Kraviek Part 2

Last week I had the privilege and opportunity to visit Kraviek village again.  For more background on that extremely remote village, you can read the post entitled "Kraviek" which tells of my first trip there a few months ago.  This most recent trip was used to deepen our relationships there and ask if they would like to have a small team of people come to help teach English, interact with kids...basically help with whatever they need.  Their response was very predictably enthusiastic.  However, even though we expected it, we were still very encouraged. 
Shortly after we got there, one of the men came and asked us for a Bible.  My friend had a picture Bible in Khmer and we gave it to the man.  He received it with great excitement.  Now, part of his response is strictly to have a new book, part of it is also to receive a gift from foreigners but whatever the motivation, the word of God is in the hands of a man in the village and for that I am so grateful.  Now it is up to the Holy Spirit. 

However, that was not what encouraged me the most on this trip.  What served as the greatest encouragement for me was when we were about ready to leave and the village chief asked us if we could bring a movie about Jesus with us the next time we came.  After I thought about it for a while :-), we gave them a huge YES!  It was hard to believe but in this tiny, remote village, the Holy Spirit is moving.  In order to watch it, they agreed to try to bring some sort of vehicle  back to their village so we will have power and we will bring the movie and projector.  I am so excited for this opportunity to literally bring the Gospel to the "uttermost parts of the earth".  Please pray for this time as I am certain that the enemy will not want us there.  I am planning this time for June 6th-8th.  Thank you in advance.

If you would like to see more pictures of Kraviek and its people, please click on this link to view an album from my January trip. 

51 - A record

Just a few days ago we said good-bye to the largest group (so far) that Asian Hope has ever hosted.  I had a very busy week but we had a great time.  With that many people, they can get a lot done...and they did.  I had them work at Goldstone and New Life schools and at Joy Children's Learning Center. None of these are officially Asian Hope facilities but they are all in some ways affiliated with or impacted by Asian Hope.  Our largest school, Logos, supports both of the schools with resources and teacher training.  The coordinator of the learning center spent a few years in Asian Hope's boys home.  Each of the sites were enhanced through painting walls, painting pictures, cleaning, removing trash, playing with kids, teaching students, ESL activities...etc.  I think many people were positively impacted both here and on the team.  Here are some pictures from their time here.


Games at New Life School




Khmer kids love interacting with foreigners...and vice versa.




Cleaning a roof while standing on a narrow cement wall.




The whole gang on a river boat ride on the Tonle Sap/Mekong rivers





Some talented students really made some preschool rooms a lot more inviting.



Tuk Tuks were the main mode of transportation.

They were an attentive crowd at the Killing Fields.

Leading a class at Goldstone School.

On the roof at Joy Children's Learning Center

Games at Goldstone

Thanks guys for all of your help!

Settled

So as we are a couple months into our second year here, life has become very routine...and that's a good thing in a place where EVERY day we see things that cause us to say "I have never seen anything like that before".  One thing that has been most instrumental in helping me feel settled is watching all of our kids not only survive here but really engage and thrive here.  Sure there are challenges and struggles but God has really confirmed to my heart that we are right where he wants us.  We are so blessed to have them in an excellent international school where they can make good friends, be challenged intellectually and be spurred on to growth spiritually as well.  One thing that warms my heart is to watch Alex, Abby, Calli and Cameron interact with eachother on the same school campus.  There are about 330 students from 20+ different countries from Pre-K 3 to 12th grade at LIS (Logos International School).  It seems a little crazy at times but it works great.  A few weeks ago, when Alex had just gotten back from the HS Bible Camp, Cameron came running as fast as he could from one side of the soccer field to the other and jumped into the arms of his big brother.  That warmed a father's heart like few things can.  I didn't even mind that he ran right by my open arms to greet his bro. 
Last week was "Spring Fling" week.  It is similar to "Spirit Week" back in the States but using "spirit" here would carry some connotations that could be taken negatively.  Anyways, it was a fun week where kids can dress up in some unusual costumes and have fun playing games at lunch.  These are some pics of our kids and some of their friends.  As one of the judges for crazy hair day, I decided to get into the action on that day.  I hope you enjoy.

Cameron and his best friend Rain on Crazy hair day.

The whole crew that rode with us to school on "Crazy hair day".  Not sure who the nerdy bus driver is.

Calli (in the middle) with her friends Jenny and Jordan.

Abby (left) with Michaela and Micah

Alex and David dressed up for character day.



Cameron dressed up as a clown.  A mop + a rug + a hair tie = an improvised clown costume.  No costume shops here.



Kraviek Village

I am so excited. Several days ago I was able to take a second trip to visit a remote village in Kampong Speu province.  What a privilege. This time my friends and I visited the village of Kraviek.  It is the last village you come to on a road that dead ends into the Cardamom Mountains.  The road actually turns into a more of a cow/moto path for the last 3 miles.  It has river crossings and many places that have experienced their fair share of erosion.  Nonetheless, we made it there and spent about 20 hours meeting villagers, playing volleyball (a huge sport in most every community here), handing out prenatal vitamins to women who were pregnant or nursing and bringing Christian tracts to almost everyone of the 60 families in the village.  It was an absolute pleasure to spend some time with these wonderful people and I look forward to going back.
One of the most exciting aspects of our trip was that we were able to share the Gospel with one of the patriarchs of the village.  He was a bit confused at first, as he wondered if he needed Christ with his ancestral worship and Buddhist traditions. We assured him that Christ was all he needed and he seemed to understand although not totally accept it yet. As one of the few in the village that can read, we also asked him to help the others in the village to read the tracts.  The tracts are fun and colorful with many pictures so no matter what the content they are eagerly accepted and poured over by everyone in the village, but how awesome to think that so many are having their first exposure to the Word of God.   I am humbled and thrilled to have been a part of it.
As my friend and I plan to make future trips to Kraviek, please pray as we seek the leading of God as to how to best serve these wonderful people.



Main Street entering Kraviek

Home of the village chief.  I slept on the upstairs porch.

Our host while we were there.  This is the man we shared Christ with.

Chores!

This was a sweet older lady in the village. She could only say that she was older than 90.

Some of the moms we gave vitamins to.

This baby was 1 day old when we were there.

Some sweet kids.



Pals

Moouy Chhnam

Okay, so the title of this post is a pathetic attempt at a phonetic spelling of the Khmer words for one year. That is how long we have been here (as of January 20^th).  And since there are 6 of us in this family, I thought it would be fun to have each of us take a few sentences to a paragraph to let you know how this first year has been. So, here it goes:

• Hi! I'm Calli and I am eleven years old, in sixth grade at Logos. When we first moved here, I thought that it would be so tough to survive here without my friends and family here, but God has really blessed me with good friends and comfort from my family.  This past year has been great and I have really enjoyed living in a new country with a new culture, but I have most enjoyed learning the new   language.  I have learned quite a bit of Khmer and I like going to the markets and using my Khmer.  I think that God has also blessed me with an amazing school. I love going to school because of the people there, fun, funny, friendly, and also diverse.  The teachers there are also very kind and encouraging and funny. My homeroom teacher is really funny, and one thing I like about him is that he likes to draw pictures on the white board that helps us understand things.  Even though I miss everyone back home, I still love it here, and this has been a great first year here in Cambodia.
• Hey! I’m Abby, I am 14 years old and in eighth grade at Logos int. school. I can remember the night that my family and I left all of our family and friends behind very clearly. I can also remember thinking that I would not be able to survive life in another culture without my very best friend.  But the second I got off the plane in Cambodia I knew that I was home and I completely fell in love with everything here!  Less than a week from arriving here my siblings and I were off to start our first day of school.  I think that starting at a new and completely different school was hard for me, because I didn’t know anyone and everyone else already knew each other, and were already close friends.  But after going to Logos for a while I started to develop a few good relationships!  I think that from living in a completely different culture God has taught me many new things and has thought me to trust him more.  After being here for a year I have caught myself saying many times that I could never imagine my family and I moving back to America, because this is my home and I love everything about Cambodia (especially the people)!
• Hi I am Cameron.  I am 6 years old now.  I am in Kindergarten at Logos.  Some of my friends are named Rain, Ahyoung, Min Chan and Chris.  The 3 best things I like about living in Cambodia are: the markets (except the smelly ones), school and the food (especially the fruit).  What I don't like about it is that I am an unusual sight for most Cambodian people so they like to squeeze my cheeks, ruffle my hair and grab my hands while I walk through the markets.  I also like living down the street from the House of Hope (Asian Hope's Boy's home)  That means I have a lot more friends.  Mostly, I am glad we live here. 
• Hello, friends!  I have to start by saying that today, as I am celebrating being in Cambodia for one year, I am humbled by God’s faithfulness.  As I look back at the last 12 months in our new home, I am moved to tears, thinking of how well we are loved.  Not only are we loved across the miles by our dear friends and family, but we are establishing relationships here and feel the love as well.  I am especially in awe of how well the Lord has loved me throughout this journey.  He has cared for my heart so thoroughly.  That is not to say that the road we have traveled has been easy…oh no!  My heart has been stretched to where I thought I could not bear any more of the pain…and then it is stretched even more.  The fact that my children are adjusting well and loving life here is a testimony to God’s love for us.  I am finding that walking the journey of obedience is not easy and without heartache but, it is one of life’s greatest privileges.  As we are muddling through learning the language and I am beside myself wanting to make a few real, heart connections with Khmai women, I know that as I continue to walk in obedience, everything will come together.  I so want for everyone who reads this to come over here and meet some of my wonderful new friends!  The teens and children who spend time in my home are fabulous people that I am blessed to have in my life.  As I am trying to find an ending point here (I could go on and on for pages :), I need to say thank you.  Thank you to all of you who love us and support us in so many different ways.  This journey is not just the Ohlin family journey, but it is yours as well.  Thank you for standing by our sides and journeying with us!

·         This past year has been full of crazy experiences that have changed my life. The beginning of the year (January 2010) was a bit rough, starting school less than a week after we arrived and then starting basketball 3 days later. It was all a bit of a culture shock, but I think that with the support of friends and family back in Colorado and mostly God, I was able to hit the ground running and adjust pretty quickly! At times I really wished that I was back in Fort Collins, but then there were other times when I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else but here! I can’t wait to see what God will do with my life in this next year! Miss ya’ll!

2 Timothy 4:7

Alex

I hope these past few paragraphs have been insightful into our lives here.  I thought it would be fun for you to read firsthand what the rest of the family is feeling on this one year anniversary of our arrival in our new home.  If you are curious as to how I am feeling about our past year, in a word I would say I have loved the past year (okay, maybe in 6 words).  Most of the thoughts in the prior posts would go into greater detail as to how I am doing here.  Thank you so much again for reading.  We really do appreciate all of you who so faithfully keep in tune with our lives on the other side of the globe.   

The Holidays

So our first holiday season in Cambodia is officially over now.  That would make this our first post of 2011.  Such milestones.  All in all, I would have to describe our first holiday season here with 2 words: different and wonderful. 

The kids opening their stockings.  Yes Santa did make it here, too, and no we do not have  fireplace to hang them over.



What will now be an annual Christmas event: Skyping with relatives.



Christmas cookie time.  We had to be fairly quick as the ants can find sugary substances in a flash.



An excited 6-year-old.  Cameron scored with Legos.



Abby and Calli helped Carolyn make a ton of cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.  They were awesome.

• Different:  It was different because, well almost nothing was the same; hence the word different.  The weather felt more like we should be preparing for Independence Day not Christmas or New Years.  I think it was a high of 93 on Christmas.  It was also different because one of our traditions used to be driving around looking at Christmas lights and picking out our favorite.  It was easy this year.  There were maybe 3 houses to choose from and one was ours.  Also in years past, one thing I also enjoy is the festive mood of everyone in stores or on the street.  However, in a country where 95% of people are Buddhist, almost no one you meet even knows that it is Christmas.  We were also missing many of the foods that we enjoy over the holidays.  We were priced out of the Ham or Turkey Market so we settled on Mexican for our big meal (which was awesome by the way).  And there was no egg nog to be had.  I did try to make my own but it was about as popular as the fried crickets around these parts. It did not satisfy the craving for egg nog.

• Wonderful:  It was wonderful because we were celebrating with family.    With a lot of nothing to do, we were able to just enjoy being together, watching movies, playing games...etc.  We also made our house look and feel very Christmassy (if that is a word), complete with 2 trees, garland, ribbon, stockings, candles that made it smell like Christmas, fake snow and much more.   Something else that helped make it wonderful was that we had an opportunity to Skype with our family as they celebrated back in the States.  We spent several hours with them, which was a lot of fun.  It was not the same as it used to be but it was fun to be a part of the festivities from many miles away.  We also participated in a couple outreaches here to many of our Buddhist neighbors.  One night we went Christmas caroling.  We went to about a dozen or more homes in our neighborhood.  At each house we sang, gave out candy canes and gave a tract explaining why we celebrate Christmas.  On another occasion, we walked around the neighborhood of our school and passed gift baskets to about 80 families.  On both occasions, people were very grateful and listened intently to what we had to say.  We even had families come out and clap while we sang.  I am glad we had many there to sing to drown me out, otherwise the response may have been different.  We were also given the wonderful gift of a family trip to Bangkok over New Years.  It was not the same as spending time with loved ones but it was a great time for our family to experience something new and exciting together.  Most of all, it was wonderful because we were able to celebrate the birth Christ in a meaningful way despite the incredible distance from what we know as familiar.

Thank you again for taking time to share in a little part of our holiday experience.  Praying you and your family will be blessed in this New Year.
 

Service + Leadership

Okay, where do I start? A week and a half ago I had a great opportunity to spend a weekend with some amazing teenagers.  I brought a group of high school students (most from the service leadership class that I co-teach at Logos) to Koh Kong, one of Cambodias coastal provinces.  The students that came were an eclectic bunch.  They were from Cambodia, Philipines, Korea and the US.  They ranged from children of wealthy business owners, missionary kids (including Alex, our 16-year-old), as well as some very low income kids who are in our scholarship program.  Although the kids were diverse, the impact that they had and the impact that was had on them was consistent.  Although I would love to chronicle the entire trip, it would take me a long time and your eyes would probably eventually glaze over.  So I will just hit some highlights.

13 of us left from Logos before school on Friday Dec 3rd to drive out to the coast.    We arrived in Koh Kong, got settled and met our host from World Team.  We spent some time with him, got unpacked and went to our first project.  Our first project was to spend part of the evening at a local school helping the students with their English.  The school has about 120 students crammed into small, hot classrooms.  The students range anywhere from beginners to intermediate English speakers and ranged from about 8-years-old to 18.  This first night it took our students a while to get in the groove.  What was expected of them was not totally clear.  They could converse, play games, sing songs...etc, just as long as what they did was helping the kids with English.  Our kids are used to clearly defined expectations but they did not have that here.  However, after about 20 minutes, each of the 6 classrooms were buzzing with different activities.  At the end, there were smiles, hugs and laughter all around.  Some of our students were sad as this was the last time we would see these kids, or so we thought.  Fast forward to Sat morning.

Saturday morning had us heading out fairly early (for a group of H.S. students). We drove about 10 minutes to a densely populated village filled with Cham people, Cambodian Muslims.  Our stated goal was to pick up trash for them.  Clean up.  Make the area where they live a bit more inhabitable.  So we did. Very diligently and joyfully.  Our not-stated goal was to help establish a bridge between the Cham people and our World Team contacts there.  Both goals were accomplished.  However, God did much more than that.  First, our project became publicized enough so that the government decided to get in on the action.  They sent a large group from the Ministry of the Environment as well as some students that belong to their version of the Boy/Girl scouts.  Second, much of the project was filmed in order to air on national television.  Only God could orchestrate that.  Third, he touched the lives of many, if not all, of our students.

Our team in front of the school wih some of the kids.

Tirot, from our House of Faith, interacting with the kids.  A natural!

David, from our House of Hope, with Sharon leading a class in learning games.

Alex was great to have along.  I love being able to serve along side him.

Some Buddhist monks attend this school.

Our team lined up ready to pick up trash with representatives from the MInistry of the Environment and boy/girl scouts.

Hara very focused on the trash at hand.

Pree working alongside a very hard working girl. They made a great team.

I loved interacting with the kids.

Tirot throwing trash into the truck.

Pierre and some other students led the kids in some songs. 

One example comes from one of the girls that came with us. She had never been away from her family overnight.  Ever.  She is from a Buddhist Cambodian home, comes from a family with means and is not someone you would picture walking around picking up trash willingly.  However, God used some poor, dirty children from this village to soften her heart.  They smiled big at her and helped hold her trash bag as they walked around together picking up trash.  For one of the first times in her life, she was interacting with kids from the lowest social class and she really enjoyed it.  God used this weekend to impact so many lives, maybe more so some of our own students.

Once we left the Cham village, we were going to go have lunch and spend the whole afternoon at the beach.  Sounded like a nice, relaxing conclusion to the day.  However, our students had another idea.  They had had such a nice time connecting with the kids at the school from the night before that they wanted to go back. Khmer schools are in session 6 days a week so I knew that it was an option so I asked our World Team host.  He called  and the school was thrilled to have us back, but not quite as excited as our kids.  In short, our team from Logos chose to cut their beach time short in order to go back and spend another evening with the kids at the school.  I was so proud of their choice to do so.  This second night was about 10x better than the night before since there was not a need for the kids to find their comfort zone.  They were already there.  They just jumped right in and hit the ground running.  It was a lot of fun to watch. 

Then on Sunday morning we headed back for Phnom Penh.  It was a quick weekend but one that God to impact his kingdom in many ways.  I was thrilled, humbled and blessed to be part of it.  Thanks for sharing in our journey.