A Lovely Day in the Neighbourhood!

I had such a fun day today so I thought I would post again so you can read about it.

It’s Election Day and so half of the population of Phnom Penh has left the city to go to their villages to vote leaving a very quiet city with everything shut down.

(One of the voting stations.)

As the city was almost completley shut down, the Khmer church was too, and so Gary, Bev and I went for a walk and these are a couple of the pictures we took:

(A lady at the market serving something mysterious looking.)

(Anyone want some frogs? They are still alive, just missing their skin.)

(A man shaving bamboo.)

(A monk doing his morning begging/collecting food for the day.)

(Kids squirting a naked baby with sugar juice.)

This afternoon I decided to take advantage of the cool breeze and go for a walk around the neighbourhood. I ended up at Wat Phomn which is a park built around a temple. I sat down on a bench and a guy with a slight cognitive impairment came and sat with me. I tried to talk with him but that didn’t go so well, but he was fascinated with my watch and my water bottle. After he left a bunch of guys came and started talking to me. It was kind of fun. When the first guy came he picked up my shoe to examine it (because I had my shoe off and had my leg tucked under me on the bench), when the others saw him they soon migrated over and joined in the fun. I was able to understand some of what they said. Yay! It was nice talking to some people my own age... I just wish there were girls there too. A couple of young kids joined us and one of the guys took a baby from them and started playing with her. He passed the baby to me so I got to played with her (meanwhile, I was praying that she wouldn’t pee on me as their idea of diapers is just going without any diaper or pants). She was cute and kept grabbing my nose. Afterwards, I walked home and started talking to a neighbourhood girl. She has been studying English and was so excited to practice it with me. It was so much fun to just to get to know some of the local people.

Still Loving It!

Right now, as I am typing this, there are two children standing beside me reading over my shoulder. I am at a cafe that provides free internet with purchase – and you can get a coffee for $.50. The only problem is that the internet connection is poor and slow and doesn’t work half of the time. But hey, it’s free (almost)! So while I was waiting for the internet to connect again after it cut out, these kids came up to me and tried their English. The little girl said “you have money, me no money”. It makes me wonder if they have been trained that foreigners have money and that they are supposed to ask for some. Obviously, since they were in the cafe, they probably are better off than the majority of children here as only rich Cambodian’s visit the cafe. The general mentality here seems to be that foreigners are rich, and technically we are. So that is my story for today.



I also went to visit Place of Rescue this week run by Marie Enns. It is a little care community for HIV families and orphaned children. They have little homes for families with HIV so that those who need it can receive care. If they are responding well to the antiviral medication then the parents receive jobs in the community. When the parents pass away, the children stay in the community and move into one of the orphan homes. Each home can have up to 10 children with a house mom and occasionally a house mom and dad. The parents take care of the kids as they were their own children. It was really nice to see how God is working in and blessing Place of Rescue.

(The view from Marie Enns' veranda.)

On a side note, when attempting to get there, in true Beca fashion, I got lost! It was an exciting adventure riding a moto on back country roads and trying to ask for directions when I can’t speak the language very well. I managed to turn a 45min-1 hour trip into 2 hours and 15 minutes. Opps! By the time I got home I had a sweet farmers tan/burn.

As well, tomorrow is Election Day here in Cambodia, so please for that. There is also a dispute between the Thai and Cambodian’s about a tourist attraction in Cambodia and so there are armed forces on either side of the border. Please pray that this dispute will be able to be settled peacefully.

Poverty

Luke 6:21a Woe to you who are full, for you shall be hungry.

To find out what the children at the orphanage want to learn about, I broke them into groups and had them make a list in Khmer of all the things they would like to learn. One group used the opportunity to write down personal questions for me. One of their questions was, “are you full when you eat?” Sadly enough, I am. I have enough money to make a meal that will be nutritious and filling. (Thank you for all of you who have made that possible.) Are they? No!

Today after church all of us PAOC’ers went out for lunch. (The Marshall family has just arrived this week and so our group has almost tripled because they have children :p ) We split meals, because this restaurant gives large portions, and with only half of the meal I was stuffed by the time I was finished! Yet, while we were eating, the street children were watching us and asking for money. Here I am stuffing my face while they watched, begging us to let them polish our shoes for a dollar or to just give them money. Part of me wanted to turn a blind eye towards them, while the other half of me was breaking. But at the same time, when does it stop? At the market they will follow you around saying “money money.” They sit outside the doors to the mall and in the parks and say “money money.”

My question lately is how should I be responding to the poverty around me?! It is everywhere and yet I am only seeing a small sliver of the poverty in this country. If I give money to the beggers am I not just encouraging begging, encouraging the mothers to dope their children to evoke pity to get money, and encouraging the brokers who send out kids to beg for them? But at the same time Jesus said in Luke 6:30 “ Give to everyone who comes with a request, and if a man takes away your property, make no attempt to get it back again.”

How do you afford to give to everyone who asks? How do you give and encourage the behaviour? I would rather give to those who don’t ask because I know they need it. For example, the children at the orphanage have never asked me for money... and I want to do everything in my power make their dreams come true. When you give to one beggar the others swarm you and expect some too. Or is this just my lack of faith?!

Levitical law:
Deu 15:7 If in any of your towns in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, there is a poor man, one of your countrymen, do not let your heart be hard or your hand shut to him;
Deu 15:11b and so I give orders to you, Let your hand be open to your countrymen, to those who are poor and in need in your land.

New Testament:
Mat 25:43 I was wandering, and you took me not in; without clothing, and you gave me no clothing; ill, and in prison, and you came not to me.
Mat 25:44 Then will they make answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you in need of food or drink, or wandering, or without clothing, or ill, or in prison, and did not take care of you?
Mat 25:45 Then will he make answer to them, saying, Truly I say to you, Because you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to me.

Please pray for wisdom as I face poverty on a daily basis. Please pray that I would be obedient and do whatever my Father asks me to do.

Luke 6:21a Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.

Pictures

Here are a few pictures:

1.) Marije (my roommate) & I

2.) Sandra's pictures of the kids 3.) This image has been found disturbing by some so it has been removed. For all the people who like to be grossed out... please refer to facebook!

As well, for those interested, Sandra put together a slideshow for the retreat in Thailand and it is available to view at http://www.impactasia.ca/index2.htm

Moto Burns = Just part of life here

So this week has been a busy week. My new roommate came from the Netherlands on Tuesday and Peter and Sandra McIntosh are visiting from Thailand. So, aside from language class and the orphanage, this week has been filled with showing people around :) This morning I met Bev & Gary and Peter and Sandra at the orphanage to show off my children. I love those kids so much. Please pray for them as right now chicken pox is having its rounds there.

I also got a slight moto burn which are common place here. My leg brushed against the exhaust pipe and now I have a big puff ball on my leg. It doesn't really hurt or anything yet and I am doing my best to keep it from getting infected.

So that's all for now. Thanks for your prayers. Please pray for my new roommate, the sick kids at the orphanage, and for more for me to do.

Love you guys!

More...

So I forgot to mention that I had my pastor and his wife over for dinner the other night. WOW! They have such amazing stories! What I love the most is their passion for God. I am excited to start teaching English to the youth. (I will be starting either next week or the week following for one night a week). They want me to work towards having the youth prepare sermons in English as an end project. So please pray that I can have meaningful conversations with the youth and that I will be able to help them with their English and grow closer to God.

Highs and Lows

This week has been an week of highs and lows so I will start with the lows and end with the highs.

On Monday I had a meeting at the assement center to find out when they would like me start volunteering and what I would be doing. After I got there I found out that they were not prepared for me and they told me that they would call me back. I just got off the phone with them and it looks as though that door is closing too. She said there is a slight possibility that I could come and volunteer with another volunteer, but she is not sure yet.

On the other hand, I had a meeting at the orphanage about volunteering there. The meeting went well and I will be teaching them English 2 mornings a week. After the meeting I had all the kids sit in a circle and I tried to learn their names. What a challenge. The day after the meeting was my first day teaching there. It was so much fun! If anyone has any activitiy ideas please send them to me. I have 26 kids ages 2-14 with varying degrees of English (none - some). So I need creative ideas to teach them English and I am open to any and all suggestions that you may have. The children are such a delight!

Please pray that God shows me what else He wants me to do here. I know He has me here for a reason... I just need to discover what it is.

Thank you for all your prayers!

Love, Beca

Thailand

Over the past week, I have been in Phuket Thailand for the PAOC South East Asia Retreat. I had a fabulous time! Phuket is absolutely gorgeous! Although we spent a lot of time sitting on the beach, we also had some awesome times of prayer, worship and fellowship. I felt honoured to be there with people who have been planting churches, reaching out to street kids and sex workers, teaching at Bible colleges, etc. on this side of the planet. There were singles, couples and families who have followed God's call to leave Canada and GO. I honour them for choosing to be obedient despite the cost.

(Me and one of the stray dogs that roamed the beach. They seemed to always come and camp out near my lawn chair.)

While at the retreat, I was given the book "Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. I have been engrossed in this book all week. The emphasis is on genuinely loving others and living like Christ. He talks a lot about Mother Teresa and her ministry... what a women! I want to love like that. I want Christ's love for others to just ooze out of me. In his book, Shane quotes someone talking about Mother Teresa saying, "to be honest, Mother Teresa died a long time ago, when she gave her life to Jesus. The joy and compassion and love that the world finds so magnetic are only Jesus, and that is eternal" (page 89). I want people to be able to say that about me. If you are reading this and I have not loved you as I should, I am sorry. Please pray, that God would help me love ... even when it is difficult. That I would love like each person that I meet is Jesus.

Thanks for all your love, prayers & encouraging emails!