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.