Summer In Cambodia
Week 5

Day 29 – July 22, 2008

Priscilla and the kids arrive today.  I spoke with her for the last time about yesterday so they should be in the air sometime about 10am my time.  I’ll cut the workshop a little short so we have time to make it to the airport. 

I’m surprised that the workshop students are excited to see them too!  I think they think of them as if they were their own family as well.  I know part of it is curiosity, but part of it is also wanting to extend a warm welcome.  It will be interesting to see how they interact together, especially for Liz and Kenny. 

The plan was to take a tuk tuk and a taxi to the airport.  One of the students (Ravy)  Dad recently got a job with a cab company, so we will be able to travel in style coming back from the airport.  So since we didn’t really need the tuk tuk for transport, everyone hopped onto the tuk tuk to take a ride out to the airport as the welcoming committee. 

We got there a little early and the plane hadn’t quite arrived yet.  It was about 5 minutes late.  It finally did touch down and then it took another 25 minutes or so for Priscilla and the kids to exit the airport, but they did!  They looked pretty good too and it was wonderful to be reunited with them.  We spent time greeting one another and taking pictures and introducing everyone.  We made it back to the apartment pretty quickly and Priscilla and the kids were getting their first impressions of Cambodia. 

They felt pretty good but they weren’t too hungry so I thought I would take them to the Sovanna mall because it’s pretty new and it would ease them into the surroundings.  Plus it would be their first tuk tuk ride and it isn’t that far away. 

They were surprised at how new the mall is, and we stopped off at BBWorld to have a bite to eat (I hadn’t had lunch yet), plus we went to the Lucky Market to buy more drinks, water and pastries for breakfast.  They had a good time looking at all the products that were for sale there. 

After we finished we went back to the apartment.  We were scheduled to have dinner with Paul and Mai that night so we just rested for the rest of the afternoon.  I had cancelled our intermediate guitar and keyboard class so I could spend the time with them and help them get settled. 

The apartment space is working out great.  It’s just the right size for the four of us, and we borrowed a pad from Paul and Mai so Kenny could sleep in the living room space on the floor.  That worked out pretty good for him as well.

They pooped out pretty early so after a nice time with Paul and Mai we headed back to the  apartment and went to bed.  Hopefully they will feel pretty rested in the morning, but we’ll see.

Day 30 – July 23

It was fun introducing the family at the workshop.  While they had met most of the students, some didn’t get to come to the airport, so we spent some time singing, and then teaching a couple of new songs, and then trying them out in a team setting. 

I think they are still a little jet lagged though, so it might take another day or so for them to feel normal and get into the swing of things. 

Paul and Sonya came to the end of the workshop and they took us to a restaurant for lunch called Friends restaurant.  It was a cute little place close to the waterfront area that serves as a training ground for orphaned young people to learn and work and make a better life for themselves.  I was impressed with the way the place was run and how well the workers were trained.  And the food was delicious!

After lunch we dropped off Priscilla and the kids at the apartment and I went back to church to teach the afternoon classes.

Before class Ravy gave me a wooden cross carved out of cocoanut shell with Jesus engraved as part of the cross.  He carved it himself and it is really cool looking.  I put it on my cross chain right away and will think of him whenever I wear it. 

The afternoon classes were uneventful, except for the fact that the power in the building was off again.  So our guitar class practice songs, I showed them a couple of new chords to work on, and the keyboard class was smaller as well since it started to rain pretty good with thunder and lightening as well.  I was glad Priscilla was back at the apartment because I don’t think she would have lasted too long in the heat at the church. 

After the lessons we met John for dinner at the Morning Café.  It was nice to introduce him to the family and the Morning Café was the perfect place to do it.  It has become one of my favorite places to eat.  The dishes are all well prepared and it’s so reasonable. 

That night we all slept pretty well in preparation for the next day. 

Day 31 – July 24

I think in the workshops we have gotten into a pretty good groove with one another.  I’ve taught them some new songs including a couple that I’ve written.  They seem to really enjoy singing “We Sing Hosanna”, and maybe they’ll keep singing it after I leave.  I’ve also given them as many resources as possible.  Internet access around here is harder to come by, but they do have it, and a Ratha and Bandol are pretty tech savy. 

I spent a little more time working on vocal techniques including singing harmonies in 4 parts.   I also talked a little about why practice is necessary and that we should offer our best to God. 

I’ve been slowly encouraging this group that they can become the future worship leaders at this church, and I think it comes at a great time.  One of their main worship leaders Angkeara (Pastor Barnabas’ granddaughter) will be getting married in November and will probably move.  That leaves only John as the main worship leader and planner.  He’s really responsible, but I know that it will be a big burden on him.  He already has so many other responsibilities.  So I hope that this will become a second team for him, or at least many more resources that he can draw from. 

A couple of the guys from the Obekoam church have been coming too.  I think they have a good time learning new things and especially getting to know the kids from Living Hope.  This is the type of cross-pollenization we were hoping for.  I know it’s also because Liza has been encouraging them to come as well.  I see this as all part of God’s plan for the work here so far. 

After the workshop Mai and Sonya came to get Priscilla and Liz to have lunch and go shopping.  They went to the Russian Market.  So while the girls went off to go shopping, Neth Kenny and I went to the travel agent to book the tickets for the Siem Reap trip next week and to go to the music store to shop for a second hand bass for Joe and Liza’s church.  I finally got to take a picture with my good buddy, the older Vietnamese gentleman who knows so much about guitars.  It turns out he used to build his own guitars and was written up in a Thai magazine once.  He still does repair work in this tiny little shop, and he does know his guitars and what he’s talking about. 

I was able to get a used Fender P Bass for a little less than $90.  It was in good shape and sounded pretty good.  I think it will serve the church well.  Joe and Liza say they are buying a new church building in the near future, so perhaps they can expand their worship team ministry.

In the afternoon I helped the advanced guitar guys play “Everlasting God” a little bit better.  It has some challenging rhythms but it’s a great song.  After a little while they picked up on it.

After that Kenny gave a special 1 hour drum lesson.  About 8 of the students were interested so he went through some basic rhythms and some more advanced fills and then playing within the context of a song.  Some of them already had some drumming experience, but this was a good foundation for what they already know.

That evening we just had dinner at home, it was nice to have some family time and talk about how the trip was going for them so far.  I think the jet lag has finally worn off, but they still aren’t familiar with the kids yet, so it’s hard for them to interact.  We encouraged them to try to engage a little more.

Day 32 – July 25

Today is the last day of the workshop and the afternoon classes.  It’s a little bittersweet, but I wanted to leave them not with a “worship” devotional today, but more of a personal one.  I talked about Psalm 1, and what it means to be blessed by God and how to live a wise life.  I’ve really grown to love this group and I hope only God’s best for them.

After the last practice session we ordered the Pizza from Pizza Co. and it was time to party!  Everyone was excited when the pizza came and we chowed down pretty quickly.  After lunch was finished we started to take some group photos.  And then we started taking some individual photos, and one thing led to another and we were taking all kinds of pictures in different groupings.  It was a lot of fun and they weren’t shy about wanting their picture taken

After the impromptu photo session, the group said they wanted to sing a song for me.  I wasn’t sure what to think, and I really wasn’t prepared for what was to happen next.  They got up on stage and started singing a song which I later found out was written by John to a friend of his that was moving to the United States.  As they started singing the song, one of the girls Cheata, started to get a little choked up and teary eyed, and then they all started to get emotional, and so did I.  Then Veasna, John’s brother started to just share his appreciation, and then so did Cheata, and then they all started to cry and so did I.  It was an emotional time but we all felt the same thing towards one another, and God was really working in our hearts during this time. 

Afterwards we just sat and shared about some of the good things that happened, and also how Neth helped to make everything work so well too.  It was a good time to just share with each other and bond even more.  It’s too bad that it has to end so soon, I feel like I’m just getting to know everyone. 

Well, we had to stop at some point, so our family got in the tuk tuk to go back to rest a bit at the apartment before I came back to church for the last guitar and keyboard classes.  I just wanted to wrap things up with both classes, so I gave the last couple of handouts, told them they had everything they needed to learn just about any song they wanted to learn and I hoped they would continue to grow in everything they did.

After the class some of the guys wanted to show the family the river front and some of the lights and the Night Market.  The Night Market is only open on the weekends, and only at night, so if we wanted to see it, tonight would be the only night to go.  I told them I would talk to the family about it and see how they felt.  When I got home they said they would be up for it, so we decided to have dinner at the Sarika grill and then the guys would meet us and we would head down to the Riverfront.  Kenny wasn’t up to it so he stayed home while Priscilla Liz and I headed to dinner.  The restaurant was really nice.  It’s the same one that I had dinner with Pastor Barnabas at the second night I was here.  The food again was delicious.  We don’t have restaurants like this in the States, which is too bad.  Everything is so unique here, not like the cookie cutter cafés in the States.

Well we hopped in the tuk tuk after dinner and headed downtown with the guys following (or leading) on moto.  When we got down to the National Monument, it was really crowded.  This is the night before the elections and this is the last chance for the parties to get out the vote.  We ran into a couple of rallies going on and the street were clogged with lots of people.  We finally made it down to the Night Market only to discover that it was closed.  So it was not only the Night Market, but it was the “Dark Market” too.  We headed back home a little disappointed, but it was a fun adventure anyways.

Day 33 – July 26, 2008

This morning we had the mini-seminar at Living Hope church.  I wasn’t sure how this was going to work so John and I just sat for a little bit to sketch out the morning.  When we got there we saw Ancey, John’s girlfriend, but we also met his sister Soriya.  I found out she’s a Christian also, but she goes to a different church.  I think John was the first in his family to become a Christian, and slowly the other members of his family have become believers. 

What came to mind was to sort of keep the same schedule we had during the workshops, to have a little bit of worship singing at the beginning, pray together, share a little bit about what worship is and then have more open worship singing time. 

I reviewed a few of the topics that I covered during the workshop, most of it was probably review not just for my class but also for the other worship team members, but I hope they either learned something new, or were reminded of some important aspects of worship and music that are easy to forget in the week to week planning of a worship service.

Anyway we had a chance for the younger worship team members to come up and share the things they learned through the week.  It was their opportunity to be the leaders this time, and I couldn’t help but have a little sense of pride for them.  I don’t think they were showing off, but we did just continue what we already were doing throughout the week.  It was a lot of fun and maybe our last chance to sing together.

Afterwards we shared a simple lunch downstairs and I had some time to get to know Angkeara a little more.  I found out her mom was one of my guitar and keyboard class students.  She was very determined to learn to play the guitar even though it hurt her fingers, and she was eventually able to play the chords and change chords more easily.  I was glad she joined the class.

After lunch some of the kids came and grabbed Liz and Kenny to give them rides on their motos, and to teach them how to drive.  They had a good time riding and driving up and down the street next to the church.  I got a chance to drive one as well!  I wouldn’t mind driving one of these at home except I think it would be dangerous the way people drive in America.

After lunch John, Ancey and Soriya took us to the Central Market and the Russian Market for more shopping.  It was nice to have the ladies join just because they were really good at bargaining with the shop keepers.  We bought some shirts, silks and other items that Priscilla was looking for.  It was good to spend time with Ancey, get to know John’s sister Soriya a bit and just have a little fun outing.  John’s sister is pretty smart and hopes to go to Medical school later and become a doctor.  They do have a tough life here though, because her mom passed away, she’s responsible for taking care of her family, cooking for up to 7 people in her family, including a few younger siblings.  She also works during the daytime and goes to school in the evening.  She graduates from High School next year. 

After running a couple of other errands like picking up our travel arrangements from the travel agent and stopping by the music store to pick up the bass amp that was being prepared for us, we went back to the apartment to rest a bit before meeting Joseph and Liza for dinner.  They wanted to treat us to dinner that night which is nice because we haven’t got spend much time with them as a family. 

We met them close to the Family Christian bookstore because they needed to go back to the music shop.  The guitar bag that I purchased for them had already broken, so we just invested in a little bit more durable bag. 

We headed off to the main part of the city to go to a restaurant they had in mind.  Many of the businesses were closed because of the election.  Here when there is a national election many of the people go back to their home villages and provinces to vote unless they changed their registration.  Neth had already taken off to go back to his province to vote and wouldn’t return until Monday. 

We stopped at a restaurant Joe and Liza like to go to called Hagar.  It had a combination of local flavors and western food as well.  We tried a variety of dishes which again all tasted great.  The restaurant was empty though because everyone was gone for the elections.  The streets were also pretty empty.  It’s strange to see this since most of the time the streets are so crowded.

We had a very nice time with them chatting over dinner and hearing more of their story.  They don’t seem the typical missionary types, although perhaps it’s because they are from Hong Kong,  although how the Lord led them to the mission field was very touching.  Also the struggles they have gone through in their journey was also very encouraging in how the Lord has led them and guided them.  They have three grown children who live in various parts of the world, so they continue in their work in Cambodia, faithfully accomplishing the work the Lord has led them to.  They also treated us to some ice cream after dinner and then took us back home.  It was such an honor to meet them and be part of their lives.  Perhaps in the future we could do some work through their church.

Day 34 – July 27

Today was the last Sunday service that I would be at Living Hope.  I was scheduled to preach long ago, but I wanted to do so on the last Sunday since I knew that Priscilla and the kids would be there.  I hadn’t planned on it being election day however so we weren’t quite sure how many people would still be in town to attend church before having to go off to vote. 

It turned out that there were still quite a few people around so it was nice to be able to address the church and express my appreciation for everything. 

It was again a little bittersweet.  Our family did get a chance to play together, we taught them “You Are the One” which was translated into Khmai by John. 

After the message we sang the song again, but just with guitar.  They wanted to keep singing it and singing it, like if we stopped they knew it would be pretty much finished. 

But we weren’t quite finished with the day yet.  They had a youth meeting scheduled in the afternoon, but because of the election they decided not to have a regular youth meeting and instead have a prayer time.  They asked us all to attend so we agreed to. 

When we got to the meeting the group was in a little circle waiting for us.  We prayed for various items including the elections, the situation with Thailand, the High School exams some of them would be taking soon, and then finally they prayed for us.  It was so encouraging to have them lay hands on us and pray for us. 

Afterwards we decided to go out to dinner with John and Ancey, and we invited Veasna and Bandol to join us.  He took us to a place across the river that was right on the Mekong River side.  It was a fun evening as we joked and laughed about different things and watched a lizard called a Ta-Kai, which is called that because that’s the sound that it makes. 

We had to get back because we were waking up early to take the boat to Siem Reap, but we made one more try at seeing the water fountain lights and the Night Market.  But the Night Market was still closed and the water fountain was dark, but the lights at the National Monument were on so we did get to see some water with pretty lights.

The whole time Veasna and Bandol were following us on the moto, so it was fun joking around with them on the way home as well. 

Overall it was a great time and a great memory. 

Today we took off on our site seeing trip to Siem Reap.  We  (I) decided to be a little more adventurous so we took the boat ride up the Tonle Sap river to Siem Reap, with plans to take the bus ride back from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.  The trip either way is from 5.5 to 6.5 hour ride. 

We woke up really early to get to the docks by 6:30am for our 7:30 departure time and weren’t really prepared for what we found.

The boat actually wasn’t that bad, it was a high speed cruiser with a low profile and a cabin with many seats inside.  We crossed the wooden plank to get to the boat, and then had to walk along the side of the boat on about a 1.5 foot wide cat walk along the side of the boat, carrying our bags and holding on to the side rail so we wouldn’t fall into the river, which we really didn’t want to happen.  Once we got inside though, there was a peculiar smell and it was a bit cramped.  So this definitely would be an adventure.

The other passengers on board were obviously tourists as well, some from other Asian countries, some from European countries, other Americans,  it was a little bit of a mix. 

When we got under way the engine of the boat was very noisy, and the seats weren’t very comfortable, so this would make for a long and somewhat uncomfortable journey.  Plus the windows were tinted and fogged up so you really couldn’t get a nice view of anything outside.  We just made the best of it.

As we started up the river I noticed some of the passengers were staying outside, either on the small deck up at the front of the boat, or they were walking along the catwalk on the side of the boat.  I guess we weren’t going that fast, but it seemed fast to me.  Then I realized some were actually riding on top of the boat, on the roof of the cabin,  There wasn’t really a deck up there, but people were making a deck out of it.  After a while I decided I would be adventurous and join them.  Priscilla and the kids were a sleep so I thought it would be a good opportunity.

The boat wasn’t really traveling that quickly and the river banks were fairly close together so we were passing villages and homes built along the river, with smaller boats in the river with people fishing.  As we passed by the kids and villagers got really excited to see us and would wave to us as we passed.  It was actually a lot of fun. 

What wasn’t too fun was using the toilet.  It didn’t really flush but has a constant stream of water running in it.  The movement of the boat, the noise of the engine and the water splashing around didn’t make for a very good experience.  Definitely a negative of going by boat.

We made it to Siem Reap at about 12:30 but it took a while to actually get off the boat.  It was chaos on the docks as there were several tuk tuk driver competing for everyone’s business, as well as a lot of kids begging.  We were inundated by people shouting at us.  Fortunately I had already paid for a driver back in the city so he was waiting there for us holding up a card with my name on it just like they do at the airports. 

It was an experience getting through the mob and into our tuk tuks, but we made it along with the 20 minute ride into town.  Along the way we passed through some pretty poor sections of country, and it was a bit sad to see the conditions that people live in here.  And it was quite a contrast to arriving at the hotel we were booked in. 

I booked us into a nice hotel that was very reasonable.   It was quite a contrast between the throngs of people at the docks, or even what we drove by to get to the town from the docks.  But it was nice to be able to take a hot shower in a real shower stall, and just have some time to relax and rest after a hectic 3 week schedule at the church. 

We decided to take a rest and then head towards the Cambodia Cultural Village, a sort of theme park where they display various aspects of the Cambodian culture and history.  The village was interesting, although even from the entrance it was a different experience for us.  We were again accosted by a group of guys who this time were photographers wanting to take our picture.  We’ve experienced this before at other theme parks like Sea World, where they take your picture and then print it out for you later, charging you an arm and a leg for the “privilege” of having your photo taken professionally.  What we didn’t realize though was that there were several competitors vying for our business.  I guess they take “Laissez-faire” to a whole new dimension in Cambodia since there didn’t seem to be any control over this business.  But we made the mistake of actually letting these guys take our picture.  What happened next was the highlight of the cultural village for us.  The two or three competing photographer then printed out our pictures on the spot with inkjet printers, cut them out and mounted them on souvenir plates.  Then they tried to sell us the plates, and not just one, but multiples!  On the spot they would use Photoshop to edit the photo, make different combinations of our families, and mount them on the plate without us even asking them for it!  Then as we walked throughout the park, other vendors would come up to us, with our pictures on these plates, and try to sell it to us!  Every time this happened it just made us laugh and crack up.  And we weren’t looking forward to leaving the park either because we knew we’d have to pass these guys again.

It was pretty quiet in the park overall, because this was the off season, and because it was a weekday.  They did have some dance shows that we caught snippets of, but mostly we just wandered around the park a little, looking at the miniatures of building we’ve seen in real life (the Royal Palace, Central Market, and National Monument).  It was interesting to see a little more of the history and culture of Cambodia.

We got a little tired so after leaving the park we decided to go for some dinner.  I think all of us were craving some western food, namely ‘burgers, so we headed to the Blue Pumpkin, a restaurant whose ad we saw in the free town map we received from the hotel.  The dinner was really good (or maybe it was because we were hungry, or maybe both!) and after dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest up for our temples tour the next day.