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!