Day One of Phnom Penh English Camp

Our chariot awaits, with David Ens next toit

Wow! We kept our power ON all night long, so the team woke up refreshed and ready for the day ahead. It was our first day of English Camp, and we were all eager for it to begin. And as it turned out, it began in an interesting way. We had been getting shuttled to and from the church in a coach bus up until today. Today, we got a taste of real Cambodian life as we all piled into the back of a truck. It was delightful! And worthy of a whole bunch of pictures.

Marti, looking more comfortable than she felt on the truck ride.

Karen, getting off the truck.

Once we got to Tum Nup Tek Church, it was breakfast on the roof again. We then went down to meet our campers!! This is what it’s all about, one of the main reasons we came to Cambodia. We started with grouping the kids and making introductions of all the teachers. I (Liz) did the devotion for the whole group this morning. I used the verse Revelation 22:17, “Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” It seemed appropriate, since I have been thirsty since the moment I arrived in Cambodia. We are so blessed to serve a God who quenches our spiritual thirst.

Marti and I were in the same group, with five other teachers and fourteen kids. After playing an introductory game, we split into a boys’ group and a girls’ group. Our girls were very sweet. One spoke English very well and helped interpret when we had any communication problems. We spent the morning learning English phrases and playing games to enforce them. We did some counting, using a jump rope to help us. As we each took a turn jumping, everyone counted. One of the girls made it to 32, another to 48 – but guess who the champion was? That’s right, it was me, at 51 jumps. Then I just stopped because I hit my age and didn’t want to tempt fate. :-)

Yellow Group and Purple Group, on the stairs to the Throne Room

After another delicious lunch, we went on our field trip to the Royal Palace. As we waited to get in, the sun beat down on us and we Midwesterners thought we might melt. However, I hear the heat is oppressive back home as well, so I guess we weren’t any worse off than we would have been there. The Royal Palace is a beautiful place, full of sculptures and ornate carving to honor Buddhism and Hinduism. Cambodia is almost exclusively a Buddhist country, with Christians making up less that 1% of the population. It was very interesting to learn about this country’s history. And as we walked around, the sun went under some clouds. We got our first real sprinkles of the trip, but they only lasted a few minutes. The bathrooms were interesting in this establishment as well.  The saving grace we found was that at the end of our informative tour, before the busses arrived to pick us up, we found a little stand that sold Nestles ice cream bars. So far, that’s the best $2.00 I have ever spent.

Marti's and Liz's girls

We spent a wonderful afternoon getting to know our new friends, and then we arrived back at the church to sing a couple more songs and hear a testimony from one of the teachers. Oh, and we learned about something called “Freshie Shows.” I’ll leave that a mystery for the people coming for the Siem Reap English Camp. They should have SOME surprises.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers.

Praises:

1.       Day one of English Camp went well!

2.       The weather was good for our first field trip.

3.       We are all still well, if tired.

Prayer Requests:

1.       Please pray that we develop meaningful relationships with the young people in our groups at camp.

2.       Tomorrow’s field trip is to the water park. Please pray for good weather for that one.

3.       Please pray for our families back home.