Updates

I've updated the blogs from Cambodia with inline pictures and have corrected some grammer & spelling (so my brother doesn't pick on me). I will add some pictures to the very first posts, but haven't done that yet.

FYI - I have made contact with 4 of the 5 students in our small group and 4 additional Cambodian students.

Also - couple of links that may be of interest:

The Phnom Penh Post - English language newspaper for Cambodia

International Justice Mission - An organization working in Cambodia to stop the sex slavery industry. One of their books "Terrify No More" is about the rescue of 37 Cambodian girls from forced prostitution. One of the members of our church has a relative that works with this organization. Their is also an artist support page. The organization is supported by artists such as Sara Groves, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay, Bebo Norman and Phil Keaggy.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Ok. So we're a little punchy here.

I sit at my desk at home and write this email as we do laundry and unpack.

Thanks to all of you who showed up at the airport (You too Connie!). It was a nice surprise to have so many folks there to meet us. On our way home we stopped at McDonalds to make sure we re-damaged any arteries that were healed by healthy food in Cambodia.

Hopefully, I'll post some pictures later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again for all of your support!

Los Angeles

We got into Los Angeles last night and into our hotel room at a little after 11:00 p.m. Slept for about 4 hrs (feel great). Hot shower was nice. Mike, Max, Josh & I leave for the airport at 4:30 a.m., rest of crew to follow at 5:00 a.m.

See ya soon.

Wednesday Afternoon - Singapore Airport

We just arrived and found our departing gate at Singapore Airport. We're letting the kids do a little shopping and catching up on the web.

Last night in Phnom Penh, we had a nice final dinner together at a Thai restaurant. The fruit smoothies were fantastic! Two men played traditional music on regional instruments. One looked similar to a hammered dulcimer and seemed to function the same. The other was like a four-stringed guitar that you played as it laid down.

I talked for awhile with our host - Bill Labazoo about learning the Khmer language and few things about the ministry there.

The guest houses we stayed at (kind of like a small hotel) were very nice by comparison to our housing the last two weeks. Mike and I roomed together and watched CNBC on cable television. We actually had a nightstand to set things on.

Before we went to the restaurant, we went to the Genocide museum. Quite sobering. Thousands of pictures that the Khmer Rouge took of people before they killed them. There were 12-15 paintings depicting the methods of torture used by on those killed by Pol Pot. Very gruesome stuff.

Upon entering there were signs telling you not to laugh or smile during your tour, out of respect for those who were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. Under one set of steps was graffiti in many languages mourning what occurred there. (The museum is actually a concentration camp that was used by the Khmer Rouge - it had previously been a school). Some of the graffitti was sad, other notes were very angry, filled with profanities aimed at those who committed the atrocities.

It is good to be back in a western-style atmosphere, however there were many that were sad to leave. Three of the Khmer friends we had met came to the airport to wish us good bye.

See you all in a few days. (Greensleeves or "What Child Is This" is playing over the speaker system here - weird!)

Tuesday Morning - Last Day in Phnom Penh

Well, yesterday was quite an adventure! Mike Lewis, Max, Josh & I flew up to Siem Reap to see the temples at Angkor Wat. Our flight was great and our Tuk-Tuk drivers were on time and waiting for us.

The 4 Mustketeers and our Tuk Tuk with Driver

The temples and ruins at Angkor Wat are almost beyond description. Truly boggles the mind to understand how it all was done without modern machinery. One temple had a tree grown up in the middle of it, which has continued for hundreds of years. This has caused the temple to collapse. The tree trunks look like a snake wrapped around it.

Panoramic Shot of the back of Angkor Wat

Panoramic Shot of one of the Angkor Wat pools

Before we left, I put fresh batteries in my camera. By about 1:00 p.m. my batteries were going bad. Mike Lewis had the same experience. I think I took nearly 300 pictures during the day.

We had lunch at a restaurant that served an approximation of western food. I had spaghetti with meat sauce, which was good but spicy. Mike & Max had hamburgers with fries. The hamburger was a hamburger patty between 2 slices of bread. Josh ate Cambodian food.

We also got to see the main church here at Siem Reap. Very nice facility, much nicer than here in Phnom Penh. We saw the bass guitar that we helped replace. Yikes! I took a picture. Their main microphone had no cover.

John 3:16 in Khmer on Siem Reap Church Wall

Siem Reap was MUCH cleaner and more inviting than Phnom Penh. We were actually quite shocked at the difference. We talked to someone who told us that there are parts that are as bad as those in Phnom Penh, but overall it is less crowded and the cars pretty much drive on the right side of the road. (As an aside, we were told that up until 2 years ago there were no stop signs or stop lights in Phnom Penh - a city of 1.4 million people!).

While we were gone, they had to take 1 student to the hospital for a minor infection. All went well. She said the hospital looked just like the hospitals at home. All the medicines, emergency room visit and all cost $63.00.

This morning we will be moving to another house so that the Khmer students who let us borrow their apartments can move back. We will go to our final market and then go to the genocide museum. I've read that it can be pretty disturbing. Yesterday the team went to the killing fields and I guess it affected the students quite a bit.

I may not be able to post again while we're in Phnom Penh. The next update may be from the Singapore Airport.

Thank again to all of you for your support, prayers and emails. We'll be back in the states in about 4 days.

Sunday Evening

Had a few good notes from today.

The days events were pretty straightforward. We went to church this morning and then went to eat at the City Kat restaurant. We had a fascinating discussion with one of the other missionaries about some of the work in Cambodia, ponderings on the political climate (past and present) and an interesting story about an old lady who retired from being a missionary, then went back to Cambodia to start a mission for AIDS orphans and widows.

The City Kat Restaurant - Our favorite place to eat in Phnom Penh

In the afternoon, Mike & I helped find and buy another bass guitar, this time for the Siem Reap church.

We then went to a multi-church youth gathering, which was interesting to watch and see the differences and similarities between our youth and Cambodian Youth.

Tonight during our last group gathering, one of the Australians shared that they went to a Vietnamese church this morning. Tan Tan, one of the girls we were a little worried about earlier in the week were very excited to see them. She had also invited a Khmer student from English Camp to visit her church and he was there too. This was neat to see as the Khmer\Vietnamese issues were a real concern early in the week.

I will not be blogging again until Tuesday morning (Monday night Nebraska time) as Mike Lewis, Max, Josh and I are flying up to Siem Rea to see Angkor Wat.

Thanks for reading. Two more days and we'll be on the plane back home.

Sunday Morning

English Camp Ends

Yesterday was a good day and a sad day. We finished English Camp in the moring. We were very thankful that Koem Va and Doeng were there. They were very happy to get their certificates. They had us take their pictures with them. Very interesting.

We were only able to get 5 bibles in the end, but this worked out ok. 2 of our 5 guys had them, so Roger kept one for a person he is meeting today and we gave 1 to another girl in our group who did not have a bible. They were very thankful for them. It has the New Testament in Khmer and in English.

We had lunch with our boys and took pictures. We had dragonfruit again, which is always a good thing.

Roger and I with our boys and 3 other students
(Our boys are the 5 closest to the center)

A Home Visit

Afterwards, Koem Va wanted to give me a moto ride and show me his university. Roger rode with one of the other guys and we rode about 1 1/2 miles to their University. On the way Koem Va pointed out the hospital (in the process of construction) where he will work. Their university looked nice. One of the nicest looking buildings I've seen.

Just past the University, Koem Va turned onto a muddy alley filled with potholes and small ponds. We pulled up to an area with a stone fence where they were either building or renovating a big building. It looked like a construction site in the U.S. He led us into the yard and over to a small building with 3 or 4 doors. There was a plank that crossed some muddy ground to their door. I'm not sure how to describe the building to you, but it was like a small roadside motel with 4 rooms, but about 1/2 or less the size.

Koem Va unlocked the door ( a swift kick would render the lock useless), and Roger and I stepped inside. The room was, at best, 12 x 15 ft. There was a bathroom in the back with a toilet (not the kind we use - what we call a "squatty potty" - I have pictures). The bathroom as big enough for two or maybe 3 people to stand up in, but that's it. There was a shelf in the back used for cooking and a modern looking appliance used for water purification. There was a table, about 1/2 the size of a card table, 3 chests (where they kept their personal belongings), and a shelf, wide enough to hold a small boom box.

The entire contents of the room could probably fit into the back of my Scion hatchback. There were 3 mats and a mosquito net. The 3 boys that share this room sleep on the floor. I wondered what they did when it flooded. It was rather humbling and eye-opening to realize that they would live here for 4 years and that it was actually and was probably an improvement from where they came, maybe not space-wise, but that there was running water, a toilet and electricity.

Roger got video of the trip. Sadly, I left my camera at the dorm.

The Rest of the Day

At 1:00 we went to the Russian markets to shop. Seeing what I'd just seen didn't put me in too much of a shopping mood, but I found some gifts and talked at length with girl in one of the shops.

Scenes at the Russian Market

At 5:30 we went to the same mall we had visited on our first night here. I felt much more at home now. We had pizza (YAY!) and a cold Diet Coke (virtually no liquids are truly hot or cold here unless purchased in a western-style store. This drives some of our folks nuts). At the end of the night I had an ice cream cone. We went home and played Rook.

Today's Plans

Today we will go to church at 8:30. 10 of us will go to a different church (Vietnamese, I think) and the rest at the New Jerusalem Church. We will eat, I believe, at a western-style restaurant and then go to an all-city youth rally in the afternoon. In the evening, we will meet with our main missionary, Bill Lobazoo, for a "debriefing" session.

Tomorrow's Plans

I will likely not blog tomorrow, as Mike Lewis, Max, Josh and I (and possibly Richard and Roger) will fly up to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. This was an unexpected change of plans, but we're told that it is quite something to see and that outside of the U.S., it is a very well-known site. The flight is about 1 hour (like flying to Des Moines or so). I'll try and catch up on Tuesday morning.

BTW - we caught our first mouse in the girl's kitchen this morning with a sticky trap.

Saturday Morning

Graduation Day

Well today is graduation day for English camp. We will meet as normal until noon today. Koem Va has not been here for the last 2 days, which has concerned Roger and I, however we do know that he had a nursing testing yesterday that may have gone past the time we left. Fortunately, I got his address so I can send a Bible if I don't see him today.

Although we have been adjusting well and have come to feel comfortable here, last night's sharing time brought some sad reminders of where we are.

Sharing Time #1

Yesterday when we went to the zoo, the church sent along "lunches" for us, because we were gone so long. The lunches consisted of rice (which we've had at every meal) in styrofoam containers with a little meat. We had romotans for dessert. Because it rained, i ate on the bus, but some ate underneath a shelter. As is common here, when the Khmer were done, they just threw the trash in a pile on the ground.

At our sharing time last night one of the students asked if we'd seen what happened with the trash. I had not. The kids who were trying to sell us coconuts were poor farm children. The student shared that as we began to leave, the kids began picking through our trash pile and pouring any salvagable food into a container to take with them. Very hard to fathom.

Sharing Time #2

Roger had a long list of prayer requests for Cambodia that we talked and prayed through last night. In some cases, Roger would give students additional information that he had learned since being here.

One prayer request was for the sex slavery industry here. In our prayer requests (compiled by Operation World), they stated that 50,000 prostitutes operate here. 1/3 of those are children.

Roger shared about a CMA missionary here named Kim who works with the Vietnamese here. As I mentioned before, the Vietnames are looked down on here. Their children cannot attend public schools and they cannot afford to send them to private schools. (As an aside, we have 3 Vietnamese children in our group - Chum Va, Tan Tan and Tye. Chum Va always sings very strong during song time. Tan Tan is shy to a fault and her English is probably the poorest in our group.) Kim is the one who has been bringing the Vietnamese children here. On Monday or Tuesday, she was eating with Roger and told him of a young 12 year old girl who she had been inviting to church (and I believe English Camp). When she went to see her early this week, the girl would not come out to see her. Kim insisted and eventually the girl came out. When she did, Kim noticed that she was wearing jewelry and that her hair had been dyed. Kim knew immediately what this meant. Her parents had sold her to the local prostitution ring. Kim was very upset, as were all of us.

I cannot imagine the desperation and/or evil that would lead someone to sell their 12 year old daughter into such a lifestyle. Things like this are very hard to take in. Unfortunately, as the statistics above show, this happens to thousands of children here.

A Day at the Zoo

Today was an interesting day. We met for worship for about 1/2 hour this morning and then went to the Phnom Penh Zoo.

The good news of the day is that we were able to procure New Testaments. Roger and I will get 10 for our 5 guys and extras for other Khmer that we've met.

After worship we drove for about 1 hour to the zoo. During the trip, I talked with 2 Khmer students (which helps them with their English) and a lady on our trip who came from Wisconsin. (Their whole family of 4 came at their own expense to help out and generate interest within their church - Wow!).

The zoo was interesting from a Western perspective. Small monkeys roamed freely about as well as some deer.

The zoo was REALLY primitive. They had Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my!) , Elephants and some of the wildest monkeys I've ever seen. Unlike Western zoos, you can get pretty up close and personal at the zoo. One type of monkey with really long arms grabbed Roger's backpack and another Khmer who was teasing the monkey got grabbed pretty hard. One type of monkey had a call that was as loud and obnoxious as a warning siren in a building. If I hadn't watched the monkey make the sound, I would have thought it was a siren. No kidding.

It rained almost the entire time we were at the zoo, so we were all drenched. Next time I'll come during dry season. (At least the busses didn't break down).

At the end of the first part, we stopped and bought 13 coconuts from a boy who had been following us on his bike. The Khmer cut the top of the coconuts off and put a straw in and drink the coconut milk. It was pretty good - not sweet enough for my taste, but really interesting. Got some great pictures.

Our coconut salesman & Tan Tan enjoying a Cambodian snack

Before we left, we stopped at a "petting zoo". There you could feed the monkeys bananas. They hissed at each other when one got a banana that the others wanted. Really wild stuff. Nothing like you'd see in the USA. We also saw some deer and fed them bananas, and two types of cranes that were both fascinating.

Max feeds the monkeys / Cranes eating fish at the "Petting Zoo"

The trip home was interesting for another reason. I sat next to the Khmer who had helped us buy the bass for the church. (I can't spell his name, but it sounds like Peerom). I had talked to him about the instrument needs at their church, but our conversation went in many different directions. He works for Evangelism Explosion and also does some translation for gospel books from English to Khmer. Neat guy with two kids. But the interesting story came at the end.

Phearum Gneau and his family. The girl on the far left is his cousin.

I asked him if his parents were Christians and he said that they were now and that his dad is the pastor of the largest church in Siem Reap. His father had been in the Khmer Rouge army and had killed many people. While he and his mother and sisters were in a refugee camp in Thailand, a Swiss lady shared the gospel with his mother, who then became a Christian. At the time she was unable to do much more than lay down - she was in very ill health.

When they got back to their home, her husband told her she could go to church as long as her God was real and could heal her. The people at her church and the elders regularly prayed for her and she was eventually healed. At this point his father did not want her to go to church and tried (without success) to beat her. She and the children continued to pray for him.

In the late 1980's or early 1990's (I can't remember which), his father began to have a change of heart and became a Christian. From what he said, there was a big change in the life of his father. His father said now that only Christ could forgive him for the atrocities that he had committed. His father went into the pastorate and is now being used by God to lead and build the church in Cambodia.

We'll be meeting in our dorm in about an hour for worship and prayer. As odd as it may sound (and as cliche' as it may sound), there are things that I will miss here when I leave. Once you begin to build relationships with the people, your view of the culture seems to change a bit. You also see that in spite of the awful conditions, by western standards, they still love their lives, their families and their friends. And they love God - probably more deeply than we do.

Peerom is already asking if we will come back to Cambodia and come to Siem Reap (they have 2 English camps - one in Phnom Penh and one in Siem Reap) to help with English and to provide musical training for their worship leaders. Peerom even asked if my wife would come next time.

Lora, if you're reading this - don't worry, I didn't commit you to anything.