Visiting my sponsored child

Praise God the team has returned from SE Asia. Please read the last post from Jamie while they were in Thailand.

Greetings from Thailand!  This is Jamie, and I will be trying out my writing skills on behalf of the team. This is a rather long update but full of awesome details!

After a successful flight from Siem Reap, we all crashed Tuesday evening.  On Wednesday afternoon, we traveled from Chiang Mai to our Grace Place home in Weing Pa Pao.  

Words cannot describe our children there.  Upon our arrival, they were a little shy, but it didn’t take them long to warm up and play.  I think we somewhat destroyed the Longans fruit tree with the children picking up fruit to eat.  We were sticky but had a great time.  We took jump ropes along for the children to play with, and that was a big hit as well.  While the children were eating their supper, we ate supper with Tutu’s parents and the widows there.  They literally “killed the fattened pig” for us.  In Thai culture, that is how you show honor to special guests that come to visit.  We felt very honored to eat with them.  Another team who is with us here is visiting from Asia’s Hope Canada.  John and his wife Cathy and teenage children Amy and Jesse brought popcorn to cook for the children.  We cooked it in a big metal pot over an open fire, and waited for the popping to begin.  We signaled for the children to come watch.  They stretched out bamboo mats for the children to sit on, and they all enjoyed fresh American popcorn.  It tasted good and brought some beautiful smiles to the children’s faces.  Priceless.  The widows showed us their silk worms and explained their process for selling raw silk.  They raise the silk worms until they spin their silk cocoons.  They then boil the cocoons and wrap the silk around to make a raw skein.  They then take the raw silk to town to have it processed and made into scarves.  The raw silk is very rough to the touch, but once it is washed, it is the silky softness we are accustomed to.  After playing with the children a little longer, we traveled the 1 ½ hours back to Chiang Mai.

 On Thursday, I had the opportunity to visit a boy (AKA Mick) that my family has sponsored for approximately 8 years through Compassion International.  I was able to arrange a day trip to spend some time with him and his mother.  Jeana and Zac hung out and rested as Jeana was feeling under the weather from what we think was a virus.  She is now feeling better and on the mend.  J Praise the Lord!  The Compassion staff picked me up, and we traveled to a nearby elephant camp where you watch an elephant show, ride on an ox cart, ride an elephant through the mountain camp, and take a 35 minute ride on a bamboo raft on the river through the mountains.  It was an experience of a lifetime.  Once again, I cannot put into words what it was like to meet our sponsored child for the first time…tears came to my eyes when I saw in person what I could only see through pictures before.  He is even more sweet and loveable than I could have ever imagined.  They are definitely a family who strongly loves the Lord and wants to serve Him no matter what the cost.  It Thai culture (strongly Buddhist) that is huge.  Mick played keyboard at church and is actively involved in Bible quizzing.  He has scored high in his Bible quizzing and is currently quizzing in the book of Joshua.  Mick’s mom operates her own clothing shop, and she made Bruce a very nice burgundy shirt (after having asked us what size).  It is a beautiful shirt.  She wanted me to open it up and make sure it would fit him (because she saw pictures of how muscular Bruce is), and I assured her it was perfect. J  She was thrilled.  I will remember today for the rest of my life.  Get ready girlies, the next time I want to bring you all to meet him and experience Thailand and Cambodia!

On Friday morning, we went to Starbucks (Thai style) and went shopping.  (Now, what more could a girl ask for?)  The idea of shopping was just a little too much for Zac, so he enjoyed Pizza with Tutu’s son, Daniel, while the girls went out!  In the afternoon, we picked Zac up and met up with Faa to picked up the GROW children at school.  After school and the children changed their clothes, out came the sidewalk chalk and water balloons!  What a hit!  Hot weather, water, and children…a perfect combination for FUN!  They had a blast!  While Zac stayed back to play and eat with the children, Jeana, Faa, and I went out on the town.  We went to dinner and tried some “wheatgrass” detox and nutritional drink that is supposed to cleanse your body of bad bacteria.  Well, let’s just say…it would definitely kill something…it was definitely AWFUL stuff.  It tasted like we were drinking a liquefied version of hay.   We laughed so hard and vowed we were never drink wheatgrass again.  Ugghh!  From supper, Faa took us to the night market, which was phenomenal.  I have never seen so many shops and people in all my shopping experiences in the states.  We definitely shopped until we dropped…we didn’t leave the market until around 10 p.m. 

On Saturday, we traveled back to Wieng Pa Pao to spend the day with the children.  On this visit with the children (which would also be our last day with them), we broke out the water activities once again.  Zac had brought all the fixings for Slip and Slide Dodge Ball.  Let’s just say, the children and their clothes would definitely not have to be washed…just rinsed and dried.  There were suds and children slipping and sliding and laughing and smiles galore!  Wow…thank you Lord for rescuing these precious, precious children.  They all have stories of suffering and pain, but they are safe here…just like the old song says, “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.”  They love the Lord so deeply, and they know what they are saved from in every sense.  Thank you for loving these children.  There is a sign on the new boy’s home that was donated by a family from our church. The last sentence of the sign reads…”God’s kids live here.”  Amen!

This morning, we woke up and enjoyed another delicious breakfast that Tutu prepared for us.  This morning we enjoyed omelets.  We then went to church at Asia’s Hope and worshiped with the children there.  During the children’s Sunday School time, we taught them to sing, “This Little Light of Mine.”  They did a great job singing it in English, especially the part that goes, “hide it under a bushel, NO!  I’m gonna let is shine, let it shine, let it shine.”  J  One thing I have experienced while on this trip is the amazing wholeness and oneness in worshiping God, even in another culture and in a different language.  We serve the same God.  Just like the lady told us in Cambodia, we are “same, same but different.”  After signing Zac played “Simon Says” with them. There were three kids he just couldn’t trick so they were declared the winners.  The Zac told them that just as those three never stopped following Simon Says, they all should never stop following Jesus. This evening, we are planning to meet with a group of college girls and minister to them from our hearts.  Please pray that God would empower us to speak from our hearts the words he wants them to hear. 
We want to thank you for all of your prayers and love for these children, the staff, and the widows in Thailand and Cambodia.  Because of Jesus and your love and obedience to Him, these children have a bright hope for the future. 

From Cambodia to Thailand

Monday July 30 was a very busy day.  We started early at 7am with breakfast with Jill and Kevin.  They took us out for noodle soup.  I know that sounds like a strange breakfast, but it was very good.  Mine had duck in it, Jamie's and Zac's had beef. Very yummy.  I think we are finally getting use to Asian breakfast here: rice about every morning.  We have even had fried rice with peppers, onions and beef. If you don't think about it being breakfast, it works!

Jill took us to the Killing Fields (Phenom Sampov).  There are many Killing Fields in Cambodia.  This is a cave at the top of a mountian.  They would throw pregnant women, babies after hitting them against the rock, older people and others down a hole at the top of the cave. They said 3000 babies and 4000 pregnant women were killed here.  If you survived the fall, there were soldiers waiting below to slit your throat. It was explained to us that during this time, those who were lucky enough to live to work in the rice fields, were fed one bowl of rice for 100 people. Other stories mentioned people getting one grain of rice a day.  If you were caught eating in the fields or picking fruit to eat, you were killed. The atrocities and evil that took place here are beyond imagination.  Today the people of Cambodia are still recovering from the devastation that took place in their country. Schools, hospitals, businesses were all leveled. You see a lot of construction taking place, but Cambodia still remains a developing country.

Sambo picked us up for lunch and a trip to Poi Pet.  While Zac played soccer with the boys, Jamie and I met with several young ladies and one guy who attend his school.  Sambo has been rescuing kids and providing Christian education for many children. Some of the girls we met recently made the decision to follow Christ, so we took the opportunity to share Scripture and encourage these young people.  Many of them are worried about this decision becauae their families do not agree with their choice.  They do not make this decision lightly.  Please pray for them as they grow in their faith and learn to trust God.

This was our last evening with our kids at Grace Place:Battambang.  We had a big PARTY! We provided the funds for them to prepare curry chicken with bread. Again, very yummy food.  Our staff their really know how to cook! Several of the kids gave us letters to bring to our sponsors, so be looking for those when we return.  After dinner we danced and danced and danced some more.  They do love to dance. Then before we even said we needed to leave, several of the kids began hugging us and crying.  This soon spread to where many were huggign and crying and saying their goodbyes. So many of them told us how they pray for us everyday. Wow! The words, "God bless you," and "I love you", or "I willo miss you," were so genuinely spoken that it brought tears to our own eyes.  Ming Taing said to me, "The first time you came andf left, I cried.  This time I don't cry because I know you will come back."  This brought me to tears. These kids really love us, all of us who support them.  They count on us being there for them.  It is so humbling to be here.  What a blessing to us! After about 25 minutes, we loaded up into the van with several of the kids and road in silence (except for Sokha singing behiind me) holding each other all the way back to the hotel.  Then of course more tears and huggs before we had to literally pull ourselves away and force ourselves to leave. With heavy sighs, we waved out last goodbyes and entered the hotel.

Tuesday we rode to Siem Reap with Savorn and Sony. We stopped at the market where I found the same seller as last year.  She remembered Val and me being there.  She said she gave me a good price last year so I would return, and I did.  So we got a good price this year too. I was so happy I actually found her shop among the hundreds that all kind of look the same at the market.  Kevin joined us at the Pizza Company for pizza and to Swenson's for ice cream.  Ok, why don't we have chocolate fondue with ice cream in the States? Amazing! We said our goodyes to Savorn and Sony and entered the airport.

Ok this was fun, or maybe not.  First of all the luggage allowance changed and we were overweight with too many pieces.  They discounted it for us, ut we still had to pay quite a bit.  Then I was pulled aside before security.  The guard said he needed me to come with him to check one of our bags.  We had a ball in it for the kids in Thailand.  Since there was air in it, we needed to deflate it.  Then when I went through security, they had to check my bag twice. Finally we sat don at the gate.  Notice in the picture that gate one and gate 2 are very close.  Our comic relief for the afternoon came when they made an announcement that the gate number for our flight had been changed from gate one to gate 2.  Everyone started laughing when  we saw that the seating area for gate one and two were the same. We now sit at the airport in Bangkok ready to board the plane for Chiang Mai.

Sunday worshipping with our kids

Theany leading worship

Today was Sunday.  We enjoyed church at Hope Fellowship (the building that Team Hope raised money the first year to build). I noticed Theany sings on the worship team (HSM sponsors her). Zac practiced 3 songs with the team on Saturday to play during worship this morning.  Their drummer was suppose to play the 4th song, but he didn't show up, so Zac kept playing. He did very well playing a song he never heard before and actually ending at the right time.

Lunch and of course more games followed church.

We went to the Ministry Center where Kevin and Jill Kane work.  There is a church service in the afternoon for all of their pastors.  They all travel around in the morning preaching, then meet later for their own service.  After the service on following God's call for your life, there was a celebration for the 5 pastors who just completed college. Two of them hope to continue their education earning their master's degrees.  We enjoyed spending time with these men and their families, eating, playing games and learning more about Cambodian history, culture and the spiritual journey of one of the pastors. 

I know some of you have heard about the hand, foot, mouth disease going around here.  The government shut down the schools and is not allowing large gatherings of children. (That's a laugh when your "family" consists of over 35 people.) It is causing the most problems for the very young and the very old. None of our kids at Grace Place have it, and it doesn't appear that anyone is overly worried or anything about it at Grace Place.  They do have pretty good hygiene which I am sure helps. But please pray for not just our kids, but all the kids in Cambodia who are exposed to this virus.

Tomorrow is another full day, so we are signing off for tonight.

Sophea, Nga, Srey Nith, Ming Taing, Phalla, Ben

They ranked 1st-4th in their classes

Just hanging out

Making pancakes

Riding the Nori

Riding the Nori

Well I must say we were all too tired yesterday to send anything for the blog, so tonight I will try to catch everyone up.  Yesterday we spent time with Jill Kane.  She took us on the Nori, a bamboo train, through the countryside.  When we stopped at the end before turning around, we took time to meet and get to know many of the sellers there.  We really enjoyed this very much.  People are so excited when you have a child the same age as theirs, or the same number of children and so on.  They say they are the same as us.  This really seems to be something that makes them feel good, that they are the same as us.  And they are really.  Created by the same God, have the same hopes and dreams of providing for their families, searching for God.  There is a saying over hear that goes, "Same Same but Different".  These people are same same but different. What a pleasure to be able to encourage them and make them smile. 

It was after that when we discovered what is so special about the supermarket. This place is a three story mall sort of (same same but different). on the third floor was a game room.  This is what they called the "supermarket".  So we bought them a bunch of tokens, passed them out, and watch the kids go at it.  Basketball was a hit, along with bumper cars and the claw that picks up treasures if you are lucky enough to get one.  We were lucky only once.  Then it was back to Grace Place for dinner and massages. Now Jamie and Zac had it pretty rough, but I had the royal treatment.  Vannak brought out the mattress and had me lie down.  Then four kids or so massaged my back, legs, arms, fingers, feet and toes.  I think I actually fell asleep. (Now you know why I didn't write last night. I was really asleep before I made it back to the hotel).

Making memories with our children in Cambodia

More pictures from day of fun. Thanks to Vannak Yun posting these on facebook. He posted more pics but I just selected a few.  Please friend Vannak Yun on FB. 

Having fun with our kids in Cambodia

 As I post today's blog entry for Jeana and the team, I am reminded of my first trip to an amusement park with my family. Oh how thrilling and exciting. It was great to have fun with family. These rescued orphan children would have no family go with them if we do not make the effort to send teams to visit. I praise God that we can be their parental guides. 

 Today we took the kids to a small amusement park. As you see in the pictures (below), they had a blast. There was a little roller coaster, a spin ride, bumper fish, and a zipline. Their smiling faces tell it all.  What a joy to be able to provide this for them. Since there are too many kids to fit into the van, we rented a tuk tuk (taxi) for the rest.  How many kids can you fit in a tuk tuk?  Well today it was 12!

After a couple of hours at the park, we went back to Grace Place for lunch and games. Jamie brought jump ropes, and it didn't take long to get some games going.

We asked the kids what they wanted to do tomorrow.  They all said they wanted to go to the supermarket.  Well, that isn't Zac's idea of a great time, but I have a feeling there is more to this supermarket than groceries. Guess we will find out and let all of you know!

Jeana for Jamie & Zac 

Racing down the zipline

Squealing with the Bumper Fish

Smiles, smiles, smiles

"HI! We're having fun!"

Getting dizzy, having fun

Visiting our kids in Cambodia

Jeana, Pav and Zac

Yesterday included a stop at Prek Eng 4, an Asia's Hope home, where our family has a child we sponsor.  We were able to spend time with him as well as with all of the kids.  We had met them last year and the year before at the school.  School was closed today in all of Cambodia due to mysterious sickness. Please pray for the children, families, and health officials as they help with medical treatments.

Today we traveled to Battambang anxious to see our kids at Grace Place Cambodia. We had fun getting our luggage into the trunk.  

We were pulled over twice on the way because the police thought they could get money out of us for having our trunk open.  The first time Sambo gave them enough for coffee only.  The second time he told the police he had foreigners in the car and didn't want to talk to them.  He then got back into the car and we left. We passed through a dust storm and rain, but we never lost our luggage!  We are on the way in a few minutes to Grace Place!  More later.

Playing "Simon Says"

Pisa and Zac after securing luggage