English Camp in Phnom Penh

I’m trying to keep up two blogs, and fighting with very slow internet that goes out seemingly every time I get ready to post, so sometimes the down time I have is a little on the short side. Ideally, I would update both every day. Here are my reflections on the past couple of days.

There are so many sights and sounds and wonderful happenings everyday, that it’s hard to absorb. It’s hard to process. And it’s hard to put into perspective. Sunday was completely packed full. In the morning, we were able to attend Tum Nup Tek Church. Even though I didn’t understand the language, the music was amazing. Group after group came up to offer special music. I loved it all! After training for English camp, we were treated to a ride around Phnom Penh with Dave Manfred as our tour guide. He drove us past the location of the Water Festival tragedy, down by the rivers. He drove us around the Royal Palace. He talked to us about Cambodia and its needs. And the last place he took us was to a real Cambodian market. We had been to the tourist ones; he took us to the one the Cambodians use, called Olympic Market. It was an incredible sight. Inside, it was three floors of wall to wall vendors and merchandise enough for a store packed into stall after stall. And the crazy thing is, Dave knew just where to go to lead us to what we were looking for: a collar shirt for Rick Flynn, who forgot to pack one. Unfortunately, the real Cambodian market where real Cambodians shop has very little need to stock a size XL, so Rick was out of luck. After that unsuccessful search, Dave asked us if we wanted to see the “grocery store” part of the  market. Of course, we said yes! So many sights, sounds, and smells again wanted to put my senses on overload. Dave bought us a bag of mangosteens, a delicious fruit I had never heard of before a few days ago. We learned how to eat them and then enjoyed them right there on the street. The meat market was a sight to behold, with fish being scaled, chickens being butchered, and every type of meat hung out for all to see (including parts you never think about seeing, if you are wise). We all piled back into Dave’s car enlightened and thrilled to  have received this wonderful gift of time and knowledge from  our friend.

Our chariot has arrived!

Liz with Patti Ens, who interpreted the devotion

Monday was the first day of English Camp. To start things off on a “real Cambodia” note, we headed over to the church packed in the back of a truck. It was great exhilarating, especially in Cambodia traffic! Last night at supper, I had agreed to do the devotional today. We got back to the motel at about 8:00 pm, which left very little time for pondering on a devotion. There was a verse I had used in an earlier blog that came to me, so I decided to center my devotion around it. Revelation 22:17b says: “Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” I am constantly thirsty here in Cambodia, constantly refilling my water bottle. But Jesus offers the one and only, live-saving love that will forever satisfy my needs. Thank you, Jesus.

Devotion out of the way, I was free to enjoy the rest of the day. English Camp is one of the things that brought me to Cambodia! I was eager to begin establishing relationships with these young people. As I was telling Marti this morning, so far I had met Cambodians, but I didn’t really have a connection to anyone here yet. That was about to change.  We were assigned our groups and then we went to work helping these kids learn English. After an introductory game, we separated into two groups, one for girls and one for boys. The female leaders went with the girls, and the male leaders with the boys. Our girls played games with us, practiced introducing themselves, and generally had a great time.  I put this in the CCC blog too, but we practiced counting by jumping rope. I used to jump rope for exercise, about a hundred years ago. But guess who still has it! I was the champion rope jumper. After I could speak/breathe again, I basked in the glory.

During the afternoon, our field trip was to the Royal Palace. The bus ride there was perhaps my “heart moment” for the day, although in fact I had many of those. I sat next to one of our girls, and she and I showed her some pictures from home. She said something like this, “You happy you in Cambodia?” I smiled and said yes. Then she said, “I like you and I love you!” and held my hand for the rest of the bus ride. Wow. The Royal Palace is an interesting place. We all respected the culture as we listened to our guide and learned about Buddhism and Hinduism. There were many worshippers, bowing down at the various Buddhas around the grounds. That was something I had not seen first hand before.

Now I am ready to experience another day, here in Cambodia. May you feel the love of your God surrounding you as you go about your day.