Day One of Siem Reap English Camp

This was one long and exciting day! Those who had just come in yesterday all hoped for a good night’s sleep to help them be ready for the day today.  I (Liz) heard many good reports on that, which is a blessing. We all made the walk to the church this morning, after some stopped in the restaurant by the hotel to get an American breakfast. Let’s just say that the rice porridge that we are served every day takes some getting used to! The walk was pleasant in the early morning. Everyone was in pretty good spirits when we arrived at camp.

Today was the day we formed our groups and began camp! Every day camp starts with worship time. It was a beautiful time to sing songs together.  The worship was genuine and a lot of fun. At one point, we were taught a new song (to those of us who have not done English camps before). It was called “Cambodia is for Christ.” The Cambodian leader who sang the song for us did it with such great enthusiasm (and repeated it six or seven times) that we couldn’t help catching his joy. Several people from our group mentioned worship time as a highlight of their day. Mixed in with worship were game time and freshie shows. The teams were very competitive – and be sure you ask our team about freshie shows when they get back from Cambodia. Freshie shows are hard to explain in words. Maybe if you ask nicely, one of the team will give you a demonstration. (I’d highly recommend asking Steve.)

At about 10:00, we split into groups for English learning time. We had representatives from our team in each of the groups. The morning went by quickly with games and getting to know the young people. I have yet to talk about the bathrooms at the church where we have camp. Maybe I should just leave it to your imagination. At any rate, most of us would probably do our best NOT to have to use them, but it’s a long day and desperate times require desperate measures.  Enough said. Anyway, Andrea was not feeling well, so she and her mom went back to the hotel to get her some rest for the afternoon. We all hope and pray she will be feeling much better by morning.

Workers, spinning silk

After lunch with our camper friends, we headed off on our first field trip of the week. We went to a silk farm and the war museum. The silk farm was very interesting. We learned about all the steps in making silk, from moth to egg to worm to cocoon to spun silk. Then we saw some beautiful products in their store. After the silk farm, we headed to the war museum. It was an outside display of weapons, machinery, and aircraft of war. The items were mostly from the Vietnam War. There was no guide, and the kids climbed all over everything. In and amongst the war machinery, chickens roamed freely (the definition of free range chickens, I suppose) and three cows were tied to graze. I love Cambodia! People are practical and use their green space wisely. At the end, we posed for a group picture by the helicopter. As you can see, there are a lot of us.

The group at the war museum

Most enthusiastic participants in the group, at the war museum

Pink polka dots rule!!

As we returned to the church for supper, we found David Manfred (Field Director for CMA Cambodia) waiting for us. He wanted to spend some time with our CCC team and get the packages and suitcases we had brought for the different missionaries. It was great to see him there! He had supper with us at the church and then….the skies opened up, as they do in Cambodia. We wondered if it would be a long rain or a short rain, and decided to try to wait it out under our eating tent.  Maybe it would be one of those cloudbursts where it only rained a short time and then the skies cleared again. Unfortunately, this was not really the case. It rained hard (while kids still played volleyball). It thundered LOUDLY (while kids still played volleyball). The world filled with mud and water. Maxine, Sandy, Marti, Steve, Laura, Ray, Dave, and I (and Jessica, a friend from camp) all decided to brave the walk back to the motel. Remember, it is a 20-minute walk on a normal day. This was a mostly dark and pouring rain evening, with a good part of the way on a rutted, dirt (now mud) road. Time for an adventure! Steve and Dave found rain coats for sale at the little stand by the church, and invested in some pink (for Dave) and yellow (for Steve) polka dot numbers that will definitely stick in our memories. We walked cautiously to try to keep Jessica’s flip flops on her feet. We skirted mud puddles as it was possible. We enjoyed the laughter of people who watched us from their dry spots. We made it over half way back when we came to what looked like many other little streams we had crossed. Dave Manfred was in the lead and was just saying to be careful, because it was deeper than it looked. I was slightly too close behind him to fully heed those words before I stepped out. It wasn’t exactly deeper than I expected, but it WAS slipperier. Down I went, face first into the squishy, muddy, yucky (let’s not think about what the yuck is) water. I did most things right, except for the part where I was lying down in the street. I kept my mouth shut. I kept my backpack and camera out of the standing water. My Timex took a licking and kept on ticking. Dave helped me up. We didn’t have too long to keep walking to get to the hotel. All is well, and it is certainly a memory to take back home!

We had our first group meeting together tonight after everyone dried off (and some took showers to wash disgusting stuff off themselves).  We all gathered to talk about English Camp in general and our own days specifically. It was great to get together as a group and talk about our highs and lows, supporting one another and praying together. After the meeting, we got all the supplies that were for the Cambodian missionaries to Dave Manfred. Tomorrow, a new day will come, with more adventures in it! (Group picture tomorrow - hopefully - when Andrea feels better.)

Praises:

1.       Day 1 of English Camp had some amazing highlights: the worship time, the campers, and the field trips, to name a few.

2.       We had a wonderful time with Dave Manfred.

3.       Marti is feeling better.

Prayer Requests:

1.       Please pray for Andrea to feel better by tomorrow so she can participate in camp.

2.       Pray for the rest of the team to stay well.

3.       Pray for the relationships between campers and teachers to develop according to God’s plan for the week.

4.       Pray for lives to be changed, by the power of God.