More of our time in The Andong Village...

Between all the members of our group we had hundreds of pics... you can imagine I am sure... most of the people in the village wanted their picture taken and the kids wanted more than one.  So we ended up with some fabulous photos but I only sharing with you the ones that I hope leave an impact with you and can kind of share their story at the same time.

Yesterday I spoke of the various types of houses... the pic below is of some men that were building a new house...almost finished.... they have a rood and it is multi level...

We passed by this one house that had a sleeping baby in the hammock... now Pierce would have loved to sleep like this (and has before) but I would have never figured out how to keep the walls from crashing in on the baby... why didn't I think of two pieces of wood... clever.

A mom working hard and making a living... there will be a lot of pics below that show you how various people earned an income while staying in the village... many of them revolved around food.

Here is a great shot of just common life in the village... like I said it was hot... and there are times I had wished I was naked like these kids...


We did get to pray with a family that had just had twins... when a bunch of women walked in to this house we all oooeee and aweeed... sweet little babies that just lie their all day and a sweet mom that worked so hard to take care of them.  They were so happy to see our faces and we just wanted to hold them... but we did not.  The school donates formula for this family so the children are well nourished.

Here is the proud mama... she walked us out....


This lady you will see again... I am so glad that I got a picture of her sweet smile.  She was taking wool and stuffing pillows and mattress' that is how she made a living..


The Twins again... oh how I wish I could watch them grow...

Just one of the trash piles... that they will burn someday... Pastor Abraham has taught them to keep their trash in a common area to take care of their village.

There is nothing like a barbed wire clothes rod.

Here is the same lady that was stuffing pillow.  Not sure if this was her home (under the tree) or if this is just where she works... but I am so proud of her for making a living and supporting her family.

A picture of one trench... that carried waste and natural rain water away from the village.

If you know me... I ask a lot of question... here Pastor Abraham is trying to explain something to me...

You saw this sweet man yesterday and I am happy to show him again... after my picture with him he wanted more... and was happy to take them... this time he saluted with our Vision Trust leader who is responsible for all the funding from Vision Trust for this village and school.  This is her second home and was happy to see this man again.

Got to love this last picture from the village... our fearless leader holding tight to two children... the children just wanted to be with us and it was so hard to say goodbye...

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...

The Last of Tuesday...in Cambodia

The last moments of Tuesday... another great day full of VBS fun, laughter, hugs and smiles...
Here is a close up of the boy I spoke of yesterday... that tied two vines together and swung for 30 minutes...

Random shot of the street and all the bikes...

Here are the older kids listening to the bible story...


And a couple of days ago I showed you a picture of the "missing" roof on the school rooms and here is the roof that IBC donated to the school... looks good and so helps with the sound issue.


Here the kids were playing a game that is similar to the telephone game but instead the draw on each others backs... the person in the back received a picture from a teacher and then was to draw the same on the back in front of them and that continued on to the front child who then took a pencil and drew what they thought it was on a piece of paper... it was funny... some were right on and others were clueless...

Before our team got ready to go we asked for donations for clothing... old school uniforms, clean shirts and shorts, etc.  So we were able to give the kids each a brand new set of clothing... here are some boys that got new school uniforms below.  Also some of our team had been before and they noticed that the children were wearing clothes that they received last time we were there.

Once our day was over... after VBS and ESL... we get in the van and head back to town for dinner and sleep.  This night we got a flat tire... let me just tell you how gracious our God was during all of this... first off when we got the flat tire it was on the nicest street in town... there is this random street (which we had even commented before hand) in the middle of slums, poor neighborhoods, congested neighborhoods and lets just say places you would not want a bunch of women to just be hanging out while our sweet driver tries to fix the tire.    Second is that when we all got out of the van it was dry outside but soon started to rain... which flooded this street quite quickly within minutes, as you can imagine there was a lot of drama behind this including that our driver was having to keep his head up above the water while he was under the van.... I got to see our team really pull together... from holding umbrella's, flash lights, helping each other stay safe and dry.  There was one moment where we thought it could not be any worse (there were lots of things that were happening that I will spare you from) and we just started singing praise songs (reminded me of some good old A&M mission trips in college).


A great day that has some hiccups along the way but we are all better because of them.  More Cambodian Memories...