Today was church! All of us Westerners packed into a small room with 150 orphans and sang worship to Jesus! Each orphanage performed a specials something, either song or dance. It takes about two weeks for them to learn the dances that they perform and they do them every week!! So much work! They were so adorable J
It was really fun. I sat with girls from BB3 and it is just really excited to continue to make relationships. I was thinking today about how much of a difference it has made this trip having an orphanage sponsored by my church compared to last time. What it does it really give you an excuse to pay more attention to some of the orphans than others, as awful as that sounds. But Asia’s Hope has an overwhelming amount of orphans, and having an orphanage connected specifically to my church allows me to build deeper relationships, rather than a large number of shallow ones. It also ensures that the relationships will be lasting, which encourages me to invest a lot more into them. Especially Channa, the orphanage director’s daughter. She is incredible and is the orphan’s English teacher even though she is only 17! We’ve been spending a lot of time together.
After church, we got a little bit of a taste of Cambodian culture. We went into this trip with a lot of things unplanned. I usually am a very “planned” individual, but right away realized that being laid back is the key to this culture. It really hasn’t been difficult at all to adapt to. But we finally talked today and decided on the dates to fly to Chiangmai and when we’re going to go back to Phnom Penh.
After our meeting, Eric, John Campbell, Pastor Bob, Kaillie, the Canes and I went to a little restaurant not far from our hotel. It was owned and run by a wealthy family who is in the process of turning their house into a kind of bed and breakfast. We toured what they are currently building as well as the inside of their house and holy cow!! It’s strange to come to a third world country and see a house that is nicer than yours!! I was blown away. And lunch was great! It was my first meal of curry J Mmm!!
I talked to the Canes about what developmental issues they think are most prominent in this part of Cambodia. Jill Cane started thinking about it and said we can talk more about it later. I’m really looking forward to that conversation.
Eric and I walked to the market today. It was great. It is interesting how many stares we get when we go anywhere. No one says anything to us, but we stick out blatantly everywhere we go. Often little kids will run up and say hi. That’s my favorite J The market was crazy as usual and full of smells that I really cannot even describe. I’m just thankful that I wasn’t feeling sick at the time because they probably would have pushed me over the edge.
After the market, Savy picked us up on his moto and took us to BB3 where Eric and I hung out with our orphans! We did some video for the church and Eric played some soccer. When it started to rain, the kids did dances and dramas for us. We finished the night playing some music.
We’re staying in Battambang for several more days while most of the others go back to Phnom Penh. I’m so glad… I love our kids. Tomorrow we are joining them for dinner J
Until then….
Post a Comment