Monday, July 26, 2010

Elephants, Monkeys, and Tuk-Tuk's

This Sunday our team had the chance to go to church and relax later in the day. We split up and participated in two different churches in the city. At New Jerusalem, Mel and Jamie shared their stories with the church and Scott played guitar with the worship band. Also, Jamie and Scott got to connect with students they met five years ago in Phnom Penh, which was so cool! After the Khmer service, we all just hung out with the students and got to meet the pastor. Meanwhile, at Cell Church, Eileen, Liz, Kim, & John were able to spend time with their English students while one of our international workers translated. As the Cambodians sang “As the Deer” in Khmer, we joined in worshiping in English.

After a chance to rest for a bit, we took a tuk-tuk ride to Wat Phnom (which means “temple on a hill”). At Wat Phnom, we rode an elephant named Sambo! Sambo has a harness with a seat attached on top of his back and two people at a time ride Sambo. We have many, many pictures!

Today (Monday), we had the opportunity to spend an extended time in worship together. We talked about all that God did in us and through us and encouraged the strengths that we have seen in one another. We also went to the market today and had some ice cold lattes at the internet café.

This is our last blog entry before we return home. We will be flying out tomorrow morning (Tuesday); first to Taipei, then to Anchorage, then to New York. Please pray that we would get a bit of sleep and arrive home safely. Pray for our awesome drivers who will pick us up at the New York airport around midnight and drive us back to Daybreak around 3am!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Some Notes to Our Friends and Family

OK, so we already posted earlier tonight (see below), but since we had some extra time we thought we would take the chance to write to our friends and family. Here you go, guys! We are enjoying smoothies, coffee, ice cream, and cake in a coffee shop in Phnom Penh as we write to you. Feel free to post comments back to us at the bottom of this blog, but we’re just not sure when we will be able to check it again. We love you all!

From Pam: Hi Kiddos – I love you so much and miss you like crazy! Allie, I can’t wait to hear your highs and lows and all the fun things you did with Grandma and Papa. Zach, I miss giving you hugs before bed. Ty, I miss your laughter. I have lots of pictures to show you of the great Cambodian people. Today we went to the zoo and I got hugged by an elephant. Wish you were here with us. Mom & Dad, thanks for sacrificing so much time to take care of our little angels. (Or at least I hope you still think they are angels. ) French family – So sad we couldn’t be there for the funeral. We love you all! Prayer partners, thanks for praying. God has answered prayers for health, joy and peace!

From Jamie:
Hi Allie! Hi Zach! Hi Ty! I miss you all so much! I hope you’re taking it easy on Papa in dodgeball! Allie, I can’t wait to tell you all about Cambodia…maybe you can all come back here with us someday! Zach, I can’t wait to wrestle and play with you. Ty, I miss your jokes and your hugs! I love you all and will see you soon! For everyone else, thanks for praying…we’ve had a great trip!

From Eileen: Hey Mom and Dad! I’m having an incredible time and can’t wait to share all my stories with you. Mom, you can stop worrying about me, I’m eating, I’m healthy, and I haven’t gotten hit by a moto. Miss and love you, talk to you soon!

From Kim: What a cool trip it has been! I especially love the students I have been working with and our Daybreak team. God is so good!

From John: This place is nice, there’s lots of rice, I can’t find ice, got some advice? Happy Birthday, Mom! Dad, you would be the tallest person in this country. It has been a great trip so far, as we have learned and experienced so much. Thank you, prayer partners, for praying for me!

From Mel: Hi, Mom & Dad, Val & Brian! Miss you guys and cannot wait to see you when you come up soon to PA! Mom, I’ll be going to the market tomorrow to look for some cool fabric for you. And tell Grandma that John and I are doing great and are really loving it here. We’ll try to stop by and see her soon after we get home. Bev & Paul, hope the ultrasound went great. I’m assuming I’m not an aunt yet, but we can’t wait to meet the little guy. And to all my BFF’s, I love you all so much! I got all of your kids the coolest t-shirts that I can’t wait to show you! Deb, wish you were here, friend. It’s awesome. This team is awesome, and we would never be here without you. We’re having an awesome week. When will we get to do this again together?

From Liz: Hey Everybody!!! I appreciate all of your prayers!!! This trip has been amazing – I would definitely come back again. Today we took our students to the zoo and the high point had to be watching the elephants dance….the low point included a minor monkey attack…Tomorrow is our last day with the students it will be very hard to say goodbye to them, however, soon we will be able to say “Hello” to you! See you all soon – Liz

From Weavers:
We’re having a great time! We’re all healthy, eating well, and enjoying some incredible experiences. The girls are picking up a lot of Khmer and new friendships. Thanks for praying!

From Leanne: Hello everybody! How are you? I’m having a great time. :) I had SHRIMP for dinner. I LOVE SHRIMP! I made a lot of good friends. They’re all great. Everyone in Cambodia seems so happy even though they might have so little. To see kids here happy really makes your day. On the street when all of us go to English Camp we’ll see kids who are really excited to see us. You here little voices going hello! hello! hello! hello! hello! and it’s so cool. Some of us go up and give them high fives. :) They’re just so cute! At the zoo where we went today some of the students and I went down to a lagoon and there was this bird next to us and it started to attack us. All the students started to sprint and I was running so fast. I got scared to death!
To Kelly: You’re letters are so amazing! They’re really great. I know you stayed up all night trying to write those letters and they’re really encouraging. I LOVE them! They’re really awesome. I absolutely LOVE you’re letters. You should see my nails. :) They’re awesome. One of my Khmer friends did them for me.
For Everyone: I miss all of you! I can’t wait to tell you guys about all my new friends. They’re so friendly and nice and happy! I know I said a lot. I should get going. I’ll see you soon! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo:)

If you want to also read Scott's personal blog about his time in Cambodia, you can visit www.weavercambodia.blogspot.com.

I Walk By “Face” (that’s Cambodian English for “Faith”)

I thought I would begin by quickly saying that everyone on our team is healthy and has been for the whole trip. A headache here, fatigue there, but all-in-all everyone has been doing great. We’re probably a bit dehydrated, but we’re good!

I’m not sure what we’ve told you yet, so allow me to give you a quick picture of what a typical day has looked like for us this week at English Camp.
• We are staying in what the Cambodians call a “guest house,” but you would know it better as a small motel. We have been soooo thankful for our accommodations as there are only 2-3 people/room, we each have our own bathroom, and there is air conditioning!!! You have no idea how nice it is to come back to an air-conditioned room to sleep after a full day in the 90+ degree heat and more humidity than you can ever imagine.
• We start every morning together as a group @ 7:00 AM, meeting together with our Daybreak peeps to sing and focus on God’s Word and just get charged up for another day. Breakfast is served with the other 25 volunteers from the US and Canada at the English Camp Venue.
• Our English Camp Venue is only a 6-minute walk from the place where we are staying, so most mornings we walk over together to make it to our 7:30 AM breakfast. There are days, however, when Scott decides to drive this covered truck thing, and we all pile in the back cab for a quick trip.
• Breakfast is much like lunch and dinner… there is not much of a difference between what is served at the different meal times. There is always rice, and then some kind of meat with some kind of vegetable in some kind of random sauce. You just pile it all in one small bowl and either use chop sticks or these Asian spoons to eat. Except at lunch and dinner you also get fruit for dessert. Everything has been quite tasty, actually, and we have eaten well (when we don’t feel too hot to eat.)
• Our 90 students arrive at 8:30 to start camp, so we need to clear out the breakfast tables and get all of the chairs set up for our opening service. Each day begins with loud chants from each of the five teams (each team has five or six teachers and about 15-20 Cambodian students). We sing a few worship songs, have a few competitions, share a few testimonies, and tell a Bible story.
• At about 9:30 we break into our teams, where students learn and practice English through games, smaller group times, and conversation. After breaking for lunch around 12:00 (see above meal description for details), we head out on a field trip of some sort. We have taken students to the Royal Palace, the Russian market, a water park, an orphanage, and a zoo. The goal of these times is to continue to build relationships with students through conversation that will also increase their English speaking abilities.

We have been so blessed by the kindness and enthusiasm that we have experienced with Cambodians. We have come to know and love many of them, and look forward to sharing with you some of the stories of those we have met. Please continue to pray for us as we spend our last few days here and prepare to return to the US. We hope and pray that the changes that God has made in us will continue as we pursue Him back home.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Thoughts from our Team:

Hello from a very hot (kdai in Khmer) morning in Cambodia! Yesterday we finished our first day of English camp, which went very, very well. The students (and teachers!) seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. Each person on our team got to know some Khmer students better, although it was difficult because some had a hard time speaking English. Personally, I got to meet a girl I will call Sarah. She is very friendly and for the most part can speak pretty good English. We got to know each other a little bit in the morning, and then hung out together at the King’s Palace in the afternoon.

The King’s Palace is where the king lives, obviously, but it is also sort of an outdoor museum with different temples and buildings. Sarah explained to me about the different buildings, ones in which they believe children's spirits reside, one that housed belongings that past kings had used, and ones with all the different Buddhas. She is not a Christ follower, so it was very interesting and good to see the King’s Palace not just from a different culture’s eyes, but also a different religion.

At first it’s hard not to critique the different religion or make assumptions about the people who believe in it. But I had to realize that it’s not my job to make it right and say Buddhism is wrong. And it amazed me and helped me to relax a little bit that God is already working in these people and pursuing them. Even pursuing my friend, Sarah. Because of this, I’m very excited to see what He’ll do this week. :)

----Marisa on behalf of the Cambodia team


Here's a shout out from Eileen, Kim, and Liz! We began this morning by putting on our "I Heart Cambodia" t-shirts. In the beginning of this trip our leaders told us that we would fall in love with the Cambodian people. We thought this was a little extreme ... but now we understand what they meant. The people as a whole are friendly, sincere, and have genuine smiles. Loving people is what they do. They have taken a genuine interest in getting to know us despite the language barrier, they embrace each other as brothers and sisters upon meeting, and their unique sense of humor blends well with ours. Therefore, this has made our experience at English Camp better than we could have ever imagined. Our favorite times of the day are connecting and bonding with the students during English lessons, bus rides, and field trips.

Even though it is unbelievably hot (we can hear the sound of the sweat droplets being rung out of John and Jamie’s shirts as we write), extremely crowded, and materials are very limited, God is giving us the strength to look past these conditions. He is allowing us to forget about our physical discomfort and openly and fully love our students.

In addition to bonding with our students, we are realizing how blessed we are to be a part of this Daybreak team. It has been neat to see everyone laugh, cry, share, and encourage each other daily. Watching our teammates interact with the Cambodians and hearing their stories makes the trip that much more rewarding. God has been good.

Please ask to see photos of the crazy traffic, specifically the moto bikes. Crossing the street is like playing a game of chicken, weaving in and out of the motos.

In fact, yesterday our bus driver hit a man on a moto bike, preceded to drive away, and later scrubbed the marks off the front of the bus (crazy!) Continued prayers are appreciated.

-Eileen, Kim, and Liz :)

Monday, July 19, 2010

English Camp Begins!

Well, it has been difficult for us to update the blog due to our busy schedule, but it has been a wonderful few days!! We'll break it down for you by day:

On Saturday, we visited the Toul Sleng Genocide museum, a sobering reminder of the horrors faced by the Cambodian people in recent history, but also a reminder of the hope that Christ can bring in the midst of the darkest of evils!

Sunday was a day of celebration with a local church. How wonderful it was to get a little picture of what heaven will be like, with people of different nations and different tongues praising God together! It was also exciting to see the growth that has taken place in the church since Daybreak was last in the city of Phnom Penh. God is at work across the globe! On Sunday afternoon we had orientation for English camp with the rest of the short-term teams (about 35 people in all). We are working with teams from Calgary and Vancouver, as well as individuals from Wisconsin, South Dakota, and New York. God has put a great team together!

Today (Monday) was our best day so far!! Our first day of English camp was our first opportunity to really interact with the Khmai people. We have around 110 students that came and they were so excited to be with us (although we're not sure who was more excited, them or us!) The Khmai people are so warm and friendly...they are a joy to be with. We were able to begin building relationships with the students that at the end of the week we will know as friends. As our afternoon field trip with the students, we visited the Royal Palace, where they were able to share with us some of their culture and history, while practicing their English in a more natural setting. Tomorrow we will have the camp in the morning and an afternoon field trip to the water park!!! This will be a welcome relief from the heat and humidity!

We are thankful that all of our team has been healthy and have recovered from the first few days of jet lag! We thank you all for your prayers and will update you again soon!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Symptoms of Jet Lag

We have arrived in Cambodia safely. This has been an experience our team is enjoying. Soon we will be crashing into bed. What does it mean when you ride so slowly?

(The above paragraph was formed by twelve individuals each giving one word after another. We have had very little sleep and are quite amused at this situation. Thanks for bearing with us.)

We made all of our connecting flights, got all of our luggage, got to our hotel safely, cleaned the place where we will have English camp this week, and everyone is healthy. Thank you so much for your prayers. We will try to update the blog regularly in the coming days.

It is now the next morning. We had yummy breakfast at a place that was a Starbucks knock-off, and now we are sitting in an internet cafe that is nicer than any cafe we've been in at home. :) Other teams from the States will be joining us later today, and we will be going to a genocide museum in the afternoon. Everyone slept well last night in our awesome accommodations (including air conditioning! Yippee!)

We hope to be in touch again soon. Love you all!

~ The Cambodia Team

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Cambodia or bust!


Hey there, everyone! This is our team, and we cannot wait to get on the plane tomorrow for our journey half-way around the world. Thanks so much for ALL of your support through this journey. We know that there is a lot in store for us in Cambodia, and we could not have done it without you playing your role on our team.

We are unsure of how often we will be able to update our blog while we're gone, but keep checking in as we will attempt to write stories of our adventures as often as we can.


Here's the quick low-down of what you can expect us to be doing each day:
  • July 14 - Depart the US
  • July 16 - Arrive in Cambodia (yes, it's 21 hours in the air, not to mention travel to the airports and layovers, etc.)
  • July 17 - Jet lag recovery!
  • July 18 - Worship with local believers and training for English Camp
  • July 19-24 - ENGLISH CAMP with over 100 Cambodian students! Their English levels range from beginner to advanced, and they will all be mixed together in one big camp to hang out with us and get to know each other. We will have half-days of "class" and half-days of field trips.
  • July 25 - Worship with local believers
  • July 26 - Debrief, tourism, and packing
  • July 27 - Depart Cambodia and land in US, all in the same day :)
  • July 28 @ approx 3:00 AM - Arrive back at Daybreak
Thanks for everything, friends and family! We'll see you in two weeks! From Mel (on behalf of the whole team) P.S. If you become a "follower" of this blog, you can leave comments for our team while we are gone. Please be discerning, however, as you post comments to not communicate anything that would be a distraction to use while we serve. But we LOVE words of encouragement and things that make us laugh!