Cambodia, the Kingdom of “Wonder”

Greetings from Cambodia! We have been here for a month and it seems like just a few days. We did get settled in our apartment and are adjusting to our new normal. We are becoming regulars in our neighborhood and local market. They have realized we are here to stay so our relationship has moved from tourist to local. I had a good talk with the owner of photo store in our neighborhood. His parents live in Los Angeles and his English is very good. The lady in the market near our home that has great vegetables was very patient with our stumbling over our new language, then she spoke to us in very good English to help us out. Our local tuk tuk drivers are getting to know us and where we live. We have the best landlord and the staff that work on the property where we live are great and patient with our language and encourage us every day. 

 

We have been told that learning a new language is the most difficult thing you will do. They have also told me that the older you get the more difficult it is to learn. Well I have not disappointed, I have NEVER tried to learn a new language. All of the years serving in missions we were never at a location long enough to learn the language. We are in a group class– Vikki, Zoe and I. For the record Zoe and VIkki are very good students. We are encouraged as we learn and listen to conversations around us when we are out and about and we look at each other and say with amazement “I know what they said”. Vikki shared a quote that is very fitting for us this day. “When God put a calling in your life He already factored in your stupidity. Comforting”  

 

I did purchase a motorcycle to help me get around daily. Vikki says I always look for reasons to ride it and she is correct. Having a motorcycle provided an opportunity to visit a neighboring village and check out a ministry that we could possibly partner with in the future. As time progresses we will increase in our ministry tasks but for now we are getting adjusted and concentrating on language learning. We will have a team arrive in December so we are starting to make preparations for their arrival.

 

Last week we had an additional staff member join us here in Cambodia. His name is Nathan Borntrager.  He is from Colorado and is here as a field mentor. He is a blessing to us as he has previous experience with Adventures In Missions and is a very good musician. We are now calling ourselves the “Fantastic Four” until we get more staff. He has already helped us in understanding all of the “Adventures lingo” and all of the acronyms. I spent most of this past week getting him settled in with apartment and transportation. If anyone needs an apartment in Siem Reap Cambodia let me know, over the past few months, I have become somewhat of an expert. LOL

  

We have visited the church that we attended when we were here in 2016 and 2017 as well as a home based church. We are trying to find where God is leading us for our church home here.. We also hope and pray that we can find a Khmer speaking church in our neighborhood to attend on Sunday mornings– the English speaking churches meet on Sunday afternoon. We are blessed with an 11 hour time difference from the eastern US. We drop in on First Baptist Church Merritt Island or Bainbridge United Methodist Church on most Sunday evenings and listen to their morning services live.

 

Cambodia is currently celebrating Pchum Ben. This is regarded as the most important spiritual time for Khmer people. For 15 days the Khmer people have to go to the Wat (temple) and present food and offerings to the deceased, ghosts and spirits.  It is believed, that if they don’t go, a curse will fall upon them if the spirits arrive at the temple and no family member brought any offerings. It seems very different to us but we have the utmost respect for the people of Cambodia. Pray for us as we engage our neighbors and those that God has put before us as we serve here in Cambodia.