Fighting Dogs and Other Surprise Happenings

Hello everyone,

Woke up after 2:00 a.m. after three hours of sleep to do some blogging -- my intention was to upload a bunch of pictures here as I know some of you are dying to see pictures of the children. Sorry, the pace has been so hectic and with us being short one person who shared the blogging chores we have had no time to spare... But as I stuck my card into the netbook, I was shocked to discover that all my pictures from this trip have apparently been deleted. I have no idea what happened and am still in shock. My theory is that someone let one of the children use my camera and perhaps the pictures were erased by mistake -- several of our people let the children use their cameras. I don't normally do that, but I have had a couple of other team members use my camera so I have not been in control of it at all times because of all my other responsibilities.

So, my apologies to all of you picture seekers. It will have to wait until I get someone else's card and we find the time to do it.

Most of our team is spending the night at Grace Place, Battambang, today. The children could hardly hide their pleasure at the thought that some of us would be sleeping there. In a few hours, we will be serving them American-style breakfast -- cereal with milk. Our director told me last night that they never had this before. We are excited!

I can't begin to explain the emotions of the last couple of days. We try to prepare our teams to what is going to happen when the children smolder us with their love and compassion but we can never do an adequate job of it. One of our team members summed it up: "I thought I was coming here to give, but have realized that God wanted me to receive." We understand the words of the Scriptures more fully now when it says "it is better to give them to receive." We have seen the eyes of these precious when they give so fully out of the apparently endless fountain of joy that God has abundantly supplied them with.

Some of the side stories from our trip include but are not limited to:

Harlene and Juana got to sit by a man who lived through the horrors of the Khmer Rouge and somehow managed to escape, received refugee status and ended up in the United States. Recently, he discovered he still have relatives in Cambodia, so he was coming back for the first time since the mid 70's to be reunited with them. This man does not speak Kmai though he is Cambodian by birth. He lives in Columbus, OH, which will give us the opportunity to follow up with him later.

Pastor Ivanildo sat by a man who was coming to Cambodia to take his wife back to the United States with him. This man lives in Rochester, MN, and he is Cambodia. He was here last year to start the process of getting married to this lady he never met before -- they are both in their 30's. When I mentioned to him the words "Jesus Christ," he had no idea what I was talking about. He said he never heard of him. I just pray that this couple, and especially the young Cambodian woman who is about to enter into the frigid, far-away land of Minnesotta, will find a special lover of Jesus for a friend, who will help ease the pain of transitioning to a radically different culture, and in the process bring them to the knowledge of this beautiful Messiah we love so much.

I must close now and perhaps go back to sleep -- if I can somehow forget about my pictures... The worst part is not having someone I can share this with right now. The team is, hopefully, sound asleep now. Some of us are going on a walk at 5:45. Or at least I know I will...

Later I will tell you about the powerful moments we spent with the children personal delivering them the gifts you all so carefully and thoughtfully assembled for them. Also, if I can remember, I will tell you about being lost in the middle of Battambang, sitting on a bus with a driver speaking on a cell phone with a couple of people to try to move the bus in the right direction. I wonder what the word is Kmai is for "recalculating"? If he had a GPS, we would have heard it a few times.

I also should tell you about our team perfoming a song when both Josh and I messed up the lyrics... Whatever you do, don't put me in charge of singing. And RAD wouldn't be much of a help here either, I am afraid. Also, we had the pastoral prayer at the service at the Ministry Center with Kevin and Jill Kane. After one rather long prayer (for U.S. standards) one of our team members whose name I will not divulge, turned to me and said, "And I thought RAD prayed long." Not anymore, I guess.

And did I tell you about a surprise outing I am planning for the trip today? Stay tuned...

And what about meeting three young monks at the temple yesterday. They were headed to Grammar school on a Sunday morning. I guess monks here work on Sundays too! And one more thing, don't run on the streets of Phnom Penh... the stray dogs own the streets, you may find one attached to your legs... by the teeth! Thankfully, that didn't happen to me, but only because I know the universe sign that bring fears to the eyes of dogs anywhere and everywhere -- lower yourself to the ground, pretend you are picking up a rock and most of the time the dogs retreat. If the dog is younger, it may not get it at first, but at the first sign of you pretending you might be throwing the pretend rock at it, he runs like a scared puppy . So I just incorporated that into my exercise routine and call it "dawgone it aerobics class." Anyone wants to sign up for the next session?

I better stop, this is getting sillier by the second...

Love to you all,

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
itrindade@woostergrace.org