Cambodia Experience - Thursday 5-5-2005

Thursday 5-5-2005

Woke up at 6.30am. Breakfast at 7.00am at the hotel. Today I broke my daily routine of not eating breakfast. I took breakfast – beef noodles. After breakfast, I told Pastor Joanne of my dream. We went to FKC which we call our base. Upon arriving there, Pastor Joanne asked me to share my dream with the group. Shared with them my dream and thereafter the team prayed. Then the village team went to the market together with 2 students who will act as our interpreter – Salvot and Narong. We will be going to Narong’s village. Upon arriving at the market, a group of taximen swarm around us. Salvot made the arrangement for our taxi to the village. It will take us 1 and half hour to reach the village.

At last, Salvot managed to find one taxi who is willing to bring us there. The taxi is a Toyota Camry car. I thought that there will be two taxis but was told that all of us will be going into that one car. The total of 9 people in one car. 5 at the back seat, 2 at the front passenger seat and 2 at the driver seat. Sat at the front passenger seat with Wee Liem. It is not comfortable at all. Half way the journey, had to ask Wee Liem to sit on my lap… though heavy but it is more comfortable.

We reached the village and went for a short walk touring the village. Upon arriving at the kindergarten, we were asked to handle the children. The team was quite unprepared but praise God, everything went on smoothly. We played games and sang action songs. And we also shared Bible stories with the children – David & Goliath. I acted to be Goliath and really scares the boy who is supposed to be David. What to do,… he is really scared of my face and my voice.

Thereafter, we went to the chief’s house and waited until 12.00noon where we are supposed to teach English class to a group of children. The team taught them numbers and faces. The children are quite advanced so we can’t use the lessons that we prepared for them. We taught them songs – simple English action songs.

Thereafter we took motorbikes ride to Narong’s village. It’s about 15 minutes ride from the first village. Took our lunch there. There’s only 2 main dishes. Soup and vegetables. Though simple yet I really enjoy the food. After lunch, we rested for a while. There’s an English class at Narong’s house at 3.00pm. We watch the teacher taught the children first before the team starts teaching English songs. Thereafter, the team began teaching English lessons to the children. Some of the children are good in their understanding of the words use. The class ends at 5.00pm. We rested for a while before we went to a house for visitation. Talked to the family for about 1 hour and by then it is already dark. Went back to Narong’s house. Another student Sach arrived by motorbike and Salvot went back to Phnom Penh.

Ministered to the children there with balloon sculpturing and songs. At about 7.30pm we took our dinner… again a simple dinner and plain water. The drinking water is really muddy. Its pond water which the host took from a pond nearby. The water was used for cooking and bathing. They boiled the water and gave us to drink. At first we are quite unsure of whether we should drink the water. After drinking a bit, the rest of the team tried it. Then for the rest of our stay there, we drank the boiled pond water without any hesitation.

After dinner, the girls bathed at the bathroom while Niger, Wee Liem and I bathed at the water pump well just next door. It’s very cooling to bathe there… dark as there’s no electricity in the village. During the night we prayed together and debriefed before we went to sleep. Slept inside the room with Niger, while the rest slept outside.