5 of 5!

Josh and I are currently sitting here...
....listening to the sweet sounds of Mariah Carey circa 1993 (the innocent days) answering emails, drinking iced coffee, and enjoying our very last weekend in Cambodia. Wow.

This morning we dropped off at the airport our 18th and final team in Cambodia! It is fairly surreal to the both of us that the next time we go to the airport we will be the ones getting dropped off!

We couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful final team to end our time here. The group came from Hope Foursquare in Snohomish, WA (which is incidentally one of our favorite churches) and was led by the high school pastor, Neil Kelly, and comprised of 5 teenage guys and a gal named Mindy who spent 6 months living in Cambodia with YWAM five years ago.

It was a great blend of personalities, backgrounds, and an underlying heart evident in each member of the team to both serve and partner with the Cambodians in blessing one of our church orphan homes.

We started out toward the city of Kompong Thmor on Tuesday the 13th of August, making what would be our final stop to the Happiest Place on Earth (for some), “Spiderville.” Josh had some emotional final moments with some of his non-fried 8 legged friends. Highs and lows people. Highs and lows.

After prying spiders off of my husband (not the first time), we traveled on to our favorite guest house in all of Kompong Thmor with only squatty potties, no sinks, and no a/c.

Because we are terribly hardcore that way.

We spent some time at the Chuuk Ksach home the next day getting to know the kids, playing games, and doing some scraping/sanding to get the home ready to be painted!

Now maybe I just forget from team, but I am 92% certain (people love statistics) that I sweated more during this week or work in Cambodia than I ever have before...

This team worked incredibly hard and Josh and I remarked at the end of the week that we never heard any of them complain about the heat! Impressive.

And this even included for them a daily sort of "morning and evening exercise routine" involving pushing our truck a brief distance in order to get it started. All part of the experience and fun for everyone!

...except for Mindy and I who served as what we like to call "photographers," an equally mentally and physically taxing role to pushing a large vehicle....

Our daily efforts were celebrated with the appropriate fanfare....

The team worked incredibly hard for 5 and a half days painting the entire home, the bathrooms, front gate, and partnering with Cambodian contractors to rebuild the kitchen/cafeteria!

Sometimes we force team members to make their own ladders in order to scrape and paint a house...it builds character.

And carpentry skill.

Sometimes my husband also gets coerced into climbing on top of a roof to paint the trim. He is both brave and productive with his time.
And speaking of time....during the week he would look down at his watch in disbelief as our days out with the last team ticked by!

2 Cor. 6:14 people.

On our 5th day out at the home we had an opportunity to attend a church service with just a "few" of the neighborhood kids...

Also on that Sunday Neil, who just finished paramedic school in Seattle, was able to do a check up on all the kids and staff at the home, bandaging up any scrapes and cuts to prevent infection.

And Mindy and Nick worked to teach the staff how to apply brush-on fluoride that was donated and sent with the team. Such a practical need for these kids.

The home looked absolutely beautiful when the team finished up on Tuesday afternoon!
Not only was the home itself cared for, but the team funds also allowed for the purchasing of practical items like new chairs, tables, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, wastebaskets, mops, new dishes, pots, pans, clothes, writing notebooks and pencils, 4 bicycles, and a moto! All of these items will be a tremendous blessing to these kids for years to come!

The kids were also treated to a special curry meal (one of the meals usually eaten on holidays here) on our last day there.
And we got spoiled with lots of fresh coconuts during our week :) So not only did the guys on the team learn practical carpentry skills, but also practical ways to break into a coconut. They don't teach this stuff in school.

Josh and I had some surreal moments our last day at the home as we said goodbye to the sweet kids we'd gotten to know a bit over the week. Even if sometimes that involved the unbelievably cute little girls talking to me in Khmer, even when I didn't understand, and me finally deciding to converse with them, but in English.

I like to think we had some meaningful talks...

We had a mix of emotions as we left the home and began what would be our last trip in the truck with a team back to the guest house. Pretty wild.

I have been in Cambodia nearly 16 months now and Josh has been here for over 2 years! We have lived all but 3 weeks of our marriage here and have joked with each other that in just a few days from now will get to start finally dating!

We feel confident and excited for this next season in our life, with all of its many unknowns and mysteries. :) We don't know what's next (a common question we receive), but we do know that we are trusting the Lord for a restful September full of friends, family and us trying not to define what we think our re-entry to the states should look or feel like. We are grateful to have each other to process with and so many wonderful people at home to journey with us as we transition into this next season!

We will miss much about Cambodia, mostly the people and the sites that have become so common. But we know the Lord will continue the tremendous work He has begun here and we hope to have the opportunity to visit sometime in the not-too-distant future :) More updates to follow of our last week here....