More of Tuesday in Cambodia...

Tuesday was the second day of VBS and the kids were just as excited to come back as we were... all night I longed to get my hands on them again... so precious... here are some pics our moments together...

This next picture definitely has a story with it.. of course.  We brought these 10 commandment books/crafts for the kids to do during craft time and to take home.  They had some pieces that required the kids to peel off like stickers which left an outside piece that most of us would consider trash.  In hopes that we did not litter on the grounds I was running around with a trash bucket as soon as I saw the kids were ready and to my amazement they did not want to give me any trash.  They shook their head when I pointed to the trash trying to tell me this is not trash we don't throw anything away... most of the kids kept every part (the outside of the sticker and the back) and made us of it all... most decorated their clothes or wanted to take home... and some even decorated their faces... so cute...

The smaller children colored...

Here is one of the kids taking so much time to make sure his is perfect... they were so cute and so proud to show off their master piece... and also in regards to the trash we noticed that the colored pencils needed to be sharpened so we came around and sharpened them and we brought the really cheap ones that don't keep the shavings all confined so we had to place them in our hand to throw away... which was not a big deal but once the kids realized we were throwing them away they would either ask for them from us or take them from the trash... nothing was trash in their mind... everything was usable...

I love taking pics of these moments but I did not want to miss out on the true moments of being with the kids so I would put down my camera and jump in.. here I was showing the boys how to draw a cross.


After craft time we had movie time... a cute short kid story explained moses and how he got the 10 commandments... it was in English but all the kids knew what was going on just by the actions...

Time to go home... all the kids get their things and walk home..


Time for our lunch... our vision trust leader would run to  town everyday and pick us up some local food... yum yum and this time we had some local fruit that was delicious but a little messy to eat.  the bunch of fruit (sorry forgot the name) is in the bottom right hand corner below and the following pic is of me trying to eat it you have to scoop with your thumb and then suck... interesting but very tasty...


After lunch we had some time to kill before the next group so our fearless leader at the school (one of the teachers... his name was MOL) took us across the street from the school to a dog restaurant that was popular... no joke we had to check it out. Here is the raw meat about to be cooked and those in the background are eating lunch...



Back in school... here are some pics of the kids waiting for VBS to start... this is their proper school room and one of the teachers...

Another great VBS with kids... and more playing and then the kids were off back home before knew it again... a night of ESL, some dinner and fast to sleep... we were all weary but on cloud nine at the same time.  All our team left something or some issue back in Singapore that was weighing on us early in the week (mine was leaving Pierce for that long and longing for him to be with me) but after day 2 we all knew that this is where we were suppose to be for that time and God had a bigger plan.


Another great day... come back and see more... it gets better...and better.

Tuesday... the drive to the school...

Welcome to our Tuesday (finally) in Phnom Phen, Cambodia... once again greeted by the run in the elevator just in case we did not remember...

I was excited this morning about our trip to the village and school bc I got to sit in the front passenger seat so I could take some good photos... so here you go... what we saw on the way to Andong Village.
















Hope you enjoyed our view... lots of smiles and people making a living just right off the side of the road... stay tuned to our day at the school.

More Monday in Cambodia...

Are you tired of Monday yet... what a great long day... here are more pics...

This first one is of a man walking to the village.... this village has taken 5 years to construct... it was just a grassy piece of land when 1,000 families (which includes the mom, dad, kids, grandparents... so over 5,000 people) were dropped off and relocated... no running water, no shelter, no waste management, no toilets, no food, etc.  This is where Pastor Abraham stepped in to help out... bc he thought it was wrong the way these people were expected to live... he started helping this group of "slum" on how to fish for food, how to dip trenches for latrines and how to build homes for shelter... he provided all the supplies, the labor help and knowledge... I will write more on this when we go visit the village but now the slum has a name... Andong Village....


I love this picture of this sweet girls hand... it was rare to see jewelry on these kids but by how tight this bracelet was (no way to get on or off) you could tell she has had it since she was small.  Also check out her finger nails... painted half way but full of dirt...

During our bible lessons we used puppets (which the kids had never seen puppets) and although they could not understand us they laughed at the actions of the puppets and then we had the kids act out what they saw...

After VBS, two of the teachers stayed behind to teach the school teachers ESL.. here is one of the groups...

All the women teachers of the school... for several years they were volunteers and now they are paid about $35 USD a year.  Bless them for all that they do and the love they show these kids... they are very sweet ladies... may their jewels in heaven be massive.

Some sighting around town (once inside the city life)...





Ok sorry that the pics are a little out of order... but we are back at the school... one of the thing that our church here in Singapore IBC donated was a ceiling for the school... the walls only go halfway and it is very loud in the building between all the rooms... so we are hoping that if we put a top on the rooms it will help with noise control.  Here is the before picture...

Once again the toilet... the toilets do not flush so check out the second picture were you had to take a scoop behind the toilet scoop some mosquito infested water and then place it inside the toilet to kind of wash it down...



This picture I obviously did not take but it reminds me of all the times in between sessions I would sit by myself and thank God for places like this for these people... and thank God for all the blessings in my life.  A lot of the world lives totally different than I and I am just now at 34 realizing just how different we all are but that we have the same God... no matter what... He is a good God and this trip we spent a lot of time talking about just how Big He is and how thankful I am.

I love this picture... I of course took a ton of pics (you are seeing about 10%) and the kids would line up to take pics and then they would want to see their picture... they had never seen their picture before (most of them)... and it was a pleasure to make them so happy (in such an easy way)...

Ok I think that is all of Monday... more tomorrow showcasing Tuesday.