Merry Mom

It has been a merry time since my mom has arrived in Cambodia. She arrived Thursday night-LATE but it was good it helped her to adjust to the time difference to sleep right away. We have been going around the city in the mornings, but in the afternoons mostly have been relaxing in the house because it is hot. Yesterday morning was the church Christmas service which included congregational songs, a short message, special singing, a traditional Khmer dance and even a little play. It was a longer service but there were many different elements to keep our attention. it helped that a missionary preached because I understood and could tell my mom most of what was being said. It is great to be able to celebrate this important holiday with someone so important to me my mom-what a blessing and gift from God. HAVE MERRY CHRISTMAS and make known the reason for the season to those around you with how you live.

Psa

One of the things that I do a lot is go to the psa. What is a psa you ask it is the market. The market in Cambodia is an out-door place where you can buy just about anything you need depending on the market you visit. There are two markets near my house that I can walk too. This is where I can practice some of my speaking in Khmer and buy vegetables, meat, cleaning products...if you go to the photos page you can see some people selling stuff.

Cold

I have had a cold since Saturday. It has been making me feel more tierd than usually so pray that I will get good rest. Having the cold has also seemed to make studying harder. Please pray for my health.

Cold

A Baby

The family I lived with when I first arrived in Cambodia has a new addition to their family. Pheary had a baby girl yesterday. Now they have 4 girls. Mom and daughter are healthy even though the doctors had said that the due date was not until January. Praise God. I cannot wait to see this little one I am sure she is beautiful. Pray for the other girls as they adjust to life with a baby, also pray for the family they were not prepared to bring home a baby until January. This means that Pheary will be home from the office for a while sooner than expected.

Language Evaluation

Today I had my first quarter language evaluation. It was encouraging in the sense that I really can tell a story, have a short conversation, do some reading and some writing- it was also revealing in areas that I need to now move forward in this quarter. One of them being speaking Khmer with others, there are some words that I have a hard time pronouncing so I need to be consiously aware when I go to say those words. Obviously there are many things that I still need to learn in each of these areas in the future. I am glad that I am given a long time to learn the language. Thank you for your continued prayers for me in this area of my life.

Decorating For Christmas

On Thursday I went to the Central Market and bought some Christmas decorations including this fake tree. It is nice to have the house decorated for Christmas because it is the only thing that helps to make it feel like Christmas. As you can see from my blog the weather is still hot in the 70s-although suprisingly the mornings have felt a little cool with me thinking I should have worn long sleeves. It is nothing like having Christmas in Minnesota.

Giving to Vehicle Fund

Someone asked how they can give to my vehicle fund, there are a few ways:
1. Through your local C&MA church -On Memo Line: Julie Toivola Vehicle Fund
2. Send a check in the Mail The Christian and Missionary Alliance P.O. Box 35000 Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500 - On the To Line: The Christian and Missionary Alliance, On the Memo Line: Julie Toivola Vehicle Fund
3. You can make a donation via telephone using your credit card 866-443-8262 let them know that your donation is for Julie Toivola's Vehicle Fund.
4. You can make a donation on-line at www.cmalliance.org at the bottom of the page click on the GIVE-DONATE NOW icon, then click on Missions-Donate Now button, under Approved Specials Type in the name line: Julie Toivola, Account number line: 1-47200-46-64-05030.
Thank you all for your continued giving to the GCF, my work specials fund and to this vehicle fund. I am blessed to be supported by you, you are an encouragement to me. I thank God for you continue to uplift me in your prayers.

Exciting News

I want to share with all of you exciting news I recieved on Saturday. My mom told me that she is coming to Cambodia for Christmas. She will be staying for three weeks I am thrilled. I have already begun planning things for when she is here. This is something I am looking forward to this Christmas.

Dictation

Today was an emotional day for me. I miss being home especially on a holiday. However what made it especially emotional was the combination of missing home, being tierd and having to do dictation. When I arrived for my tutoring session today my tutor told me that I would do dictation today-the least thing from my mind to do. I had not done this before and I already had in mind that we were going to finish lesson 15 since Friday and Monday are holidays. Well I worked on dictation. The tutor would say a sentance or phrase in Khmer and I would write it in Khmer on the board. This required a lot of thinking and I did not feel like it was the best day to try to do this. After a hour of this I took a break and went to the bathroom and let some of it out in tears. Then I composed myself and we then finished lesson 15.

Happy Thanksgiving

My American teammates and I celebrated Thanksgiving with a typical Thanksgiving meal yesterday. We had turkey and even pumpkin pie. It was nice to spend the evening together, but nothing compared to spending the day in the kitchen with my mom getting the Thanksgiving meal prepared and then sitting with family and enjoying one anothers company. Even so there is much to be thankful for. I thank God for wonderful teammates who care for me and encourage me. We have fun together.

Coffee Grounds

Yesterday I meet with three other women missionaries in Cambodia for coffee. It reminded me of times in Caribou-however at Coffee Grounds there are about 4 private rooms with comfortable chairs in which to relax in while drinking coffee and chatting. We sat in one of these rooms and spent two hours sharing with each other and talking about life. It was a nice and refreshing time.

Toilet Trouble

This morning I realized the tank of the toilet in my upstairs bathroom was overflowing with water. The water just kept running and no matter what I tried nothing worked. I could not locate the shut off valve. There are a few things I can be thankful for when it comes to bathrooms in Cambodia. My bathrooms are not the same level as the floors, upstairs I have to step up from the sitting room and then down into my bathroom also it has a floor drain. This make the overflowing of a toilet less of a problem. I called a missionary friend to come over and help me with this proble. He figured I would need a new set of pieces for inside the tank so in the mean time we would turn off the water to that bathroom however we could not find a valve. This problem is one for the landlords. I called them and they came over immediately. Now I know that the valve for the water (the whole house mind you) is located right outside my front door under a huge cement block. They brought a plumber over and he took a look and realized he need to replace the parts in the tank. They went to purchase the parts. When they returned 20 minutes later they had no parts. They said they would come back at 5pm. Which they did and a hour later I have a working toilet. So I basically went all day without running water in my house. But praise God for landlords who are on top of things and for the type of bathroom I have even though things took longer than I would have really liked.

Children's Bible Stories

I have been meeting with a lady who is Cambodian and a missionary on our team once a week. This week I met with her yesterday she brought a children's Bible Story Book. I read my first Children's Bible story in Khmer. It was about Adam and Eve disobeying God. There were some words in the story that I did not know, but it was nice to already know the story because it made it easier to read and understand. I thank God for the opportunity to study His Word in Khmer even if for right now it is only in summarized Children's stories.

A Hair Wash Without A Sink

Yesterday I went for a hair cut and Rachael wanted to get her hair washed. When they cut your hair they do not wash it for you. I got my hair thinned and trimed for $1.25. However when you get a hair wash they massage your head. Rachael sat in a salon style chair with dry hair and the lady squeezed shampoo onto her head. In another bottle was water and the lady added a little water at a time to the shampoo on her head and continued to add until she had a good lather. Rachael just sat there as the lady massaged her head full of shampoo. When it was time to rinse her hair the lady had her move to the bathroom sink. It was quite a sight.

Ladie's Bible Study

This morning all the lady missionaries on the Phnom Penh team got together. One of the ladies shared a devotional. It was about delighting ourselves in the Lord. Are you truely delighting yourself in the Lord? We spent time praising God and then sharing requests and lifting each other up before the Lord. It was a time of sharing, encouraging one another and bonding. I thank God for times like these because he uses others to speak into our lives and he also uses things like this to unite us together.

Day by Day

While I was in Thailand I went to Dave and Maryanne's small group. We sang the hymn Day by Day by Carolina Sandell Berg. It was the first time I heard this hymn and the words to the first verse really spoke to me so i would like to share them with you.
"Day by day with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deams best
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest."

This spoke to me because every day there are new things some hard and some easy. but God gives me what is best for me.

Language

As you can see in one of my earlier blogs I talk about the language and I refer to it as Khmi. I want to expand on this so that you know a little more about this. If I were to write the name for the Cambodian language in English it would be Khmer. However when pronounced by a Cambodian it is Khmi (or phonetically Khmae). The reason we spell it in English Khmer is beecause whhen it is written in Cambodian it has a silent Ro (which is equivelent to an R in English). This spelling however leads us to pronounce the name of the language incorrectly. So I just wanted you all to know if you see the English spelling Khmer rememver it is pronounced Khmi.

Connections

While I was in Thailand I was able to meet with a lady name Louisa. She and I met in Wheaton while doing prefield orientation and how to learn a second language. She was my roommate then. She arrived in Thailand around the same time I arrived in Cambodia. It was great to be able to connect with her. We were able to share experiences with one another because we are going through the same types of things just in different places. The Youngs took us out to dinner it was so nice. We talked a lot about being single, learning the language, traveling... This was also an encouragement to be able to identify with someone and them identify with me at the same time.

Thai Vacation

The past 5 days were spent in Thailand with the Young family. It was a perfect time for me to take a vacation and be with some really good friends. Near the end of last week was really when I became more emotional about missing family and friends and being home. But Cambodia has to become home. I had a wonderful time visiting and relaxing in Thailand. It was a blessing and encouragement to be with Dave, Maryanne and the girls, it felt like a touch of home. While I was in Thailand I visited Bumrungrad International Hospital and had a consultation with a neurologist there. It was really good to meet with him and get some questions answered. Now I am back in Cambodia and preparing for class tomorrow.

The Rat Trap

Since I knew a rat was present in my home I figured I should buy a rat trap to get rid of it. I went to the market and bought the cage kind. The door closes the rat in the cage when it goed to eat the food. It seemed to be like a good option because I did not have to figure out what to do with a rat that was dying. I figured I would just take the cage outside by the handle and leave it. However the first night a bite was taken out of the food I hung and no rat was trapped. The next time I tested it out a few times and hung food again the next morning the food was gone and still not rat. I definetly had a rat in the house, but what to do. I went to the market and bought rat glue. I did not put it out right away, but last night as I was at my computer I saw the rat. So i left the room with the door shut and got the glue put it out on the plate that came with it and then but food in the middle. I opened the door and slid in the room, then shut the door since I really do not like rats this all was not fun. Anyway the rat was finally trapped and my helper took care of it for me I did not have to - what a blessing.

Mentor

Yesterday I met with one of the missionary ladies on my team, Mary. We had lunch together and discussed her being my mentor. We will probably meet 1-2 times a month to talk about my life outside of language study. I believe that this will be a blessing to me. I believe that will also be a growing time for me in many areas of my life, pray that it is.

Team

Yesterday the C&MA Phnom Penh Team meet togther. We meet together to discuss the team strategy in the city. This takes place once a month. We have goals that have been set and we evaluate where we are at as a team on accomplishing these goals and develop ideas on how to better do what we are called to do. We have four C&MA connected (KEC-Khmer Evangelical Churches in Phnom Penh). Please pray for our team that God would speak to our hearts about the dirsction that we each and corporately need to move. We desire for the 4 KEC churches would grow in number and in their love for the Lord...how can we best help our churches?

Speaking Khmi

Speaking Khmi is my biggest struggle at the moment. I look back on things that I have learned, I can read many things in Khmi (not all words because it sure is easier to read when you know the words already), I can also listen to many conversations and pick up enough words to understand the jist of it, however when it comes to speaking the words just don't come to mind. The problem is that I have a hard time thinking in English and being able to come up with the Khmi words, but if I see or hear the Khmi it is so much easier to understand the meaning in English. Please continue to pray for me that I would have a mind to retain the information and am learning and the ability to speak.

My friend Soeun

This week I been off of school since Wednesday. I invited my friend Soeun to come and stay with me for these days. This friend of mine is from the province Kampong Cham but she is living in Phnom Penh in the dorms of the Bible School, she is in her first year there. I met her the first time in 2001 while I was on my missions trip. I met her the second time at my friend Rachael's house. Now she has been staying with me for the last two days and will leave tomorrow. It has been nice to have another person around the house. We have had a lot of fun with each other speaking Khmi and English as well as hanging out with our other friends Rachael and Srey. Soeun is full of energy and loves the Lord. It has been a delight to have her stay with me. Please pray for her as she studies, it is stressful and difficult for her, but she is being obedient to God.

Pchum Ben

October 11th will be the commencement of a 15 day holiday in Cambodia. The 15 days are days to travel to temples around the country to leave food for the dead anscestors. This day is a Cambodian falls on the full moon and is a kind of All-Saints or Day of the Dead day. This is a time when the spirits of the dead anscestors walk the earth and the living can ease their suffering by offering them food to eat. On the 11th people will go to the temlple around 4am to offer food to the anscestors they do this in the dark because it is said that the spirits don't like the light. So they do have one thing right and what a way to bridge into sharing the gospel. Pray for our missionaries during this time that we would have opportunity to share with people and that our lights would shine brightly in the darkness.

The Mysterious Creature

. This morning I woke up and went downstairs and as I was putting dishes away from my drying rack I noticed the spatula was outside of it and was chewed up as you can see in the picture. I am taking a poll on what kind of creature you think chewed up the spatula. Post your thoughts on the comments section. It is still a mystery to me so I hope to catch the creature so we can solve this mystery. Pray for me as I live with creatures in my house.

Prayer

I would like to share with you a verse and part of the prayer I have prayed today. Psalm 55:17 "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and cry aloud: He shall hear my voice." ... God give me patience when it is hard to wait, give me love when it is hard to love, give me understanding when things make no sense, give me comfort when I feel alone, give me peace when things seem out of control, give me words to say when I feel I have none...

The Royal University of Phnom Penh

Today I began studying at the Institute of Foreign Languages which is a part of the University. My class has about 16 people in it 1/2 of them are from Korea. There is a couple from Wisconsin whom I talked with for a while, they are also missionaries, have been here two months (arrived the day after me) and who live down the street a ways from me. I am hoping that this couple and I will become good friends and maybe meet a little coffee shop around the corner from their house that we both visit occassionally. It was nice to be studying with other people I think that it will make learning a little more interesting. Continue to pray that I would have a mind to understand and recollect, ears to listen and a mouth to speak.

My long house: here is a small tour

Internet

Today I will finally have the internet installed in my house. This will hopefully allow me to keep you all updated more frequently via this blog. And soon I will be able to post a few pictures of my times thus far in Cambodia. I thank God for the resources to be able to communicate with all of you often.

Swensons

For all of you icecream fans you will like this one. Swensons Icecream just opened in Cambodia -this is the second American food place in Cambodia the fist-Dairy Queen at the airport. So you can see icecream is a popular treat in Cambodia people want to stay cool. Swensons opened at Sorya mall on Friday and I went with some missionary friends. The icecream is pretty good and they have a lot of choices. There were many Khmi people there eating the icecream in this little place. Cambodia is developing more and more.

Prayer Covering

On Friday the Phnom Penh team had a time of prayer. It was really nice becuase what we did was travel to all the new houses that people on our team have moved into and pray over them. My house was one of ones we went to. Everyone spread out to all the different rooms of my house and prayed over it. It was a joyous event, one that was very important for me.

Ohn!

Ohn who I refer to as bong srey (older sister) is my part-time helper. She is a lady in her mid 30s and always shows up at my house with a smile on her face. She comes every morning Monday - Friday and keeps my house clean, does dishes, and two times a week she will cook for me. The only hard part is she does not speak much English, so I have to work really hard at speaking Khmi and explaining to her what I would like for her to do. So far it has been really positive and it is nice to have another presence around the house even when I am not there.

The Weekend

God is good. This weekend was a blessing to me. The family I stayed with during the first weeks I was here in Cambodia came to my house and helped me clean and set up many things in my house. They also had me over for meals. I spent Saturday evening with my missionary friend Rachael. She had me over for dinner and we spent a long time talking it was fun.

The adventure of my bed and wardrobe

I got my bed home and when I went to put it together it would not fit together. So Chris Manfred came over with a saw and we spent about a hour cutting wood and beams so that my bed would go together and so now it does. But it was a learning process. My wardrobe is one that you build with metal beams and when I went to open the box there were cockroaches. What fun. I had to spray the box with Raid and then after they had all died I had to clean all the beams and but the wardrobe together. That did not work to well either. Everything takes a lot longer here. But finally I feel like I am getting settled.

A House

Sorry it has taken a while for me to post on my blog I have been very busy and have not had time to get to the internet cafe. But I wanted to let you know that I found a house. It is located in Toul Kork an area of Phnom Penh that is in the northwest. This is where other missionary families and the office is located. It is called a long house in Khmi which really means tall. It is taller and skinner than shorter and wider. It is nice it has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, another sitting area and a covered roof. I hope to be able to post a picture once I get everything set up. This week I am shopping for all the furniture and appiances I need. I wil most likely move in on Sept. 3. Thank you for praying, pray as I transition and move in.

House Hunting

In Cambodia when you are house hunting you are truly on a hunt! Rachael my closest missionary friend in Cambodia has taken me on this it started today. She drove me up and down streets and as we drove we looked for signs hanging on the gates of the houses. If I saw a sing I would ask Rachael if that place was for rent. Sometimes the sign would read: House for sale, sometimes: Do not park here, and even sometimes: Do not pee here. I did see a house for rent. The house was divided into two sections so that two places could be rented. I looked at the section I could afford it had a living room, kitchen and bathroom on the bottom floor and then a bedroom and balcony on the second floor. It is very different looking for a house in Cambodia then in the states. I looked at a one bedroom apartment but it was out of my price range. Tomorrow I have an appointment to see a house in my price range it is large and has 4 bedrooms. Anyway please pray for this venture that the Lord would guide me to the right house, landlord and area of the city.

Language Learning

I began my language study on Thursday with a tutor. She is a very nice lady. Since we have started I have learned the 33 Khmi consonants, can recognize them and write them and have learned over 100 vocab words. When I say I have learned over 100 vocab words this means that I have gone over them each about 5 times in my tutor session and have tried to study them outside of the class. Each day in my tutor session about 1/2 hour is spent on review and the other 1 1/2 hours is spent on new things. Please pray that I would be able to retain the things that I am learning and that I would be able to study as well. I still have the vowels to learn and there are 23 and many of them have 2 sounds that they make.

Host Family

On Saturday I moved in with with Mayara and Pheary and there family which consists of their three daughters aged 7, 4, and 2; their nephew 14 and their helper. They all live in one home and I blessed to be there with them. It humbles me that they have made space for me in their samll home. May God bless them greatly in return of their generousity. They are a family who loves the Lord and want to serve Him. It has been a nice few days with them so far. I have had to learn a lot while living with them though. Today I learned how to wash my clothes by hand which is just one of the things I have learned. On Thursday I will begin language learning with a tutor please pray for me as I focus on learning Khmi and continue to build a relationship with this family that i am living with.

In Cambodia

I have safely arrived in Cambodia. Thank you for your prayers for my safe travel. I was welcomed warmly by the other C&MA missionaries in Phnom Penh. I have been spending the last few days meeting them - it has been a joy and privledge. I am finally adjusted to the time change. Tomorrow I will move in with a host family, I am looking forward to learning from them and developing a relationship with them. Pray for a good time together.

Medication Assistance Approval for 1 year

If you look at my blog page you will see something is drasctically different. The medication money meter has disappeared, PRAISE GOD OUR PROVIDER. He works in his own time-and it is amazing. I did not expect to know yet if my medication would be covered through NORD, but today I heard that it would be. Not only will I recieve one year supply of medication, 3 months at a time but the $50 shipping charge has been changed to $15. The only other cost will be to ship it to Thailand, insure it and then get it to Cambodia. God has worked out the details right in time - my medication will arrive on Thursday and I leave for Cambodia on Sunday. Thank you for praying for me.

Dealing with Details

It is less than 2 weeks until I will be in Cambodia - I am excited, but this week especially I have been dealing with details. I finally after calling numerous times received confirmation to take excess baggage on the flights from Minnesota to Cambodia. I began my new medication - pray that the injection sites would not become red and itchy (like hives). I am still waiting for assistance with the medication. I have been playing phone tag with my doctor...
Anyway amid it all I am learning even more how to be patient and trust God with what is unseen and in his time not mine. Through this all I want to be more dependant upon Him and not rely on myself, I want him to be glorified in and through me.

Assistance for Medication

I have applied for financial assistance for the medication I need and the process is taking longer than expected. I found out this week that my information has to be sent to another place NORD (National Organiaztion of Rare Diseases). This means that I have to reapply with them and then they will be the ones to approve it or not. Please pray that this would be approved. It would mean that I would only have to pay $50 every three months for the medication and then whatever it will cost to ship (to Bangkok) and insure it. Also pray that this would happen in a timely manner, the process usually takes at least three weeks.

Lao Blessing

Tonight was an emotional night. One of the ladies with C&MA set it up so that all the C&MA missionaries could have dinner together in a private room. It was wonderful to again be with the group in our own space because it has not been like that since the first week. After that one of the guys, Brian who I knew from ATS planned for us to do a Lao Blessing. First we all sat in a circle and shared our prayer requests with one another. Then we took strings like the Lao people do at special times to bless people and walked around the room and tied a string on another person's wrist. As we tied the string we prayed for the person and gave words of encouragement and blessing. All of this brought on tears as we shared with one another. God used the other missionaries to speak into my life and to lift me up in prayer we went away with great filling of connectedness and unity. God used these other people who are also going through the same type of transition as I am to encourage me.

Khmer

I have been at Wheaton for almost a month now and during my time here I met Oeuy and Chanthan Kes who are Cambodian and also missionaries to Cambodia. They are my tutors here at Wheaton for the 3 hours I get to spend learning Khmer (the Cambodian language). I just completed my second hour with them today - learning the sounds of the Khmer alphabet, repeating greetings, and learning dos and don'ts within the culture. It has been great.

Poem

I was reading this morning for my devotional time from Streams in the Desert included in the reading was a poem. The beginning part of this poem spoke to me - maybe it will speak to you as well and encourage your spirit. This is what it says:

"STAND STILL," my soul, for so the Lord commands;
E'en when your way seems blocked, leave it in His wise hand,
His arm is mighty to divide the wave.
"Stand still," my soul, "stand still" and you will see
How God can work the "impossible" for thee,
For with great deliverence He does save.

Rhythm and Melody

As many of you may know I really do not have any musical talent, which improves ones ability to hear intonations, so distinguishing them is very hard for me. I had my first class in rhythm and melody today and as I listened to the teacher say words in a rising and then in a falling tone I could hear that they were different but could not say the difference or know which was which when listening. This is going to take a lot of time, patience and practice. But who knows maybe after all of this I will have a better ear for both language and music.

SLA

SLA stands for Second Language Acquisition - the class that just began today. We spent the morning and half the afternoon in class ending at 3pm. Then we had homework which is time consuming. We are learning how to learn by begining with phonetics. I feel like I am back in grade school - but I know that what I learn will be helpful when I arrive in Cambodia and learn Khmer. Please continue to uphold me in your prayers.

Psalm 100:5

"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." This is the verse that God has given me for this time.

Preparation

I have been in Wheaton, Illinios for the past 5 days for Pre-Field Orientation. This is a time for all the new missionaries going out to come together, learn about each other and learn vital information prior to going on the field. It has been both overwhelming and great.