So camp is now officially over. It's hard to believe that my final days in Cambodia are now here. Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be sent taking the short termers around town and Monday morning, I say goodbye to Natalie, Elias and Stan. Then on Tuesday, I get on the plane home. I am really dreading the actual flying. I have a 24 hour layover in Taiwan so it will be a full 3 days of travel to finally get home. But my mind and heart are ready to go. It will be sad to say goodbye but Pittsburgh is calling my name.
Thank you for all the prayer support and comments over the past weeks. I'm not home yet, so I still need prayer but God has protected me and watched over me in ways I probably don't even know. In 48 days, I haven't had a single day of sickness. That's a huge miracle. God has really taken care of me. But please pray for me and the other interns as we finish up our time here and head home.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Almost done
Sorry I haven't blogged in days, but I'm only updating right now because I snuck away from lunch early for 15 minutes.
Camp is going great and we only have one day left, which is crazy! But we interns are ridiculously busy (hence the no posting). We are in charge of the whole camp, including emceeing, worship, testimonies, sermons and games. Then we each have a teaching group and are in charge of the field trips every afternoon.
On top of that, Emily, Natalie and I are living in the dorms with one team, which has proven to be the biggest stress of all. Camp is fun and great but at the end of the day, we bring the campers home with us. The team has had a BIG problem adjusting to living at the dorms and spend most of their time complaining. They have also broken most of the things in the house, so the three of us get home at 7 every night and spend 2 hours cleaning, doing laundry, fixing toilets, mopping overflowed showers and chasing rats out of the boys dorm. We have had several talks with the group, which is a youth group of high schoolers and several adult leaders. However, the leaders seem to have the biggest trouble with the few rules we set like "no food left out" (we'll get rats).
As the week has progressed, the situation has improved and I'm still enjoying my final days in Cambodia. It is hard to believe I will be getting on a plane in about 5 days, but I'm more than ready. Nat, Stan, Elijah and I have been here for 6 weeks, and we are definitely ready to come home, especially after this English camp.
This week continues to be the hardest we've had so far, so please keep praying for the teams and for us interns.
Camp is going great and we only have one day left, which is crazy! But we interns are ridiculously busy (hence the no posting). We are in charge of the whole camp, including emceeing, worship, testimonies, sermons and games. Then we each have a teaching group and are in charge of the field trips every afternoon.
On top of that, Emily, Natalie and I are living in the dorms with one team, which has proven to be the biggest stress of all. Camp is fun and great but at the end of the day, we bring the campers home with us. The team has had a BIG problem adjusting to living at the dorms and spend most of their time complaining. They have also broken most of the things in the house, so the three of us get home at 7 every night and spend 2 hours cleaning, doing laundry, fixing toilets, mopping overflowed showers and chasing rats out of the boys dorm. We have had several talks with the group, which is a youth group of high schoolers and several adult leaders. However, the leaders seem to have the biggest trouble with the few rules we set like "no food left out" (we'll get rats).
As the week has progressed, the situation has improved and I'm still enjoying my final days in Cambodia. It is hard to believe I will be getting on a plane in about 5 days, but I'm more than ready. Nat, Stan, Elijah and I have been here for 6 weeks, and we are definitely ready to come home, especially after this English camp.
This week continues to be the hardest we've had so far, so please keep praying for the teams and for us interns.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Yikes
53 short termers = 6 stressed and tired interns
It's gonna be a long week
Today was the first day of all 53 short termers and it was absolute insanity. Since the 6 of us are almost completely responsible for every minute of their day, it was pretty crazy transporting them around and practically herding them to places. Most are jet lagged and culture shocked so that adds another component. The coming days will be better and English camp will add some structure to the day but we just have to get through the weekend.
It's a good mix of high schoolers and adults, which is a good ingredient for camp. But we can already tell who will struggle with the unstructured aspect of camp. We say it over and over. It's not about English, it's about building relationships. But we can already tell who will be frustrated with the laissez faire way we will be teaching each day. So pray for everyone's attitudes as they are out of their comfort zones and struggling. They are eating new food, with people they don't know in a really hot climate in a country where they speak another language. I forget that I once was quite uncomfortable too.
Essentially, prayer this week will be the most important time for my entire trip. I'm glad I've had 6 weeks to prepare but this one is gonna be tough. We will definitely be stretched as interns this week and even though I'm enjoying it so far, it's hard at the same time. Pray for stamina and patience, particularly in the dorms with mostly high school students. Also, I've really been feeling the desire to be back at home and definitely sad about some of the things I am missing. But I know God still has stuff to teach me here and I'm gonna make sure I take advantage of every day.
It's gonna be a long week
Today was the first day of all 53 short termers and it was absolute insanity. Since the 6 of us are almost completely responsible for every minute of their day, it was pretty crazy transporting them around and practically herding them to places. Most are jet lagged and culture shocked so that adds another component. The coming days will be better and English camp will add some structure to the day but we just have to get through the weekend.
It's a good mix of high schoolers and adults, which is a good ingredient for camp. But we can already tell who will struggle with the unstructured aspect of camp. We say it over and over. It's not about English, it's about building relationships. But we can already tell who will be frustrated with the laissez faire way we will be teaching each day. So pray for everyone's attitudes as they are out of their comfort zones and struggling. They are eating new food, with people they don't know in a really hot climate in a country where they speak another language. I forget that I once was quite uncomfortable too.
Essentially, prayer this week will be the most important time for my entire trip. I'm glad I've had 6 weeks to prepare but this one is gonna be tough. We will definitely be stretched as interns this week and even though I'm enjoying it so far, it's hard at the same time. Pray for stamina and patience, particularly in the dorms with mostly high school students. Also, I've really been feeling the desire to be back at home and definitely sad about some of the things I am missing. But I know God still has stuff to teach me here and I'm gonna make sure I take advantage of every day.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The Aussies arrive
I'm not sure how much time and energy I will have for blogging in the next week or so since the teams are arriving. Bill has given the interns complete responsibility of the English camp and the short termers so we will be spending the weekend escorting the teams around the city, taking them to market, bartering for them and making sure they don't get lost. With 53 people, that should be interesting.
The first team arrived tonight and it reminded me how excited I am for more short termers. One of the main reasons I signed up for this particular internship is that I love being able to help short term teams and after a month in Cambodia, I'd forgotten how much I've learned since being here. We haven't seen a short term team in about 2 weeks and it will be awesome to be able to show them Cambodia.
Pray for them as they all arrive over the next two days. They will be tired, jet lagged, intimidated and culture shocked, just like I was. So I hope God will be able to use us interns to help make things easier for them. Also pray for us interns though. We are pushing through our last two weeks. During a 2-hour break today, we all feel asleep on the guest house floor. What a sight to walk in and see 6 bodies sprawled out everywhere. But we are all feeling great and excited for camp to start again.
The first team arrived tonight and it reminded me how excited I am for more short termers. One of the main reasons I signed up for this particular internship is that I love being able to help short term teams and after a month in Cambodia, I'd forgotten how much I've learned since being here. We haven't seen a short term team in about 2 weeks and it will be awesome to be able to show them Cambodia.
Pray for them as they all arrive over the next two days. They will be tired, jet lagged, intimidated and culture shocked, just like I was. So I hope God will be able to use us interns to help make things easier for them. Also pray for us interns though. We are pushing through our last two weeks. During a 2-hour break today, we all feel asleep on the guest house floor. What a sight to walk in and see 6 bodies sprawled out everywhere. But we are all feeling great and excited for camp to start again.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Here we go again
It is crazy to think that I will be heading home in less than 2 weeks. The time is flying by. And it will go even faster starting tomorrow when the first team arrives for English camp.
The interns and I just spent 3 days cleaning the dorms for the short-termers. To say it was an unpleasant task would be understatement. We had spent several nights there while the students were living there about a week ago but now the students have moved out for the week. It took 3 whole days of scrubbing, sweeping and mopping to get the place even decent looking and I know the short termers will still be aghast at the conditions. Cambodians have the mentality of use and abuse for their homes. So they never ever clean. The place hadn't been cleaned since last summer's English camp.
Our greatest adventure? Stan and I were cleaning the kitchen and as I was moving an old water filter, baby rats started crawling out and running everywhere around my feet. I'm not ashamed to say I screamed like a girl and jumped on a chair. But I wasn't too embarrassed because Stan was already on a chair. It took an hour of chasing rats (and hearing Elijah scream like a girl when one ran over his foot) before we thought we got them all. Last night, we lay traps and caught 10 more rats. But we think we've gotten them all and sealed all the holes they were using to get in, so hopefully that's the end of that adventure.
We are going to start at a break-neck speed starting on Friday when most of the teams arrive. During the last English camp, there were 24 short-termers and that was difficult. Now the number has doubled. So I'm sure I will be exhausted by the end. But we're all excited for camp to start and for us to meet the new teams.
Please pray for travel and safety as they arrive and the craziness of logistics as we shepherd 50 people around the city. Hopefully we won't lose anyone.
Also pray for us interns as well. The honeymoon period is now over and we've been together 24/7 for a month now so we have had to find a little more grace with one another. Keep praying for health because I haven't had one day of sickness yet! Truly God providing for me.
The interns and I just spent 3 days cleaning the dorms for the short-termers. To say it was an unpleasant task would be understatement. We had spent several nights there while the students were living there about a week ago but now the students have moved out for the week. It took 3 whole days of scrubbing, sweeping and mopping to get the place even decent looking and I know the short termers will still be aghast at the conditions. Cambodians have the mentality of use and abuse for their homes. So they never ever clean. The place hadn't been cleaned since last summer's English camp.
Our greatest adventure? Stan and I were cleaning the kitchen and as I was moving an old water filter, baby rats started crawling out and running everywhere around my feet. I'm not ashamed to say I screamed like a girl and jumped on a chair. But I wasn't too embarrassed because Stan was already on a chair. It took an hour of chasing rats (and hearing Elijah scream like a girl when one ran over his foot) before we thought we got them all. Last night, we lay traps and caught 10 more rats. But we think we've gotten them all and sealed all the holes they were using to get in, so hopefully that's the end of that adventure.
We are going to start at a break-neck speed starting on Friday when most of the teams arrive. During the last English camp, there were 24 short-termers and that was difficult. Now the number has doubled. So I'm sure I will be exhausted by the end. But we're all excited for camp to start and for us to meet the new teams.
Please pray for travel and safety as they arrive and the craziness of logistics as we shepherd 50 people around the city. Hopefully we won't lose anyone.
Also pray for us interns as well. The honeymoon period is now over and we've been together 24/7 for a month now so we have had to find a little more grace with one another. Keep praying for health because I haven't had one day of sickness yet! Truly God providing for me.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Back in Phnom Penh
Emily, Jonathan and I returned safely to the capital on Sunday and, as I looked at my calendar, I could hardly believe I have little over 2 weeks left in Cambodia. The interns will be in the CMA guest house for several days (yea, hot water and AC!) and then 53 short termers start arriving on Thursday. Bill has already told us we will have a lot more responsiblity this time around for English camp since we know what we're doing. Plus, there will be 3 times as many short termers. I'm really excited. Camp starts Monday and runs through Sunday and then I get on a plane the Tuesday after that!
But I want to write quickly about the past 5 days, which I spent in Mondulkiri. During field forum, we talked to a lot of missionaries about what they are doing in Cambodia. Joyce offered to have three of us to come visit her for a few days so the three of us packed into her truck at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning and drove for 1o hours to the northeast corner of Cambodia. At certain points, Joyce would point to the east where we could see some of Vietnam. There are no legal crossings so all you can do is look at it.
The three days we were there weren't incredibly eventful, mostful relaxing as we met people Joyce works with and traveled to several village churches. Mondulkiri is very different than the rest of Cambodia in that it is both hilly and cool. I actually had to use a blanket at night, which was a welcome change from the oppressive heat I've started to get used to. I found that my 4-week trip to Guatemala two summers ago was great practice for this short trip. Emily and Jonathan were both frustrated with the amount of time we spent just sitting at Joyce's house, or the lack of stuff we were doing. I dealt with that in Guatemala, that it was lot of relational things, and also a time of rest. I think the two of them were hoping to keep up the breakneck speed we've been going at for the past month. But in a small town like Mondulkiri, thats just not the style. I enjoyed it and also enjoyed recognizing that a hard lesson I learned on another trip had prepared me for this one.
In general, it was a nice information-getting trip as we got to know Joyce and her helper Leang. I also enjoyed the time with Emily and Jonathan, although the trip definitely highlighted how different we are from each other. More specifially, me from them. But we made it work and had an especially good conversation with Emily one day about how she walked away from God for three years and what brought her back. It was something I would have never guessed about her and it was good for her to share.
One of the best lessons I've been learning is how easy it is to not even notice when we leave the basics of our faith behind. Essentially, I had forgotten how great it was to be in the word and reading from it. It's something I've gotten into the habit of doing over the past month and I am praying it will continue when I return. I've read more this past month then I've read in 10 years so I'm excited about how much God is teaching me.
But I want to write quickly about the past 5 days, which I spent in Mondulkiri. During field forum, we talked to a lot of missionaries about what they are doing in Cambodia. Joyce offered to have three of us to come visit her for a few days so the three of us packed into her truck at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning and drove for 1o hours to the northeast corner of Cambodia. At certain points, Joyce would point to the east where we could see some of Vietnam. There are no legal crossings so all you can do is look at it.
The three days we were there weren't incredibly eventful, mostful relaxing as we met people Joyce works with and traveled to several village churches. Mondulkiri is very different than the rest of Cambodia in that it is both hilly and cool. I actually had to use a blanket at night, which was a welcome change from the oppressive heat I've started to get used to. I found that my 4-week trip to Guatemala two summers ago was great practice for this short trip. Emily and Jonathan were both frustrated with the amount of time we spent just sitting at Joyce's house, or the lack of stuff we were doing. I dealt with that in Guatemala, that it was lot of relational things, and also a time of rest. I think the two of them were hoping to keep up the breakneck speed we've been going at for the past month. But in a small town like Mondulkiri, thats just not the style. I enjoyed it and also enjoyed recognizing that a hard lesson I learned on another trip had prepared me for this one.
In general, it was a nice information-getting trip as we got to know Joyce and her helper Leang. I also enjoyed the time with Emily and Jonathan, although the trip definitely highlighted how different we are from each other. More specifially, me from them. But we made it work and had an especially good conversation with Emily one day about how she walked away from God for three years and what brought her back. It was something I would have never guessed about her and it was good for her to share.
One of the best lessons I've been learning is how easy it is to not even notice when we leave the basics of our faith behind. Essentially, I had forgotten how great it was to be in the word and reading from it. It's something I've gotten into the habit of doing over the past month and I am praying it will continue when I return. I've read more this past month then I've read in 10 years so I'm excited about how much God is teaching me.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Not dead
I just wanted to update quickly that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I am in a new town for a few days called Mondulkiri with Emily and Jonathan. It took 10 hours to get here and is way way off the beaten path. So Internet is technically available but the electricity in the whole town is turned off 75 percent of the time.
But please pray for travel back on Sunday by taxi, for time with the missionary Joyce and for health for Emily (cold). Also, Jacob's surgery is today and it is hard to be away from the family during this hard time.
Oh and check out the column I am writing for the Collegian every week : http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/07/17/work_abroad_counteracts_homesi.aspx
But please pray for travel back on Sunday by taxi, for time with the missionary Joyce and for health for Emily (cold). Also, Jacob's surgery is today and it is hard to be away from the family during this hard time.
Oh and check out the column I am writing for the Collegian every week : http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/07/17/work_abroad_counteracts_homesi.aspx
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