life is precious....or at least should be....

I take motos everyday. I'm out on the streets of Phnom Penh everyday. I've seen a lot of accidents. People with banged up motos yelling at each other....slightly injured people standing at the side of the road. There are four FATALITIES a day in the city from motor vehicle accidents. It seems unbelievable till you've driven here. Then you understand. And you pray to God for safety everytime you go anywhere.

I usually wear a helmet. It wrecks my hair and is hot and sweaty but I usually wear it. Not on Tuesday. I was distracted when I walked out the door and too lazy to go back up the 500 stairs to get it once I was at the gate and realized I'd forgotten it. Oh well. No big deal right?

Intersection of Mae Tse Tung Blvd and Monivong Blvd. Traffic is slow going through the intersection.....I'm annoyed until I see why. A girl...probably only 14 or 15 had been hit by a big Lexus. She had no helmet on. She was just lying there in the middle of the street. Lifeless. Eyes rolled back in her head. Blood coming from her head. You'd think that seeing a possibly dead body would be tramatizing enough. But it wasn't the lifeless girl's body that was the most disturbing....it was the fact that no one was stopping or doing anything to help. No one was seeing if she had a pulse. No one giving CPR. I saw one guy with a phone. That was it. The driver of the Lexus drove away. Tears running down my face as my moto driver whizzed on by...NOT even a second glance from him. All I could do was pray and ask God to spare her life. To work a miracle. To get her to a decent hospital. Oh Jesus.
That is the reality of life here. Life is not valued. It's harsh. Tragic. Sickening. I've lived in Cambodia for almost two years now but this is something I will never get used to.
I just keep wondering where that girl is. Did she die? Who is her family? Who was she? Just a girl on her way to school most likely.

I didn't wear my helmet on Tuesday.

Operation Christmas Child

I was more than thrilled to come into work this morning to find the storage room jammed packed full of Christmas boxes!!! This year boxes from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia have made their way to Cambodia and our church, New Life and its sister church Phnom Penh Themi have been chosen as recipients!!!! So boxes have been allotted for our school, the Children @ Risk project and the Joy Club kids program on Sunday mornings as well as programs at Phnom Penh Themi and others in Phnom Penh. We are having our Christmas program and party on the 19th at school here and each student will get a box....AND its a surprise! The kids here come from orphanages and poor families and most have never recieved a present at Christmas. I am SO excited to see first hand these gifts being given out after spending years preparing and packaging up boxes back home in Canada.



I think its gonna be one of those moments that brings me back to the reason why God wants me here. To love. To serve. To have my heart broken with the things that breaks God's heart. And to have my heart overflowed with joy. With praise and honor to the God who loves these little kids so much. God is going to cry tears of joy when He sees those kids get the Christmas boxes.



Jesus loves the little children

all the children of the world

red and yellow, black and white

they are precious in His sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

A thought to ponder......
Instead of asking God how much money we should give for a tithe or offering.....why not ask Him how much money He wants us to keep? It is His after all:)

Some days I am overwhelmed with life in Cambodia! The busyness on the streets. All the people. The struggle to find my place here. Even though I feel at home here in Phnom Penh, the reality of me being from a completely different culture and way of life is very real. Each day seems to bring new insight into the Khmer way of living and loving and being but it also brings with it the reality of how different we all are.
Its been a week of challenges. Trying to find things for the apartment at the markets. Trying to figure out WHICH market is the best to get kitchen stuff, material for curtains...and the list goes on. Charlotte and I spent the longest time at Orussey market on Monday trying to find material for curtains. Once we finally found the material SECTION (we were quite frequently misdirected towards the super tacky and ugly "curtains" that are everywhere here)...it took us probably 15 or 20 minutes to try and find a measuring stick which I knew every seller had but everyone kept saying "ote me in"...."don't have." "NO! I know you have one...you have to! You sell material for a living for goodness sakes!!!" Ok so we finally found a measuring stick. Then the battle was to find material with a 1.6 meter width. Impossible. Seriously wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Anyways..I'm getting RE-stressed just writing about it. I did eventually find some really nice deep purple material so I suppose the story ends well:)

On a non-stressful, wonderful note....have had some amazing God experiences. A pastor from Australia has been here with a team and done some wonderful teaching on the Holy Spirit. Sunday night we had a 3 hour prayer and baptism service. God was there with us in such a real way...gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! I'm learning so much. I got a book from Pastor Jesse yesterday called Demolishing Strongholds. My own personal strongholds are slowly starting to show themselves to me as I live in a country where the spiritual realm....evil spirits and demonic activity is a very real part. What a wonderful feeling knowing that God is so much more powerful and that we can have freedom through Him.
Being baptized into the Holy Spirit.....deliverance from spirits. NOT something my church growing up ever talked anything about (or many churches at all in North America for that matter). So this is all so new to me and I'm hungry to learn and grow. It's exciting and scary and overwhelming. But like I said....everything about life in Cambodia can be overwhelming.

found an apartment

Charlotte and I have a home!! We moved into a 3 bedroom apartment this weekend. It's beautiful and we are having tons of fun buying furniture and getting settled in! It's not too far from lots of friends houses and within walking distance of Sovannah mall so it'll be a great location. Long drives to work everyday but hoping to get a moto sometime in November.
This weekend and the next few days have been holidays. A couple days celebrating the king's birthday and coronation day and yesterday marked the beginning of the annual water festival. EVERYONE from the rural provinces come into Phnom Pehn (the population of the city goes from the usual 1.5 million to almost 4 milion!!) and celebrate the end of the rainy season with traditional boat races (the super long ones that hold like 50 men) and tons of other festivities. Its utter chaos down by the river but its fun to go and hang out and people watch. The rural Cambodians who never see white people love to watch us right back:)
The weather is cooling off.....beautiful breezes blow in through our balcony during the day. Pretty soon I'll be able to sleep without a fan and with a blanket!!! I can't wait for jeans that don't stick to your legs and long sleeved shirt days! 25 C no humidity days feel like autumn back at home.

The other day I pasted a guy on a moto carrying a huge metal fan with the front cage part off.....the blades were whipping in the air at full speed.......your face would be no more if you ran into that. One of the most dangerous things I've seen on the roads so far...that is besides the huge metal rods they carry that would easily impail someone if they ran into them. Gotta love Phnom Pehn traffic:)

Well....still no apartment but we've come to the decision that if God doesn't bring anything else in our direction by Wednesday...then we will take the "green" apartment. Its one we looked at a couple weeks ago and really liked but thought was too expensive. We were hoping the landlord would go down to $220 but he won't budge so we'll have to take it at $250 or remain homeless!

It will work out nicely because we have a 6 day holiday coming up this week starting Thursday so it'll give us time to move and settle in. I'm so excited to go shopping and buy stuff for the apartment!! I'll put up some pics when we get settled in.

Last night the youth/young adults at church had a mask party. Everyone looked so good all dressed up and fancy. Cambodian girls LOVE to dress up because it gives them an excuse to wear lots of makeup, put way too much hairspray in their hair and wear SUPER fancy colorful dresses. They all looked so beautiful last night:) I headed home early...once the Khmer dancing started....hehehehe.

Going to church at ICA this morning with Marie Ens then out to lunch with her and some of the Place of Rescue board members from Canada. Haven't seen her since I've been back so it'll be great to catch up with her:)

The expat women that work with New Life have started up a small group. I am sharing tomorrow night with them (and baking brownies to bring...Rhi said that if there was gonna be tears there had to be chocolate:)...I'm excited to share a bit of my life with these women. I am so thankful that God has brought them into my life.....life in Cambodia demands that you have good friends around you. Life is too hard to do by yourself. Its all about community here...something that I greatly admire about Cambodian society. Everyone is in life together. No one gets left behind. You eat, sleep, work and play together. Life happens out on the streets...not closed off behind doors. Personal space and privacy are out the window here.....ok so maybe not EVERYTHING about community is great:)

So...here I am...a year has passed since I last wrote. In a nut shell.....had an amazing year at Heritage. My students all passed into grade 2...thanks to my wonderful teaching and their brilliant little minds. My year in Cambodia changed me in more ways that I even know now. The struggles...the battles...the joys...they brought me closer to my Jesus.

I had a wonderful summer at home on the farm....spending my days helping Mom with stuff around the house or out in the garden and in September I learned how to drive the combine and was able to help out Dad and Cam with harvest. Time with my family was precious and refreshed my soul.

I arrived back in Phnom Pehn at the end of September. I can't believe I've already been here for 3 weeks! I've been staying with a family that also work with New Life. They have 3 wonderful children and its been such a blessing to spend time with them. My jet lag was HORRIBLE and I went through more culture shock then I expected but once again...I have adjusted back into Cambodian life. The smells, the sights, the food. It is wonderful. Except the merciless monsoon storms that leave me soaking wet and muddy.

I am currently on the hunt for an apartment. My friend Charlotte and I are trying to find a 2 bedroom, furnished place in a good location for both of our work. I'm gonna be working part time at Heritage again (teaching grade 2 so I'll have some of my students from last year!!!!!) and part time at NLF school teaching English. I have already been teaching at NLF for a week now and absolutely love my students...grade 2 and grade 4. Most of them come from low income families or orphanages...they are sponsored each month to attend school. $30 a month gives them 2 uniforms, school supplies and help pay their Khmer teachers, who are all wonderful Christian men and women. Its a wonderful atmosphere to work in everyday.....i often hear little voices singing English worship songs or their cute lil' "God bless you teacha" as I leave each day.

I am also thinking of buying a moto. I've been taking motodups (men who drive motos) to work and everywhere but its getting so expensive. I think I can find a cute little scooter for $300-$500....can't you just see me rippin up the busy chaotic streets of Phnom Pehn:) Pray that I don't die learning to drive it!! Seriously.

What I love about being back the most is CHURCH!! There is nothing I'd rather do than be with my Khmer brother and sisters in Christ...worshipping God. Yesterday at church two men came forward and accepted Christ...the same two men who had earlier stood up when we welcome newcomers. These men had never stepped foot inside our church before but by the end of just one service...they were knelt down at the foot of the cross...overwhelmed with the idea that there is a God out there that loves them and wants to be a part of their lives. I've never seen such smiles. It made my heart happy. This is why we live. So that others might come to know Christ as we do.

And in a country where life without Him is hopeless....painfully hopeless.....the prospect of hope and peace and joy.....all it takes is just one service.