Khmer Church Baptism

Last Sunday, was once again another day of celebration that brought tears to my eyes.  Chris and I spent the morning with the Khmer house church that worships in 2Five2's building in Prek Pneu.  Over the last two years this church has grown near and dear to our hearts, and now are people we can call friends.  They welcome us with words of encouragement, hugs, and smiles.  This group of amazing people can brighten the day of anyone who is in need of a smile.

The church baptized 29 (yes, 29!) men, women, and children last Sunday in a large orange cooler (so great!)  Samrach, the pastor, has been leading this group of new believers since Christmas when they all became followers of Christ.

During the midst of frustrating days, we are quickly reminded of the beauty of God's work in this country.  As Chris said, while driving our moto home, "this is why we moved here, watching people come to know Jesus in a country that is in need of such healing."  There is nothing more true than that.

On this day, the people and the environment could only be defined by the word joy. People were walking, speaking, sitting, singing in a posture of joy.  However, as we took the left turn on the dirt road out of the village we saw a woman on all fours, bowing down to the four monks she had just given her money to.  It was such a contrast of posture, emotion, and lifestyle.  We ask you to join us in praying for this church and our ministry to continue to reach those in this community so they can too experience this joy, joy in Christ.

We consider ourselves blessed, and are filled with thankfulness as we partner with the church, and in the words of Samrach, "thank you working with us in the kingdom here." 

In the video the church is singing, "Jesus, we are committing ourselves to you."

Banquet

Last weekend was the Logos Junior/Senior Banquet and it was a wonderful night to celebrate the Seniors and laugh at the many memories these students have of their class and their school. 

I don't know who loves who more?  Chris has been the homeroom teacher for these Seniors for the past 2 years.  Also, a lot of these guys are in his bible study and played on the soccer team.  They are the class that welcomed us into Logos, and the class we will have to say good-bye to very soon.  They are a wonderful group of girls and guys that have blessed our time here in Cambodia.  The guys adore Chris and have been so encouraging the past few days on how much of an impact Chris has had on each of their lives.  It is a bittersweet time for this amazing group of people.

 The Banquet was a fun-filled night with good food, fun memories, and wonderful people.  Other teachers and staff were invited and we enjoyed sitting, eating, and watching the evening's events with those other staff.  It was held in the beautiful Intercon Hotel, and we always love an opportunity to dress up and look nice in a city where we just normally feel "not-so-put-together".

As said before, we will miss you Seniors, but are deeply excited for what is ahead for you, and look forward to hearing your updates!

Hot Like a Hot Dog

It's the middle of hot season here, and we can feel it more than ever.  Some days are better than others but all are still VERY hot.  The weather here never drops below 75 degrees (or not since we have lived here) all year round, but March, April, and May are labeled the months of "hot season."

During these three months it is when we don't get the cool down in the mornings and evenings.  Even though it's not much the rest of the year, you can at least wake up to feel a cooler breeze, or sit on the porch at night in mild comfort.

Usually, the temperture sits around 95 degrees, with about 80% humidity, making our heat index anywhere from 105-115.  I try to tell myself everyday that it is not really that hot, and it isn't, but the killer is not having aircon. I think about the South in the US, and how they often are that hot, but the key difference is central air in homes, restaurants, shops, etc.  We just don't have those spots of relief here. 

The other major issue is that we don't have consistant power.  Cambodia doesn't have the infrastructure to get power to the whole country or to growing areas in the cities.  Our electricty is diesel fuel powered through Thailand. At both our work places we lose power everyday for anywhere between 1-5 hours, and some days (the long ones) all day.  This is brutal.  Without a fan directly on you, the sweat just pours.  We find ourself praying, "Lord please just give us power for half the day today."  These times without power, seem the most draining, and are when it takes all your energy to just not freak out but try to find other ways to cool your body down (and try to keep working...).

Some examples of our thoughts and experiences:
- Driving home I said to myself, "It feel like a global size hair dryer is on me at full blast heat."
- While trying to buy fabric at the market I was sweating through all my clothes so bad (even pants) that the lady told me to sit down, drink some water, and she started to fan me while laughing."  Very kind of her but a tad embarrasing.
- Walking out of our bedroom in the morning after sleeping in aircon, Chris says, "it feels like a legitimate sauna in our living room."  I choose to stay in our bedroom for another 30 minutes.
- This morning I told Chris, "I only have 3 days this week that I won't be in aircon.  It's going to be a good week."


 This hot season has been trying but we are near the end. The monsoon rains are back again and it seems as if the whole country is getting a much deserved bath. The heat index is typically still above 105 degrees but, the rains give us a respite from the torching sun a couple of afternoons per week now.

Soon we will be cold. Numb fingers, numb nose, shivering cold. It will be great, and we will wish for the heat.

2Five2 Happenings

Over the past month we have had some exciting things happen with 2Five2 in Prek Pneu.  For starters, we had our Easter Celebration on April 6th, the last school day before Easter. The kids have been learning about the story of Jesus' death and resurrection for the whole month of March through a great Easter workbook all done in Khmer.  During the final week of Lent, Holy Week, a Chinese holiday also landed on the calendar.  The Chinese holiday lasted three days, and was a time when kids and their family went to the grave site of their dead ancestors and gave offerings and sacrifices to their bodies in hopes of having good fortunes and blessings.  It is a worship of the dead.  Many (umm..half) students were absent from school on these days, as they were in the provinces with their families.  But on Good Friday the day of our celebration we had 75 of our 100 kids present!  We celebrated a Risen King, a God who is alive and conquered death.  What a blessing to celebrate with these children!

Then last Saturday we hosted our 2nd Adult Community Workshop.  This time we invited the parents, caretakers, government teachers, and village authorities to learn about Child Rights.  We tried a new start time, which was a giant bust, because it was when everyone was shopping at the market, so after a 2 hour start delay we got going!  The training was wonderful with over 60 attendees, that ended in a hilarious game of dressing up adults in traditional men and women Cambodian clothes to essentially play a Child Rights version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. 

Below is a few pictures of the game, and a video of the excitement (sorry for the vertical filming).  I will claim that when it was my turn to get dressed up I had the most cheers!

Today and tomorrow our staff and program are going through an external assessment and program evaluation.  It's tiring and makes for a few long days, but I am thrilled with all the positive feedback our staff is giving. 

Your prayers for this program, the kids, and the staff is still highly coveted and we thank you dearly for all that continue to pray and support us!

30 Days

One month...until we board the plane and head to America. We can't even believe that when we look at that number it is a 1.  Not 23 months, or 2 years, or 702 days, but 1 month.  It has been a ride (to say the least) for the last 2 years, and we are more excited than words can describe to reconnect with our dear family and friends.

Baseball games (Rockies and HS ones coached by friends), BBQs, hikes, family vacations, country concerts, weddings, camping, fishing, birthdays, days at the pool, girls and guys weekends, cooking dinners, and that's not even the food!

For those who want to know, we fly into Denver at 6:00pm on Friday, May 25th on Frontier flight #414 from LAX.  It's during that 30+ hour flight that we are reminded how far we are from "home", that it takes us 2 days going over 200 mph to reach the ones we love.  But I don't think I have ever been so excited to sit on a plane for two days, as I am for this flight.

Though we will be tired and jet lagged, we will be armed with hugs and kisses (and tears for Leanne) from the moment we step off the plane.

Sumatra, Indonesia

For Cambodia's largest holiday, Khmer New Year, Leanne and I jet-set to Sumatra, Indonesia for the entire 10 days. This was an extremely timely break because it came after weeks of difficult and hectic work as well as in the middle of the hottest month in Cambodia. We were so relieved to get on the plane and say goodbye to Cambodia for a few days and welcome mountain temperatures, clean air and a break from the cultural stress we sometimes feel here. 

Our first nights were spent in Berestagi, a small market town that only has two redeeming qualities; the volcanoes that surround the city. We spent about 19-minutes walking around the town before we decided to hike one of the volcanoes, the activity we had planned on pursuing the next day. After our two-hour approach hike to the summit, Sibayak Mountain turned into the surface of the moon. Gatorade green sulfer came from vents and the crater itself was covered in a pool of water about 100 feet below the top of the peak. We were engulfed rain clouds, listening to the concussion of thunder above and smelling the sulfer from the mountain, it was an assault on all of our senses. On our hike down, we got hammered by a monsoon rainstorm and the dirt path that we were walking on turned into the slides from the Goonies, it was very entertaining to slip our way down the peak and into the hot springs that awaited at the bottom. 

Our next destination was Lake Toba, in the center of the island. The fresh-water lake is one of the deepest in the world and we stayed in a hotel with waterfront access, a diving board and a remarkable pool. Our agenda for four days included a lot of sleeping, eating and, when we could find some time, running, hiking and kayaking. Leanne and I both mentioned may times how we had rarely been in such a beautiful and quite place. We woke up slowly each morning, listened to nothing but the water against the shore and ate at nearly every restaurant on the island. Toba was a highlight destination for not just Indonesia but for all of our time traveling in Asia.

After the intense news of the massive earthquake that hit Sumatra while we were there, we were a little nervous to fly to the coast that the quake happened near. However,  thank God, there was very little damage on the island and our travel plans were not interrupted at all. We made our way from the lake down to Medan and flew across the island to see what it held for us.

Our last major stop was Bukittinggi, another small market town much like our first destination. However, in our only full day there, we saw the largest flower and learned that it only blooms a few days each year. Though I thought a big flower would be lame, it turned out to be a total highlight. The Raffleasia was about 3-feet wide and remarkably intricate. I also drank a cup of coffee in which the beans are actually collected from the poop of a wild cat before it's roasted. It was organic as it comes, I think I will open a coffee shop with just Coffee Luwak (poop coffee) in Boulder, Colorado and become independently wealthy.

We spent our last two night walking around Padang, resting on the beach and looking for other westerners in which we counted three in two days.We listened to the call to prayer and watched the men and women go to Mosque, which is an experience that far to few Americans get to have. It is one of the most striking memories I have of traveling in Indonesia.

This trip was exactly what we needed at the time we needed it. We rested, read, ran and relaxed for the entire time and we returned to Cambodia feeling rested and ready for the last few weeks of our time before we return to the States.

Logos Soccer Season

Last weekend we finished up the boy's and girl's Logos soccer season with the city tournament.  Here are the photo highlights...

Chris was the official coach for both teams and ran practice for each team throughout the season.

Games were played at the same time so Chris coached the boy's games and Leanne coached the girl's games.

The boys have historically been really good, and this year again they proved to be the better team during most games.  Chris has coached these boys for two years now and the players love him as much as he loves them.  The girls, however, before this year had never won a game, and they broke the streak by winning 5 of the 10 games, and ending in a tie 3 times.

The boys won the city tournament with dominance, and the girls got 2nd place with a heartbreak, last minute loss in the championship.  It was a wonderful season that many of the students, especially the Seniors will have many great memories of.  Congratulations to both teams, we loved the last several months with you!