The adventure begins.

By Michelle Ferguson -













My husband and I made our way back into Phnom Penh today after being out with our first team this past week. It was a wonderful way to start the experience of taking teams out to the provinces to do work on our orphan homes here. We had a group of 13 come in from Malaysia. It consisted of a husband and wife, their 2 children, and a group of college students. They had great attitudes amidst 7 hour rides in the back of a truck on bumpy roads, incredible heat, busses traveling for hours on even bumpier roads with no air conditioning, and the much loved squatty potties scattered through the land :)

We did a painting project at one of the orphan homes in a province called Bantamanchey. We got to interact with a bunch of kids, some who live in the home, and some who come from the community to learn English. I found that it was quite easy to find myself surrounded by an audience, even if I was doing the most simple of tasks, and even if I couldn't really communicate beyond the brief sentences I have now mastered in my time here. "How are you?" "How old are you?" "What is your name?"

Seemingly enough to carry on a conversation...

I can also say "one Coke please."

Necessity.

We finished up our painting project at the home and headed to Siem Reap which is a tourist town we will go to with most all of the teams. It was amazing. It was very fun for Josh and I to be able to ride around in a tuk-tuk experiencing the town together, walk through Angkor Wat and two other temples (incredible), and walk through the town at night finding enjoyment in escaping to a little pharmacy store. It's funny how places like this become so much more inviting and exciting when you're not living in America :) We marvel at cheap sunglasses, try on hats, and stock up on important items like tiny bottles of shampoo and Snickers bars.

We had a five and a half hour bus ride back to Phnom Penh today, dropped the team off at the airport (after eating at the fancy airport Dairy Queen with them), and will welcome our second team tomorrow morning :) This is roughly what our schedule will entail until somewhere around November.

This next group will be a team of 5 from Kompong Thom). I'm excited. The floor of the house continues to flood in the rainy season so we will be raising it up to prevent further flooding. I look forward to finally using my impressive construction skills.

Josh and I are unpacking and repacking and catching up on e-mails at opposite ends of our fancy desk (our gray fold up restaurant table) and are now headed out for a date night at our newest favorite Phnom Penh restaurant, The Pizza Company :)

As a post-Pizza-Company note, we had great conversation in the car and at dinner regarding how privileged we feel to get to serve in our present capacity. We realize that we aren't doing anything except praying to be available to what God has us, to partner with what He is already doing in Cambodia. We look forward to this season with a great deal of expectation and excitement.














The before shots.





















And after.






























Angkor Wat.

























Comments

halgrakin said…
You look like Jane from Tarzan with your big round hat.

I like it.

Love! ~ Haley
June 6, 2008 at 10:56 PM
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