Sunday Update (Saturday for my US friends)

Late night with the Australia Day celebration and up early to ride around Phnom Penh on a bike tour with Mary who is not only a crazy daring bike rider, but also knows Phnom Penh well and is a gracious host. Plus, she is a strong rider and so we had fun. We saw a lot of the monuments in PP. We also saw an interesting game played with a ball about the size of a grapefruit and made of woven bamboo. There are three players per side and they kick and head the ball over a net that is about the size and height of a badminton net. These guys were so talented as they leaped up in the air turned their backs parallel to the ground and then kicked the ball over the net (much like the kick that soccer star Pele made famous). After an almost 3 hour ride I showered and got back on the bike with Christina to head to church. This week we worshipped at Second Mile - a wonderful church that hosts people from all over the world. Worship is in English. As I looked around the small, but packed room I realized that I knew close to 20 people in the service and I thought how amazing to be in Cambodia and know so many people in one place. That definitely would not be the case if this were a "typical" vacation. This cannot even be compared to a typical vacation; it is so much better! I am posting this from a wonderful coffee shop in PP called "Brown". Jenny and I rode our bikes here and are doing some work before heading out to play tennis. Jenny is writing one of her updates and I feel kind of intimidated being in the same room as her when she is writing. If you have received one of her newsletters you will know what I am talking about.

Here are some reflections that I had yesterday about the trip to Siem Reap:

The trip to Siem Reap was meant to be, probably less so to see the many beautiful temple ruins and more for the conversation with Pear, the young Khmer man who sat next to me on the van ride up to Siem Reap; and most especially for how God moved my heart while traveling back from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Seeing the countryside, the extreme poverty, the enormity of fields that have so much potential, but lie unproductive; and seeing so many young children, some of them naked, playing in the streets as cars literally zoomed closely by throwing up dust, incessantly honking their horns as a warning to stay away. Going through the small town after small town I wondered how their businesses, run out of shacks, could possibly remain operational. Certainly, they must offer trade to one another. Most of them have too little money to buy from another business. Some were selling bamboo sticks, others had plastic grocery bags with a stuffed animal in it – hanging from the ceiling all dusty, and others the typical assortment of groceries that is so common in places like Phnom Penh (sodas, cigarettes, gasoline in coke bottles on the street side). This would all be so sad and heavy on one's heart, yet God moved my heart in such a positive, hopeful way. As I mentioned in a prior posting God placed a prayer on my heart - calling on Him to restore productivity to Cambodia's fields and the benefit from this productivity going to all Cambodians and healthy and just measure. The Cambodian people remaining humble and grateful. On the return trip, when I was awake and watching these fields zoom by I prayed this prayer over and over again and instead of just seeing dusty fields I saw hope. I saw these children living in such poor conditions: severe poverty, unsanitary surroundings (I literally saw a septic truck dumping into the river), their homes would not pass in the US even as a shack, and yet every child I saw seemed happy, they all found ways to enjoy life playing – though not with toys or on any nice equipment. I saw field after field stretching out like oceans extending beyond what my eyes could see and rather than just seeing dustiness and unproductive fields I saw potential; I saw hope and my heart was so moved. God transformed what I saw to be a rich Cambodia with healthy people. I know very little about agriculture and water treatment, but I felt moved to do something about this. 

I mentioned  that I am writing this at a coffee shop. As I am writing a man comes up to Jenny and I and hands us his business card. He is the Executive Director for the International Friendship Development Organization and said that some of the work they are doing is about water quality and agriculture. (This is well after I had already written the paragraph above.) Yes, God does work in amazing ways!

Flowers growing out of temple ruins, Siem Reap

The Freedom Monument, Phnom Penh

 

Thank you Mary for your gracious, joyful, and generous spirit

 

I can tell that these guys are really talented athletes even though I don't fully understand the game they are playing.

Jenny insisted on taking this picture because she thought it was so funny that I put on a sweatshirt.

 

 

This is the face of poverty in Phnom Penh and it sits right across the street from some of the most opulent buildings in the city. Of course, there is a street-side wall to hide it. There are abandoned train tracks bordering these homes and I am told that on the rare occasion when the trains are used that authorities round up the people who live here and force them to temporarily relocate.

 

Three monks are sitting on a bench. Two of them tell a joke about the third one and then...well, you get this picture.