with ..... University of the Nations, Siem Reap.
-This is the Non Government Organization (NGO) with whom we serve. We attend daily meetings whenever possible, especially Monday Morning Worship Session and afternoon Staff Meeting. Devotions, Intercession and Staff Training happen on other days. Staff members facilitate; this means that we take our turns at least once a month.
- We had the honor of hosting the Annual Staff Meeting on Feb 8; What fun to see what was accomplished in the last year.
- We thoroughly enjoyed sitting with Loren Cunningham (YWAM founder) when he came to speak at our base.
- We were thrilled to attend two Siem Reap Discipleship Training School (DTS) graduation ceremonies.
- We've gaily participated in several birthday celebrations and even an engagement shower.
- Every Sunday morning we have attended the Student Fellowship at the Spean Neak Teaching Center. This has been our main contact with Khmer students so far. Once a month, John has been the speaker. We really enjoy interacting on a casual basis with the young people who attend.
with ..... Christian Fellowship of Siem Reap.
- Ladies meet once a month (the last Friday evening) for Women's Night Out. Usually
in someone's home, it is a time for food, for getting to know one another and
for hearing testimony or admonition or teaching from a special speaker. A
favorite time for me!
- We occasionally join a bunch of people who meet every Wednesday for lunch at a
training center for young Khmer people. We are served wonderful food in a
classy restaurant setting with well trained (or being trained) service. After
food and conversation, there is time for prayer for each person's needs and
concerns.
with ... Our Travels in Southeast Asia
Shopping Trip to Bangkok, Thailand:
-Jackie and our
Base Leader went on a shopping trip. Two days of travel
and one full day of "shop-'til-you-drop" gave me a desperately needed
boost to my wardrobe. Siem Reap is tourist destination but not a shopper's paradise.
Phnom Phen, our capitol or Bangkok is where most people go to buy nice clothes.
Lesson learned!
 |
Circumnavigation of Tonle Sap Lake:
---> February saw us on a trip which circumnavigated Tonle
Sap Lake. We didn't actually see the lake but from the bus we saw a lot of
country!
The First Stage: Five days in the Capitol city (Phnom Phen) overloaded our senses and greatly challenged our Western idea of navigating in a city! At least three times the streets and houses have been mapped and numbered. Most houses and businesses have at least two numbers printed on them! The Tuk Tuk drivers whom we met could not read a map, knew minimal English and could not recommend a "good" Western style restaurant. The markets were fantastic, colorful and inexpensive.
-Out of 7 on the list, we found 3 of the addresses we were looking for; The UofN base where we met some lovely people over lunch;(http://uofncambodia.org/ministries/phnom-penh/)
a linen shop which was closed for Khmer New Year,
and Ideas at Work where we spent a very interesting hour speaking with the Cambodian manager of this thriving Khmer business.(http://www.ideas-at-work.org/IdeasRopePump.html
-Our hotel was first class. It had a very good restaurant; we sampled it quite a few times! Every day we took a cooling dip in their pool.(http://www.cambodian-country-club.com/)
The First Stage: Five days in the Capitol city (Phnom Phen) overloaded our senses and greatly challenged our Western idea of navigating in a city! At least three times the streets and houses have been mapped and numbered. Most houses and businesses have at least two numbers printed on them! The Tuk Tuk drivers whom we met could not read a map, knew minimal English and could not recommend a "good" Western style restaurant. The markets were fantastic, colorful and inexpensive.
-Out of 7 on the list, we found 3 of the addresses we were looking for; The UofN base where we met some lovely people over lunch;(http://uofncambodia.org/ministries/phnom-penh/)
a linen shop which was closed for Khmer New Year,
and Ideas at Work where we spent a very interesting hour speaking with the Cambodian manager of this thriving Khmer business.(http://www.ideas-at-work.org/IdeasRopePump.html
-Our hotel was first class. It had a very good restaurant; we sampled it quite a few times! Every day we took a cooling dip in their pool.(http://www.cambodian-country-club.com/)
 |
-On the weekend, we attended a Couples Workshop -
Connecting For Life featuring Andrea Wigglesworth and Vicky McEvoy from
Edinburgh and Dublin, UK. (www.vitalconnexions.org) We made some new friends and came away with a few new
tools for helping ourselves and other married people.
The Second Stage: A second bus trip took us over to Battambang. We stayed at the Asia Hotel (www.asiahotelbattambang.com/) while we attended the Community Development Seminar put on by UofN-Battambang. Neither John nor I had ever studied much in this field. What an eye opening week! We now look at Missions to "The Poor" with a very different perspective and are continually thinking and learning more. Two great books we have read are "When Helping Hurts" by S. Corbett + B Fikkert and "Walking with The Poor" by B.L. Myers. We made new friends and renewed a good friendship from our time in Kona.
-That Sunday, we had the privilege of meeting and touring the garden/farm involvements of a wonderful Khmer man named Dara. He is involved with training local people to grow food for themselves and for sale. He sent us home with 3 precious strawberry plants which are off shoots of some given to him from a man in New Zealand.
* What a trip!
* Home again ... That's when I got sick! Head cold, two UTIs, and an infection with fever caused by a Kidney Stone. it took a while but good care got me back on my feet. I thank God for good health!
Chiang Mai, Thailand:
Call2All Congress - May21 - 24, 2013
- Thousands of mission minded Christian leaders from all walks of life, from around the globe and from many organizations and denominations have gotten together to form an extensive global network which is focused on collaborating, training and focusing the body of Christ to complete the Great Commission. (Read Matthew 28: 15-20.) (www.call2all.org) All YWAM staff in Cambodia were invited to attend; There were about 30 of us there!
- We flew; a relaxing day trip. The rest of our team from Siem Reap took buses; a grinding 24 hour trip but it cost them a fraction of the cost of our flights! About 5:30 pm we checked into the YMCA Hotel. http://www.ymcachiangmai.org/hotel.html
- We went looking for an ATM and a restaurant. We found both! The ImmAim Vegetarian Restaurant was the BEST!
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293917-d3731339-Reviews-Imm_Aim_Vegetarian_Bike_Cafe-Chiang_Mai.html
-The conference was full time busy! We visited with people we already knew, met many new people and we listened to great and inspiring speakers, learnt much at the workshops and were encouraged to continue working towards the fulfillment of the great commission which possibly could happen as soon as 2020.
-Shopping and exploring the huge Lotus Mall, exploring the offerings at the food court and restaurants and our daily walks back and forth to the "Y" kept us busy and ready for sleep each night.
-We went shopping for fabric and a few other things. Wow! The Indian shops overflowed with beautiful fabrics. I sure miss having a sewing machine!
-We stayed an extra day;
John did some clothing shopping and went to have a filling replaced at a dentist.
Jackie went exploring the city: I took a taxi to Wororot Market on the other side of the old walled city and walked back through the old city. I explored consignment and thrift stores, checked out the craftsmen shops and NGO outlets along the way and even shopped for tourist products. A very full and satisfying day!
Playing "Tourist" with Guests:
 |
| One must, of course, be good hosts when visitors come! |
with ..... Projects
(see John's Blurb - August 2013 for more
details)
Egg Production Facility:
John is continuing to work with a man from a Swiss N.G.O. who is running an egg production facility about 1.5 hours drive north of town. The idea is to employ and train Khmer people in this business. They set up the generator, electrical system, well, water pumps, and solar electric lighting a few months ago. All was well for a while until he reported progressive system failures. Upon investigation we found rats had eaten the wiring in an underground conduit between the generator house and the chicken coop. So we wired it again, above ground, in pipe this time. We'll see!
Each time we go up there, we enjoy lunch and fellowship with a neighbor couple who are the local pastors. We continue to pray for them and their family and growing congregation. We've even come home with some chicken manure for our compost!
-(Jackie) My involvement with my friend Glen's project has been so much fun! Teaching village ladies who can't read (in any language!) to crochet white cotton snowflakes was a challenge!
Since they rented a house to hold the pre-school and the sewing workshop, I have been involved with planning and starting on the landscaping and garden project. www.wowcambodia.org and
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g297390-d4040469-Reviews-AHA_Angkor_Handicraft_Association-Siem_Reap_Siem_Reap_Province.html
-John has been working on this project for quite a while now. From Jackie's perspective it seems that every time something is almost done, something else stops or confounds the project.
The Sand Filters weren't finished -->
the well was being contaminated by the septic overflow -->
a new consideration is to re-route all the grey water around the building for use in the garden beds -->
a new well was dug in the front of the building away from any contamination -->
the pump start capacitor blew -->
was replaced and blew again -->
diagnosis: the incoming voltage fluctuates from 170 to 280 in a world of 220 (anybody else not quite understand what that means?) -->
the new voltage regulator can't handle surges over 240 or so -->
the power supply utility company cannot/ will not put in a new transformer -->
... now it gets miraculous!
John recently met a contemporary of his who is an EE (Electrical Engineer) currently living in town and who has nothing major to do. -->
they have some scheme to add more wire around the transformer toroid core to allow it to regulate the ups and downs in the voltage -->
John has been researching transformers which can handle the variance --->
meanwhile they discovered that the ground floor (4 classrooms) have had no power for about a month -->
further investigations revealed a short -->
no way to find it in the brick walls --->
re-wiring is now being planned -->
.... We need a couple of able bodied younger people who speak English who can do the work! Want to come for a visit next week? --->
No Need! We have a crew going out tomorrow (September 24!) A half dozen Singapore students are here for the week looking for something to do!
- A Compost Operation Set-Up Party is being organized for tomorrow too!!!
What FUN! Watch for more photos soon!
Solar Project at an NGO's Outreach Farm:
-John has been working with a young man helping to install a very nice solar array and get power to this outreach farm. This project was coming along just fine until the rains started. Now the road is impassable except by motorbike and John can't go that way!
-Studying the specs on the equipment and planning wiring to the buildings has been the most fun to watch them do!
Ladie's study for the Mothers at Uof.'s TaPuok village:
- I, Jackie, have been three times now to visit with the Mothers of the children who attend the after-school program UofN runs in this farming village. With the help of a young Khmer lady who translates for me, we have discussed some fun topics:
~about taking good care of themselves because they are precious to their Creator,
~we read the Creation Story and at their request gave 4 Khmer bibles so that those who can read can see for themselves what the Creator's Book says.
~last visit we just "talked"! They are now my precious friends and I really enjoy learning about their lives, hopes and families.
- Because these relationships are still at a development stage, I have not taken any photos while there. I am not and do not want to be a "tourist" who will come and go. I want to protect them and assure them of how special they are to me.
- Please pray that Holy Spirit will inspire me to teach something relevant to their lives: What Father-God would have them hear!
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