We arrived in Phnom Penh Tuesday evening after a long bus ride from Seim Reap. (Which by the way Leah and I both had our first roasted cricket on that bus ride). We dropped the boys off at the local church then the girls headed over to the Dolans house. The Dolans are this wonderful missionary family that welcomed us into their home and spoiled us for a few days. That night the local church made us curry for dinner (which I'm trying really hard to like) and lots of wonderful bread.
The next morning we woke up to the wonderful smell of pancakes. Mrs. Dolan had woken up early to fix us lots of wonderful pancakes before we headed out that day. We then picked the boys up from the church and headed out to church/school/orphanage in a small village. It was so interesting just driving through so many different villages. These people live in little huts and farm for most of the day. There are many rice fields and fruit orchards in that area. It was so interesting to see a culture so different from our own but yet they are such happy people. They don't need money, things or air conditioning to make them happy, they just are. When we got to the village, the men told us about the orphanage and how they grow rice and raise cattle to bring in money for the children. We even got a tour to see the orphanage, chicken coops, and the room where they stored all the rice. We once again had fun singing and playing games with the children. They were a little more shy than the others but we taught them how to play "Down by the Banks" (the game where you sit in a circle and slap your neighbors hand) and then they warmed up to us. The second half of the day was spent at another village church and there we got to do some physical work! We carried gallons and gallons of water from their well to these enormously large pots where they kept the fresh water. It was kinda fun because you would carry two buckets that we attached by a long piece of wood that you thew around your shoulders. the people at the village were shocked because they had never seem Americans working before and especially American women! Before we left the preacher at the church told us all about his conversion and how he used to persecute the Christians in his village. It was a very touching and powerful story. What I loved the most was seeing the body of Christ come together across nations that day. We were just one big family!
That night we went to the church service there and then had another huge curry dinner, cooked by the wonderful Mrs. Dolan. During dinner a church member originally from Pakistan told us his story. His family pretty much abandoned him when he became Christian because he was no longer Muslim. He can not even go home at this point for the fear of being killed. He is such a sweet man that has such a passion for the Lord.
For more pictures click on these links...
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