Pcitures!

Here are just a few quick looks at a little bit of life in Cambodia:

Top: our bike shop.

Middle: Cambodian countryside on the bus between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Its beauty is hard to campture.

Bottom: Our house, the YWAM base in Siem Reap. I live on the top level with all of the girls :)

More to come!

Christmas Eve in Siem Reap

So I find myself this Christmas Eve sweating profusely as I write this entry after biking around downtown Siem Reap on a rickety old bike with a basket attached to the front and carrying my teammate Bekah on the back. This city is definitely cleaner and more open in comparison to Phnom Penh. The number of tourists here is much greater as the city is home to one of the greatest historic sites in the world: Angkor Wat. We have not yet had a chance to visit this gigantic temple compound yet (fyi: Angkor Wat was where Tomb Raider was filmed).

The YWAM base here has attached to it an English school started a few years ago by missionaries from the Phillipines - Fhonkie and Hya. Upon arrival to Siem Reap on Monday evening after a six hour bus ride, we were given a short orientation and informed that we would all begin teaching English classes the next day. Surprise for us! We dove straight into teaching a total of approximately 300 students in various classroom settings about grammar, conversation, pronunciation, computers, and much more. I am teaching a computer class in the morning with about 10 kids and an English class in the evening for over 50 teenage students. The classrooms are small and dimly lit with flourescent lights but the students are eager to learn and are very bright. Many students are from the nearby community with people ranging from teens to adult businessmen and a few monks. I'm so excited to be here and actively do something and be a part of these students' lives. One day of the week is set aside to teach and discuss with the students about Christian values and expose them to the Bible. The lives of many here have been changed through the work that goes on here not only as they learn English but as they come to know who Jesus is. I'm so glad to be here :)

Thank you for your prayers and your encouraging words. I hope you have an awesome holiday weekend - Merry Christmas!!!

I'm in Cambodia!!

I can't believe it but I'm writing this blog entry from an internet cafe in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We finally arrived at the YWAM team house in the city last night after traveling for a few days. We got to hang out in Bangkok, Thailand for a night before our last flight into Cambodia, which was also an interesting experience. I got to eat Thai food cooked by Thai people in Thailand - so good! And the hotel we stayed at there was a welcome experience after desperately trying to get some sleep on the multiple flights we took to get to Southeast Asia.

The city of Phnom Penh is full of people (many of which are children) food, smells, and bikes/motos (scooters). The traffic here is by far the most insane I've ever experienced - imagine thousands of scooters with 1-4 people riding, a few cars, some trucks and no stop lights or crosswalks all converging together. We had an orientation to Cambodia culture in the morning from the director of YWAM in Cambodia followed by a scavenger hunt through the city. Two of my teammates, Madeleine, Stephanie, and I, went out to various parts of the city including the Central Market, the Royal Palace, the Independence Monument and a local mall to complete various tasks. We learned to bargain with the tuk tuk driver and merchants in town. Tuk tuks, a carriage pulled by a moto (scooter) are one of the main modes of transportation in the city. It was quite the first day in town as other drivers and moto riders drive inches away from other drivers. The signs of poverty in the city are apparent everywhere you look - dirty children, begging families and people constantly hounding you for sales of anything. The people who are not impoverished here dress neatly but that contrasts greatly with the garbage that litters the streets and the buildings that are relatively dirt-stained. Its quite the culture shock for someone like me who has lived and traveled mostly in Western countries!

We will be traveling to Siem Reap on Monday to stay at the YWAM base there for about five weeks. I will do my best to keep updating, though it will be through the use of internet cafes. I appreciate your prayers as I adjust to this new culture - the thought of living in Cambodia for the next three months is, honestly, a little overwhelming. But the people here are great and I'm looking forward to the relationships I'll build in this country. Please pray that I will be bold in sharing the love of God with others and that our team will be bonded in unity as we minister together.

I'll be missing Seattle this Christmas - I'm sending my love to all of you :)