Wednesday... come and meet The Andong Village!

I can not believe this is our last full day in Cambodia (well that is what I thought last year when I was there)... I am already falling in love with this place and these people and it breaks my heart to leave but excited to see my family back in Singapore.

We welcome you to Wednesday...

Pastor Abraham, his wife and youngest son... what joys and blessings they are to so many... the family that has persevered, struggled but had faith, loved, sweat, cried and celebrated with God.  They are the ones with God direction that have taken the "No Name Slum" to "The Andong Village".  We are going on our tour today of the home place of these children that we have been with all week.  We are going to meet their families, see their homes and get to walk in their shoes for a couple of hours... we are all excited but a little nervous all at that same time.

Here our team is walking to the village... oh the feet that have walked this same path... if I could only be so faithful and determined.

When we first got there I had to remind myself to take pictures so I could always remember... nothing could have prepared me for such sorrow in my heart but it was all washed away when we met the people with smiles on their face and so much respect for Pastor Abraham.  Pastor Abraham would walk us around and tell us little stories and when we came across a family they would stand at attention and shake his hands, take off their hats and one group was even playing a card game and when we came along they all jumped up like they had been caught doing something naughty. We asked Pastor what this was about if they were not allowed to play cards... and he said no they just did that out of respect for him and all the ladies.  This man has taught them so much how to build a house, how to dig trenches, how to provide for their families, how to live off the land but most of all how to love and how to love God.  Many of these families have come to know Christ through his actions and love for them.  Pastor Abraham reported to us that many would say once they came to know the Lord that their old religion (their God will stay unnamed) was not their for them when they got moved to this piece of land and they had nothing, not even the government was their for them, so when they saw that that one true God was the only one that never forgot them they were convicted and wanted to get to know what the TRUE ONE.

I love this picture for many reasons... but here are some.. you can tell that her house is made out of trees but through the years she was able to afford concrete so she put concrete on top of the wood to keep the bugs out... also in the far right you can see some blurred blue letters this is an actual address that Pastor Abraham has worked with the government to give these families a true address (a house number) so they would no longer be called the slum.

A sweet girl and her sister that followed us around...


This guy also came to see us and wanted me to take his picture... this was his pose.

People all over were peeking out their windows to check us out and see what was going on... word travels fast...


The sweet lady we came to pray with and thank God for... she has really taken pride in her home and worked really hard to get paint on the walls and a good flooring... this is her bed behind her and she has curtains above the door and window.  She was so proud to let us come in and show off her home... we hugged her and thanked her and prayed for her and told her how proud we were of her.

Laundry time...





one of my friends on the trip pointed out how ironic this picture is... we all have dream boards (or wishes) this house had put some famous people up and a dream home...

Andong Village does have electricity now... and who ever can pay for it can have it... interesting but mostly it was only going to the small shops in the village that were bringing in money and people would gather around and watch TV.

As you can see below some houses are still wood and tin and I have more pics of some of the people still living below trees (there only shelter)... each family is different but they are all thankful.  This man was a soldier and survived the Khmer Rouge.  The Pastor told us a few stories that broke my heart and I had to take a picture with him... he was not wearing a shirt when we meet him (it was so hot) but when I asked if I could take a picture he smiled at me and left the room... I did not know what that meant but he went to get a shirt... so sweet... He was a smiley man but did not have many teeth and I was told later that they did not like to smile in pics (when the chance did come) so they did not show their teeth... but once we put the camera down he could not stop smiling and he and his family just recently came to know the Lord.

Praise Him... He is loving, faithful, forgiving and all knowing... We praise You...