Beautification, Sanitation, Relaxation

Saturday morning.....a time for University students to sleep in, right?
Nope! Several of the students, who are committed to the "beautification" of the roof top,  asked us to join them to find some plants. Our daughter Kim moved to a farm last year and with her family spent many months clearing the poison ivy and weeds from an overgrown farm. When she heard of the boys plan, she wrote...."Mom, our family would like to help a little with the project".  We told Vuthea. The next thing we knew....can we go plant shopping tomorrow morning at 7??

Five of us headed off in a tuk tuk and a motorbike waaaaaay across town til we found the area where flowers and plants were sold.  A few months ago, Lynn's 1992 prism breathed its last gas fume while we were in Atlanta and we had to buy a car for our return trip. May I say, that we took less time to buy the Kia than it did to buy those plants.....???!!!  :) 

They knew the money was a gift, but we did more comparison shopping than you could imagine!  Grandma, this plant is 2000 Real cheaper in town, we can do better!   ( 1000 Real = $.25)

But we finally had a beautiful selection. Even though there was more in their budget, they had purchased CAREFULLY, ONLY what was on their dream "list" and nothing more!!! We headed home with 3 orchids, a water lily, and about 6 other plants after 4 hours of flower shopping. They were ecstatic.

Sanitation.....After a quick lunch I decided to bake and THANKFULLY went into Jessica's little kitchen to make some muffins for the students. She was away....but I turned to hear a sloshing sound behind me. The bathroom had a little muddy yucky waterfall coming over the step from her bathroom. I called Lynn to help pick up boxes, only to find that all four bathrooms had also backed up and were overflowing. Did I mention YUCK???? I went to the dorm and called for reinforcements! Students came like a shot....and we all spent the next hour or so mopping up and cleaning. Narano took me on his motor bike to a special market and we got a gallon of Drano and some bleach for "maybe" some disinfecting??

(sorry...too busy at that point to think about photos, OR scratch and sniffs)

Relaxation- Saturday night and we decided to divide ourselves....
Liverpool was playing Manchester United in a BIG soccer match, so Lynn stayed with a bunch of the guys for a mini super bowl party and I went off with about 40 on motorbikes to do bumper cars!! Followed by a trip to the Dancing Water Fountains. I have to tell you that those kids have fun. At the fountain, which is similar to the ones in Atlanta and Chicago where the lights change color, and " dance to music" we enjoyed the beauty of it all, and then the kids played a game which seemed to me like a cross between tag and duck duck goose....with 40 kids under the stars in a great setting!

We continue to feel honored that they want "grandpa and grandma" included in every activity that they do, but then we were reminded again last night....most of these students lost their grandparents with the Kymer Rouge Killing fields.....so the words Grandma or Grandpa has not crossed many of their lips........be still my heart.

At the Laudromat

We both seem to wake before the 5 am alarm each day.....not sure if  it is because at home we never use an alarm, and just wake early  but here we want to be sure we don't oversleep, or if it is the dueling roosters or the cacophony of barking and howls from the neighbourhood dogs. One dog starts and then there is literally a chorus from all over the neighbourhood. Prayer meeting starts at 5:45 am but it is right here in the room the other side of our window so we don't have to go far or find a tuk tuk.  Sitting on the hard tile floor for an hour or so, these young people pour out their hearts and burdens to our God. They pray for each other and the variety of ministries God has allowed them to be in....but it seems their #1 concern is their families...locked in ancestral Buddhist tradition. During the day, I prayed with four different students who were headed home for the weekend and concerned about their family.

After prayer, about 15 of us walked to the local outdoor market for breakfast. I smile. That sounds like we went to Panera.....

NOT!!!! We all squish around a tiny table, behind the lady that is making the soup, chopping with her cleaver the whole chicken....bones and all that will be sprinkled on top of your rice porridge or noodles ( the two choices offered for breakfast) and surrounded .....literally, by the vendors who are  have all manner of fresh meat from a variety of animals and fish that they are chopping up and selling. It is Friday morning and the place is a BUZZ of activity.

I had two English classes today  while Lynn  has found some time to prepare for his two hour long messages on Sunday. I decided to talk about
"special days" in class today, and started with their favorite birthday memory in the Provinces.

I can tell you that discussion did not take very long. NOT ONE of all the students that I had in class had EVER had their birthday acknowledged at their home....EVER. Some were not even sure when it was.  OK Judy, try not to act sad, or incredulous about what their " norm" is just move on to your next discussion point.

After class, we found a tuk tuk to take us down to meet Chet and Virginia Quinn....brother to Liz Trautman and Margie Quinn.  Their ministry is with Daughters of Cambodia....a ministry involved with the restoration of young men and women ravished by Human trafficking. The stories of God's redemption of those caught in this horrendous lifestyle were heart breaking but these are the ones who have Victory stories. They are being given an economic trade, and dignity is being restored.

Afternoon English class was followed by a walk to the soccer stadium. The guys are LOVING having Grandpa Lynn play with them. Yesterday we walked a little early. That always brings a little consternation because we are usually always flanked....in front, and on the sides and the rear by students. ESPECIALLY crossing  the roads. Lynn really wants to just sit and take a 5 minute video sometime. When you say busy it really doesn't begin to describe the traffic.  It is not just busy traffic, it is CRAZY traffic....where each one does what is right in his own eyes!!!

Jessica is the single missionary from Seattle who is here holding the fort here while David and Moonjung Ooi are in the States for a year. Last night none of us were speaking in small group, so we took Jessica down to the river front and had some food and......yup, ice cream, and just walked along the river a bit. It was a gorgeous evening....and it was nice to have some alone time with her to hear her heart for what she is doing. It is very lonesome.........

We were back home by 10 PM when I remembered that I had left Lynn's rather pungent soccer clothes soaking on the roof after the hot and sticky soccer game, so I needed to go free up the washing basin. I think one of my favorite times has been at the wash basin. With so many students living here, there is almost always someone there to "scrub with."

 

Last night it was Tearit. We more often see him as the soccer goalie. His English is quite good, which of course helps with the depth of the conversation. I asked him if it was hard to be doing his own laundry since coming to Crossroads. Once again.....( you would think that I would get used to their looks of surprise) "NO GRANDMA!!! I have been washing my own clothes since I was 10 years old. When I lived in the village I had to cook my own food, and care for my clothes since 10. I wanted to go to school but my parents had no money for books or uniforms or school fees, so I started to work when I was a little boy as a guide to tourists. That is also how I learned to speak English and French fluently." His Mom was lead to Christ by missionaries many years ago. He asked for prayer for his Dad, not yet a Christ follower.

We sort of fell into bed a little after 11, thankful of the power of Gods Word reaching to this part of the world...and thankful for Kingdom opportunities to share His love....even over a wash basin on the roof under the starlit full moon Cambodian sky.

The Other side of the Mekong...

We were on the road very early this Morning to visit a large province on the other side of the River. These are the people who were hit the hardest by the flooding this past year. Mangos are the main source of income for the people and they are grown by the thousands. Unfortunately, all of the excess water from the floods killed off the trees, and with that, their income. The trees are already being replanted, but it takes 4 years for a mango tree to bear. That is a long time to wait for your next pay check.

 

Romanea described this huge province as the poorest of the poor!
HIV and TB have hit the country. Rather than removing the children from their hometowns, 150 are being cared for in their villages, with AOC bring ARV drugs to the homes, and checking on each person 2x a month. They do a loan program, where families can get chickens, or ducks or pigs or cows to raise and bring in income.

Wathana is a bright  12 year old boy who lost both parents to HIV. 

He is living with his Grandma, who has the responsibility of all 3 of her grandsons. She has been given a water filtration system, and Grandma just purchased a cow. AOC helps with his pills , school fees, travel money to the hospital, and nutritious food and vitamins. The holistic care demonstrated by AOC is amazing. What a privilege to pray for this family and commit them to God.

Another ministry that AOC is providing is education for students in poverty area. They have set up small schools for the children who cannot afford to pay school fees....mostly the children of HIV patients.

To our great delight we got to meet with two house churches....Lynn was able to share with the first. You can see on their faces and the JOY coming from them, that even though, as Brother Romanea said they are the poorest of the poor,  Jesus truly makes a difference.

In the midst of the poverty....Gods beauty still abounds. We detoured off the road a bit to a lotus pond. Not only was it beautiful, we discovered that they also provide food in the seeds, and the large fluffy leaves are used for a variety of things....packing, rolling up rice when you are working in the fields, and yes, even a hat to shade you from the strong Cambodian sun.


We stopped at another house church....Pastor Wei and his wife built a church, that is used for a school during the week, and church and special meetings for the community. They have a fish farm and raised fish until the floods last year swept away all of their fish, and they are starting over. Mrs. Wei provided a fantastic lunch of fish, mangoes, rice, chicken, vegetables. We told her it was reminiscent of a Thanksgiving dinner we would have in the States.

Their 26 year old daughter became mentally ill or demon possessed a few years back. It happened on the day her aunt died. The family did not know she died, but the girl  woke up and said..."my aunt wants me to come be with her" only to find that she had passed away during the night. These past 6 years have been filled with violence and Mrs. Wei cannot leave her alone. She asked for prayer ....and we were honoured to do so.

Our last visit of the day, to another school and house church. Judy was asked to share with the ladies group and they were warm and receptive and it was such a privilege to be with them.

I didn't describe the road after we got off the ferry....
I am not sure that I can describe the road that we were on for the whole day. It was damaged by the flood....bridges wiped out, and the ruts and potholes were bone jarring to the core. The journey was hot, dusty and tiring for us all, but especially for Romanea who was gripping the steering wheel tightly to keep control for the 8 hours that we traveled.

The community gathered hundreds of the poorest of the poor
The road was flood damaged almost beyond use
But hope was offered to the hopeless....
Healing was offered in the name of Jesus
Education and economic relief was being made available....
All in the name of Jesus.....

The Palm Tree and Making Palm Sugar

 ------ Forwarded Message
From: Judy Everswick
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:17:09 +0700
Subject: Letter from Judy - The Palm Tree and Palm Sugar, Cambodia #8

The Palm Tree: The National Tree of Cambodia 

On a recent visit with Asian Outreach, Cambodia (AOC) Director, Romanea Thong, we learned the following fact:

EVERY BIT of the palm tree can be used...
...Palm Leaves are used to make mats
...Palm Flowers are used to supply sweet palm juice
...Palm Branches can be “stringed” and used to make rope to tether the animals or can be used to make brooms
...Palm Tree Trunks are used to make houses
...Dried coconuts used as dishes
...Dry shells are used to make charcoal
...Palm Sugar makes great cakes
...And we “hear” Palm Wine is great with BBQ!  :)

 
We spent time in a very rural village for teaching on a Clean Water Filtration System. Of the 156 homes in the area, only 10 had latrines. Much of water that has been tested in the wells has arsenic in it; the water can be used for watering crops, but it is not safe for human consumption. Hence, Asian Outreach, Cambodia (AOC) is bringing a brilliant, yet simple, water filtration system to this village. If used properly, it will last them 100 years. What a gift to the people!

Making Palm Sugar...High, Hot and Hard Work!

During the water filtration teaching I slipped off to observe a Grandma and her daughter making Palm Sugar. I had been wanting to find some brown sugar to make cinnamon buns for the Phnom Penh University students, but after tasting the fresh palm sugar, (and finding it quite fabulous), I plan to give it a try instead!

The following is the ‘step-by-step’ process and recipe for making palm sugar passed on from the local ‘Ohm’ or Grandma:

1. Climb to the top of a palm tree...usually 20-25 feet tall...VERY HIGH!

2. Find 5 palm flowers and bring them together; let their juice drip out overnight into a bamboo strip.
3. Start a fire and bring water to a boil in a HUGE pan.
4. At around 9 in the morning, empty the palm syrup that you have gathered from the flowers into a big basket and place basket in the boiling water. 

5. Start stirring with a LONG stick...over a HOT fire (...in HOT Cambodia!)

6. Stoke the fire with ground rice husks, and finely dried, crushed cow manure. Winnow the mixture together well in a flat basket so that the chaff is blown away and you have a nice, even consistency with which to stoke the fire.

7. Boil the syrup for about 6 hours...until about 3-3:30 in the afternoon, stirring constantly so the syrup doesn’t burn.

8. Remove the basket from the boiling water and place over another simmering fire.


9. Place the stirring paddle in the basket and use a pulley motion on the rope for about an hour until the syrup is a sticky mixture.

10. If you are blessed with having a water buffalo, you can harness him to the paddle and have him walk in circles. It could save you some time pulling on the rope for an hour, but make sure the buffalo doesn’t stop walking or the mixture will burn.

11. Scrape the sweet, yummy, sticky mixture into a bucket. 

12. Scoop out and Weigh the sugar and sell it by the kilo, especially if there is a drooling American Pastor’s wife watching, in TOTAL admiration, when it is finished!  (Yes, I bought 2 kilos, which is almost 5 pounds! It is fabulous!)  

What a humbling experience to watch all that about three people went through to make that delicious sugar.  There was so much involved. They worked so hard. Their life is so hard. They give so freely.

My ‘take away’ from the experience?  When there are high mountains that I face, and it is hot, and I am too close to the fire of frustration, when life may seem hard and challenging, may I be as persistent and faithful to give of myself so freely...as I saw demonstrated by that dear, dear Grandma in that remote jungle village.

-Jud

Morning Giggles...

This will be very quick but wanted to update a little while we have electricity and Internet. The last two days we have been up for 5 to meet Romanea, who spoke at Westover in November.

Our little shower is sort of combined in a tiny bathroom with the sink and the toilet, and everything gets a bit wet when you shower. These last two mornings we felt a bit extra sleepy, after long full days out in the provinces with Rom and coming back just in time for the evening meeting....and then hanging out with the students on the roof. This morning just giggled to myself as I found myself standing there with my hand out under the cold stream of water.....waiting for it to get hot, or even lukewarm. It doesn't! Get warm that is....it is only cold water and actually VERY refreshing. Rom just called and is running late so won't be here til 6:30, so I grabbed Lynn's head torch and ran up to the roof to the the laundry ...under the stars, and thought I would send off a quick note.

More about the province ministry ....sometime soon!

Cambodia 6

Sunday was a full full day...and we felt the Lord's presence! Lynn was asked to share  for an hour in Sunday School at 730, then a breakfast break...and at 9:30 to preach again for an hour. With the Songs of Worship and preaching and communion followed by testimonies and prayer requests, we finished at 12:10. The inside and outside balconies were packed with the downstairs we were all sqished together. The Music and Praise time was a foretaste of heaven!  God's Spirit spoke thru Lynn with Chetra, interpreting. Both were anointed by Him. Thanks for your prayers. After a quick lunch, we headed over to the football stadium where the students has a game....old students vs present students.....with plenty of cheerleaders.

The students ministry thru soccer has been a special tool that God is using to reach to young men in the community.

We had been invited to one of the other dormitories for dinner. We were told that we were having a special treat! AND IT WAS ...."special!"

The students did all of the cooking, and they said, we are having something VERY special....."duck eggs" I was blonde in my former life, and I said, what is so special about duck eggs? I raised ducks in Africa, and used them interchangeably, so was surprised when they looked at me rather incredulously asking such a question...like DUH!
"The difference, Grandma, is that these have ducks in them! "
OK, still not getting it!
They  proceeded to place a HUGE bowl on the table filled with "hard boiled eggs". The difference was revealed rather quickly.....there were actually little ducks in there! I mean with beaks and wings and little feathers! For those of you following the blog.....you hopefully will see the photos of the poor little guys! Did we have to " GULP" them down??
YES we did. I put every sauce that was on the table on mine!
It was one of those.....I love YOU GUYS so much, that I will pass on seconds so that you can enjoy even more! And they were all in their glory over the delicacy that was before them!

We brought some games when we went......Z train, Bananagram...some of our family favourites that we thought could be cross cultural....and we all had such a fun evening . We feel quite honored to be asked to come over and just "hang" with them for the evening. On the walk home one of the students asked if we could talk about some concerns he was facing.....so although it was late...we had a good time talking and having a time to pray with him!
Back in Greensboro, Monday morning is Lynn's day off and we typically have a morning breakfast date! Well, how fun today to head out early to a little place that we heard was offering breakfast and actually showing the Super Bowl at 6:30 AM!  Added to the fun, they had free wi-fi so we were watching and skyping with friends and family back home while we cheered the Giants on to Victory!

This afternoon was time to do laundry.....on the roof, with the students. A faucet and hose in a big aluminum pan, soap and a little scrub brush and a little stool, so that you squat down in the cement area, and scrub you do not get wet. I felt a little peer pressure trying to get Lynn's white soccer socks even remotely as clean as all the boy students get their clothes! The students are quite fastidious and there is always laundry hanging on the pipes /lines on the roof.

I have two conversational English classes each day at 9 and 2. When I asked what kind of topics they wanted to discuss. "please tell us some things that God has taught you? What are some mistakes you made that we could avoid? What is the best method that God uses to teach you?"  what precious moments of sharing Gods grace, thru my many mistakes in life!

Lynn has his hands full with preparation for these hour classes of teaching, but the students sit in rapt attention as he opens Gods word with them.

I baked with several students this afternoon to have brownies for tonight after Worship. Those of you on baking "prayer duty" please pray a little harder! There is no thermostat on the little oven...so the tiniest nudge on the knob had it somewhere between 200-450.... Oh well! They aren't horrible, but the tiny oven was on for a long time, in this almost 85 heat today...so we stopped baking at 3 double batches....one batch at a time, and will just have little tastes. One of the dorms doesn't come tonight, so think we are only 65 kids.

Tomorrow is a Buddhist religious holiday...so no school. The students are excited because they told us....Oh that means we can meet LONGER with you!
Dear, dear kids!

Thank you for praying!

Vuthea

Cambodia 5

Lynn and I have reminisced a few times on the old Bill Cosby monologue ...."hey, you almost a doctor" as we think about one of the students here. Our last visit we referred to him as Dream Boy, because of the specific Dreams that God revealed to him and the special things that God has done thru his life.

He is 23 years old, but looks much younger. He is a Pre Med student. Last September, a week before our visit, the students were on an outreach in a remote village. God gave him a dream and a name of a person specifically, while he was sleeping. He believed that God would help him find this person, in a village that he had never been to . When he arrived, he found it was the home of the local Sorcerer. Thru their LONG conversation, the sorcerer accepted Christ, burned all of his fetishes and he was baptized the following week, while we were visiting.

This future Doctor, has a desire to practice medicine in Mymmar someday. He is one of 14 children who was taken from his home when he was 12 years old to live at "an organization"  He is the victim of sexual abuse from both male and female adults. After coming to Christ , his life has truly been transformed . The lack of trust in people has been replaced by a joy that is truly contagious. The frown of worry and concern that we were told was there, has been replaced by an infectious smile. The JOY in his heart spreads to those around him. He is the " go to" man when anyone is sick! BUT, His present project is the beautification of the roof here at Crossroads, where I have been coming to have tea and just listen to the hearts of the students as they share! Why is he spending so much time and so much of his personal savings?

We asked him that question....

His reply......." so that this place will become a place of beauty and rest and that people who are not Christ followers would want to come and spend time here and we can find a way to tell them about Jesus"

It is Saturday.

This is their one day of no classes and no meetings....and yet this roof top is loaded with students spending the day in the heat....painting, cutting wires (to make a grid so the pigeons don't nest and continue to make a mess! ) planting flowers....and just beautifying!

Each day we are surprised and humbled by the concern and commitment of these students to practically carry out the Great Commission....to go, and teach and make disciples for God, of ALL they meet.

Continually amazed and humbled!

Judy and Lynn