we're halfway there!!!

We are here!!! We have finally setteled into siem reap and have our set schedule and it is great. I feel as though i have a set full time job. It is fun but it is tiring. Me and two of my roomates are are working at a safehouse. I love it and that is the ministry i wanted to get into. It is amazing and i am already loving all the girls so much. We work there 6 days a week and our schedule is so full. We teach two to three english classes a day at different levels, we teach two different life skills lessons a week, we teach arts and crafts three times a week, and they have given me all day on wednesdays to teach any sports I want. Then on Sundays we got to pioneer a Bible study. We found a translator to take with us and we go to the girls' house and do an hour "Youth Group" with them. We play games and sing songs and then teach a lesson then do an activity on the lesson. It is amazing. I love all the girls so much. The hardest part about this is the language berrier because i want so badly to be able to really communicate with the girls but a lot of them do not speak much english at all and if they speak any english it is memorized. THey speak as much english as i speak khmer so it makes it really hard at times but we are finding ways to communicate. We have learned to act things out or point to what we are talking about. Each class is so different so preparing for the different groups is fun.
With our English classes we each are in charge of one but we all help and are there to teach them. It is so different than classes in America. When you go in you take your shoes off at the door. THis is Asian Culture. Most places you go here you take your shoes off. Even when you to nice restraunts you take your shoes off at the door. It is so dusty here that your shoes will track so much dust in. So at class we take our shoes off at the door and go in. When you go in there are sitting pillows on the floor and little tables that are maybe a foot and a half off the floor.THe tables have "Lamb before time" pictures on them which makes me laugh so hard i haven't seen that in forever. The white board is on the floor and I, as the teacher, sit on the floor by the white board and then the girls sit at the mini tables. It is really casual which is really nice. Then one of our classes is a little more advanced and they are learning grammar. It is so much harder than it sounds to teach english. We have grown up speaking it but to people who are 17-20 and have never spoke it before they ask why things are the way they are. Literally i have to just say because they are. You can't say because it doesn't sound right because they don't know what sounds wrong. It has been tough but I love it and i think i am better at it than i ever thought i wold be. It is pretty fun and i feel like a legitimate teacher. The other English class that I have the girls do not speak any english other than maybe "hello." THis makes things a little difficult but they are my favorite girls. They are so happy and they just memorize what i say and pretend like they can read what is on the board, so i have had to start from scratch and now we are going through the alphabet and learning the sounds. I am basically teaching them how to read. It is really an awesome opportunity. Who would have thought that English would so much fun, and extremely tiring at the same time.
Our life skills class is one I never thought i would be teaching but it is stuff they need to know. We cover the basics of how to brush your teeth, hair, why you shower, and all the aspects of personal hygiene. This is stuff that seems like so much common sense but no one has ever taught these girls so we are teaching them. I have learned to make it fun so we implement little skits whith them. It is so cool to see the girls get into it. We teach them about lice and germs and why it is important to stay clean not just for social reasons but also for health reasons. Lice is a big issue here so teaching the girls to keep their hair up is a huge issue. I can tel it is hard for them to stay with us when we are talking about hygiene because it can get boring it is like a health class. Once we started doing skits and bringing prizes they got way more into it so i believe it is going to be really good for the next five weeks.
Arts and Crafts. . . . I am not an artsy person. If you know me that does not shock you, so i kind of sit back and let the other girl take charge of this one. HOwever i am getting more into it. I am googling origami and i am going to teach the girls next week. THey are so artsy so it is hard to come up with somehting that they dont know how to do. So far we have made flowers out of fabric and buttons and paper beads for bracelets. I am probably slower than the girls when it comes to this but they all help me and laugh. When they laugh though it makes me smile so big. They laugh all the time. So much more than i have ever seen anyone laugh at home and with what they have gone through it is so good to see they all still have a sense of humor. Even if it is because of my artwork at times! Their laughs are so contagious even if you dont understand why they are laughing you cant help but laugh to.
Sports is my favorite i am trying to start a volleyball day but i need to get some supplies which are hard to find around here. I love teaching them PE so much though. It is obvious it is somehting that they have not done much of before. I am learnign so much through all of this i am writing lesson plans and doing grown-up stuff. I love it and GOd is showing me so much through my job here. My heart is totally with these girls. I love them so much. When i am at the house i feel like i really would rather be no where else. I love it,
Work is fun but Cambodian life is proving to be a bit of a challenge. BIG SHOCK i know. We went through a period where the water was off for days at a time. Which ment we took water bottle/wet whipe showers. Toilets didnt flush which left a wonderful smell throughout the house. Fortunately i think that problem is fixed for good. Thank GOd. THe dust will get to you after a while. And it has been interesting having a curfue ahhahaha but i love it here. I am excited to come home though. God is definitely teaching me patience. It is really hot here and tons of bugs. I am not complaining just stating truth haha. I do love it here i just miss familiarity. We eat a lot of rice. I got a fish foot mesage which was soo wierd. I have learned how to bargain. I am definitley growing a lot through all of this. I cant wait to share all that God is doing here. Cant believe it is half way over!

WOW. .. .SO MUCH TO SAY

HABUKUK 1:5 -- "LOOK AT THE NATIONS AND WATCH -- AND BE UTTERLY AMAZED. FOR I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING IN YOUR DAYS THAT YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE, EVEN IF YOU WERE TOLD!"

         Wow so much has happened sense I last updated this. So I appologize in advance for the fact that this is going to be a really long one. You could split it into two parts while reading it haha.
        So on December 26th we went to a much smaller provicne called Kampong Cham. THere we were working with a pioneering organization who teaches english to the public. Before I go on i think it is important to point out that in Kampong Cham 88.8% of the population is Muslim. Therefore the work that we did there and that these ladies are doing is more descrete. They do not preach straight out because they have to be more careful. THerefore it takes longer to see results. I give these ladies so much credit it is so hard to stick with something especially when you dont see results right away but they are discipling descretely and it is paying off. . . slowly but surely! When we got there we were shown that we were staying in a house that is also the classroom. All thirteen of us stayed on the bottom floor and then another team of guys from honolulu were staying on the second floor. We had to keep our luggage in the rooms and then at night we pulled our bamboo mats out and slept on the floor. It was like a giant slumber party! It was fun we found many critters in our house. A couple frogs.. . . more than a couple mosquitos but it was still an experience. In the morning we had to have all the stuff cleaned up before kids got there for class. During our 5 days in Kampong Cham we got the chance to do so many different ministries. The first thing we did was have lunch with the ladies who run the organization and then they took us to one of the killing fields that has been turned into a budhist temple area. THese statues were bigger than you can imagine. I had to look all the way up to see the top. It was huge. I found it peaceful to walk around and just pray. THere is so much wrong idoltry there that is so wrong. After that we went to a mock Angkor Watt that was at a monestary. It was so cool we got the chance to talk to monks!! We asked them what is the factor that most young guys look at when choosing to be a monk and they said Education. How sad they are basing their whole life off of the fact that they are getting an education from this religion (or mindset). They were so nice though and really wanted to know about us and what we were doing. It was such an amazing experience. Sidenote: My fun mission is to become facebook friends with a monk....yes they do have facebook!!! THe next day we went and did something that at first I was really scared about but God totally took my fear and turned it into passion. We got to prayer walk through an authentic muslim village. We couldnt talk to them because they do not like Americans, but we got to walk through and see how they live. IT was crazy. We got some of the nastiest looks but we went in as tourists so they couldn't do anything to us. All the women had their heads covered and the men were having a prayer meeting and just glared as we walked by, but we walked with huge smiles on our faces and just a welcoming spirit, i konw we left an impression on some of them! Especially the kids. It was fast because we didnt want to risk staying to long because of past incidents there but it was still a very influencial time! I will never forget that. After leaving there we got to go to a Blind and Def Orphanage. WOW! These kids were so happy to get visitors. We took them Christmas gifts and just loved them. THey were so excited. We got to play with them for a little while and we just know it blessed them. I think that something like that makes God smile so big. He sees these kids who have every right to be upset, but they were happier than most people I know. It really made me feel blessed. We finished the day by learning how to teach english. I never thought that teaching my native language would be so difficult. THe next day we were taken to a place called the Viatnamese Floating Village. THis is a Viatnamese community built on the water. The Cambodian Government told them that they are not allowed to own land so they turned that around and said, "ok then we will build on the water." It is truly sad. They live on these houses made totally of wood and they dont leave. Children are not born in the hospital but in their houses. THere is a Viatnamese Church on the main road right up the embankment but it gets vandalized all the time becuase the Cambodians do not want them there. Despite the harsh living conditions they would rather live in water shacks than in Vietnam that shocked me the most. THey were so welcoming we got to go in and talk to some of the families. They wanted to hear about God and us. THey were so curious it really made us feel good to shed light on their day! The inside of the houses were litterally wood planks (you could see the water underneath you) and a mattress, a hammock, and a kitchen area. Almsot every one still had a TV and a radio though, haha. THey were the most plesent people and so kind despite their living conditions. I loved it. We went back and got the chance to decorate the classroom and clean up. In Cambodia you burn your trash on the side of the road so we got to do that. It was interesting you just put it in a pile and set it on fire. That is why everywhere you go here there are mini fires, they just set it and walk away. I felt it necessary though to stand over the boys with a water bottle . . . just in case haha! That night we taught more english classes. THe students were so eager to learn. ON our last day there we got the opportunity to go to a Cambodian Prison. IT was really different. You drive about 30 minutes out of town to this remote area where there is randomly a prison. You walk in and there are a couple fences that they are just putting up so they are not done yet, so we were walking alongside the prisoners. THey took us to a small wooden shack with no walls only beems holding it up and we got to worship and pray and talk with the prisoners. It was so amazing, I cant even describe it. THe prison had men and women and as i looked around i saw a lot of kids. I asked the guard why there were so many 5 year olds and younger and he told me they were born in jail. Sense that is where they were born that is where they stay. Prison is truly their life. THe prisoners wanted us to play games with us so we did. it was so much fun. After about twenty minutes we forgot we were in a prison and it felt really comfortable (or as comfortable as you can be in Cambodia) :) . We left there and then we got to do the most fun activity ever. SPORTS with the local kids. I got to play volleyball in the dirt with no shoes with a bunch of local kids. We couldnt understand each other but we still had fun and they were so welcoming it was amazing. IN the middle of the game I looked up and saw a cow walking through the court. I was te only one fascinated by that but apparently it happens all the time i later figured that out after it happened three more times, Welsome to Cambodia haha!! The next day was New Years Eve and we left the house at 7 am to get on the bus to our final destination of the trip, Siem Reap.
                 The bus ride to Siem Reap was definitely intersting. THe bus was jammed pack and the floors were padded because a full bus to them means there is no more room, at all! THis means that there were people sitting on the floor with their luggage. They were playing Khmer (Cambodia) music videos the whole ride and we would randomly stop for people on the side of the road to give them a ride. At one point we pulled over into a bushed area and people just piled out of the bus and scattered into the bushes at that point I realized that this was in fact our potty break hahahaha. I was laughing soo hard. The bus driver apparently didnt know what brakes were because if there was a car/moto/tuk tuk in front of us he would simply honk a million times and drive on the wrong side of the road but that is apparently normal here so what can you do hehe!! Once we got to Siem Reap we were brought to the YWAM base which is also where we are staying. Four people to a room which isnt bad at all, and it is actually a nice place. Still no hot showers but you cant have everything haha. We shortly found out that the water randomly turns off so we pray everytime that we take a shower that the water will stay on. If not you have about three hours of waiting to finish the shower. THere was a New Years Eve party at the base that night where we had pig and just celebrated, but we were all in bed by 10 ish however at midnight I looked out my barred window and saw two firework displays!! It waas a different way to celebrate however it was a good way to end the night. We spent the weekend just cruising around Siem Reap and learning what our chores on the base would be. We learned about the area and then on Monday me and two of my teamates were taken to the house where we will be working. It is amazing I am learning the language (khmer) so I can communicate with them and we will be there full time. It is going to be great. We spent the week just getting to know them and then next week we start teaching. We will be teaching life skills, PE (volleyball), english, and art. The Girls are so sweet and they want to learn. THey are so eager I cant wait to get to know them more!
             Being here has been amazing. I couldnt be doing this without God. I have really grown up but this really has been a lot tougher than it seems. Between the living conditions being different, and the food reacting to your body in different ways, the having to get used to always having bugs in your bed no matter what you do, always having bug bites appear in new places, etc. it can wear at you! I just ask you all to keep me in your prayers. I only have about 7 more weeks and I know I can do this. All things are possible through God, but when you pray if you could just keep a couple things in mind. 1- my team: we are doing so well and everyone gets along great, but we are getting familiar with each other and we are going to be together a lot so just pray that the unity stays that way. 2- Health: The polution, dust, and different foods really have a way of getting to you. Just pray that over the next months my health stays up to par. My body is still adjusting and it has been hard but it is starting to even out, and I know i am getting back to normal. 3- My Spiritual and Mental State- Spiritual I am more in the Bible and having more quiet times now than ever, but you have to be that way here. The stuff we are doing is heavy, and I am just asking God to guard my heart! I am not used to the poverty and distress like I am seeing and in order to help I need to be mentally strong. So I am just asking God to keep me mentally strong. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and thoughts. I love you all so much. I know this one was long so thanks for sticking with it.