Life the last month or so...

It would take me forever for me to put into words everything that’s gone on in this last month (and let’s face it, it probably wouldn’t actually happen) so, here’s just a portion of what we’ve been up to on our side of the world recently:


Starting December 27th we loved…

 Picking up our moms from the airport

 Taking them to all our favorite places in Phnom Penh

 Mother/ daughter lunches, coffee dates, pedicures, …

 Picking up the rest of the BPF team from the airport

 Catching up on life over coffee instead of over the internet

 All of our kids having someone to play with or hug at the same time

 Getting 20 water filters from RDI and bringing them to HCO

 Looking around & seeing kids read their Bibles (Christmas present this year)

 Our kids singing, “The Stars at Night…” & a few other songs we taught them for the team

 Hearing stories about what God was doing in people’s lives during the time they spent here

 Knowing people we love, love our kids (almost) as much as we do



Then, on January 7th we dropped our moms and (most of) the team off at the airport… just for the record, it was a lot more fun picking them up. However, it’s been nice settling back into ‘real life’, right now which consists of…



 Hanging out with 66 of the coolest kids ever

 Teaching phonics & making up ridiculous hand motions to songs our kids are learning

 Teaching the kids how to wash their hands… more fun than you might think

 Processing water filters (clean water coming very soon!)

 Catching back up with our friends here

We had such an amazing time with everyone who came! We can’t say thank you enough for everything that was done for us and our kids, we really enjoyed having you all here!!



-Tamara

Perspective

I need a little perspective sometimes. I think it’s easy to get in this self-absorbed bubble where all you are concerned with is your own comforts, your own pleasure, your own concerns, and your own safety that you then become blinded to the comforts, pleasures, concerns, and safety of others. One would think that by living here in Cambodia (even if it has only been a little over a month now) that I would be immune of selfishness in this form. Wrong. It’s difficult for me to be this transparent and let you know, that even though I’m often smiling on the outside, there’s a lot of skepticism and cynicism lurking on the inside. Our first three weeks here were euphoric. Everything seemed to be going perfectly. God has been so good and we have a million bajillion things to be thankful for. And I was (don’t worry, I still am), but last week I was really challenged.

Two Sundays ago marked the first day that Tamara was sick. Maybe sometime I’ll share the long story behind that, one consisting a lot of confusion and stress…finding the clinic, finding the clinic again the next day, coming a third time for blood tests, trying a different clinic…finally, on the fifth day of her fever, we finally found an answer…she has typhoid. A weaker strain (thank God), but strong enough to knock her down for a good week and need treatment at the clinic two times a day for a week more.

So, since Tamara had “the typhoids” (which we renamed because we felt like it was more dramatic J), we couldn’t go to the orphanage last week. We hadn’t been homesick till this point, but since we didn’t have some awesome kids distracting us from Thanksgiving it was little harder to not fall into this pity party. I was worried about Tamara, missing my family and Kevin on Thanksgiving, AND missing our kids. So I fell into this really selfish pity party that I’m not very proud of. And I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that this was just a “moment.” These feelings lasted a couple days. I decided that my solution to my attitude was a change in “perspective.” I did the true classic method of comparing how easy I have it to the true suffering of others I see everyday. Honestly, this method doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t make me feel better; it makes me feel worse.

God’s good though: He’s really great about reminding of us what it’s really all about. I ran across Romans 5:3-5: “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and HOPE does not put us to shame, because God’s LOVE has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” When I feel like I’m “suffering” (and we all know I have suffered nothing! I’ve got it good!!), I can often get dragged down even further by dwelling on other’s suffering. There are so many of us that want to be used by God to alleviate suffering, but get so frustrated when we don’t feel like we are making a difference. And then we feel so dumb for being so dang idealistic. But God says we won’t be shamed by putting our hope in Him. In the midst of all the suffering we see in the world, there is still hope in Jesus because of the love of God. We are never without hope when we have Christ. So, to alleviate suffering is much easier than we think. They need Jesus. So many people here need Jesus.

So, we are asking you friends to pray. Pray that we will have opportunities to share Christ with others…so that they will have the hope we have!! We don’t even speak Khmer…and sometimes I feel so clueless and useless, but I’m still expecting God to use us to show Christ to this place somehow (He’s pretty creative!) Tamara and I are yet to doubt that God has called us here for a reason. God has to work over-time with this weak girl if He’s going to make some difference here…but I know in spite of who I am or what I don’t know, He will make His name known.

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement – we love you guys so much!!

-Lauren

Rain, Roadtrip, & the Riverfront

Due to the possibility of heavy rain today Pastor Sokhom canceled our classes (he warned us last night that it was a good possibility). I’m sure the kids were really disappointed since today (through Tuesday actually) is a Cambodian holiday for the Water Festival. But, since it was only a possibility we went ahead and prepared what we would teach and set our alarms… and didn’t over sleep this time. So, bright and early at six am we rolled out of bed to see what the verdict was on the rain. He told us the weather was, “not good”. Neither was the news on our visas… apparently we got the wrong one when we arrived at the beginning of the month. As a result, we have to leave the country… but, we get to come right back. So, now we have a road trip planned for Tuesday… Vietnam, here we come!! No worries though, he’s going with us and we should have the right visa when we return. I really don’t know what we would do without him… or the rest of the family for that matter. Have I mentioned that they’re amazing? They are!!


So, what do you do at six am after you’re wide awake? Call your friends to find out really important information like…

“What’s going on in Texas?”

“Why don’t you have your phone with you… at all times while I’m here?”

“Where do you buy a flat iron?”

“What street was that really good donut shop on here?”

See, really important stuff… give us a day off and we’re useless. Well, maybe not totally useless. We skipped out on the donut shop and had breakfast at home. We did plan on finding out some information for the team in December but, the place we needed to go was closed… this Water Festival is a BIG deal!! After a leisurely coffee/ lunch/ talking to more friends & family we set out on the hunt for a flat iron and the Water Festival… Both accomplished! See Lauren’s facebook for what the celebration is all about. We had been told there are always a LOT of people there and it’s SUPER crowded. So, with our purses tucked securely under our arms and water bottles in hand we tuk tuked as close to the riverfront as we could before we got out, played frogger, and joined the masses. Basically, there’s these HUGE (hold like 20-40 people) painted canoe like boats from all over Cambodia that come to race… Lveasar even competes but, we had no idea how to find them. In each of the boats there’s a guy at the front that has a horn, giant stick, or some other device to make noise with to set the pace for his team… they we’re our favorites to watch… except for one boat that had a drummer at the back… maybe a story for later. I’m still amazed at how these guys make rowing look so effortless and move these monstrous boats so quickly. After sitting for a while (and taking a ton of pictures) we decided to walk around. We sampled some street food, took some more pictures, got stared at a lot, and watched some more races. I would defiantly recommend checking it out if you’re even in Cambodia during this time. We left from there to grab a few things for school and at the market before making our way home. All in all, it was a great Saturday!



-Tamara

Flying Frogs and Farmer's Tans

We had a tuk tuk waiting outside our house today at 7 a.m. We had debated for the last few days exactly how long it would take us to get from Phnom Penh to Lveasar in a tuk tuk. We don't have a car yet, so this has been the mode of transportation that we have been relying on the last two weeks. For those of you that don't know, a tuk tuk is a moto bike that pulls two covered seats behind it. Conventionally, most can carry four people, but Cambodians love to cram as much as possible onto any vehicle carrying anything, so we've seen many more people than that per tuk tuk. Although we're very familiar with this transportation by now (we can even haggle the driver down to a decent price!), we had yet to take one to Lveasar. By car, the drive to Lveasar is about an hour...and very bumpy. This highway to Lveasar goes all the way to Vietnam, and it is currently under heavy construction. You might say it's the equivilant of driving on a shell road/washboard...yet it is a major highway. So, by tuk tuk, even more bumpy. Even so, we were pretty excited about the idea of "tuking" our way to Lveasar. The ride was definitely bumpy, but only took us fifteen more minutes that usual, making us right on time. Once we turned off the highway, we drove down a small road through a village where the tuk tuk dropped us off on the bank of the Mekong River. From here, we took a ferry (that looks much like it came out of a World War II movie) across the Mekong to Lveasar. Once we made it to Lveasar, a moto bike was there waiting to take us down the dirt road about a mile down through the village to Hope for Cambodia Orphanage. We finally made it! We arrived...and this is our life! From moment 1, we were pumped.

Arriving at the orphanage was probably my favorite part, we were greeted with hugs and smiles of kids that love more freely than many of us can understand. These are kids that have pasts not filled with the love and affection that many of us received as children, yet they are ready to love and receive love so quickly.

Our classes flew by, but it feels like so many things happened...so, I'm just going to hit the highlights:

1. These kids can introduce themselves in English and ask "What's your name?" after today!

2. After the kids left each class, we got exuberant high fives and "See you tomorrow, teacher!" in the cutest accents ever.

3. During lunch, we were directed to our "break room" with two mats and pillows on bunk beds where we can eat and rest...so sweet. :)

4.  After a quick break, we get to play with our kids for almost two hours till their next classes begin. (Lunch break is 11-1!)

5. In the afternoon, Tamara and I got to teach the high school students together. We were able to convert classroom cut-ups into an object lesson. We were teaching commands: "Come here," "Stop," "Turn around," and "Go away." In the middle of Tamara and I dramatically acting out these commands, some (what seemed at the moment) very large living creature came flying in our direction at the front of the class. We both had the normal girlie reaction you would expect of shrieking and running to the nearest wall for shelter. To our relief, there was a frog in the middle of the floor. We all died laughing, except for the two perpetrators who were not-so-subtly hiding their smiles in the back. Tamara and I spent a few moments trying to catch it, while several girls were still cowering on top of their desks...finally we chased it to the back of the room towards the open windows, yelling "Go away! Go away!" Lesson complete.

6. Evidence of just one day in the village? Village feet and farmer's tans. Already...but so worth it.

Running late to karaoke...

Last night we asked Ratchana (Sokhom’s oldest daughter) what time we would leave for church in the morning. She thought it would be around six (insert what Lauren and I were thinking here). But, we obviously haven’t come all the way to Cambodia to sleep in and hang out all day or worse, miss seeing our kids. So, I set my alarm to wake us up at five and off we went to bed about 10 pm (we’re getting a little better on the sleep thing). Fast forward to this morning, Lauren taps me on the shoulder after looking at her watch and says, “Is it really six thirty?” Obviously still in a daze, I pick my phone up and inform her that, “Mine says it’s five thirty.” This is where most people would realize a watch is far less likely to reset itself than a phone, especially a phone that has had a mind of its own since leaving Singapore. We decide we should probably get ready soon but, continue to ‘snooze’, after all we still have half an hour and getting ready shouldn’t take long thanks to pony tails & t-shirts being part of our everyday attire. About that time we hear a knock on the door and Ratchana informs us they’re leaving for church. Given our transportation or lack thereof we obviously have to leave with them or miss another week (last week we were with Sue) of church in Lveasar. Lauren lets her know we’ll be right down and we quickly fumble around to room for contacts, pony tail holders, and throw on the nearest ‘appropriate’ (no shorts or sleeveless) clothes and about 2 minutes later we make our way downstairs. I can honestly say that’s the quickest I’ve ever gotten ready to go anywhere, ever.


So, sans brushed hair, make-up, earrings, or clothes that really even match at all we arrive for church in Lveasar… and I’m pretty sure no one cared, maybe not even us. Church was really good! There’s something totally authentic and pure about the worship in this little community. Hearing our kids sing along with all the adults is just utterly amazing to me, they could have easily become one of the typical citizens in this less than one percent Christian nation. It’s difficult to describe how something can feel so real when you aren’t able to understand the words. I think it’s something you just have to experience to understand.

As we’re clapping along (since singing in Khmer for us is obviously out of the question) and enjoying the worship, Ratchana leans over to us and asks Lauren and I what song we are going to sing. Once again, deer in the headlights look from both us. Half way hoping we had misunderstood I asked her to repeat herself. Nope, no misunderstanding, we were about to have our first duet. Actually, I guess that’s not entirely true, we did make an appearance at karaoke night while we were in Colorado this past September for training. I had no idea that even the extracurricular activities at MTI would be part of our preparation for Cambodia. So, there we sat trying to come up with a song we both knew ALL the words to… we finally landed on, “Mighty to Save”. I don’t think either of us looked at each other the entire time we were ‘up’ for fear we would start laughing uncontrollably and embarrass ourselves more than we already were. We made it through the song and decline a second performance. We’re already thinking of songs for next time. Suggestions please!

After we wrapped up church Sokhom, Lauren, and I had a meeting with the teachers about starting English class next week. It went really well and we have our weekly and daily schedules planned out… always subject to change as we well know and are totally fine with, we just like knowing we have something to start with. Pray for us as we begin teaching this week. Lauren is really excited to be back in the classroom and I’m just hoping no one notices I don’t have a clue as to what I’m doing but, I’m really excited none the less.

After our meeting and lunch we had a little free time before we had to leave so, we got to hang out with our kids… I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of getting to say that. It was short but, we were able to squeeze in lots of hugs, a couple tickle fights, and as always a few pictures.

I think it’s time for a nap now that we’ve enjoyed yet another amazing snack courtesy of Ronnie. Today it was fried potatoes and fried bananas with sugar… I may need bigger clothes when some of you come in December.



-Tamara

She’s Scrappy...and Sassy

Yesterday we got back from a quick trip to visit Sue Singleton, a fellow missionary who lives in a city in central Cambodia called Kampong Thom (try to say that three times fast). Sue met up with us in Phnom Penh (while she was there for a different visit) to pick us up as we headed to Kampong Thom. The three and a half hour drive to KT seemed so much shorter as Sue shared with us some crazy, funny, and inspirational stories she’s experienced as a missionary in Cambodia for the last 18 years. If she didn’t keep us entertained by the stories, she kept us awake by her survival Cambodian driving. If you’ve been to Cambodia, you might imagine what that looks like. This awesome lady is scrappy and tough, and she makes her way without any hesitation. Her attitude with driving is much like her attitude with life. She’s not scared of anything or anyone. When talking about living in Cambodia alone, she told of us of a verse she clung onto long before God called her to Cambodia: 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” It wasn’t long after this conversation that Sue’s truck began puttering, doing a little shaky thing, and then died. Ironic. Here we were on the edge of the road in the middle of the Cambodian countryside….and laughing about it all. Even though after only a week, we have many memories here, but this one is definitely going down in the books (p.s. check out Tamara’s pictures of us with Sue and the truck. Haha.)

Our visit was a quick one of three nights, but we felt like we accomplished a lot. During the day, Tamara and I followed Sue around. First thing in the mornings we went to an international preschool that Sue has started in KT. We were able to observe the Cambodian preschoolers learning English. So cool…we were watching three and four year old Khmer native speakers speaking some impressive English – this is what we want to accomplish!! J Afterwards, we went to Shelter of Love (the orphanage) to hang out with some kids and to try some English teaching ourselves. Way fun. The kids were great, and we had a lot of fun playing games to teach them English. It was super fun for me the second day because I got to teach some of the older kids who knew some English already and wanted to work on grammar…I got to pull out the prepositions and direct objects – I was totally in my element. (Sorry, I’m a nerd…) It felt so good to be in a “classroom”/porch teaching again!

At night Sue teaches an English class below her house (it’s on stilts like most Cambodian houses) to a group of about 30 KT high school students. The kids love her, because she’s stinking hilarious...and sassy. I feel like we not only enjoyed her class, but also were able to gain a lot of insight to what our classes in Lveasar should look like.

Before we headed out Sue fed us an awesome breakfast of PANCAKES. Wonderful. Definitely a highlight of our trip! Haha. To get home, we took a bus from KT to PP (Phnom Penh). Even though the trip was almost four hours long, Tamara and I entertained ourselves with some Red Bull and peanuts that made my mouth numb. I think we were a little too happy for some of the people as we sat in the back, because I got a few dirty looks (sometimes I laugh kind of loud…oops.) For the most part, it was a nice trip back. Unfortunately, on our bus ride we did see a darker side of Cambodia that we would like to ignore and pretend is not an issue…..but I might wait to share that than spoil the description of an otherwise perfect trip.

After we arrived in PP, we found a few English books that looked appropriate for our kids. We’re doing some more research and looking around, but we feel ready and eager to start teaching….hopefully next week!! Please keep praying….for our Khmer….for Lveasar....for Cambodia as a whole. We love our Cambodia…..and we love our Jesus…..and we’d really like them to meet.

-Lauren

Another List...

Random things that make us feel like we’ve made progress:


- Getting a tuk into town

- Paying a semi-fair price for a tuk ride or anything for that matter

- Finding our way around the city to specific areas/shops

- Accomplishing almost everything on our ‘to-do’ list

- Studying Khmer

- Learning to relax

- Finding Coke Light (that may just be me)

- Purchasing materials to teach English

- Communicating with even a very few Khmer words (emphasis on the very)

- Getting a tuk home (with clear directions to where we live)

- Catching people on skype or facebook and getting to talk to them



Random things we do that make us laugh:

- Attempting to use new Khmer words we’ve learned

- Linking arms to cross the street (we feel safer that way)

- Dodging traffic on the sidewalk

- Getting sleepy enough to go to bed before 10 pm

- Waking up before our alarms go off at 6 am

- Only having to charge our phones once a week

- Realizing that almost everywhere we’re the loud ones… we’ll work on it

- Having entire conversations via facebook posts with our family and friends

- Being here and absolutely loving it

 
-Tamara