Celebrating Christmas in Cambodia

We have done lots here to make it feel like the Christmas season. There a couple of reasons why this season feels so different in Cambodia. One is it continues to be 80 degrees outside. Two, we are not around our family. Three is most people do not celebrate Christmas as we know it, not even the Khmer Christians. Most Khmer Christians do not put up a Christmas tree or give presents to their children. To celebrate they go to their church on Christmas for a service and have a dinner together. On one hand it is so encouraging to know that the Christians here are getting it right. Their focus on Christmas isn't about the decorations and the presents but about being thankful for Jesus being born. On the other hand it is hard to not see Christmas lights on houses, decorations in stores, and Christmas music being played on the radio. Of course there is a bit of that because of the foreigner population here.

Since the start of December we have done something "Christmasy" each weekend. We went to a craft fair put on by NGO's helping women and children in Cambodia. We made Christmas cookies, helped decorate a friends fake tree, made two pecan pies, and ate a delicious potluck christmas dinner with our staff. Not to mention all of our decorations in our school classrooms. It is so fun being able to really celebrate the real reason for this season with our classes. In pre-k3 I get to tell the Christmas story every day in the month of December. Last week I had two students come up to me and say, " Mrs. Walker, I love Jesus" It was so heart warming to hear them say that. I responded, " He loves you too." Later on in the week one of the students told me, " I love Mary." It made me a little sad knowing that his statement of his love for Jesus was nothing more than letting me know he can remember then names of characters in a story we are learning about. I know it is a seed planted in their hearts. As they grow and learn more English they will continue to learn about who God and Jesus are!

For the last 12 days of school before Christmas Gideon's 5th graders are doing an Advent Challenge. Each day they have to do something that is encouraging or helpful to others. For example on the first day they had to give 12 people a high five. On the second day they had to open a door for 11 people and so on and so on. He is so creative.

Please enjoy the pictures of our Christmas celebrations! Leave us a comment and let us know how you have been celebrating Christmas!

A Week Long Holiday

For the first part of our holiday break we traveled to a small town 3ish hours south of Phnom Penh on the coast called Kep. We stayed for 3 nights. We had a great time of eating, eating, and more.....eating. We went with the Jones' and we had a great relaxing time. Gideon got to watch the stats online of the Broncos for the first time this season while we sat in the lounge of our bungalow we stayed at, eating our complimentary breakfast and looking out at the ocean! We rented a moto to drive to the next town over, because we heard they serve the BEST RIBS EVER (look below for photo so you can too start drooling)! AND they were right! We also took a short 30 minute boat ride over to Rabbit Island where we snorkled ( not the best snorkeling), ate fresh crab with pepper, sunbathed, and snorkled some more! Check out some pictures below of Kep!









We returned on Thanksgiving day! Our Thanksgiving was not traditional. We ended up eating out at a French Restaurant. We ate chicken, mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, and a greek salad. It was just the two of us! We had and have soo much to be thankful for. We did get to skype with both of our families on their Thanksgivings. I really wanted to try cooking a dinner for some of our friends. We were thinking about doing it on the Friday after, but after Thanksgiving day had passed I felt like we had celebrated it and all the hard work of cooking a big meal for lots of people wasn't so exciting to me anymore. So instead we went out again with some friends and had Khmer style BBQ where they bring you the raw meat and veggies and you cook it yourself on the BBQ that is at your table. It was a fun evening.

By the end of the week long vacation we were ready to get back to school. We honestly missed seeing our kids! And we are people that like our routines so it was good to get back into our daily school routines.

We hope you all had a Great Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for each and everyone of you!

Kristy and Gideon

What Have We Been Up To?

I would like to update you with a series of photos! Please Enjoy!





Last Saturday night we attended the fourth annual Logos Talent Show. The photos above were 4 of Gideon's boys in his class that participated. We had a fun time watching the kids sing, dance, play instruments, and show off their drama talent! We also enjoyed some pizza during intermission!



Here is one of my get well cards one of Gideon's 5th graders sent me while I was sick. It reads "The Encouragement Card". Another one read "Danger this card is dangerously encouraging" with a skull and cross bones drawn on it. They are so creative!







This month's theme in Pre-K3 is community helpers. This last week we learned about chefs, cooks, bakers. We were practicing our pizza, hamburger, cookie and cake making skills with our newly made chef hats, playdo and our toy cooking utensils!







This week 5th grade had social studies presentations on some ancient people groups that I can not even remember. One of them was the Scythians. I've never heard of them before! I'm sure Gideon's 5th graders are way smarter than I am. I'm not sure what is up with the elephant mask. Gideon will have to blog about that!



Gideon went to take the trash out last night and Sopana and Sokvathana our landlords' boys were singing Awesome God! So precious. Remember our landlords are not Christians. We didn't catch them in the act, but they were so happy to re-inact for us their rendition!

There is a bit of what we have been up to. This Friday starts our Fall Break. It is the Khmer holiday of Water Festival. Gideon and I will be traveling to a beach city 3 hours south of Phnom Penh called Kep for 4 days for a little rest and relaxation!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We miss you all and would love to be praying for you so please send us any prayer requests or just a comment letting us know how you are!

Freshy, Lucky, and a New Doo

Our landlords always had two dogs, and now they have three. One of their dogs, Lucky, went missing about a month ago. They told us they missed him so much. It was great at protecting their car if they had to park it outside their gate, and warning them of snakes in their courtyard. When they got two puppies they decided to name one after Lucky, and the other one Freshy. I do not know why they named the one Freshy. Here is a picture of Gideon and I holding Freshy and Lucky. They are so cute.


I also had my first experience last weekend of getting my hair done in a Cambodian Salon. They washed my hair, took me back to the sink and rinsed it, and then two girls started blowing drying it at the same time without combing it first. The owner of the salon does all of the dying and cutting and then she has her employees, younger girls, who do all the blowdrying, washing, and styling. I think in all I had about 5 people working on my hair through out the hour and a half a was there. The owner lady is named Helen. She was very friendly and spoke English very well. I was a little surprised that they started blowdrying my hair when it was so tangly, but they worked all the tangles out. After my hair was cut and dyed they asked if I wanted it straightened. I think it took them 30 minutes with two girls working to straighten it. The whole time I was watching the steam come from my head and thinking this can not be good for my hair. I will probably not do that again, because it took forever and I was getting really hot sitting in the chair for that long with two straightening irons working so close to my head. But they did get my hair really straight. Here is a picture of my hair after my appointment.

Being Sick in Cambodia

I'm not the one who usually goes to the doctor. I suffer a cough for a month before I think I need something to help me get rid of it. But since I'm in Cambodia I thought it would be wise to go get checked out before things got worse. I had been sick with a cold that was working itself into a cough for about a week. I went to school during this time and went about all of my activities that I was apart of. I did feel a little more tired than normal, but nothing I thought I needed to slow down for. Boy was I wrong. Last Sunday I woke up not feeling the greatest, but thought maybe it was my sensative stomach and I overate some chinese noodle soup I throughly enjoyed the night before. We have been meeting with the Jones on Sunday mornings as our rendition of church. We have decided to be accountability couple partners for one another; asking each other during the week how we have spent time getting to know Jesus! Last Sunday I took a shower and got ready to meet with the Jones, thinking I don't feel great but maybe I just need to get up and get going. I made it until 12:00, but I had been shivering with the chills the whole time we had been at the restaurant with the Jones. Gideon drove me home and I spent the next 24 hours laying in bed.

I was throwing up, shivering from the chills, wearing my fleece jacket (now I know why I brought it), tucked in tightly under the covers. During the night I felt like I had to go to the bathroom; I got up and passed out, woke up turned on the light so Gideon could watch me pass out the second time. My black outs were for only about 30 seconds each! I stayed home from school that Monday thinking maybe I will be home Tuesday, but I will for sure be back on Wednesday. Tuesday was the day I went to the doctor first. We had asked a teacher for a recommendation and she gave us one. So I called in the morning to make the appointment and Gideon decided he wanted to come. We still called Wibol, a tuk tuk driver, and he drove us there because I wasn't sure I could handle the moto ride. The doctors visit was pleasant. I got my blood drawn to be tested, and she advised me to take a pregrenancy test. I was sent home with the instructions to eat more and drink more especially Royal D which is a powder to put into water that has extra electrolytes. Eat so I wouldn't pass out, and drink so I would become hydrated again. I felt pretty good on Tuesday and was excited to get to go back to school. Well Wednesday morning came around and it just was not happening. Whenever I stood up I got the chills and was dizzy. Thursday I felt better, but decided to go to the doctor again, because just drinking and eating more did not seem to help. I had passed out once more, and was not feeling any better on Wednesday.

This time the doctor visit was a little more interesting. First she wanted to admit to the hospital for two days to be observed. I'm so glad my friend Leanne was with me to help me say NO. Then she got on the phone with her head doctor who thought the pain and dizzyness I was feeling was due to my premenstral cycle; basically i thought i would come to the doctor because I was pmsing. I think I know how to handle that and do not need a doctor. In the end a get told the same thing: eat more, drink more and come back if your problems persist. I for sure the second time around I would be given some sort of medication that would quicken the healing process of whatever was going on inside of my body.

Thursday Gideon sent home a email saying yay!! Kristy is better. Which we thought I was, but Thursday night I started to have really bad diarrhea which lasted until Friday afternoon. Also my legs and arms become seriously itchy on Friday night. Our Landlords gave me some medicine and it is Saturday night and I am saying I am better. Thank you for all your prayers for me during this time. I have never been this sick for this long in my life. It was quite miserable. I became so emotional on Friday. Every email I read that day made me cry, every time I talked to Gideon I would cry.

I did not make it to school all week long. But I did hear back from my teaching assistant that taught while i was gone that all of the kids have been praying for me. And all of Gideon's class made me get well cards. Most of them had soccer balls on them since I coach some of them in soccer! They were all very creative and encouraging.

So what did I learn from being sick in Cambodia:

1) If you get a cold or cough here drink lots, and lots of fluids and let your body rest so it doesn't become a bigger and longer illness.
2) It takes longer to heal here than in the States. Nobody knows why maybe its the climate, humidity, dustiness, I don't know!
3) Gideon is so unselfish. Because I was passing out on the way to the bathroom Gideon made me wake him up everytime before I went so he could be there to catch me when I fainted. He sacrificed his sleep so he could make sure I was safe. Then sleep deprived he would go to school. He even coached my soccer team for me on Thursday.
4) I will be spending more time in prayer asking God to keep us healthy. We take our health for granted a lot. I was about to go crazy staying in my bed for 6 days, and I would rather not have to go through that again!

I might take some pictures of the get well cards so you can see how creative Gideon's class is!

Thanks again everyone for the prayers! Love each and everyone of you!

Kristy

Stories from Pre-K3 and one from 5th Grade

My teacher friends always tell me, " You should keep a quote board or a quote paper. Everyday at the end of the day write down your favorite quotes from your students, because as much as you want to remember them you won't." My students don't speak in English most of the time, and when they do they are telling me about things we are learning in class. For example they might say Mrs. Walker look blue. I will respond oh you're right you see a blue ball. I don't have the privilege of understanding their conversations between one another, or even hearing stories about their weekend. Don't get me wrong some of them still try to talk to me in Khmer. They don't quite understand that I speak a totally different language. I love that they try to tell me things; I just nod my head and smile. I find this communication barrier both a blessing and a burden. It is a blessing because I'm sure there are discussions and fights between my students about who is playing fair or who was playing with the green car first, that because I have no idea that they are saying I can totally ignore. They don't come up to me and tattle tell on their friends because I don't understand. It is a burden one because when I'm asking them to follow directions they don't always listen, and two I do not get to know them as well. Even though there is this communication barrier I still have stories from my days that make me smile and bring me joy. Some of them come from my TA translating my students comments, and some of them are from what I observe of their actions. So here are a few stories. I hope they make you smile!

Story Number 1: We love to sing songs and do actions with our songs. I sing a word and do a action and they repeat it. Well they also started repeating my actions during Read Aloud time. One day when I was reading a book and to turn the pages I was licking my fingers. I started noticing a couple of my students doing the same after I had just done it.

Story Number 2: We are learning about a letter of the alphabet a week. Two weeks ago we were on letter E. We were singing along to a music video about animals specifically elephants because elephant starts with the letter E. The song goes like this, " Elephants, I like Elephants, I like how they swing through the jungle on trees." A little girl voice then comes on and says, " No, thats not an elephant thats a monkey." Its a great video you should you tube the elephant song if you want to watch it. Anyway, it goes through all these animals and and the singer always gets the animals wrong and he ends with a donkey. " Donkey's I like Donkey's I like how the stomp through the jungle with their long trunks." The video has a donkey in the jungle and draws a long elephant trunk onto the donkey. All the kids laugh and giggle at this part. The little girls voice comes on and says, " No, No that's an elephant. " We watched this video a couple of days that week. We also were making our own alphabet of animals. I had one of the ladies that helps out in my classroom draw a picture of an animal starting with each letter and the students got to decorate it. One of my students had the snake and the turtle and they both ended up with paper elephant trunks glued onto their noses. I love it! I hung them up out on our bulletin board in the hall way and I laugh at them every time I walk by. I least I know he is paying attention.

Story Number 3: My teaching assistant told me she had a conversation with one of our students, a little boy. They were talking about school, and they were speaking in Khmer. Vathana asked her, "Ms. Sorphorn do you want to go to my school with me. I have a lot of teachers at my school." I wondered if he knows Ms. Sorphorn is one of his teachers. This same boy loves the color pink. He always wants to use pink crayons and pink markers. They other day he asked Ms. Sorphorn why we didn't buy pink bookshelves to put in our classroom.

I hope those made you laugh, and you got know my class a little bit.

Yesterday and today we had parent teacher conferences. I had about 7 parents come. It is always good to get to know the parents. Gideon had lots of parents show up. Gideon shared a story with me, I would like to share with you about one of his students' conference. Gideon had all of his students lead the conferences. He gave them a list of questions that they could potentially discuss at their conferences, but it was a requirement to choose three of them to discuss. One of his students had decided she was going to discuss her relationship with Jesus. Her parents are Buddhist and Gideon was surprised she wanted to discuss this question with her parents. Gideon has heard this student during devotion time at school describe Jesus as her personal Savior. When she got to the conference with her parents and she came to this question she described Jesus as not God, but as a friend. We do not know what is going on in her heart. It could be that she knows Jesus as her personal Savior, but can not tell her parents what she has decided in fear that it will ruin her relationship with her family, or if she is feeling peer pressure at school to accept Jesus. Gideon told me that after that conference his heart felt heavy. He wants soo much to help this girl know that God will be with her when she decides to tell her family about the Truth she has discovered, or to make sure she has a genuine relationship with God. Please pray for Gideon and for this certain student.

Thank you for all your prayers! We love you and all and are so blessed to have you supporting us!

October Update!

Hey Everyone!

Last weekend Kristy and I skyped with our church family at River of Life! It was an incredible blessing for us to see many of our dear friends! Thanks to everyone at River of Life, who made it possible! I hope that everyone was blessed by our testimony! However, since we haven't updated in awhile, we thought we should catch you up on a few interesting events.

First, School is going well for both Kristy and I! Kristy has been finding all sorts of songs for her kids! From her stories everyday, it seems that they are learning a ton! She is so good with them! However, now I have tons of weird preschool songs stuck in my head! They don't work so well with fifth graders! I actually have been finding time every day just to watch her teach through the door window! She has so much patience! Fifth grade is a blast like always! We did a fun activity for Ancient Rome the other day! I had all the students wad up two pieces of paper,then we acted out many of the Roman wars! It was awesome, and they all did well on the test! We finished our first quarter report cards and sent them out last Friday! This Friday we have parent teacher conferences.

Kristy has been coaching 3rd-5th grade soccer on Thursday's after school. This week is their first match against Hope International School. Check out some pics of her team doing their stuff!







We've been promising Kristy's mom a photo of a Khmer person fishing in the flood waters. Well here is a neighbor boy fishing in a little pond right out side of our gate to our apartment.



We have also seen lots of fresh water crabs now that the flood waters are receding. It seems to be nearing the end of rainy season. Our pond in our driveway is almost completely gone and we are seeing crabs walking around everywhere. They are even in our porch area where we park our moto. We had no idea there was such a thing as a fresh water crab.

I'm sure there is more to share with you all, but it will have to wait for another post. We are so thankful for each of you. Thanks for taking time to read our blogs and be involved in our life here. We miss you all and pray for you all as you pray for us!

Our First Hike in Cambodia

Last Saturday a group of staff went on a hike to a beautiful waterfall 2 hours outside of Phnom Penh. We have been missing the mountains of Colorado and being outside hiking so this was a great opportunity for us to feel a little more outdoorsy. We did have some adventure along our hike. Well at least some of us did. Gideon and two other teachers decided to go exploring when a group of us got a little bit of the path. The rest of us decided to turn back and find the experienced teachers who knew the path while the three decided to keep going to see if they were going the right way. The group that turned back found the right trail and decided to leave arrows on the path for the other three to give them some direction when they finally realized they were not going the right way. Long story short they didn't see the arrows and it took them another 30 minutes of hiking through brush to find the waterfall. I'm sure if Gideon told this story it would sound a bit different filled with sliding down sides of mountains, and jumping from rock to rock, and seeing huge spiders and poisonous snakes. Then he complains about his knees hurting, body aching, and getting too old and he wonders why!

Anyway, we had a great time playing in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, enjoying the mist, and eating our sack lunches. It felt good to get some exercise in the great outdoors! Here are some pictures of our hike!

Thank You for the Crayola!

My mom sent us a package for an anniversary gift and she sent my class much needed crayola markers and crayons. You can not find big markers and crayons here that are good for youngsters to use. The crayola markers that we had in our class were on their last stretch, barely any ink coming out at all. The crayons that we are using, my TA tells me were purchased three years ago. They still work it is just soo much fun to have new things. The kids love them!

This is my morning class. They helped me color a thank you sign for my mom. So Thank You Mom! We use the markers every Friday. They are learning how to write their names. So they trace their names with their choice of marker. I don't let them color with markers because one marker would be gone in one day! That is how much they love to color! I did have to hide the new crayons because they are triangle crayons and they were fighting over them. We will only get to use those on special occasions, and with my kids that need to learn how to hold a crayon properly.

This is my afternoon class! They are a bunch of clowns!

A Little Catching Up To Do!

Okay...... so..... sorry....... It has been awhile since we last blogged so we have some catching up to

First- As you may have read our anniversary was quite amazing! Thanks to all of you who wished us a happy anniversary! We cannot believe how fast the year has gone by! It makes us feel like our stay here in Cambodia is going to feel like a blink of an eye!

Second - Our classes are going great! Kristy and I both love our kids! Here are some picture of them doing there stuff!



I am excited to see that my troubles with coloring won't be passed on to our kids, because Kristy can teach them how to color inside the lines!



Thats the same face I give Kristy when she tried to teach me to color inside the lines!



Yep.... just a little bit more dude!
I don't know about you, but I have never seen a green wolf with a white head! What is Kristy teaching those kids?


None of my pictures of my kids will load for some reason, so I don't have any pictures of my kids to show you right now! BUT I will get some up as soon as possible! I promise!

Third - We had a break for a teachers' retreat last week in Koh Kong! (Kah Kong) It was really a blessing to really get to know the other teachers! Especially the Khmer teacher assistants! I have become fairly good friends with on of them name Paseth and we are always joking around! He is really funny! Okay... to be honest... we just we just pick on the girls! Here are some pictures of our trip!



On our trip we got to see Cambodia's version of mountains! They are quite beautiful! However, it did make us miss the mountains in Colorado! I actually went online and looked at some google images of the rocky mountains when we got there! SAD I KNOW!!!



This is the hotel we stayed at! It looks really nice, but by the end of the three days some of our staff got sick from mold! BUT IT WAS FUN!



We got to eat a couple times at a restaurant that was like a dock! The whole eating area was over the water! It was really neat!



This was the sunset from the restaurant! How B-E-A-utiful is that!



The Beach was amazing!



My friends Chris and Paseth and I saw a jellyfish! I have never ran out of water that quickly! It was so cool! Thats my khmer friend Paseth!



Kristy and our one of our friends, Taskeen, soakin up the shade! (If you didn't know... its hot in Cambodia!)



My friend Chris and I went exploring near the Thailand border and had a great time. We met some border patrolmen and struck up a conversation.



They ended up cutting a couple of coconuts from a tree for us and we drank fresh coconut juice! It was awesome!



Kristy and I at the Beach Resort! (This is not where we stayed! Just spent a few hours at the beach!) She is so BEAUTIFUL!


Fourth - For those of you who are wondering about my master's classes! I am doing great! 100% in both classes! I am learning a lot and staying quite busy! Kristy is amazing at home! She is sacrificing her time and energy to cook dinner every night and do the dishes while I am working in class assignments! God has truly blessed me with her! Please pray that she can continue to help me out, by letting me focus on assignments!

FInally! Just another crazy thing we see in Cambodia!



Alright! Thats about it for now! We hope you are enjoying our adventures! God is truly blessing us here in Cambodia and we cannot thank Him enough for it! I hope that all of you are being blessed with our stories! There is so much more going on than we can write and we can tell that God is doing a mighty work here! Please continue to pray for the Kingdom of Cambodia! That the people will hear God's gently whisper of love and turn to Him! Right now it is their Pchum Benh holiday, which is an day to honor the spirits! We are praying that the Holy Spirit will impact their life!

Lastly! We are curious as to who is visiting us in our blog! Please leave a comment if you come and read so we can say hi!

JOYS-

We love our jobs and our time with our students.
We get to fly to China to have Christmas with my sister Anne!
We are having little problems with contacting family members at home! It is always nice to see and talk to family!
God is protecting us in every way we can or cannot think of!
We finally got a care package from Ron and Robin! THANK YOU!!! M&M's are the GREATEST!

CONCERNS
Pray that God comforts us as we are beginning to really miss things from home!
Pray that God will solidify our finances and our worries!
Pray that Kristy and I can continue to look towards Him in everything

Year One Anniversary!

Hello All!

I know we just updated our blog yesterday with several crazy events, but we thought you would like to hear about the latest blessing God has given us! Our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSAY!



First and most importantly, we thank God for loving us and providing for our needs! One of those needs for Kristy and I was each other! God knew it and brought us together. So, amoungst all of our celebration the most important was giving thanks to God.

Our anniversary celebration actually started yesterday when I (Gideon) surprised Kristy with an unknown gift. Although it wasn't anything big, it was the thought that counted! Kristy was excited, because it took time to find things she had been wanting to get. I had been trying to find a gift for her for a couple of weeks, but had absolutely no idea where to go or what to get!

After this, we woke up at 12:00 am just to say HAPPY ANNIVERSAY! Kristy did not know that I had set the alarm, and was quite surprised. She then quickly went back to sleep! It was fairly anti-climatic! However, now really funny!

When we woke up, I made her coffee and we just laid in bed talking! It was amazing! Then we went to school to go swimming for a work out! This was not part of the celebration, but it sure was fun! We are both starting to get really good at swimming! Its the breathing part that we are bad at! For some reason we cannot breathe underwater and we keep trying! I'm impressed that there is still water in the pool!

After showers we headed out for church at a new location! We arrived at the WORLD VISION builing and was able to attend the ICA service. It was a lot more like services at home, so we felt familiar! We both liked it, except for when they asked for visitors to stand and be greeted! Kristy immeddiately told me that "She would let me do the talking!" I couldn't argue! (she is so sly with those kind of things. I say it comes from Robin!)

After church we went to a Pizza place that we both like and ate WAY more than we should have! IT WAS AWESOME! Then we went shopping and believe it or not, I found a ceramic coffee mug with the DENVER BRONCOS logo on it! I think I was almost in HEAVEN! Then I looked at the price and realized I was on Earth! $6.00 for a coffec cup was outrageous! Even if it was a Broncos one!

After shopping we went to La Bella, a salon and spa.We both got "Traditional Khmer Massages" and WOW! The lady that was giving Kristy a massage was a little bit ahead of mine, and sometime I was scared to do what was happening to Kristy! I did not know some of my limbs could bend in the direction they were bending. After a lot of stretching and popping, I figured we looked like Gumby! Overall, it was amazing! A few rough areas, but extremely relaxing! I feel like a rubber band now! After Kristy's massage, she got a pedicure and the girl the did it compared her bug bits to Kristy's freckles. (Or at least that is what we think she was saying! DARN language barrier!)

Afte the massages, we went to Dairy Queen in the Airport for dessert! It was delicious! I never thought DQ could taste sooooo good!

We finally arrived home, and just relaxed! We got to SKYPE with family and it was much needed! We are soon to be off to bed starting our second year of marriage!

PRAISES -

God has provided for every one of our needs and more!

Kristy has been able to put up with Gideon for a year and has already committed to at least 70 more. (WOOF- big relief for Gideon!)

We met a couple at church and the guy was from Kenya! He was encouraging and we hope to build a friendship with them.

Gideon is passing both his Masters course with 100%, even though it is tiring!

CONCERNS -

Give Gideon strength to continue work ethic in his masters courses.

Pray that God will work through both of us to bring our landlords to Christ.

Our families are comforted by the Lord as we are away!

Photos of our Siem Reap Trip

The very classy restaurant we ate at in Siem Reap. This is a huge platform swing that you lounge it to eat!


Bayon Temple Faces!


Mimicking the hindu gods that are depicted on the walls of Bayon Temple. In the picture order Christine, Kristy, Emily, Carol


Angkor Wat during the sunrise!



Some of the detailed stone work in the walls of Angkor Wat


Gideon standing in a what used to be a pool in Angkor Wat


Angkor Wat at Sunset


Getting our fish massage. These fish nibble the dead skin of your feet and leave them nice and smooth. Sometimes you can actually feel them biting. It didn't hurt but was not that pleasant either. $1 for 10 minutes!


Just one of the crazy things you see on the back of motos. Pigs getting ready for the market!