Seventeen Strong in Siem Reap

Andrea, Laura, Kim, Abby L., and Abby H.

This morning we had unscheduled time, so Marti and Ron headed out to find their morning dose of “ice-milk coffee.”  Ron was getting his coffee on his way to the airport to film our team, arriving. They all arrived here at the Freedom Hotel at about 9:30 am. They looked great (at least to Ron, Marti, and me)! Abby H. was positively bouncing, saying she got 12 hours of sleep on the trip here. Andrea said she and her family found some futons to sleep on in Bangkok so she had a great night’s sleep. Others showed varying degrees of fatigue from the trip. They were all pleased with the breakfast at the Bangkok Airways Lounge. It was great to welcome them all to Siem Reap!

Part of our team, walking to the church

At 11:30, we headed over to the church where we will be having English Camp, to eat lunch. There were almost 50 of us, and we got to walk to the church. No bus rides (or wild truck rides) here!  The walk is just over 20 minutes long, and it ends up on a dirt road. That could be interesting when we get a lot of rain. The church itself is a nice building, smaller than the church in Phnom Penh. We ate our lunch outside and then headed to the upstairs sanctuary space to have our orientation. We have groups from Canada, mostly, along with our group of 17 and a couple of extra girls, also from the States. Oh, and we also had two participants from Poipet: C.J. and Amberlee Copeland (children of our friends Kent and Chrissy Copeland, serving up in Poipet)! It was a surprise to see the two of them! Orientation helped us get to know each other a little bit, along with learning the rules and expectations for camp.

The church

Part of our group at orientation

One little friend, along the way

We were done with orientation at about 2:30, so we headed back to the Freedom Hotel for a little rest time before supper. Many of the travelers used that time to catch a little nap so they would be ready for the walk back over to the church. Others were settling in and learning their way around the hotel. Refreshed and ready for the walk back to the church, we gathered in the lobby at about 5:30. Rick and Karen Flynn also found their way to our lobby to walk over to the church with us, in hopes of connecting with Kent and Chrissy Copeland for supper. We found our way back to the church, as many children called out “Hello!” when we walked by. We smiled, waved, and said, “Hello!” back, and they all giggled like it was the funniest thing ever. When we arrived at the church, we were treated to a beautifully “dressed” outdoor tent in which to have our meal. The food was great and the ambiance outstanding. A few students joined us for supper, as they had to travel a long way to be here and had come a day ahead of time. It was good to see some smiling, young faces greeting us. I’m eager to have those faces become familiar! English Camp 9.1 starts tomorrow! (And I promise to get a group picture then as well!)

Our eating accommodations

Praises:

1.       Praise God that the rest of our team arrived safely.

2.       Praise for a great orientation meeting with all the teams together.

3.       Praise for safe walks to and from the church.

Prayer Requests:

1.       Please pray for rest and recovery for our team after their long journey to get here.

2.       Pray for Marti’s stomach to settle.

3.       Pray for our campers' safe travel as they come from all around Siem Reap to join us for English Camp. Some will spend the nights in the church, as it would be too far to travel home every night.

4.       Pray for connections to be made and lives to be changed, among the campers and the teachers.
5.    I (Karen) will tag another prayer request on here... Rick and I leave Seim Reap at 630am on Thursday, travel by bus to Bangkok where we catch a flight to Hong Kong, and then on Sunday to Detroit and home. We appreciate your prayers for good connections. God has been so good to us on this whole trip. We praise the name of Jesus for his love, his provisions, his leading us on the path he has for us. What a God we serve!!