mothers spoke the Bible passage we are learning on a video but unless I can slow her down in some way – like to about half her speed – I am never going to be able to tell where one word ends and another begins, let alone what they mean. I already know the English version. We’ll see how the rest goes…
Notebooks for the school kids. Thank you for all the donations!
Since I’m able to take two free checked bags with me I usually offer to carry some of the supplies and gifts the group collects. I was given the two bags this weekend, one with medical supplies and the other with mostly toys. The challenge is now to get all the stuff I’ve collected in those bags too, without going over the 50 lb. limit. I’ve been gifted with notebooks for the school, toothbrushes, jewelry making supplies and crafting materials. I spent one evening sorting the jewelry components and I believe the girls and women will have fun putting those things together.
We are getting close – twelve days until I start my journey. I always get a little excited/nervous at this point trying to make sure I’m not leaving some important thing until last. Prayers appreciated!
I Just Have to Say... 