Setting Up House….Again

We are in Siem Reap! Praise God that we and all our stuff made the 6 hour drive north from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.  The movers arrived at 6 AM on July 1st to load up the moving truck.

By 8:30 AM, we were on our way.  Thank God for safety on the roads, a car that works well, and smooth travels with the kids. Our first week of life in Siem Reap started off with Field Forum where we gathered to be encouraged and refreshed with fellow C&MA workers from all corners of Cambodia.  It was an amazing time of fellowship and refreshment to pause for a bit after the busyness of finishing language training and packing up our home in Phnom Penh. It was a little bittersweet as well. The friends we had made over the last few months in Phnom Penh left Siem Reap after Field Forum but we stayed behind in Siem Reap, making the transition as language students to entering into the field concrete.

We have been setting up our home. The progress has been slower than we would like but it is coming along nicely.  Every day, we are making some progress and it is starting to look like home. This week was spent driving around town, buying everything from bedding to garbage cans, tables and even a sofa.  We surely miss one stop shops from Canada like Walmart, Ikea or Costco (although we have a Makro which is like an Asian Costco; imagine Asian snacks in bulk).
We are also thankful for team members who helped us this week by watching our kids and coming over to help assemble the bunk bed for the kids.

Every day, we meet new creatures (including snakes) and critters as well as discover new things about our garden.  We don’t know why but the roosters crow at 1 AM in the morning. If you know the reason, please do tell us!!!  Today, we picked our first fruit from our garden and found out that the guavas in our yard are pink on the inside!  We haven’t tried any guava here that had pink flesh.  It was tasty!  

This week, we also met up with Meng, one of the key leaders from the Samaki Vietnamese Church.  

There are many things for us as new IW’s coming into this ministry to learn and to understand.  We are still trying to get to know what we are coming into and discerning God’s direction for our individual roles and responsibilities. As we think about our ministry here in Cambodia, Joyce and I were reflecting about how it is a little bit different than what we had initially thought as we prepared to come.  Our main focuses are still in the areas of discipleship, leadership training and community development but what this all looks like or how it will be accomplished is more fluid than we had thought.  Much prayers are appreciated in this area.
 
In the next few weeks our team, in partnership with the KEC (Khmer Evangelical Church aka C&MA in Cambodia, will be hosting short term teams for Language Exchange camps.  This is an outreach for the churches to reach young people.  Please pray for the teams coming.  There will be a total of 3 teams coming from North America.  This will be our first time experiencing this English Camp as well as hosting one of the teams from BC.  Please pray for guidance as we receive teams and understanding as there will be many moving parts to the week.  
Please continue to prayer for us in the coming weeks:

• Praise God that we and all our stuff arrived in Siem Reap safely.
• Pray for our family as we continue to settle into Siem Reap
• Pray for Meng and the other leaders at Samaki Vietnamese Church so that they do not feel discouraged by challenges faced. 
• Pray for our team as we figure out our individual roles.
• Pray for our kids as they miss Phnom Penh and Canada.
• Pray for the LE Camps.

Thanks again for journeying with us!

Dave, Joyce, Jadon, Elisabeth and Josiah