Next post from Poipet...

Hello,

Things are good here, we've seen so many amazing things, I'll get to them later, but first (and by long way foremost): me. I'm doing good actually. Very busy, but good. The heat and the humidity is something that luckily I am adjusting too without too much bother (I think being skinny really comes up trumps here - the temperature is rising everday as we approach the peak of the hot season, and I think it's in the late 30s at the moment. However, a few days ago we were caught out in a freak tropical storm, which came upon us whilst we were making bricks. Luckily, we work under a corrugated iron roof, but that is about it. (there are no sides to the building). The winds were so strong and the rains so hard that you literally couldn't see more than 20 yards out into the field or hear anything at all. Quite exciting though.

Our days are long to say the least - the schedule I gave last time is slightly inaccurate - It's more like up at six and then brekkie at 6.40ish, but it wasn't too hard to adjust, as our bodies had been so scewed by the jetlag anyway. The working day generally finishes at 4.30 - 5 - quite early - which gives you a chance to get back and showered. The evenings are generally spent relaxing with the team, or praying or both or whatever. However, our team is also expected to lead devotions for the CHO staff (about 40 people) four mornings out of five a week, so we often have things to prepare for that.

Last sunday I preached at Church - was good, and went smoother than I possibly could have expected. Ironically, I was more worried about the fact that beforehand, instead of being nervous, I was perfectly beneign - though I guess that's what happens when you have a praying team behind you.

Church is interesting - it's held on the top floor of the CHO offices. 50 - 60 cambodians gather in shirts and smart trousers for what essentially is a sweatfest. Music generally consists of khmai worship songs (they have a distinctly eastern feel to them (pentatonic scales, irregular rhythms, and a general feeling of calm and philosophy), or 1980s American numbers translated.

The other day we visited an Orphanage in the afternoon. We taught them the story of Noah's ark, as well as playing a couple of games and action songs. They are so so well behaved and respectful. It was really great thought after that when we just had some free time to be crazy and play manic with the kids. It did make a nice break to making bricks all day, although we are making better friends with the other builders now. :):)

My Khmai is coming on pretty good now, and though I don't yet have the skills of Anna (our team's resident linguist, off to study languages at uni) I have a few phrases nailed. Its quite a staccato and guttural language, with lots of sounds made quite deep in the throat. Here are a few phrases badly transliterated for you....

djum riab suar - hello
djum riab lhear - goodbye
akon - thankyou
praijon protean penn - God Bless You
reatrey s'alsa day - good night.

I have many more that I could write out, but meh, not much point really.

Please pray also for continued team unity, as we get to know eachother really rather well, the small faults in everyones personalities are starting to show up. Please pray that this wouldn' effect our work in any way. Also just please keep up the general prayers!

First update from sunny, sweaty Poipet.

Dear all,

I am in Poipet now - it's an amazing place, there is one, long continuous high street which stretches for about a mile from end to end, with various residential streets branching off at irregular intervals. To call the majority of the dwellings 'houses' would be to pay them a compliment they don't really deserve, as most of them are of the wooden walls corrugated iron ceiling variety. None of the roads are paved either.

We're staying in a hotel - basic but comfortable- unfortunately it does slightly give one the impression of being separated from the locals, but that also may be because we're not actually working with them yet.

We'll be starting work on monday morning, making bricks alongside the locals for the construction of an intergrated refuge centre, orphanage and school for kids who either have escaped from the child trafficking industry or who are home alone much of the time because their parents have crossed into Thailand in search of work. Our day will look like this:

6.15 - up

7.00 - breakfast

7.30 - devotions with team and CHO staff

8.00 - start work

12.00 - 1.30 - lunch

1.30 - 5.00 - work

The Cambodians are such friendly people - not just the CHO staff but also the locals. A smile will always be returned warmly, if a little shyly, though due to the language barrier it kind of stops there. The staff at CHO are just amazing, talk about living with the joy of the spirit, they all walk around with big grins on their faces and are always up for a practical joke!

I rekon I'll be able to get to the internet once or twice a week, so I'll try and email then.

If people could pray for continued team unity, that the language barrier would start to be broken down, and that we will have the humility to accept the humble work that's going be given to us, that would be fantastic. I don't think I've quite taken in the fact that I'm away for four months, so when that realisation does hit me (as I'm sure it will during a low point) I would really really really appreciate your prayers that God would sustain me through it and give me a joy irrespective of my circumstances.

I think that's about all.

How's everything in sunny sunny England (it was 37 degrees here today!)?

looooves

Greg

Hi everyone!
This is officially my first blog post. Just testing things out here really.


coools

cya.