Coming Home

There are going to be a lot of changes in my family this next year. Nothing bad, but some stuff that I really feel like I should be around for. So I've started making plans to come home in May. But actually those plans have changed. I was talking to my friend the other day and she was talking about how it is difficult to be on the missions field because sometimes you have things in your past that you need to deal with, even if you never knew there was an issue. That's kind of where I'm at. For the last couple months I've been really feeling spiritually attacked because of something that happened years ago. I thought that I was handling it, and I was asking for prayer, but over the last month it's become increasingly evident to me that I need help handling it and that I need a support system closer to me than half a world away. So after a lot of prayer and talking with my family and staff over here I've decided to come home this week. So I will be flying out late Friday night. As of this moment, I hope to return at some point, but I don't know when/if that is what God wants for me so when I get home I will be praying about that and keep everyone up to date one that. 

This was decided yesterday. So today I will be telling all the girls and rest of the staff. If you could be praying for strength and the words to say that would be amazing. 

I really really  am blessed by all the love and support that you have shown to me while I've been here. I'm sorry for the short notice with this, but I want to thank you for all the prayers and emotional and financial support. 

Thanks so much for understanding. I look forward to seeing you when I get home!

Make it Work

I have no idea if you are a fan of Project Runway, if you have seen or ever even heard of the show and if not than this title will make little to no sense, but since I am a big fan I was very proud of the cleverness here and was literally laughing out loud when I wrote this. Maybe that statement speaks to either my failing humor or sanity, regardless, the title stays and I hope you are okay with that.

So we changed Wednesday night Bible Studies into youth group nights. We're starting out small, keeping it with our girls and then hopefully we will be able to expand and combine with two other churches nearby to make Rahab's House a hang out for youth in the area.  SUCH a good plan, in my opinion (and I can boast about it since it was not my idea. I had no part in that awesomeness). So we made a game plan, and came up with games and activities and a lesson with a slapstick skit in it so it could transcend the language barrier. And then, in true Cambodian fashion, someone ran into 11 power lines and a transformer cutting 90% of Siem Reap's electrical supply from Thailand before trying to flee the scene. As you might have guessed, we didn't have power for a bit (you know and water, which was kind of a bummer). But Tim Gunn would have been proud because we "made it work"! We re-figured our plan, changed out games, got new supplies and literally bought out one store's worth of candles (granted that was only $10 worth since it was pretty well picked through, but it still sounds impressive). We were ready for anything!

The big night was here! It was showtime! Our Garden of Eden was set, our cast and crew adequately rehearsed. As the story commenced, just as in the story of Creation, there was light! Oh words cannot describe the joy of an air conditioned office, light while using the bathroom, or having a water pump bring up shower water! Doesn't it just bring tears to your eyes at the thought? I know...me too. 

But for reals, it was so good. The actors were funny and the girls loved it! It was so much fun getting to watch the girls watch the skit, and then be able to share some of God's Truth with them. The part that was most exciting to me wasn't the throwing marshmallows at people's heads, or painting nails with eyes closed shut, it was the questions after I talked about how God covers our sin. One of the girls came and asked question after question about why God had to cover our sins, and what happens if we decide to love Jesus, but still make mistakes. It was such a blessed conversation! It's nights like that that make all the heat, the hard conversations, and the frustrating moments just so worth it. 

Unfortunately, I don't have a clever transition for the pictures I wanted to show. Here they are:

How do you find the stairs in staff housing in a power out-age? Like this:

Oh you know, just lighting up the stairs at the staff house 

  One of our awesome staff rejoicing at having light while using the bathroom.

Game time at "youth group". Playing 'Human Knot' 

Target practice with marshmallows. 

 Our Garden of Eden, and yes that is the serpent coming to deceive Adam and Eve.

 The girls watching from our purple couches.

Oh! P.S. I got my own apartment!!!!!!

Enough

Some day are so fun. They literally cannot be described. The joy is beyond words and the rewards are abundant. Some days, the progress in a girl is small but feels like the greatest victory ever and you jump for joy literally and figuratively with them. And some days, some days are tough. Not because the job is hard, or things go wrong exactly, but because some days you just get so...tired. Tired of communication issues. Tired of finding cockroaches, rusty building material when you need them, and most certainly tired of counting receipts  Today, today was a tired day.

It started with three cups of coffee and for some reason, I just couldn't wake up. Never a good sign. You could feel it in the staff today too. Today was a tired day. And a busy one. After so many communication blunders that had to be fixed, only to find those "fixes" really just caused more confusion, and driving all over to find purple couches and orange paint (no Rahab's House isn't as horridly ugly as those two color combinations just made it sound. For the record they will not be in the same room) and loosing both sets of keys to Rahab's House (twice), I was so ready for the day to be over. I had had enough.

Just as I was getting ready to leave, one of the staff who had been struggling said she wanted to talk. I sat listening to her, and praying for patience as she listed all the things I am doing wrong. How frustrating I am because sometimes I speak too fast in English and too slow in Khmer. How the girls sometimes love me and sometimes hate me. She was angry because I asked to help me find the keys when she was trying to fix her phone. And then, just when I thought I couldn't take anymore about how I'm not enough of this and too much of that, she started crying. She began to cry and tell me how she felt like she wasn't enough. She talked about how she was struggling, trying to show girls love, but having a hard time figuring out how Jesus would want her to do that. The balance between being the good guy and the bad guy. By the time she finished talking, I realized, yes she was frustrated with things that I had done, but she was so bummed out and was in need of someone to talk to. God blessed us with such an open and honest conversation about her struggles and mine. About things that we need to work on to show each other love. And at the end, I was emotionally drained. Yes, it had been a good talk. A blessed talk even, but it had been a long day, and I wanted to go home.

I walked out to my moto, and wouldn't you know it, a whole group of kids from Kid's Club had shown up and wanted to play. And you know, that was cute, but I was tired. I tried walking to my moto and they kept stopping me. Tagging and running away, trying to tickle me, climbing on my moto and trying to take away my keys. And just when I was about to start crying, it was like Jesus said, "Look, if you're not here to play with kids and listen to a little crying from staff, why are you here? Now I'm trying to bless you with these kids, so smile and enjoy it." So I did. We played, and laughed and tickled, and although they never did get the keys, they did get to go for a ride on the moto. And I was blessed. Abundantly so.

We have Bible Study every Wednesday night at 9pm for any girl who wants/can join. Tonight it was led by a girl who six months ago had a major attitude issue and four months ago was actually put on probation and was one mess up away from leaving Rahab's House entirely. She led the Bible Study and did a great job. I didn't understand it all, but what I did understand I was so proud of her. When she finished, everyone literally began clapping for her. I was so proud of her. I almost literally started jumping for joy.

She talked about Psalm 5. And it was so perfect, and God knew I needed verses four and seven today. I was missing it. I was not allowing myself to be present for the joy God was bringing into Rahab's House today. I was messing up. And by His grace, I still got to experience it. And as I sit here writing this, knowing I need to be at work at 6:30 to take a schizophrenic man to the clinic tomorrow, I am so blessed to know tired days can be awesome too and that when I've had enough, He IS enough.

"You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell...But I, by your great mercy will come into your house." -Psalm 5:4&7

Cambodian DMV

If Cambodia had a DMV, this is how I imagine the booklet they give out would read...

When driving down the road it is important to watch and slow for the following:

• Large buses full of tourists. The buses will crush you
• Other motos
• Herds of cows crossing the road
• Dogs

*note: It is not necessarily important to slow for pedestrians. Use your best judgement

Parking:

• Just find a spot. Block someone else if necessary 
• Motos can and should be put so closely together that no person can actually get on their moto to back it out

Safety Laws:

• Drive on the right side of the road, unless it is more convenient to drive into oncoming traffic, then use your horn to let oncoming traffic know you are there.
• Always wear a helmet while driving a moto. Passengers (including children) do not need a helmet while riding. If however you simply keep a helmet in the basket on your moto, that is safe enough.
• Use headlights at night to alert other motorists of your presence, unless you are afraid of ghosts following you home, then you may leave your lights off.
• Never use your headlights during the day. No exceptions.
• Red lights are always optional
• Two people on a moto at a time. But feel free to be clever and fit as many Cambodians/pigs/chickens/mattresses/propane tanks/groceries as possible

Oh Cambodia...

These pictures were just to help illustrate the point, but are not actually my pictures.

They're Too Young

A dirt floor and rusted tables with plastic chairs for customers (most of which have giant cracks in the seats). Thick sticks are tied together and neighboring trees support the tarps that are tied together to form a covering. The 1 1/2 sides it has are plastic table cloths with holes in them, which does allow for a breeze I suppose, and of course a view of the emaciated cows in the grass next to it. Scraps of food that have fallen off the table are picked through by the scraggly dogs that wander around, and one can only hope and pray that their patchy "so greasy it has a gelled quality about it" fur doesn't come in contact with your actual skin. This, my friends, is where I spend many-an-afternoon. And let me answer this question now: yes they do take reservations, since I know you're all dying to go ;)

Bella and I do outreach in the community most everyday. It comes in different forms depending on what is happening, but mostly it is maintaining and building relationships. We have good relationships with three massage parlors and one karaoke club. We alternate locations throughout the week so we can spend time with each group of girls as well as in our own salon. Today was a karaoke day.

As we were sitting on cracked seats (and yes I am sad to say that today I had actual contact with a dog) and eating bananas with some girls, I realized I was in such an odd situation. Two girls we hang out with a lot were sitting sharing a drink and talking with us. They are 15 and 17, respectively. Several karaoke girls joked and laughed as they ate and played cards. Everything was  as per usual until I noticed what the two teen girls were drinking. They were drinking wine coolers. My first reaction was to stop them, then I remembered I'm not in America and it is legal for them to drink here. Then I thought "But they are too young! Who cares about legality of it! They're going through them like a thirsty adult with a box juice!" But even as I thought it, I couldn't figure out how that conversation would go, "Girls, I know your job requires you to get drunk every night with customers, but I don't think it's wise to be drinking that." Oh yeah. That would go over swimmingly. I couldn't figure out in what way Jesus' name would be glorified if the subject was brought up, so I left it alone. 

 As I was sitting in our salon shortly there after, I was watching a teenage girl waiting to get her hair and make-up done for work tonight. She was playing with a practice doll head. She kept braiding and unbraiding the hair. Braiding and re-braiding, over and over again. I've seen her there before, doing the same thing. Not talking, just playing with the hair. I asked her once if she wanted to work in a salon. She said yes, but could never afford to go to school for it. 

Today was one of those days where I have been so blessed by the conversations and time spent sitting and just being present with them. It is also one of those nights where my heart just breaks at the loss of innocence. I know there is no such thing as an appropriate age for this, but I wish she was at home playing with hair and they were at home drinking juice right now. Instead they're out working.

Back in the Bode Again

"Take it easy. Take it EASY!" Came from an overly anxious Bella sitting on the back if my moto as we drove through the streets of Siem Reap doing outreach. This was quickly followed by a quiet chorus of "Oh please don't kill me. Oh you're going to kill us..." As you can imagine, her confidence in my driving abilities is overwhelming.
Okay, yes I almost tipped us over once, but in my defense, we had a dog chasing us down the road jumping up and trying to bite us. And what help do I receive as I am trying to steer us to safety? Bella flailing around on the back of my moto yelling "It's going to bite us!!!!!" As she kicks her legs up repeatedly kicking my arm controlling the steering. But yeah, sure, I'm the one going to kill us...
Coming back from being home in the states for Christmas has had its moments. You know, it's 'This is awesome and I'm so happy to be back!' moments and of course the 'Oh my goodness I'd forgotten how scary driving in Cambodia is' moments. Well, followed by the "We might die right now" came an incredible afternoon.
For those that don't know, or have forgotten what I do, here's the short of the long of it. I work in Siem Reap building relationships with girls in the community that are currently working in brothels (aka karaoke clubs and massage parlors.) My job is to help girls in the community come to know about and trust our facility (Rahabs House) so that if a girl wants help getting out of sex trafficking she knows she can come to us and we will help in whatever way most beneficial to her particular situation. So most everyday, one of our awesome Khmer staff, Bella, and myself go out to foster these relationships.
After our harrowing drive to one of the massage parlors we frequent, we were met with an ecstatic group of massage girls. Armed with fruit we walked over to join the thirty plus girls sitting around tables. Several asked where I had been for so long and others kept saying how happy they were to see me again. Since building trust can be very challenging in the Khmer culture, I cannot even express to you the extreme joy I felt at being surrounded by so many loving girls.
We sat around and talked, ate fruit and yes I'll admit it, danced and sang (quiet loudly I might add) to One Direction. ( The best part of course being that the girls recorded me singing and dancing...always a joy to have those embarrassing moments documented.)
Fast forward a few hours. We've long since left the massage parlor and are passing out fliers that night to the karaoke club near us to let girls know about a party coming up.
We strategically go into the club just after the bulk of the girls arrive, and just before the bulk of the johns come. Usually we are admitted to pass out fliers and told to hurry up. This time, we weren't told to hurry. In fact the "ice moms" that usually sell the girls and are the ones who admit or don't admit us in, engaged us in conversation! When we went inside, a girl ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug and had apparently been asking everyday when I would be back. As we stood there hugging, some men came in for girls. My heart sunk. We were in SO much trouble. We are NEVER supposed to be in there while there are customers. If we see them, we've already messed up. And here we were, in the middle of the room with girls surrounding us.
But God was so good! Not one girl near us made a move to get the attention of the men (as is their job) and none of the guys seemed to even notice our presence. As a result, the manager and the "ice moms" didn't care we were there while customers were there. When we tried to leave, all the higher up staff stopped us so we could chat and catch up!
I could not believe it! For the staff and girls of both the karaoke club and the massage parlor to be so open and so eager to engage in relationship with us during work hours is truly a testament to how God is slowly turning some of the hearts in this community.
I was so blessed by the whole day I wanted to cry! Fortunately I didn't because if I had I probably would have crashed us and then Bella would never get on my moto again and then where would we be?

Of Mice and Men

I remember liking the book of Mice and Men. Although I did not fully understand Lenny's love of the mice, I respected his decision to care for them and felt his loss when he accidentally killed them. It is clear to me that I have changed since having read that book.

Two days ago we discovered a mouse living in our house. I felt no love or respect for it, and in no way wanted anyone to try and protect it. And I can say with no remorse, I felt no sense of loss at the idea of it's vacating the premises.

After Laura discovered the mouse hiding between the shelf and the wall, I took refuge upstairs in the living room and she went for a run. Upon returning we decided that it was not financially prudent to live in a hotel and eat every meal out in order to avoid having to go near the kitchen where the mouse has taken up residence. This left us with two options. First, to move. Simply forfeit the house to the mouse and admit defeat. Second, go next door and see if our neighbors could kill it for us.

I gave my best motivational speech. Think Braveheart status here. "Laura! We can do this! Let's just go downstairs and take care of this! Come on! We are adults!"

Evidently I fell short of Mel Gibson's performance because I was met with "Really Brittnay? Are we really adults?" It was a good question and it needed to be asked. Evidently the answer is no because neither of us wanted to deal with finding a new house so we literally ran down the stairs and away from the kitchen as fast as we could headed for the neighbors.

Expecting to find three grown men next door who could come over and rescue us from the perilous mouse situation, we instead found three tiny Khmer women and three little girls. We explained the situation (or rather Laura did because let's be honest, I don't speak enough Khmer to explain the urgency we felt) and being the wonderful and generous women that they are, they offered to come and help us.

Armed with a single broom,  our fearless neighbor Chanom headed over with a woman in her early 50s, a nineteen year old, a nine year old, a seven year old and a three year old. Laura and I took position in the rear. After telling them where the mouse was, Laura and I graciously made room for them in the kitchen by excusing ourselves into the other room.

Chanom 4'9'' weighing in at 100lbs in one corner and the two inch mouse weighing in at 2lbs in the the other. The bell dinged and they were off. Chanom swatted at the shelf knocking the mouse loose on its hold in the shelf. The mouse took evasive measures and darted across the kitchen sending the woman in her 50s onto the counter, the 19 year old onto the table, the 7 year old on a chair, the 3 and 9 year old into the other room with me and Laura outside into the street. Chanom ran around the kitchen swing the broom until the mouse hid under the refrigerator. Chanom swatted at it with such gusto it had no choice but to climb up into the cooling mechanism of the fridge. Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the first round went to the mouse. At the start of the second round, Chanom came back to the fridge, armed with bug spray. She sprayed into the cooling mechanism. This intrigued all the bystanders causing everyone to inch closer to the action. The women climbed off our kitchen surfaces, Laura came back in the house and we walked near the kitchen entrance.

Seeing it had drawn us all out of hiding, the mouse took off headed right toward me. Laura, the three girls, the nineteen year old and I all headed for the stairs. It changed course and instead of leaving the kitchen it lapped it. When it came back round a second time we all jumped up higher on the stairs. Screams permeated the air as the sound of running and slamming the broom coming from the kitchen echoed through the house. The atmosphere was tense. Against my better judgment, I stepped off the stairs to get a better look. Chanom was swinging the broom as the mouse ran in circles and then almost as if sensing a change in the audience, it ran out of the kitchen and straight toward me. All the girls ran higher up onto the stairs, Laura was safe on the second floor, but I was exposed. I did the only thing I could do and jumped up on the outside of the banister. Screams filled the air as I clung to the banister hovering a mere one and half feet above the danger. Chanom-the champion that she is- went full speed in pursuit. Knees bent, broom over her head, Chanom did a waddle run while yelling a fierce battle cry and swing the broom. The mouse, seeing it had been bested ran out the door and down the street. We cheered and hugged Chanom, thanking her for her bravery. She had truly saved us, else we would have had to move.

After everyone had gone home, while we were cleaning up after the epic battle of the mouse, I had a revelation. In Tom and Jerry,when Tom is chasing Jerry, you feel for the poor little mouse. It's a lie. It's Tom who's the victim. I'm sure of it.

Pictures

Just chillin on the roof of a restaurant. No, it was not open to guests, they

just let us go up to take pictures...

Me and Sauvry on the roof before dinner.

Lygia and me on the roof before dinner.

This is what the sky looks like when I go running in the evening

One of the many temples near me. (Truthfully, I don't remember which one)

Overall Update

It has been a crazy few months! Since the last time I sent out an update, we've started a children's ministry, ended a children's ministry, expanded our outreach, gained several girls in our program, lost a few and had a change in our leadership. So, I'm going to give you the reader's digest version...

We started our Kid's Club as a result of a two teams coming. We saw that there was a need during the mornings for about thirty kids in our area since the Cambodian schools had shut down due to an epidemic. It was such a blessing getting to hang out with the kids and to be apart of a children's program again. After about two months, most of the kids went back to school during the mornings and our staff's availability changed making it impossible to run a program for the kids in the mornings. So for the time being, we've shut down our Kids' Club and are waiting on God to provide staffing. 

We started being more aggressive trying to get into one massage parlor in particular, simply so we could offer them free medical clinics and English classes. We finally were able to get access to the girls and now we have too many girls to help between the three massage parlors and one karaoke club. Right now our facility is so jam packed with 16 girls and a waiting list so long that with the way things stand now, we simply cannot accommodate all the girls by the end of 2013. Because of this fact, we're pulling back on outreach and simply working  to maintain relationships and are waiting to see how God provides both with finances and staff. 

Steve and Lygia moved back to the states at the beginning of the month and our new director of Siem Reap, Laura, just got here last Friday. Really bummed to have them move home, but God has so been blessing this time. A few days before they moved I made a new friend who introduced me to a new church. I cannot tell you what a blessing it has been going there! The people are so nice and I really feel at home with the group of women. I can really see myself calling this my Siem Reap church home. 

This last week I found out that a woman from Lakeside Church that I used to volunteer with was in a car accident and passed away. It has so broken my heart and for several days was just a wreck. God so blessed the timing for a team to come. A team from Bayside Church came up and has been visiting, training our girls in the salon. They have been such a support and a real blessing not only to our girls and our ministry, but to us personally. Laura and I got to spend one night in a spontaneous night of worship and prayer with them. It was such a blessing to spend time in prayer and worship with a group of women and be able to be vulnerable and share the brokenness for this family that I was feeling. God knew exactly what I needed and what our girls have needed and has provided it through this amazing team. 

God has really been working and moving in my heart these last few weeks really teaching me what a Christ-centered community is and how I personally should be acting. I feel like these last few weeks, as crazy as they have been, have held some of the sweetest moments with my brothers and sisters in Christ that I have ever had, and I have seen God's provision in such a personal way that I have never before experienced. It has been awesome!

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

For some time now, we've battled on and off with the girls about doing their chores and their cooking responsibilities. After countless warnings, sit down conversations, and schedules made to make this simple and clear, it was time to put down the hammer. So we called all the girls together last night and discussed what their punishment would be... For the foreseeable future, the girls would have to eat breakfast and lunch that I cook. Yes that's right ladies and gentleman, they have to eat American style food! I know what you're thinking: "Pancakes for breakfast and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch!?!?! Brittnay what on earth are you trying to do these poor girls?! Haven't they been through enough?!" And to that I say, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I woke up this morning at 4:30 so I could be at Rahab's at 5:00 to cook breakfast and make sack lunches for the girls who would be at school all day. I put on some worship music and began cooking a punishment filled with love. A few pancakes into it (which looked and smelled amazing by the way) I began to worry.

What if the girls actually like the food and this punishment backfires? What if I end up getting stuck waking up this early to make breakfast every morning? I am not a morning person. This is not going to work. Lord, please, don't let this backfire. Please let this plan not be as stupid as it is beginning to seem. PLEASE don't make me have to wake up early again tomorrow!

And to all of you who don't believe in prayer, well looky here...I was so busy freaking out I accidentally burned four pancakes that were cooking. Then the pan was too hot and the next couple of pancakes burned a little before the inside could finish cooking all the way. Now, I wasn't trying to make gross pancakes, I promise, but I was I crying when I saw this. No. No sir I was not.

All in all, the pancakes were edible. Beautiful, oh goodness no, but only a few were burned and most of them were actually pretty spectacular if I do say so myself. But when the girls came to eat them, Oh dear. You should have seen their faces. They all told me how wonderful they were, but they simply weren't very hungry this morning (coincidence? I think not).  Finally one girls had the courage to admit none of them liked the pancakes but they didn't want to hurt my feelings. They just wanted rice. When they found out that they were going to be eating pb&j for lunch, no one held back. There was so much wailing and whining about how Cambodians need rice and they don't want to eat bread two meals in a row, and if they promise to do their chores and responsibilities can they please go back to cooking their own meals...you know, the kind of meals with rice?

I played it cool. "Well, I'll talk to the house moms and Sauvry about it. We already have enough pancake mix for a couple days, It would mean a market run today.... I don't know...I'll see what they think. But you have to promise that you are going to do your chores and cooking. " Loud and enthusiastic promises were made. When I went over and told Sauvry, she smiled and said she would go to the market today to get more food. I told her not to tell them right now. To let them sweat it out a little. Make them think they're going to have to have pancakes again tomorrow. With the most conspiratorial smile I have ever seen she agreed and walked off to tell the house mom that the plan had worked. 

That's how we roll. We're pretty hard core when it comes to punishments over here. (I can't even keep a straight face writing that...)No, but all in all, I'm glad this was such  a simple and effective fix to a long standing problem. God is good!

It's been more than a month since we started Kids' Club! It's crazy to me how quickly the time has gone, and how many changes we've made to the program since we started.
When we started, the original idea was to hang out with them playing game, singing songs and learning about the Bible for an hour(ish), but there wasn't enough time and too many kids, so we decided to extend it to an hour and a half. We had about 30 kids coming everyday to hang out and play.
Then over one weekend we went from 30 kids to less than 10. The first day we thought school was back in session. Then we found it wasn't. The next day we thought it might be the rainstorms that have been hitting every day. But unfortunately that wasn't it either. Evidently, when a group of parents found out their kids were coming to learn about God, they banned their kids from coming. We were told that if we were teaching English, the kids could come, but they didn't want them coming just to learn about God and have fun. Fortunately for us, I speak English.
So about two weeks ago, we started incorporating English and Khmer lessons into all our sessions. We have been slowly gaining back our class. Since these last three weeks have been the craziest we've had yet with illnesses and lice and more, it's been a blessing that things have been quieter, but after talking to Bella about curriculum, we are both excited to have the class grow again! So please keep that in your prayers!
Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like! (some of the faces have been blurred since we can't post pictures of the kids faces or our girls' faces)

The beams the support the roof act as out chalk board 

The lower beams have both the Khmer and English versions of the memory verses.

Our three rules in Kids' Club

1. Respect God

2. Respect Teachers

3. Respect Others

Preparing our group game...

The kids had to stand behind a line and toss straws onto the shaving cream covered face.

The team with the most straws stuck on the face won.

But in reality it turned into a shaving cream fight for everyone...

Bella helping one of the little girls practice writing her memory verse in both English and Khmer

We took about a hundred rubber bands, tied them together and tied on a medical 

latex glove to make a sling shot. Then we used it to shoot plastic eggs

Fighting for the egg 

It began to rain. Half the kids went home and the rest hung out wanting to sing 

songs in the rain.

Bella and me in the rain after. I wish I could have posted the rest

of the picture because the girls looked so cute!

Only in Cambodia

Came into Rahab's House today and was pretty surprised to poop in the middle of the floor. So as you can imagine, my interest was peaked as to why there was poop in the house. When I asked one of the girls, she very nonchalantly explained that a dog had pooped there. I realize that this might not seem like a reasonable explanation to you, but we are talking about Cambodia here, and on more than one occasion have I found dogs that have wandered into our open doors. So, I took that as a reasonable answer and thought nothing more of it. The poop was cleaned up and the day progressed.
As I was leaving to pick up kids from school, I had a realization. We just installed 2 foot high walls to protect against flooding. So in order to get in or out of Rahab's House, you have to climb/step over these walls. And the thought occurred to me: "How on earth did a dog get inside the house?" But again, this is Cambodia, you really can't dwell on details.
An hour later, I walked back into Rahab's House and found two more piles of poop and a puddle of pee. Again this was an attention grabber. Again I asked about it. Again, I was told that it was a dog that pooped and peed. Again, I took this as good response and went to teach my last English class.
During class I heard a dog. And it was loud. I mean very loud. In fact, it was so loud, you would think that there was a dog inside the house. But that couldn't be...we don't have dogs, nor do we allow them. But, I decided to check out what was interrupting my class. Low and behold, there was a puppy sitting under the desk downstairs.
So, we picked the little six inch high trouble maker and put him outside and I headed back upstairs. Then the barking began. Well, I'm not sure you could call it barking exactly...it was more like a squeaky toy meets a cat's meow. It sat outside meowing and squeaky at the wall hoping to be let back in. Then it decided to get protective and try and scare off cars that came near our driveway. So as it ran back and forth it sounded like a cat riding a bicycle with a squeaky toy caught in its wheels. It was hands down one of the most absurd things I have ever heard.
As you can imagine, my English class wasn't very productive today. Poor students were stuck with a teacher who kept breaking into giggles. Oh man...only in Cambodia...

Thrifty Gone Awry

So having lived here for almost six months now, I was feeling it might be time to update the wardrobe. Now, since both finances and retailing options really don't allow for many opportunities to buy new clothes, I decided to go all pintrest on some of my clothing items and do it myself.
I have this one long dress that I cut to make two skirts since the floor length dress is simply too hot or hard to walk in the rain. I realized today that while I have worn one of the skirts several times, I have yet to wear the other skirt. So before heading back to the office from my lunch break I donned this "new" skirt. Now it's a little big, but I figured I was just teaching English and hanging out with karaoke girls so there shouldn't be any issue with it.
After changing I headed back. About half way through the class I realized I was the victim of a wardrobe malfunction. My skirt had fallen much to my embarrassment. Now either none of the girls noticed because they were all so enthralled in the awesome lesson going on, or  they simply didn't want to mention it. I'm going to choose the first scenario.
So fear not, I fixed the problem. Tied the skirt and then headed out with Bella to pass out fliers for a free clinic. We saw that a storm was coming but figured we could easily avoid it. And much to everyone's surprise I for once was correct. We didn't get soaked. ( ha! That's what you get for assuming the worst about my deductive skills.) Having passed out the fliers and returned ti Rahab's house, I packed up my belongings knowing that the storm was coming and it looked like there was going to be some major rain. Before I could finish gathering my stuff if began to pour. I did my best to water proof the purse and laptop. Having ghetto rigged my skirt by tying knots and my purse and laptop by stuffing it full of bags and towels to keep water off, I set out in the downpour. I made it to the end of our drive way before my awesome MacGyver inspired belongs began to fail me. The rain was so intense that the street was flooded almost to my ankles. The rain immediately soaked the skirt causing the knots to come untied. My purse over my shoulder was so bulky my right arm stuck out as if I had a cast made immobile by securing to the waist.
I tried darting under the little awnings as best I could but come on, I didn't want to look like a fool. Instead I ran the most direct route through the flooded street. My flip flops were so slippery in the brown foamy water I could barely keep them on. I was picking my feet up out of the water to run making it look like I was attempting a high knees workout. In the middle of this graceful maneuvering, my skirt almost completely fell off so I quickly grabbed it and held it with my left hand. So here I am running down the street looking like I have one immobile arm, holding up my soaking skirt, dancing around like a fool trying to keep my shoes on while doing the silliest dance through the water. (I think there is a children's animated character that would perfectly embody this scene, but sadly I can't think of which one.)
Yup. I'm glad I decided to be thrifty and wear my homemade skirt today. Maybe I should lay off the pintrest for awhile.

Kids' Club

So, as I've mentioned, we started a Kids' Club.
We've been trying to get the kids in some sort of routine and establish discipline. When we started a week ago, the kids were literally running all over Rahab's House at all hours. We kept trying to explain that was not going to work since we have English classes going. But no matter how times we nicely explained it, they would come as early as 7:30 am and take over. We were also trying to figure out a way to get the attention of 25+ children while they are running and screaming all over the roof. Between the awesome girls here, some inspiration from how the children's program in Svay Pak is run and the grace of God, we have figured out a system! We have three rules in Kids' Club: Respect God and His house, Respect Teachers, and Respect Others.
Yesterday, some of the kids decided to ignore the rules and come running in Rahab's early. We finally had to lay down the law.  So, we had to explain that the seven children who chose to ignore rules one and two would not be allowed to participate with us, but they would be more than welcome to come back the next day. So they went home, we had Kids' Club- it was great, had fun, no biggie.
Today, at 9:45 I got a little nervous. There were no kids waiting outside. At 10, we only had four kids. I was beginning to wonder if I had messed things up by sending the kids home. What if they were afraid to come back? But, we started with Kids' Club as planned. We started finger painting on the tile floor practicing the English name for the colors, and talking about Noah's rainbow. About ten minutes into Kids' Club, we had 15 kids. We began adding water to the paint to make it stretch farther. Within another 10 minutes, we had 23 kids with soapy painted water all of the roof. They were having so much fun painting with their feet, their hands, and sliding around.
We were having a blast watching the kids and playing with them and made cleaning up into a game. One of the older girls decided to take charge and remind the kids that they needed to respect God's House, and they needed to do a good job cleaning. The kids were so bent on making sure they followed rule number 1, we had a hard time getting them to stop cleaning so we could play the next game. It was so cute. When we wanted their attention, we yelled in Khmer to three and all the kids raced back to their lines, boys on one side, girls on the other, and went silent. Honestly, you would think we knew exactly what we were doing the whole time...
After talking to some of the kids, they told us they wanted to come to Kids' Club so they wanted to make sure they followed all of the rules so they didn't have to miss out on any of the fun. I can't tell you how much it blessed me to hear how much they want to be here and be with us.
The transformation between last week and this week is unbelievable! We're half way through our second week, and I have to say I think this is going to be a success!

Update Letter

So I was asked to post my most recent update letter, so here it is. I know it's got some repeat information, but I hope it's not boring!

Well, even though Rahab’s House has been here and opened for almost eight months now, we are still trying to develop trust within the community. Right now, we go to one of the local karaoke clubs every week day and hang out with them while they play cards. We were hoping that by just hanging out with them we would be able to develop a sense of trust and show they that we don’t want anything from them. After three months of going almost every week day, we learned something very very important: the girls at the clubs think we hang out with them and bring them food because we are trying to bribe them into coming to our salon. When we found this out, I have to tell you, it was a bit of a shock. It really took me aback that after all this time, we had no idea that our attempt to give them cheaper (and slightly better) hair and make-up was being translated in their minds as a bribe.  So we decided to come up with a new plan where we invited the girls to a corner restaurant and bought them lunch, just an opportunity to talk with them.

Last week, we had a team from Korea visiting, and in attempt to get them involved in some outreach, we held our first karaoke lunch. We ordered enough food for forty people, but to be honest, the Khmer staff and I really thought that was really wishful thinking. But God was really good! We ended up having so many girls and their kids come during the course of two hours that we ran out of food. At first it made me nervous that we ran out of food, and was pretty sure that we would have some angry karaoke girls on our hands but they ended up being fine with it. Most of them sat down and ordered a drink so they could hang out with us. A few made jokes and left, but on the whole, everyone was really receptive to the whole thing. At the end, the girls were requesting food for next time. Next time! A week ago they thought we were trying to bribe them (and I’m sure some still do) and now they were trying to make plans for another hang out. Words cannot even begin to describe my excitement.

Since the community is still trying to decide whether or not they trust us, it has been exciting to watch the little progress every week. A month ago we had one message parlor that did not want us going onto their campus. After meeting the owner, he gave us open access to the message parlor and even helped facilitate classes for the girls while the team was in town. We’re hoping he will allow us access twice a week on his campus to teach English so we can reach more girls. One of the other message parlors has always been welcoming to a point. They allowed us to host monthly lunches on their campus, but last week the manager was recommending that the girls come to our salon and actually came in herself! That was huge. Finally there was one message parlor that would never grant us access to even pass out fliers for our clinic. We’ve always been turned away. They would take maybe 6-8 fliers and say they would pass out them to the girls, but that there weren’t many there, and then ask us to leave. Last week one of the managers seemed so annoyed that we were back, he let us go see the girls. I was expecting maybe twenty, after all they always told us there weren’t many. When we got in back there were close to fifty or sixty girls. They were shocked and excited to see us. I was stunned. I had no idea that it was such a big operation. When we were getting ready to leave one of the managers flagged us down. She was usually the one that rejected us, so I was expecting to get in trouble. Instead of getting angry, she asked when the next clinic would be and asked us to come back and let her know when it was so she could go.

There has been an outbreak here that has been killing children under the age of seven. As a result, most schools have shut down. Although they’ve figured out what was killing the children, and a vaccination, the schools are still closed. About three weeks ago, we had a different team from Korea visiting. While they were here, we had a large number of children start coming to their classes. We figured it must be related to the outbreak. After asking around, that’s not the case. These kids live near us, or a kids of karaoke girls and have nothing to do during the day. So we thought we’d see how things panned out. Well, it’s been three weeks since the kids started coming and they are growing in number, even without the teams, they are coming. Children we have never seen are suddenly here. And not like five or ten, we’re talking thirty or more. We’ve been talking on and off about starting a Kids’ Club since I got here; it’s good for the community, most of the karaoke girls have at least one child- why not? Well, to be honest, we really don’t have the means to maintain one. Things have changed within the last three weeks though. With the kids coming every day, even without a team, we decided we needed to do something. So as of this morning one of our Khmer staff and two of our girls that don’t go and study in the mornings are now running a Kids’ Club for an hour half every morning.  Since I am in charge of everything school related and outreach, I am working to help the girls get this up and running. With really no notice, the girls did a great job with the kids today, and we are working on a plan for the rest of the week. I think it’ll be good. It’s going to take some time to get it all in place, but then I think it will be good.

Wow. I know that is kind of a lot. I tried to condense. Sorry it is so much. I really need to be better about writing more often.

There is so much going on, and so much changing. God is good and He is faithful, but honestly it’s exhausting. A week ago, I was in tears about all the changes. Don’t get me wrong, I love to see how God is moving, but with such little staff, and such limited finances, it’s a little overwhelming sometimes. Since our American house mom has moved back to the states, there have been adjustments to the new house moms. During the day, the girls were coming to me with their questions while I was trying to teach the English classes. Trying to manage the girls, their schedules, market runs, drama in the house, outreach to the three different message parlors and the karaoke club and preparing for/interacting with the visiting teams and teach  has been a little overwhelming. I kept being reminded that it was all temporary, but that is a lot of temporary things at once. But God is good, and things in the house are calming down. The girls have more structure which helps, the teams are gone, and we’re getting into a rhythm with the outreach. So that is all good. And I’ve started going to bed earlier, which is really good. J

If you’ve made it this far into this letter, thank you. Sorry it’s so long. So let me wrap this up for you.

Our director, Steve, and his wife, Lygia, will be moving back to the states in November. We already have his replacement, Laura and she is amazing! We get along well and I think we will work well together. But if you could be in prayer for other staff we are going to be hiring. We are looking to hire counselors, teachers, and we’re going to be opening a training facility and a home for the girls so we will need not only locations for both of those facilities, but staffing for them.

Also, we have two girls that need heart surgery. One of them is part of our staff. Because of the type of surgery, they both need to go to Thailand for the operations. The girl in our program has known for most of her life that she has a hole in her heart, and the funds for her surgery are almost all raised. But Sauvry (our staff) was just diagnosed about two weeks ago. If you wouldn’t mind praying not only for the funds for her surgery, but for her as she is still trying to process all of this.

On the Other Hand

So we've been working to build trust in the community and with the girls at the massage parlors and karaoke clubs, and it has been a challenge. After three months of consistent daily outreach, the girls still aren't sure about us. Well, last week was the first of many bittersweet conversations.
We were sitting at the karaoke club near us with the girls while they were gambling. We brought them bananas to snack on. After many months of coming, they made their first joke with us. They began joking around about the different men they've been with and comparing them to the bananas. It completely freaked out Bella, and I was completely unaware at first. On the the one hand, it's a bummer that they can compare that many men, on the other hand, I am really glad that they are comfortable enough with us now to talk about it.

Today in English I was talking with some of my karaoke girls that speak more English. One of them was telling me how embarrassed she is by her job. She won't even tell her family (whom she helps support) how she makes money. On the one hand it was heart breaking listening to her, on the other what a blessing that she is open to change and open to being helped.

I was talking to another one of my girls. She wanted to show me a picture of a guy she really liked. She tried to show me once, and I never got to see it, so the second time she hurried home to get it and bring it back to me. She wad so excited to show me the man she had fallen in love with. When she handed me a picture of several men in the U.S. Navy in uniform. She pointed to the one she wished she could marry, but he was already married so they could only email. On the one hand, I was heart broken and angry to see those uniforms. I was saddened to hear that he was married and cheating on his wife, and even more upset that he had taken the heart of this beautiful young woman in front of me. On the other hand, what a blessing that she wanted to share something so precious to her with me.

We pass out protection of any girl that asks for it. While talking to two girls about giving them some, it came out in the conversation that one of the girls had already gotten pregnant before. After assuring me that she was not currently pregnant, she explained that she had five abortions and one child before learning how to properly use protection. I don't think I need to explain the saddening part of this story. The bright side on the other hand was a little harder to find, but I figure that God has plans for that little three year old boy. Thank goodness she finally learned how to use protection.

There are so many stories. So many great ones. So many sad ones. But I am noticing that as long as I look for Him, God's providence is in each one of them. I just have to look at both sides.

Photo Update

Yes, I am lame. I have not kept up with updating like I should. Do I get credit for having several drafts waiting to be finished and published? Probably not...
Well, whenever I talk to my daddy, he always asks the same question: "Any new pictures?" So this is for you Dad...

Our 4th of July celebration with the girls at Rahab's House
(celebrated with them on the 3rd but whatever...)

Seriously, how scary right? No joke, the girls almost caught Jayme and me on
fire at least two times each, but they had fun and that's what matters right?

Since we can't post faces online, I thought this captured the essence of the night
without revealing too much. This was a lot of fun!

Our 4th of July celebration just us American staff (actually held on the 5th...)
We got rained out and had to take the fireworks to my room and shoot them out of
the third story window. A few singe marks on the bed and floor, and my
room smelled like smoke for a week, but totally worth it!

The fireworks outside the window. We called the girls at Rahab's House, and they all went out
onto their balcony and watched them in the rain from down the street. It was a fun night for all.

Steve and Lygia shooting the fireworks. Moments later, the wick shot out of the
back end of this still lit into the room. The burn marks are still on my floor.
(Don't worry, no one was hurt during the production of this album...)

The beginnings of our newly developed Kids' Club. We've had between 20-30
kids everyday at Rahab's, so as of today, we have a Kids' Club. That's how we do here
in the bode.

Jayme's going away party. There was this really cool restaurant right by our house
that made really great food for a really good price, and had a great atmosphere.
Unfortunately, it ran out of food about two weeks ago and is now
permanently out of business.  

These are not actually our girls, since I can't post pictures of them, but
this is a really good representation of our massage parlor girls. I know
the picture is small (I did that on purpose), but if you notice the red circles
on the shirts, that is a number. A customer can go in and pick a girl based on her
number. It is the same in the karaoke clubs. Girls lined up with numbers and you pick one.
We've recently been granted access to two massage parlors we've never been welcomed at
before. In fact we're hoping to start an English class on one of the massage parlor
campuses!

Faces

At home I can go into a store that I frequent, or a coffee shop and recognize people. Even if I do not know them by name, I can go run errands around town and feel comfortable, seeing people that I know. After doing outreach in the community and teaching English classes, I am now at that place. When I go out to the market, on a jog or am running errands, I almost always see at least one person that recognizes me. It's so nice to go from place to place, and have smiling faces greet me. I may or may not remember names, but it is a very comforting thought to know that I am no longer a stranger.

He's in the Little Things

So it is officially the rainy season here. (Although to be clear, I have been told that rainy season lasts 8 months and this is the 'light rainy season' followed by the 'heavy rainy season')

We have begun doing daily outreach where we go buy some fruit and bring it to a karaoke club near us. There are often at least 10 girls playing cards and hanging out, so Bella and I go and visit with them. We do this five times a week, and have begun to be expected, and I would even go so far as to say we are welcomed most days.

This week, we have a medical clinic going on and needed to pass out fliers to the karaoke girls as well as to the surrounding community. So Bella and I set out on our bikes to pass out fliers, buy fruit and then go visit with the girls. We got about a block into our journey when it started to pour rain. We thought about trying to wait out the rain, but decided it would be better just to hurry on our bikes. As we were riding, the rain was coming down in huge drops. The wind was blowing hard, making it difficult to stay going in a straight path and making the rain sting. It was hard to see and if you can possibly believe it- it was getting chilly. Over the sound of the wind and rain, I hear Bella singing "Oh happy day! Happy day! You wash my sins away!" In the middle of what could have been a potentially discouraging moment, Bella was singing praise songs! I was so proud of her! We spent the rest of our bike riding trip praising God.

When we got to the karaoke club, we were soaked. Drowned rats might be too harsh, but you get the idea. The girls there couldn't have been nicer. I was warned it takes awhile for the girls to trust, and even longer for them to treat you normally instead of as a foreigner. I don't know if it was the fruit, the drenched clothing, or more likely the grace of God, but the girls did something that has never happened before- they didn't offer me the red chair, they had me sit on the ground by them! This may not seem like a big deal, but it has so made my day. As if that wasn't enough, Bella was able to join in their conversation a little and was sharing in their jokes AND they stopped their card game to talk to me in broken English!!!!! Oh God is so good!

I know it might seem like little stuff, but let me tell I have never seen God more than I have by watching the little stuff. I see Him singing in the rain, sitting on the ground, and the pause in the card game. He's so in the little things, and I am so blessed by it!

In one of the English classes I teach, we've been talking about how to have conversations about countries (you know, "Where are you from?" "What country is she from?"... that kind of stuff.) Rather than simply writing the names of the countries on the board and then having the students repeat after me a bunch of times, I thought this would be a good opportunity to make a project out of it. 

So, I brought in some paints and assigned each of the students a country. They were supposed to paint a picture of their assigned flag and write three sentences about the country and then were going to present their flag to the class. I was very excited about this, and even a little proud of myself for switching things up a bit. But I have to say, the wind was taken out of my sails a little when I was handed the flag that was supposed to be the American Flag. Instead of red, white and blue, I was handed an orange, white and purple flag-with no stars...

I was a little bit shocked. I'll admit. I looked at the sweet girl, Keany, who handed it to me and explained that what I was holding was not an American flag. Keany looked at me, then at the flag, and then back at me. "Yes it is." Was the response I was met with. So I began to explain that the colors were of the flag were not actually orange, purple and white, but rather red white and blue and that there were supposed to be stars on the flag. Her response: "No. That's not what the American Flag looks like. This is."

Flabbergasted.  It's really the only word that comes to my mind to explain how I felt. I couldn't help it. I started laughing so hard. I couldn't believe that I had just been told basically that I did not know what my own country's flag looked like. The two of us worked together, and after three attempts it finally looked like the flag I grew up seeing. 

I really love my job!