Sorry So Long

My computer conked out on me before Christmas and I wont have it back until Feb. Therefore I have to go to internet shops in order to do many things, because of this it is hard to take time to post on my blog. Just want you to know that if you don't hear much of me it is for this reason.

An Unlikely Sight

I saw something when I was out in the province that continue to give me culture shock or at least experiences that suprise me. Take a look at this picture.
Can you see what this little girl has? A big knife that she is balancing fruit on.
No Khmer person around was concerned about this.

Jackfruit

I have seen the fruit on trees and when it is whole, I have also seen the fruit when it is already out of its peel. Today I got the experience of helping to take the fruit from its peel.

You need to peel and discard the skin. Before cutting open the Jackfruit we had to coat the knife and cutting board with a cooking oil on account of the latex. Unripe Jackfruit especially exude a lot of sticky latex.

see the white that is the latex it is like taffy that sticks to everything.

I was really suprised how difficult it was to take the fruit out and

afterwards my hands were sticky even after washing for a long time.

the fruit if you find the pieces like the picture above pieces that are not

too slimy the fruit tastes good and kind of has a flavor of banana and pinneapple,

very different from DURIAN.

Exotic Eating Experience

One of the Sunday School teachers that has studied with me invited me to go out to eat with her and her family. She took me to a place called Neo Suki (Japansese food -Suki Soup). There is this big hot pot in the middle of the table that they put a vegetable broth in. Then you order meats and vegetables -when they come they are raw then you put them in the broth and let it cook-then eat. You may be asking what is so exotic about that? Well they order things like squid, seabass and even jellyfish among other things. It actually tasted pretty good and I had a good time with good company.

Language Evaluation #4

Today I had my fourth language evaluation - I was very encouraged by the feedback I got from the Khmer evaluators. They said some very good things about my conversation skills, reading skills...most everything was very positive. They did say that there are some words/sounds that I need to be careful with, but that I continue to make progress in the language. It is nice to hear, because sometimes I don't feel like I am progressing - it is hard for me to see, but that is one reason we have the language evals to help us see that we are moving forward. Thank you God for giving me the ability to hear, speak and read this language which was once so foreign. God it is because you have enabled me and helped me to be diligent in studying and using Khmer.

Eating Loosens the Mouth

Yesterday I took the three girls who I teach out to eat. We spent the whole morning at the restraunt which was pretty empty. We ate a little in the morning and then studied together. After studying we ate lunch together too. I noticed that our time studying together was good, probably because of the food. The girls seemed to be open to talking more than usual as we looked at the death and resurrection of Jesus and how this impacts our life. I was really encouraged by the questions that they asked and the discussions about the importance of what Jesus has done for us. Thank you for always remembering our meeting times please pray as this week we read and study John 1-2 I am challenging them to spend time in God's Word each day and to put into practice some of the things we have been studying about the Bible.

Car Complications

This past weekend I had car complications. First a flat tire and then something wrong with the steering. However I thank God for people who are willing to help. When I got the flat tire-three guys from a nearby shop came over and changed the tire for me although it was no easy task. I had my first opportunity of buying a tire. Then praise God that I have to park my car at a local garage at night because they were the ones who informed me of the some kind of steering problem - they told me I should not continue to drive until it is fixed. Thank God for the CAMA office where we have wonderful staff-one of the Khmer staff members came out and took a look at the car and said yes it did need to have work done. So the next day he took care of the whole thing for me. It is a wonderful blessing to have people who can help because I do not know all the words to be able to communicate about car problems and such. So even when there are complication there are also encouraging thins too. Now everything is good with the car.

A Walk in Water

It rained early this morning before I left for church. When I arrived the church was flooded from the gate at the entrance and through the sanctuary. There is a portion of the building that was not flooded because it was on higher ground up some steps. In order to get into any part of the church we had to walk in the water. So I hiked up my pant legs and waded through the water which was up to mid calf - cold and dirty. We meet in the area above the water- a small room which soon became filled with people. I was suprised at the number of people that came because another missionary told me that if the church is flooded most of the people's houses are flooded as well.

Battambang

Last week I traveled to this province with some other missionaries on my team to discuss ideas about development and ministry in Cambodia. This was for the new missionaries on the team and the time together was led by the Strongs. They helped us to think about things that are important when getting involved here in Cambodia. We talked about worldview, insider and outsider, working with the poor...It was things that probably all of us have thought about already but it was good to discuss them as a group and hear different ideas. There are still alot of questions but everything we talked about is food for thought. We will always need to be learning from one another and from the nationals.

Teaching Lesson 2

Yesterday I met with the girls at the dorm to discuss lesson two-it was about how sin entered the world. This week the girls suprised me because they actually had questions to ask me that they wanted to discuss. This I was excited about because when they ask questions I feel like we are actually discussing and learning. However, they asked questions that are difficult to answer even in English. Questions like: Why did God create Satan? Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden? When did God create the angels?...Well I did my best to try and give them some answers and things to think about but again language can still be a barrier at times.
Also I am still learning how to pray in Khmer-I can pray short prayers like to open the meeting, but at the end of the meeting I asked if one of them would pray and no one wanted to so they told me I could pray in English for the requests that were mentioned.
Please pray that I would grow in ability to communicate and in my leadership skills as well.