Hey everyone!
So, alot has happened! And i haven't written in a long time either. Hmmmm.......I don't even know where to start..... Since I last wrote, I have just had lectures and normal living in Battambang. The biggest news was that a new store opened! Woot woot!! And I found a place with cheap ice cream!! Woot woot.
Oh ya, and Caleb and Shannon visited =P lol. That also exciting. ALMOST as exciting as a new store =P
it was so nice to see faces from home!! They came for a weekend, and the three of us went up to Siem Reap to see the Angkor Wat temples. WE had lots of fun; we saw lots of old stones, and ate fried snake and frogs, and talked, and ate some interesting street food in Battambang. It was
I have also been to Poipet! At my DTS we do a short term outreach, and long term outreach--so these past 2 weeks I was in Poipet on our short term outreach with my team! I have 12 wonderful people on my Outreach team (including leaders).
Anywhoo..... We stayed/ worked alongside a new church there called 'Christian Fellowship Poipet'. We stayed in the church building, which was like a resort to us because there were comfortable pillows, and thickish mattresses, and good water pressure, and one area had air conditioning!!! And we had delicious food!! We felt so lucky! Haha =)
So the church had a youth center type thing where they provide English,computer, guitar, and dance classes. We did lots of work teaching classes and hanging out with the students. I got to teach a dance class, which was really different for me because I have only ever taught little kids dance--so I got to do a lot of learning on how to teach! But I had so much fun teaching the class, and on the last day we got to perform the dance we learnt for everyone at the Youth Party! MY students did wonderful! It was really cool getting to know the students. We get to go back to Poipet in 5 weeks, and i am so excited to see them again. (***I WROTE THIS 5 WEEKS AGO, WE ACTUALLY GO BACK ON sUNDAY!!**)
During our time in Poipet we also did ALOT of walking around the city meeting people, talking to them, telling them about the classes offered at the church,telling them about Jesus(!!), and really just getting to know them. People here are so willing and eager to talk!--it is so different from Canada, where you don't just go up to strangers and talk to them about their life.
I got to meet the most interesting people! I could write pages on different stories from poeple, but I will just write about two people we met.
Me and Yantsu got to know this one lady (we just called her 'Auntie' in Khmer), we visited her 4 times. She lives in a slum that was near the church, but she is being kicked out of her house because people want to raise the land--so now she is suck trying to make money to get a new house. The first time we met her she was very bitter, and had been hurt by the church in the past. I felt so blessed to beable to encourage her and her friends! The next time we visited her she was completely different! She was extremely friendly and joyful, and enthusiastic, and optimistic! It was a huge change! Everytime we visited her she invited us for lunch or supper, or to come back and she would cook for us! One time we saw her and she was cooking 'Bagn Chev' (cambodian savory pancake) to sell, so we got to help her prepare the veggetables, and she told us more about her life. I feel blessed that I got to meet this wonderful woman, who was so optimistic even though her life was so difficult.
Another family we met was the lady's neighbour. We met the whole family--they all know God, and their children go to school at a church somewhere. We got to talk with the mother(who had lots and lots of kids!!), and the father(who was a builder, and was really struggling with and alcohol addiction). They also were being kicked out of their house and had no where to go--so we got the oppertunity to pray with them; just for God's provision and help with the man's addiction, and a blessing over the family.
For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about this family--and 4 days later we passed by their house, so we went in to say 'bye' because we were leaving the next day. When we saw them they were so excited, and led us down the road and showed us their new house!! God had provided them with a house just four days later! Apparently a church had given them a sum of money for a new house, and it was so encouraging to see them praising God for the house! Their old house was in pretty rough shape--it was right by a swamp and during the rainy season it would flood. It was a tiny, one room shack that didn't even have 4 complete walls. Their new house is so much nicer! And bigger!
Praise God for answering prayer!!
Our outreach team also did alot of work with kids from the slums. (I personally didn't have the oppertunity to go, but my teammates played with the kids, talked to the parents, and did some lice treatment stuff. :)
We also visited the girls working in some of the MANY MANY MANY brothels and kareoke bars in Poipet. It was very difficult emotionally.... alot of these girls have been tricked into working in these places--they were told they would get a job as a waitress or ice server, but when they got here they found out what they would really be doing-- and because of pride they can't go back home and tell thier family what they have been doing.
It was difficult seeing these girls, because they had no hope and their personalities have been completly taken away. They have no life left in them---and they are so young. The woman and girls working in the brothels are pretty much prisoners--they can't leave at all. They are there 24/7. So it is hard for them to have a future becasue they can't leave and learn skills for a new job.
We went in and just hung out with them--painted nails, talked, etc...... We talked about our lives and interests and what we liked to do/wanted to do in the future. We got the oppertunity to speak Truth and encouragement into their lives.
I really have a heart for woman at risk-- and it was so difficult to see the hopelessness in their lives.
The woman who work in the Kareoke bars are different in that this is only a night job for them, and they can leave during the day and live at home usually. They work there out of their own will. A lady I talked to wanted to leave and open her own Hair Salon, however she really really needed the money--so she was working at night and learning how to do hair/nails during the day. But it is hard for her because she works until 5am, and doesn't get much time to sleep.
Another thing we did in Poipet was visit little house Churches in villages! This was lots of fun, and I got to meet so many cool people!! I got to share a message at one of these places! And at another place it was mostly children, but these kids had the most pure,simple,lovely faith I have ever seen. It was beautiful, and so encouraging for me! At another village, I got to witness two elderly people give their lives to Christ! It was so exciting!
And in all these places I got to hear amazing stories of how God healed, peovided, and protected in people's lives!--I know the purpose of us visiting was to be a blessing, but I felt as if I was the one being blessed and encouraged in my faith!!
So, that is pretty much an overview of out time in Poipet. I love Poipet, and enjoyed my time there; however I missed my home in Battambang! It is so nice being back, and being back in our daily routines :)
So I think that is all the patience I have to write........ I hope you guys are doing great and inflippently fantastical!!
- RKB
