Hotwheels

As Carolyn and I were out with Cameron the other day looking at paint colors for our new place, God used a unique way to help us create some relationships. To give you a little context, Cameron's world has been rocked by our move. The weather here is so hot, he is continually touched like a new little puppy and he has to say thank you and hello in a totally new language. So sometimes he just climbs into his shell when we are out. That was the case at the paint store. He was just sitting on a chair, resting his head on the counter, holding onto 2 hotwheel's cars. Some of the workers were trying to interact with him but to no avail. Then one of the gals there grabbed one of his cars and began to drive it on the counter by him. Soon he grabbed his other one and they were playing together. Not long after that, a guy came over and started playing and that eventually got Cameron and him on the floor pushing the cars quickly so they would "crash". Then another worker made a paper airplane for him. Soon, pretty much all of the workers were involved in this impromptu playtime. As Carolyn and I were talking after that, she was commenting on how amazing it was that, despite the language barrier, God used something as simple as a little toy to draw people in. Because of this, we won't consider using any other store for paint and we look forward to seeing where these relationships may go. As you can see from the pictures, the time ended up with Cameron playing with many new friends and really enjoying his time. It was a blessing for him...and us. We so enjoy continuing to get to know people here and look for opportunities to be a witness and make an impact for Christ. As we do this we ask you to pick one person from the pictures and pray for them. Pray that we may deepen our relationship with them and that God would give us an opportunity to share our hope in Christ with them.

Easy Does It

{Pics are of a beautiful temple in downtown Phnom Penh, our family at a Wat in town, a view ouside the front door of the Sanctuary and Cameron and Fanny}.
Life here fluctuates between "This is amazing, we are living out our dream here" to: "NOTHING here is easy...just give me something easy". Somewhere in between those 2 sentiments the 6 of us are settling into life here. One thing that makes us long for "easy" is shopping. Let's take for example shopping list A: bread, milk, nails, new t-shirt, new flip flops and a soccer ball. I used to think "Super Wal Mart", spend 45 min (if I stopped at the Subway inside) and I was done. Now I think "I can get bread and milk at the gas station on the corner, nails at the little shop with all of the hardware stuff (My Home Depot), the best bet for a new t-shirt would be across town at the Russian Market, I think I can find some flip flops at that little vendor on the corner but if not I will get those at the Russian Market too and finally I will stop by one of the sporting goods vendors down in the city". 5 hours later my list is complete, if the vendors weren't out of what I needed. Another thing that sometimes causes us to desire "easy" is calling any business (lets say a dentist) to ask a question or make an appointment. No more "I'll be done in 30 seconds, I just need to make an appointment with the dentist". One bonus, though, is that there are no prompts saying "For English Press 1". I spent about 5 minutes on the phone with the dentist office last week and at the end I was pretty sure that I had actually made an appointment and fairly certain of the time but had no idea which of this Dentist's locations I was supposed to go to. He is part of a group of very good well trained dentists and their group has 3 offices in Phnom Penh. Me: "You have 3 offices in Phnom Penh. Which office should I go to?" Receptionist "Yes, Dentist office". M:"What street is it on?" R: "Excuse me sir. I do not understand." M: "I have an appointment for the dentist. What street is the office on that I should go to?" R: "Yes, your appointment is at 10:00." "Okay, thank you." That is just a snippet of actual events. Regardless, I made my appointment and as a bonus received 2 root canals.
It is true that we sometimes look at the complexity of life here and marvel at it but I can honestly say that none of us would choose differently. As stated by our 2 teenagers (Alex and Abby respectively) "I love that we moved to Cambodia" and "Dad, I really want to graduate from Logos". Carolyn and I are thrilled to hear statements such as these. As I survey the ministry that God has placed us in I cannot be more thrilled either. One of the major things I have on my plate now is the Sanctuary, which is Asian Hope's new hospitality house. We are using it as a place to house visitors to Asian Hope and anyone else who is looking for a nice, comfortable, affordable place to stay here. But even more importantly we use it to train and mentor some of the students who have come through our boys and girls homes and also graduated from high school at Logos. It has been an incredible opportunity for Carolyn and I to work alongside each other and even involve our kids in it. Most recently (this past weekend) Abby stayed overnight Friday and Saturday to help feed and host a group of 27 from Hong Kong. She was up late and awake early with Fanny, the Asian Hope student who is managing the Sanctuary right now, making cinnamon rolls and washing dishes...etc. She loved it and got many compliments on here attentiveness. We couldn't ask for more as we pour into the lives of these young people here and they in turn pour into ours. We really could not have asked for more. We pray that as we become more and more closely tied to these wonderful students and people here that our lives may serve as an encouragement to them, causing them to seek Christ either for the first time or to deepen their relationship with Him. All good things come from our Father above!