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.