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| Below: 3 of the 5 members hanging with the children on the playground we built in 2014, it still lives |
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| Henry (Hiep), Heng (Pastor Hung's second oldest son), and Jeremiah (Bi) at Chan Sen |
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| Trisha (Co Sushi) collected the name tags of the children at Love of Christ Church |
August 13th, 2018
As Jeremiah said in the previous post, we're sorry for not being able to update you recently. Although I can't remember what happened day by day, I can tell you the few memories we created since last Wednesday. I shall sort them by categories for you. :D
| Teaching the Kids |
By now, both the team and the kids have settled in and became comfortable with one another. Each morning some kids come early to play while the team eats breakfast with the family. It's a joy to see them first thing in the morning because though they're shy when they greet us, you can still see the excitement in their eyes--excitement for the day they'll be spending at the church. (In case you didn't know, the church is literally next door to the family's house. Approximately ten steps away!) I remember this one scene I saw while eating breakfast. We were chatting and laughing with the family when I looked over at the kids. The family has an overhead vineyard that's been growing since last year, and so the scene set before me has a lot of vibrant green. The kids were playing together in their own groups with sunshine shining through the vineyard. Like a well composed photograph, the vineyard behind them was glowing with the kids centered in front, smiling and playing with each other. It was a joyful picture. I'm thankful I looked over for that brief moment.
Class has gained its rhythm, both for the older and younger class. Class for the younger kids has actually been more relaxed, simple, yet intimate. We go over about ten English words each day and color with them, with charades on the side as review. I would say playing charades with the kids brings the most excitement in class. It's hilarious to see these two students (Quy and Chanh) try their hardest to guess the right English words. They have such intense looks on their face as they think with all their might to get the correct word. Liep, one of the female students, knows many of the words but only in Vietnamese. So she quickly turns to Quy and repeatedly yells the Vietnamese word at him until he can translate and shout the answer for them. When Chanh isn't able to get the word, he puts his finger to his forehead out of frustration, and Jeremiah and I crack up next to each other. The passion they have for charades is up-lifting. For the few times I looked over to the older kids (with Henry and Kayla teaching), they also look like they're having a good time. Sometimes it's even a small group. Like the ones we have on Friday or Saturday nights.
Break time also brings a lot of memories. One time I woke up from a nap to get ready for second session and I heard screams outside. Bewildered because the kids aren't usually so excited before class, I quickly go outside to see what the commotion is about. As I come out I see approximately two dozen kids on a rope, split equally, playing tug-of-war. What's even more surprising is that Muc Su Hung is the one driving the excitement as he yells at each side to pull then even joins in on the tugging. I laughed so hard when I saw him pull on one side, helping that side win, then completely abandoning them to join the other side and help them win. He went back and forth like five times in a single game. Kids would be falling on both sides trying their best to pull the rope but they would get right back up to get in on it again. Even our team and the family got involved. Jeremiah especially played a lot as the kids called him to join their side. There was this game where one side had about five adults helping the kids with the other side having no adults at all. The kids with no adults was losing badly, but the moment Daniel (the eldest son of the family joined in), they won the game within seconds.
One memorable moment I had with the kids was today during the first session break. I was sitting on the wooden swing with some kids and Henry. One of the kids, Hua, asked me to sing and Henry translated his request to me. I sang some worship songs and all the kids listened. It felt like I was singing a lullaby to them. Hua is usually a very talkative and energetic kid, but to see him become silent and still as I was singing was adorable. "Sing another song," he would say, and I would sing another worship song after another and he would simply be quiet and listen. I was glad I was able to bless the kids with music for God. Sitting and singing on the wooden swing with kids on my left, right, and in front of me was a cute moment. I loved it.
One day after second session, we made an assembly line inside the church to make goodie bags to pass out later next week. Some students chose to stay behind to help out. There were so many boxes of treats and we opened them all on the ground. About two or three people were stationed at each pile and the assembly line for 402 goodies bags we made. We actually made them all quickly. Afterwards, we played chicken fight and rock, paper, scissors, slap with the kids. Man, it was a blast. Our student Cuong has tiny hands, but dude, he hits as hard as us. Tiny but mighty. After seeing the kids out, we hung around outside of the church and watched some cows go by. They were definitely on the moooove to go somewhere. Hehe...You probably already herd that joke. ;))))
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| Assembling the goodie bags for the children :D |
This past Saturday was our last day in Chan Sen with the Khmer kids. We sang songs with them, taught some English words, and played games with them outside like monkey in the middle and soccer. Unfortunately, rain was coming so we had to end an hour early. We brought out the goodie bags we packed from earlier and blessed the kids. It was a short but good time!
| Family time |
For the first whole week of our stay here, we hung out with all of the family members during meals except for the younger son, Heng. He's very introverted and at first only came out out a few times. When we did catch him, we would all wave excitedly to him and he would shyly wave back. We made it a thing to treat him like a celebrity every time we saw him to pop his bubble. He would come home from school during dinner time and the moment his motorcycle pulls up, we would all get ready to applaud his entrance. A lot of Jeremiah's goals during the week was to talk to Heng more, so whenever we saw Heng we all turned to Jeremiah and shouted at him, "GO GET HIM BEFORE HE DISAPPEARS AGAIN." One of the nicknames we gave him was "the Pokemon" since Jeremiah tried to catch him so many times. Soon he would eat meals with us, then slowly he played games with us at night too. The more we spent time with him, the more we found out that he was very silly and adorable. He's constantly making us crack up with his remarks. Playing Saboteur with all five siblings and the whole team is so fun. There's outrage, sadness, joy, and surprises every time we play. We're starting to end every night with games together. The eldest daughter (Chi Hau) is very mature but still fun to be around. We're all too loud and crazy compared to her, but to have her constantly join in on the fun is a huge blessing. The two younger sisters are hilarious. Hong An is very silly and sometimes aggressive, adding fire to whatever is already lit up. She very smart for her age, but still obviously retains the weirdness of her age. Thien Nha, the youngest daughter, is quiet but has sudden outbursts of evil laughs, which I love. When she first started playing games with us, she wasn't very good at understanding the game at all but that's what made her adorable. She has quirky moments here and there as well, playing tag with me out of the blue and being very sassy. The eldest son, Daniel, is with us the most during class time. He's very amusing to watch because he has a massive figure but he's so gentle and calm. At times he's stern with the class to get order, but most of the time he's very relaxed. I love watching him interact with the puppy because he turns into a huge kid. It was really funny to watch him eat dessert today with a tiny fork in his huge hands.
The first outing we had with the family was yesterday. For dinner, we went out for pho. At the restaurant, we went upstairs and had the whole floor to ourselves. When we first got there it was funny because Muc Su Hung started to move the tables around the entire room to make things comfortable for everyone. It was funny because imagine you own a restaurant and you have the tables and chairs set out as you envisioned. Then a customer comes in and starts moving them around like, "Nope, I want this to be here and that table to be there. Perfect." At the same time, none of the workers said anything as if it wasn't the first time a customer customized the room as they wanted. When we saw Muc Su Hung doing whatever he wanted with the restaurant's tables, the rest of us were like, "Okay," and started moving around tables and chairs too. Muc Su Hung and Daniel even turned on the fan and changed the settings themselves. Everyone ordered and we all ate together as a huge family. It reminded me of eating with my own family since it was a huge gathering. We all talked, laughed, and ate. Afterwards we went a couple of stores down to get ice cream together. After ordering and getting our ice creams, we showed Co Trang and Muc Su Hung pictures of the girls' faces turned into guys and they cracked up. (We used an app from Facebook.) Shortly afterwards we started to turn all the guys faces into girl faces and we were all erupting with laughter after eat picture. Co Trang was laughing the most out of all of us. Jeremiah turned out the best out of all the guys. He looked like a model. You can check his Facebook page to see it. :)) We left the store still laughing about it and ended the night with more games of Saboteur. Daily we become closer with both the small and big moments.
There was a day where Jeremiah, Henry, and I spent time with Muc Su Hung and Daniel making cement and plugging up holes in the chicken coop. Mice often run around the place and the family has a dog named Black who hunts down the mice (and snakes). To help Black out, Muc Su Hung wanted to plug up the holes in the chicken coop to force the mice to come out closer to the house so Black and catch them easily. The three of us helped mixed and make cement then plugged up the holes with Daniel. We certainly weren't as skilled as him but we had a good time trying to help. Later that day, I went back out to the backyard to see what else could be going on. I came out and found Henry, Daniel, and one of our students Binh fishing in the small pond. I joined in with them and stood in the mud with the boots that were on the side. Daniel and Henry were in a competition for who could catch the most fish. Henry caught one and I caught one later as well. It was another funny scene with Daniel because he couldn't catch any fish and he was talking about how it was a sad day. The picture was his massive figure with a small rod squatting on the side of the pond, unable to catch any fish. During that time, Hong An, Thien Nha, and Chi Hau joined us too, making it almost the entire family that was out by the pond. It was another simple but fun moment with the family.
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| Mixing cement to block/plug the holes around the chicken and garden coup |
There was a day where I was able to ride the back of the motorcycle with Chi Hau to the market to get some ingredients for dinner. As we drove there, it began to sprinkle a little bit. I had to squint my eyes because I was being pelted with rain drops but the ride was still very fun. We arrived at the market and I simply followed Chi Hau around as she rapidly got the ingredients she needed. The market is very small but compact. There's a lot of things going on. It's technically an outdoor market, but the entire scene is covered with a huge tent. The floor is flooded with water and stands are laid wide open with huge bundles of vegetables and meat. Sellers are constantly cleaning/butchering meat or preparing the vegetables for consumers to buy. The first thing Chi Hau went to buy was a big fish. It was swimming around in a big bucket with other fish as well. When the lady understood what Chi Hau wanted, she grabbed the huge fish with her bare hands, laid it on a platform, and pounded its head with a huge stone. I remember hearing the crack of the first pound and went, "Oof." Then I had consecutive "oofs" with every other pound there was to the fish. Chi Hau quickly went around and got every ingredient she needed so quickly since she knew the market inside and out, and we were on our way back home again. Though her English is limited and so is my Vietnamese, she still told me a little bit about the market, and I thanked her for it and for taking me. A good time, a good time.
| Brief Reflection |
On the day we were watching the cows go by, I was able to spend some time in reflection. It was a beautiful day because the sun was gently shining through the clouds and there was a slight breeze. It's usually cloudy or overcast here because it's the rainy season. As I was sitting on the side of the church and looking out to the buildings across, I was wondering to myself why I though Cambodia was so pretty. I logically thought about it, and the building I'm looking at aren't that attractive at all. They're run-down and there's trash in a lot of areas. But undoubtedly I knew that I thought what I saw was pretty. "Why?" I asked myself. I know that I personally prefer America because I enjoy the nature there more and it's cleaner, so I was wondering what was it about Cambodia that made me love it. As I took some time to be still, I realized that it's not the location itself that made the country beautiful to me, but rather the people. I went back to the picture I had in my head. In a photograph, the buildings alone do not hold any special meaning. They're just dirty buildings. However, the moment you put people in that photograph, many questions come to mind.
"Who are they?"
"Why are they there?"
"Were they the ones who lived in the building? What was the building to them?"
"How did they get to where they are now?"
The moment you put human beings into a picture, the weight of it changes dramatically. The country or the city I see before me isn't that beautiful itself in my opinion. But because I see people here, it is beautiful. "Why?" I asked myself again. It's because I know that human beings are beautiful because God created us and loves us deeply. The story of a single human being is beautiful because it was crafted by a beautiful God. God's loves for us is so deep, that no matter what picture we're put into, we will always be beautiful. And that's why Cambodia is so beautiful to me. To be honest, before coming here I wasn't very excited to be uncomfortable in a foreign land. For sure, America is a lot cleaner and more comfortable. However, I'm still able to feel contentment being here not because of the location but because of the people I see around me. I see beings who are loved by God and because that makes them beautiful, Cambodia is beautiful. I believe that's a huge aspect to spreading God's love when it comes to missions. It's not the location you go to, rather it's the people you go to. It doesn't matter where in the world you're traveling to to spread God's Word. What matters is who you're going to. The land can't be saved, the people can. An encouragement to those back in America! Whether you go to a different city, state, or country to spread God's love, the location should not hold a heavier weight than the souls you're going to. If Jesus can step down from heaven onto this dirty earth to love us, then us being in an uncomfortable area shouldn't throw us off our course of purpose. In essence, where there is humans, there is beauty!
| Prayer Requests |
The team is facing more physical struggles daily. Each member is either facing a certain kind of sickness or tiredness so please pray fervently for our strength! We are half-way through our stay here and we want to make sure we finish strong by God's grace.
Jeremiah: stomach issues
Henry: occasional tiredness
Lucy: nausea and fatigue
Kayla: allergies/sneezing
Me: vitamin deficiency
Continue to pray that God's love touches the kids' hearts!
That's all for this update. A long post for a long break from updating. Thank you again to those who are constantly praying for us over here. We appreciate it. Please pray for our physical health as some of us are starting to get weak and/or sick. Next blog post will be from Kayla! God bless.
-Trisha
(Co Sushi)
| MISC. |
Saturday morning the music blasted throughout the neighborhood again but SIKE I was prepared this time and was listening to music as I slept. Sadly, there was a different enemy during the night on another occurrence. There was a huge mouse in the attic above us that ran around during the night, and you could hear it clearly running. It dragged stuff and was eating scratching at the floor which was our ceiling. You could hear the sharp and piercing scratching sounds that would easily irritate anyone's sleep. It really disturbed me because whenever I heard the scratching sounds, I thought it was going to dig a hole to us and ceiling parts would fall on my face. The ceiling already had tape to cover up previous holes. So for the sake of my sanity and sleep, I got up and climbed to the closed attic door and pounded it, hoping it would scare the creature out. But it didn't...I kept pounding hoping it would get scared off but it kept running around and scratching away. I came back down and desperately messaged my supporters to pray to God that it goes away AND IT DID. I thank them and God and fell asleep before it could come back. Be thankful if you can sleep in peace at home.
