A trip to the Zoo!

We had the opportunity to spend the day with Sothere, Onn, Sopana and Sokvathana last sunday. They took us to the zoo that is about an hour drive south of Phnom Penh. It was so refreshing to get away from the busy life of the city, see some cool animals and get to know our landlords better. Upon driving into the zoo we had to pay 5 dollars each because we were foreigners. We joked with Sothere that she was supposed to say that Gideon was Cambodian and then we would only have to pay for me. Onn said yeah he looks like me he could pass! Next time we will try it! While we were there Sothere bought a plate full of sugar cane to feed the animals. We could feed the deer and monkeys, but they asked us to not feed the bears! We love our landlords dearly even though their two boys are bundles of energy and had us exhausted by the time we arrived back home. We went out to breakfast that same morning with them and they asked us how long we were planning on staying in Cambodia. They said you can stay for a long time and we can be like family! Here are a few pictures of the highlights of our trip last sunday!

The Second Week of School!

Hello Everyone,
We have had some requests about pictures of our kids at school so here they are!!!!!!!



This is my morning class. Most of them are 3 and some of them will be turning 4 this fall. I have three Chinese, two Korean, and the rest are Khmer ( Cambodian). Can you tell who is who?


This is my afternoon class. Four of my morning students stay all day. It is such a long day for them and one of them still cries when he doesn't get to go home with all the other students. There are 6 students from P-k4 class that stay all day and join with us the second half of the day. You can tell that they learn so much english and school behavior in one year because the afternoon class is a breeze compared to the morning class.

So far school is going great. I'm still figuring out the best way to plan for my day. I'm trying to figure out how many activities I need to plan for based on their attention spans and the resources we have avaible. None of my kids speak english in the morning class. I am finding how difficult it really is to plan projects and activites that will be meaningful and exciting to them, but also on their level so that they understand what I'm saying. I find it hard to balance the need to provide time for them to explore and learn on their own, but also provide enough time for them to be hearing new english vocabulary. Anyway, pre-k3 has its challenges, but the kids hugs and the end of they day make it all worth it.



Welcome to Mr. Walker;s 5th Grade Class. Gideon has a blast with them. Gideon is still getting used to the change from middle school to elementary school, but I know he is doing a fantastic job. When we are in the lunch room eating I've heard numerous teachers give him high praise of his students attitudes in their specials classes, his classroom set up, and the overall job is doing. They are all really impressed. I think he is worrying a lot about this year because he is new to teaching 5th graders, but I don't think he has anything to worry about. A couple of his students have stopped by the pre-k3 classroom to meet me and introduce themselves so that has been fun! Gideon always comes home with stories about his students that shock him. The shock is that they are so motivated to be in school and do school work. He is used to teaching at a public school where it was like pulling teeth getting homework turned in for all the kids and here kids are asking why they didn't have homework the first week of school. Also one kid prayed during morning devotion that he was thankful the weekend was over. What? Who are these kids? Here are a couple other photos of his kids!





As for life outside of school well we seem to be spending a lot of time preparing for the school week right now even on saturdays. I think it will get better though. Gideon just started his masters program online this last wednesday so that keeps him busy in the evenings. In a couple of weeks I will start doing 3rd 4th and 5th grade soccer on thursdays after school for an hour. I'm really excited for that. Last night we went out to dinner and on the way home it was raining. We didn't think we would ever get cold in Cambodia, but we were proved wrong last night! We are still looking for a church. The past couple sunday we have had things that have kept us from going to church. Last sunday we made an appointment in the morning to get Gideon's bicycle fixed (yes we just bought it a 3 weeks ago and it hd already broke) thinking we had plenty of time to do that and then head to church well. Something that we thought we take an hour ended up taking three. So hopefully we will get to church tomorrow and find one that we enjoy.

Thank you for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to adjust to our new schedules and routines of life. Please pray that we will be patient with one another. This last week we have come home extremely exhausted from our school routine and have been a little short with one another. Please pray as we continue to build relationships with our landlords. Pray that they see God in us!

We love you all and miss you!

Kristy and Gideon

The First Week of School!

Dear Family and Friends!

Praise God and thanks to all of you who prayed for our first week of school! Although there were a few "woops" moments here and there, Kristy and I are thankful for such a smooth and exciting week!

Kristy did an amazing job working with the 3 year olds this week. Just as she thought, there was quite a bit if crying on in the first couple of days, but she said that by Friday only one or two of her kids would cry! (I still do not know how she can handle it, but she does great!) Praise God for her week! I am so proud of her, because she always has really fun and exciting activities planned for the kids! I'm certain they are being blessed! A couple of highlights that Kristy wanted you to know was the times she got to sing with the kids and getting tons of hugs at the end of the day! She said.... "Those are the best parts of the day for me!". Finally, Kristy wanted to tell you how thankful she is for her Teacher's Assistant, Sorphorn (SO - PAWN)! Sophorn is so helpful and works very hard! From my perspective, there is definitely a ministry going on there too! Its quite amazing!

Teaching in fifth grade was a complete blast! I love my kids and know that it is going to be a great year! They are all incredible! I am still trying to get used to lesson planning for 8 subjects, but I'm sure it will come! A couple of highlights of my week, were playing "get-to-know-you" games on the first day and art! In fact, I got to use a couple of games I learned at the National Youth Workers Convention last year! Thank you ROL for giving me that opportunity.

We did have a few more highlights this week that didn't involve school that we wanted to tell you about. First, on Sunday Kristy and I bought a Moto! It was such an interesting experience! We sat at the 2nd hand dealorship for about 2 hours as they basically build the moto in front of us! Also, the dealer gave is his phone number in case the moto ever broke down! How awesome is that! It was amazing, but really that is how business is here! However, trying to get the moto home safely was definitely an experience! If driving a moto for the first time was not hard enough, Kristy had to hold on to one of our bikes while she rode on the back of the moto, because the peddle on my bike broke! After a slow-going ride we made it safely! Since then, riding has become easier and Kristy is even starting to feel a little more comfortablt driving by herself. She hasn't gotten out on the streets yet, but I'm sure she will soon!

Another highlight we had was eating at our co-worker's house. Her name is Taskeen and she is from Pakistan! She wanted o have us over, because she knew that I loved Indian food! However, what she did not tell us, was that the day she had us over was actually her 18 year anniversary! Moreover, she did not want to tell us, because she did not was us to get them a gift! Kind of neat hunh? Her food was absolutely amazing and just talking with her and her husband was a complete blessing. Her husband is a writer and he talked alot about politics! However, it was really neat to hear a non-american's view of American policy! So interesting! And to top it all off Taskeen invited Kristy to come over whenever she wanted to, to learn how to cook yummy Indian food! (I'm soooooo excited!)

Finally, the last highlight we had this week, was going out to lunch. We decided to eat a a new "Terrace" (very similiar to Starbucks" today! The food was great and really filled us up! But when we went to pay we found out that the restaurant was giving a 1/2 off discount because they were new! So we ate a full meal with frappes for 5 dollars! SOOOOO Awesome!

Well, that was our week here in Cambodia! We are still getting used to the food, heat, traffic, and schedules; but it is getting easier every day! Thank you to all of you who are supporting us with prayer and financial gifts! We are truly blessed to call you friends and family! The ministry we have here could not exist without your help! God is doing a great work through you all!

Praise the Lord for such and amazing week!

Humble blessings from Cambodia,
Gideon and Kristy

Pictures of our Apartment and a little about Khmer culture!

This is our kitchen




This is our bedroom




This is our living area.


Our apartment is feeling more and more like home. Something that we have learned here is that it takes quite a long time to get all the errands you want done. Maybe weeks sometimes, because there is not one place like Walmart or Target that is a one stop shopping. You have to go to many different shops to get what you want. We have realized that a list of errands that we would have in the States we could get done in one day, but here it takes quite a bit longer. So it is important to feel accomplishment when you cross one or two things off your to do list. We are still in the process of learning where is the best place to buy things we like or need. Also we have learned that the foreigner price of items is way higher than the Khmer price. So when buying big items it is helpful to take a Khmer person along to help us out with the bargaining. Our bargaining skills are getting better and better. Gideon and I have found that one or the other has to be in charge of the bargaining; we can't do it at the same time, because than we fight afterwards saying " I was trying to get it cheaper than that."

We start school tomorrow! Please pray that the first week of school goes smoothly! Continue to pray for our relationship with our landlords, and that they will see God in us!

Love to you all!

Kristy and Gideon

Challenges and Delights

Hello All,

As it has been about a week since the last time we posted, there is a lot to share because everything is so new and exciting. To keep it somewhat simple I thought we could break up our experiences last week into two categories. Things we have found Challenging and things we have found Delight in.

Let's start with the Challenging:
1.Being exhausted after one trip to the market and purchasing one needed item for the household either because of the heat of the day or trying to communicate to people whose native tongue is different than ours.
2. Seeing a cock-roach shimmy across our bedroom floor.
3. Looking at walls and walls of pictures of those the Khmer Rouge imprisoned, tortured and killed at the Toul Sleng Museum.
4. Walking down the street and night and seeing the seated row of girls and the local bars who are prostituted out by a pimp. Knowing that these girls in some way chose this lifestyle but at the same time can't get out because they think it is the best way to make ends meet.
5. Being overwhelmed by what needs to be done to prepare for school before it starts next monday. Preparing for lessons without all the technology and resources that we are used to in the US.
6. Missing people at home

Now to the Delights:
1. Spending time with new and old staff at Logos. We have been able to spend time with lots of people here so far. We were invited out to eat every night this weekend with someone different and have enjoyed getting to know all of them.
2. We love our landlords, Sothearya, Onn and their two boys Sopana and Sokvatana. Since our last post we had a couple of conversations with them and found out that they are not Christians. They are Buddhists but say they do not take it seriously. We find delight in God allowing us to be part of his work in sharing Him with our wonderful landlords.
3. Gideon enjoyed playing B-ball with some missionary guys who get together every monday night at Logos to play.
4. Riding our bicycles around and learning how to make or way through the crazy traffic. We feel its a big accomplishment when we make it to a place we have never been in the city.
5. We bought a toaster oven so we can have toast and even make a small pizza.

We thank you all for your prayers.

Love,

Kristy and Gideon