Day 8, August 12th:
Sunday mornings all the kids and the
staff members attend a local Christian church pastored by Ream
Carson's father. The four of us volunteer girls; Ginny, Laura,
Jessica, and I attended this morning, not knowing what to expect as
the teaching is in Khmer (pronounced k'my). I felt so blessed going,
although I have no idea what the pastor said, my Spirit at least was
able to understand. The blessing though was the involvement of the
kids here at the orphanage, as worship started I noticed that two of
our girls were singing and one of our boys was playing the drums. I
had no idea that the kids ran the worship at the church! I later
found out that one of the other girls sings too so the three
alternate two at a time. The worship was great and I recognized the
tune of some of the songs as they are typical Calvary Chapel songs so
I was able to sing along in English as they were singing in Khmer.
When they took tithes and offerings a few of our kids got up and were the
ushers for the offering, so the kids are the ushers, they are the
majority of the congregation, and they make up most of the worship
team at the church, so amazing!!
Seeing the children on the worship team
and the other children in the congregation worship reminded me of
Psalms 150:1-6,
“1 Praise
ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament
of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts:
praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of
the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and
dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud
cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath
breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord”
After church I went into the village
with two of the girls to get a couple items from the market, I love
seeing the people, their homes, and their way of living by selling
items right outside their home. It is so foreign from anything you
would see in the United States, even those that are fairly well off
would be considered living in poverty in America. After the market I
headed back to the orphanage and the rest of the day was playtime.
There are 41 kids, a few local kids
that come hangout frequently, and Kit and Ream's two sons. Between
all the kids they are always doing something, some are playing cards,
others are doing a puzzle, some might be playing board games, others
flying kites, others will just be sitting and chatting, or some might
be playing an activity such as frisbee, soccer, tag, etc...It is so
fun getting to hangout with all the kids, getting to know their different
personalities, and see them laugh and smile. They love playing with
those that are here volunteering, you hear them trying to get our
attention all the time, you always hear, “Laura Laura, or Jessica
Jessica, or Ginny Ginny, or Alissa Alissa!!". It feels so amazing to
be loved by them as much as we love them.
Today they pulled out pvc pipes and
were acting like they were ninja swords or something. It was fun
playing with them but some of those boys take it very seriously and
are really good, they definitely like to show off their karate
kicking and hitting skills. At times it is a little scary because
they actually will kick and hit you hard, even the girls get pretty
tough sometimes. Especially the youngest here Nygt, she is the
toughest little girl I have seen! I find myself more and more playing
stuff I never would have before such as sword fighting with pvc
pipes, playing soccer barefoot, pretending to be ninjas and hitting
and kicking each other, and other random games. The kids have a way
of breaking you out of your shell and really make playing any
activity with them so much fun because they always have the biggest
smiles on their faces and have such contagious laughs.
The previous night I had given the
girls a 1000 bead set that I brought for them and they had spent most
of the day making jewelry with them, it was a bracelet making set but
I kept seeing girls with bracelets, necklaces, rings, and earrings
made from the beads. They are so creative here, even the boys know
how to make intricate bracelets from string. It was great seeing all
the girls wearing the jewelry they made, and of course they made
stuff for the four of us girls.
Sunday nights the kids alternate who
speaks for the Bible study, they have two children each week share
something that the Lord has been speaking to them. Although the kids
spoke in Khmer, it was so amazing to hear these children speaking
about the Lord. One of the older girls spoke and one of the younger
boys spoke, both were shy speaking but they sounded so sincere about
what they were sharing from the Bible. The more I talk with the kids
and share in the Bible studies with them, I realize how knowledgeable
they are of the Bible. These kids have a huge thirst for knowledge
and it is encouraging me in my own walk with the Lord.
In the Bible Christ talks about coming to Him
as a child and those will be the greatest in the Kingdom, these
children are helping me to desire to draw closer to Christ as an
innocent child like them. In Matthew 18:4-5 Jesus talks about this subject, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus called a
little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And
said,
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as
this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my
name receiveth me”. Again in Matthew 19:14, Jesus addresses
this again, “
But Jesus said,
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of
such is the kingdom of heaven”.
 |
| Outside of the church |
 |
| Church sanctuary |
 |
| Village market |
 |
| Some veggies at the market |
 |
| A few of the girls with one of the staff members |
 |
| Me with the youngest Nygt and the cook Mao's daughter Lisa |
 |
| They love playing this game! |
 |
| Nop and Manju hanging out in a tree |
 |
| Rachana blinged out from bead jewelry she made |
 |
| Sword fighting with pvc pipes |
Days 9-12, August 13-16th:
First I want to gratefully thank those
that have helped fund me on this mission trip, I have was able to
bring soccer cleats, games, a luggage bag full of school supplies,
and other various things for the kids. I also was able to give some
funds to help take the kids on a beach vacation, they were
well below their needed budget and between what us volunteers gave we
were able to take the kids and give them an amazing and well deserved
trip. Funds that I have gotten from donations have gone towards
getting things for the kids, donating funds for their school, and
donating funds to the orphanage to use for the beach vacation. So a
big thank you from myself and the kids for those that gave
financially and also to those that donated items that I brought!!
First thing Monday morning we all
loaded up on a bus and headed to the beach at Rabbit Island for a
little vacation for the next few days. We had Kit and his family, 34
of the kids, us four volunteers, and five staff members. Five of the
kids stayed back as they were attending Bible camp in Phnom Penh and
two kids stayed back for various reasons. I cannot even began to
describe how blessed I was to be apart of this trip and to see the
kids have so much fun!! First we had a nice bus take us to a place
where we then had to load up into four different boats to the island,
this was no pleasure cruise to say the least but it was quite the 20
minute adventure! Some of the kids were getting motion sickness on
the bus and on the boat as they are not used to riding in vehicles.
Once we arrived on the island we hiked about ¼ a mile to our
bungalows on the island. This is when the fun really started.
The island was so beautiful and
sleeping in the bungalows was an adventure in itself. Each bungalow
had 3-4 people with one big bed,
each had its own bathroom which
consisted of a shower head and a toilet which was level with the
floor and to “flush” it you just poured a bucket of water in the
toilet but the water just ran down below your bungalow. The bungalows were not air
conditioned so it was extremely hot at night but luckily we had
mosquito netting because each day I found some new creepy critter in
my bungalow and I would not have slept without the netting. The first
day I found a huge spider in the bathroom, then we had a family of
five huge lizards, we had random insects and bugs, and the last day
some of the kids saw a snake in our bathroom but they would not tell
me because they knew I would freakout since I did about the other
creatures. But it was a great experience that I wouldn't change!!
My
two roommates were Mangly and Saveoun, Saveoun is the only one going
into 12th grade so she will hopefully be heading off to
college after this coming school year. We got really close after the
beach as we were able to spend more time together, she is a bright
and beautiful girl. Mangly is 9 years old and her older sister Mangju
is here at the orphanage also. It was nice bunking with a couple of
the kids as I was still learning about all of them, I was still
learning their names, ages, their stories, etc...This trip definitely
helped me to connect more with the kids and learn a lot about each of
them.
Almost as soon as we got settled in our
bungalows the kids had a quick lunch and then were already jumping
into the water. These kids spent most of three full days in and out
of that water, they were swimming, playing on a inner tube, playing
with beach balls, and just jumping around splashing in the waves. I
do not know how they had so much energy to stay out there for so long
for three days but they did and had a blast!! I spent a few hours the
first day in the water with them and got sooo sunburned, I went in
again with them for a while the second day a few times, but was so
burned out the third day I just couldn't get in the water but sure
enough as soon as they finished breakfast around 730A they were back
in the water! You just saw waves of little kids in bright orange and
pink life vests in the water as most of them have never learned to
swim.
The trip was so much fun, aside from
swimming in the waves we tried to fish with homemade fishing poles,
we had a night of roasting marshmallows and making smores, all the
kids were looking for seashells, a lot of the kids were catching
crabs that were running around, we had to look out for jellyfish as
we saw huge ones on the sand, and a group of us went for an unplanned
hike around the entire island which took about 3½ hours. We just
started for a little walk and before you know it we were wading
through water and hiking through the forest for over three hours
before we made it back around. Some of the kids did not even have
shoes on, they are so crazy being barefoot all the time. But it was a
great adventure exploring the island and getting to see more of God's
creation, the island is so beautiful.
The night that we made smores was very
special, there was a couple that had walked by
and the kids gave them a stick with marshmallows to roast and they
gave the couple stuff to make smores with.
The couple were so thrilled
and once they ate their smores the kids kept giving them more and
more marshmallows. The couple kept trying to kindly decline after
awhile but the kids were so insistent and they always say, “it's ok
it's ok”, one of the boys basically kept putting the marshmallows
on their sticks as soon as they were finished, it was so cute! Laura,
one of the volunteers, had brought glow sticks for the kids and she
gave them to the kids when we were around the fire and they LOVED
them. As soon as one of the kids saw them she ran over and grabbed
one orange and one pink one and went and gave them to the couple.
The glowsticks were a big hit, for the next 20-30 minutes we were
chasing each other around with them pretending they were swords, or
the kids wore them as bracelets. They love everything here, even the
most simple things entertain all the kids.
The kids here are so grateful and love sharing what they have with
others, it was such a blessing to see them share with these people
and the couple were so thrilled the whole time.
I
am constantly seeing the love of Christ in them being spread to
others, they are so joyful and giving with what little they have.
1
st John 4:7-8 says, “7 Beloved, let us love one
another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of
God, and knoweth God.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for
God is love”. The kids are an exemplary example of God's love
towards others, including each other.
The last night Kit and Ream had a special dinner planned for them, all the kids sat together and had crab, shrimp, rice, fish soup, and juice drinks that they like. The kids were so excited because they rarely get to eat like that. The kids were all dressed up for their nice dinner, it was so cute and the meal was delicious!
Thursday morning we finally headed back
to shore via the boats which we had to wade through the water to even
get to and then bused back to the orphanage. Once back everyone took
a nice long much needed nap.
Days 13-14, August 17th-18th:
Friday morning it was back to teaching
English. I do not have any pics from Thursday afternoon-Sunday night
because one the of kids accidentally erased the picture on my
camera:(
Saturday
morning started off with an unexpected Bible study with Ream, us four
volunteers, and the lady staff members. We were not told beforehand
but every Saturday morning they try to have a Bible study with the
staff where a few of the ladies share something the Lord has been
speaking to them about. It is so great to be in a surrounding where
everyday there is a Bible study led by different people; Sunday
morning is church, Sunday nights two of the kids lead the Bible
study, Mon-Thurs one of the volunteers or staff leads the Bible
study, Friday nights are Bible test, and Saturday nights there is not a
study but we have a study with the staff in the morning. God tells
us in Matthew 18:20, “
For where two
or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them”.
Today was a lot of fun, we had been
thinking of a prank to pull on the kids and since Sunday the 19th
was Laura's last day at the orphanage we wanted to do one before she
went back home. They had the idea to throw water balloons at them so
we had the kids gather on the lawn and told them we were taking a
group photo for Laura. As the kids were all gathered and ready for
the picture, Ginny and Laura went to the second floor of the house
and started throwing water balloons at them! It was so funny to see
them scatter but of course most of them thought it was fun and wanted
to get wet so they kept trying to get hit by the balloons. Right
after they threw the balloons at them Kit threw empty water balloons
down and thus the biggest water fight they have had here started. For
what seemed like an eternity there was water thrown EVERYWHERE. Kids
were filling up buckets and dumping them on people, others were
throwing water balloons, a couple kids got ahold of a hose and were
spraying with that, and others would fill up their water balloons and
not tie them so they could squirt them out and keep refilling.
Needless to say we were all soaked to the bone, but everyone was
laughing and had such a fun time!!
Psalm
118:24, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice
and be glad in it”.
No comments:
Post a Comment