Love Overdose

So it's 3:30 p.m. here and about half an hour ago we returned to the hotel (minus Jeana and Faa) to get refreshed a little bit, after several hours with the our orphan children. I have lots of pictures I want to upload but the battery went dead on my camera. Charging it now...

I can't even begin to describe the overwhelming experience of being welcome by the children at Grace Place, Battambang. Picture in your mind a little mob of happy smiling faces, all running to the van and swarming at you like bees not to sting but to love. Every child wanted to hug everyone of us. We were "daddy" (even Nathan!) and "momma" to everyone of them. They kept saying "We miss you!" "We love you!" and proudly took us to inspect their rooms (four rooms total, two for boys and two for girls) with their clothes and few possessions neatly arranged in an open kind of cabinet made of bamboo.

Soon chairs appeared, we were made to sit down, and the children began to gently massage our backs and arms. They were so genuine in their expression of thankfulness. Someone brought wet disposable towels which had been kept in the refrigerator and were cold and applied them to our faces. What a soothing feeling that was as the sun was getting high on the skies. Cokes and bottled water were brought and that was just the start.

The children put on a show, dancing to local and western music with beautifully choreographed dances, dressed in cute outfits appropriate to the region. They put their hearts into their dances and in one song, called the "butterfly song," when the little girls came dressed up in their butterfly outfits, I could almost feel the suave flight of the butterflies entering the room. It was a sight to behold. The children performed several songs, then they sat down, I shared with them the story of "Grace Place, Battambang," and last but not least, we distributed each one the gifts from their sponsors. Before handing the gifts, Jeana shared a little bit about the sponsors and how our entire church loves our children.

I wish I could show you the faces of everyone of those children when they received their gifts. They were exhilarated, they kept looking inside their bags and immediately began showing off their little gifts, putting them on, playing with them, or whatever. It was like being in a child's toy store.

Later Faa shared her story growing up poor on the mountains of Thailand. She shared with them about how God gave her a heart for children like them who live in Thailand.

I hope this captures a little bit the emotions of the morning. My heart is still pounding with excitement as I remember the faces of the children smiling and telling us how much they love us. I told them that many people in our church wanted to come with us. I conveyed to them your love, your prayers and your commitment to see them grow up to be men and women of God.

Two things were obvious to me. Frist, it is so evident that Vannak and his wife love these children as if they were their own. When I asked Vannak to convey to his wife how much we appreciated what she was doing, he kind of shrugged his shoulder and said, "She loves what she is doing." Matter-of-factly. And she does and it shows. We took the staff from "Grace Place, Battambang" to lunch today to express how thankful we are for what they do day in and day out on behalf of the children. They were very thankful. And that, by the way, is the reason Jeana was left behind (Faa stayed to accompany her).

We had a long wait at the restaurant and Jeana was the last one to get her food, after we figured out that they had simply forgotten to take her order! So Jeana and Faa are coming back to the hotel with Jill Kane, who in spite of being still weak (recovering from dengue fever and typhoid), was able to join us for lunch together with Kevin.

We love the company of Kevin and Jill. They are really salt and light kind of people. One quick story about Jill. I overheard this in the van today. Faa, who recently returned from the U.S., asked Jill, "So as an American what was it like for you when you came to Cambodia for the first time?" She was no doubt expecting Jill to say, "hard" or something close to that. Instead, without blinking, Jill said, "Honestly, I felt like I was home." Wow. It is so good to see Kevin and Jill using Kmai with much fluency now. This is the first time I've seen them "in action" in Kmai. The last few times I was with them here they were still learning the language. They are doing very well now and we should be very proud that they represent our church. Praise God for that!

Stay tuned for the pictures later.

Thanks for the prayers and the comments. Jeana really needs your prayers. She still has a nasty cough and was not able to sleep much last night. She needs a healing touch from the Lord!

By the way, it was worth the wait at the restaurant. I had tom yun soup and ate deep fried quail for appetizer (ordered by Pastor Vannak). And the best part -- we fed 10 people for $38.00! And the food was great.

But the tastiest thing we had today was not the food, it was a little taste of heaven on earth. I wish all of you could one day experience what we experienced today. I will try to tell you the story of "Grace Place, Battambang" some time in the future...

We return for another love overdose in about one hour. Can't wait!

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
itrindade@woostergrace.org