Connecting and reconnecting

We really enjoyed fellowshipping this morning, connecting with new friends and reconnecting with old ones. The service met in the 4th floor cafeteria of the Logos building. The walls on both sides are completely open and there is no a/c so it was quite hot. Probably mid 80's with a similar humidity reading. But it is really cool to be praising God while looking out at beautiful tropical trees and hearing the birds that go along with them. The service is relatively informal but the worship is authentic. It is cool to see so many different backgrounds and nationalities come together and worship the same amazing God. It is a no frills church as they have their Sunday morning service and that's it, no kids programs, adult Sunday school classes or student ministries. But so far we really enjoy the realness of the fellowship. I took a couple snap shots this morning that I included.Blessings!

This is the Day

It is a beautiful Sunday morning right now. 10 in the morning mid 80's with sunny blue skies. It only cooled off to 79 last night so it hasn't warmed up too much yet. I was thinking this morning about where it says in God's word "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it" and how true that is. Church doesn't start until 1130 here so we had time to enjoy some coffee (Starbucks beans ground with a mortar and pestle), swedish pancakes, bacon...and some nice family time. We don't always get that for breakfast, though. Traditional Khmai breakfast is much different. For instance, I met a friend for breakfast the other morning and my options were different variations of fried rice and noodle soup. I thought I chose safely when I chose "Chinese sampler". I was joletd back to reality when I received my "breakfast" with many unidentifiable items in it. Through some lanuguage difficulty, I found out there was pig intestine in it, among other things. So needless to say, pancakes are a welcome treat.
So getting back to this morning, we are headed off to church soon. There are many good churches here and the one we are trying today is "Shalom" church and it meets in the Logos building where the kids go to school. I am including some pictures of the building. It is about 10 minutes from our house and is situated right in the middle of a very poor neighborhood, which really describes about 95% of Cambodia. Hope you enjoy the pics. Blessings!

Tuk Tuks and Markets

I know we have referenced taking a Tuk Tuk to the market and we have had some questions as to what exactly a Tuk Tuk is and what the markets are like. Let me describe them and give you some pics as well. First, a TukTuk is a moto (small motorized bike the size of a scotter but looks more like a motorcycle) pulling a trailer with seats in it. There are thousands of them around town and they are like taxi's. When you walk out of a market there are atleast 4 drivers that will ask if you need a ride, trying to get your business. We have one that was referred to us that we can call if we need one. It is a great way to see the city as you are basically outside right next to the traffic and the people.
The markets are basically like a mall in the states in that people sell stuff there. That is about where the similarities end. They are huge buildings that are surrounded by vendors selling anything from fruit to clothes to toys to meat (raw and hanging in dusty, hot, humid air) to cd's, plates, decorative items...etc. Then you can venture inside where the interior is packed (I can't stress that enough) with as many vendors as they can fit in, selling all the same stuff you saw outside. Bartering is expected as two adjacent booths may be selling the same things. Typically the very interior has the bulk of the food and a "food court". It is usually dimly lit, dirty and kinda smelly as people are preparing fresh fish and chickens to sell. They are lopping off the heads and gutting them right there, not refrigerated or anything. You can only imagine the aromas. Despite all of this, the markets are charming. There aren't a lot of fair skinned people there so we all get looked and smiled at often. Cameron is especially a hit as many people will let their fingers run through his hair as he walks by. He has gotten used to it as part of the experience and so have we. So with the attached pictures I hope this has given you a little glimpse into this aspect of our lives here.

One Week In

So we have been here one week and are settling in well. We are doing many things that are helping us feel more established mixed with things that are just necessities for everyday living. What we are finding is that no matter why we do things, they all take considerably more effort and energy than they would in the states. Example: I went to get my drivers license 2 days ago (Monday). Simple enough, right? Well, I drove downtown (I know there are some of you making connections in your mind...how is he driving without a license? That is a subject for another post)to get my 6 photos it takes to get one. Then, Tuesday when the photos were ready I drove back into town to get them and I took them across town to a driving school to get my actual license. So I handed the lady my photos, paperwork and $45 dollars and walked away with nothing. Yep. I had to drive back there today and get handed a piece of paper on which I can only read my name, trusting that it really is the temporary license they were telling me it is in hopes that I really will get my real one in a couple months.
So that is a little slice into our lives these days. We have similar stories with many other things. The remarkable thing is, none of this deters us. Our hearts are still united and excited about what we are doing. (By the way, that picture is of the $45, or 193,500 riel, piece of paper I invested in).

First Day of School

Five days into our tenure here in Cambodia and it was time for the kids' first day of school. Each of them had their own unique balance of excitement versus anxiety but they were all tipping the scales on the side of excitement. The real testimony to the day came when they were all more excited than not at the end of school. Many new friends were made and old friends were reacquainted. It was so fun to watch them head off to their first day at Logos. While the kids were busy studying, Carolyn was shown around the city by a friend. She was able to locate some new markets and shops where we can buy various items we need. She also connected with a new friend which is very valuable for her. Cameron and I spent the day driving around exploring our new city. It is amazing how you can be driving down a major boulevard, turn off and be on a dirt road that is about wide enough for a car and a sheet of notebook paper. Phnom Penh truly is an experience of poverty of with all 5 senses. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches are all laced with varying degrees of deprivation. Whether it is the smell or taste of waste in the air, the sight of a partially clothed, dirty child accompanying their physically disabled parent begging for anything that would resemble food or a chicken clucking in the midst of traffic sounds, they all make our new home a unique and amazing place to live and assimilate. We truly are blessed.
One of the things I accomplished while driving around town was getting my photos for my new drivers license. Hopefully I will be able to pick up pictures tomorrow and complete the process of being a legal, valid driver in Cambodia. So many new things to do and experience. We have seen God's faithfulness so evident thus far and look forward to seeing his continued faithfulness in the future. God's richest blessings to all of you.

Experience our traffic :-)

We wanted to let you guys experience our traffic over here. It is a little crazy...but I love it. I started driving in it just a few hours after we got here and it actually makes driving exciting again. No more falling asleep at the wheel for me. When you watch the video, it may not look like they have any rules, but let me assure you, they do. They have traffic rules just like a group of boys have rules for a backyard rugby/football/wrestling match: whatever you can get away with, goes. Truly. Another way to imagine it is to think back to the last time you kicked an anthill and what the ants looked like a second later. That is kinda what I view Phnom Penh looking like from the air. By the way, I hope I din't offend any card carrying PETA members by what I just said and I take no responsibility for the injury of any ants that may result from this post.

Finally!

Well, we made it…finally! It did take a while but at last we touched down in Phnom Penh at 9:05 a.m. local time on Wednesday, almost exactly 23 hours after our original flight would have landed. Since the last post, we had an almost 10 hour flight, followed by an 8 hour layover and then a 1 ¼ hour flight. The flight from Narita to Singapore seemed very long, compounded by everything that had happened the night before. I caught myself thinking, "so I waited in line, spent a lot of time on the phone listening to elevator music and jumped through countless hoops just to sit in an uncomfortable seat with my knees up to my chest all while eating something that somewhere before it made it to me, had passed as food." Lines are for roller coasters and other fun carnival rides not for self induced torture. While that thought really did pass through my mind, it actually wasn't that bad at all. We made it to Chainga airport in Singapore and had a great time trying to fill 8 hours of otherwise boring time: from about 12:15 until about 8:15 when we finally boarded the last leg of our trip. The flight to Cambodia was short and sweet. We got our visas with no real problem. In fact someone with airport security was waiting as we walked off the plane with a sign for us and a packet with our visas. And then another one took Cameron's passport and pretended to not give it back. And yet another one was saying to his co-worker "those are the 'ahlins'" or some derivative thereof. Needless to say we felt welcomed. We were met just outside by Joe and Rene Hansen, the tireless house parents of the boy's home We hung out with them for a while and one of the most exciting parts was that I was able to do a fair amount of driving in the city. With this traffic, I was a little nervous but mostly excited and it went great. Can't wait to get back out there tomorrow and do it again. Also toured the new school. All in all, a good day. I am putting a few pics on and will hopefully follow up with more as the days. I will post more lately…a little sleepy from some jet lag.

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Blessings and Turbulence

We were so blessed to be sent off by about 2 dozen of our closest family and friends at the airport on the 17^th. We left with many tears and smiles. We are blessed beyond words to have so many people to miss and to miss us. After almost interminable good-bye's we went swiftly through security and set out for our 23 hours (or so we thought) of travel time. Everything was perfectly normal the whole way…until we got to our first gate. This is how our itinerary was supposed to look: Leave Denver at 9:04 p.m. and get to San Francisco about 10:40p.m. After about 1 ½ hr layover we would board a plane for a 14hr flight to Taipei, Taiwan. After that, a 1 ½ hr layover before boarding a plane for a 3 ½ hr flight to Phnom Penh. Easy enough…23 hours and we are at our new home. However, that is not quite how things went. That brings us back to our first gate. Our Denver flight was delayed about an hour and 15 min due to mechanical problems. So our 90 min timeframe to make our connecting flight in San Fran was diminishing quickly. We were grateful to have such helpful staff call ahead and even ask all other passengers to wait and let us off first even though we were basically riding in the tail cone of the plane (that is the "aft" portion of the plane for those seasoned air travelers). So we exited the plane in lightning speed (imagine how fast that is…6 of us with a total of 12 carry-on's each with the equivalent of 2.2 cinder blocks in them), and ran/walked/panted our way to the security checkpoint that would bring us to our next gate. Apparently we didn't look pitiful enough as the staff there just looked at us and with as much of a smile as they could muster at 12:30 a.m. told us we just missed it. Needless to say we were all thrilledJ. Actually, the kids (and Carolyn and I) rolled with it well. Consequently, we were guests of United at the S.F. Hilton and also had breakfast on them. Later, after about 33 phone calls and 94 min talking to a woman at the United counter who was "somewhat" difficult to understand, we ended up doubling our total travel time. 23 hours of travel is now about 47 hours. So as I type this it is about 1:00 p.m. pacific time. We are somewhere over the Pacific en route to Tokyo where we will spend 2 hours. Then we will be on to Singapore where we get to spend 8 hours. Yippee! From there we will fly to Cambodia where we hope our layover is about 3 years. All in all this "turbulence" has us arriving in Cambodia about 23 hours later than we first thought. Oh well, we are all together, healthy and ready to begin this next phase in our lives. Thanks again for joining us on our adventure.

It's Here

So the day has finally arrived. We leave for the airport in an hour and I don't think any of us have really wrapped our minds around it. How do you adequately prepare for a move as big as this? Not that we haven't spent the last year preparing (mentally, spiritually, emotionally, logistically...etc.) but we know that no matter how much time we put into getting ready there will always be some surprises that we didn't anticipate. Oh well! That is part of what we signed up for and are running at it full steam.
We spent a lot of our last week and a half visiting places and people that we wanted to say good-bye to and shed our share of tears. We are truly blessed to have sadness (on our part and on the part of others)as we leave. The alternative would be worse (people cheering our departure from the country).So far we are all healthy and so thankful for that. Again, we are so blessed to have so many of you sharing in this journey with us. We will be updating you on our progress...hopefully during our travels. Blessings!!

Grateful

We are so grateful for so many amazing people God has placed in our lives. So many of our friends and family showed up for our open house/going away party on Saturday. We were blessed, honored, humbled, thrilled, excited…etc for the outpouring of love that was shown to our family that day. I think we ended up with enough encouraging notes to open one every day for the first year we are there. Wow! We truly appreciate each and every one of you. There were some tears, a lot of laughs and great conversation. It is a great way to leave the country…with great memories of great people. We were also commissioned at Faith E Free church in Fort Collins yesterday. It was good to connect with old friends after both services. Then Alex had a going away party with some of his close friends. He has some amazing, supportive friends that we will all miss. Abby had a neat time with her friends in her 7^th grade small group as well. She felt very loved and honored by their words of encouragement. In all, it would have been hard to script a better weekend for connecting with so many valuable people in our lives and saying so many important good-byes. Thanks to each and every one of you!