Sunday, February 27, 2011
My Kiddos
I got to travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand on February 12-18 for our organizational worldwide meeting. I went as staff, but I also got the opportunity to help out with the childcare team that came from my church in Plano to take care of the kids while their parents attended the meetings. I helped Judy with the 3 to 5 year olds, and had a wonderful week getting to know the kids and just playing with them and reading to them. We were also joined by John, who came with a volunteer team from Oklahoma. Here are a few pictures of the kids from the week!
Tea Time in Thailand
The week of the conference we had one free day on Wednesday, and instead of doing something fun or going sightseeing I got to spend most of the day working on homework and studying for a test in my online class. It wasn't so bad actually, and I got a yummy caramel latte and chatted with people as they walked by the table where I was studying. One of the ladies from the home office stopped and invited me to go to tea with her and several others in the afternoon. I wasn't sure I had time, but I decided it would be a good study break so I worked extra hard and then met her and the other ladies at a nearby hotel along the river for tea.
It was really a neat experience! We sat outside at a table right along the water, and each ordered a different flavor of tea. They served us each our own teapot, along with a tier of different sandwiches, pastries and scones.
I loved hearing the stories that flowed around the table as we sipped our tea and tried the different goodies. Karen is currently in the Dallas area working part-time in our office, and she her husband have served overseas working with Muslims in London and also the United Arab Emerites. Barbara is finishing up her time in South Africa, transitioning to Plano to work in the office as well. Cathy and her family serve in Thailand, and she had many stories of funny and not-so-funny experiences from the many years they have been there. Vickie also has served in Thailand but got married a couple of years ago and is currently in the US, but still serves as a member care provider, giving coaching, counseling and encouragement to missionaries on the field. I soaked up the wisdom of these women, and was very refreshed by my delicious peppermint tea and the calm of the atmosphere. It was a wonderful study break!
It was really a neat experience! We sat outside at a table right along the water, and each ordered a different flavor of tea. They served us each our own teapot, along with a tier of different sandwiches, pastries and scones.
I loved hearing the stories that flowed around the table as we sipped our tea and tried the different goodies. Karen is currently in the Dallas area working part-time in our office, and she her husband have served overseas working with Muslims in London and also the United Arab Emerites. Barbara is finishing up her time in South Africa, transitioning to Plano to work in the office as well. Cathy and her family serve in Thailand, and she had many stories of funny and not-so-funny experiences from the many years they have been there. Vickie also has served in Thailand but got married a couple of years ago and is currently in the US, but still serves as a member care provider, giving coaching, counseling and encouragement to missionaries on the field. I soaked up the wisdom of these women, and was very refreshed by my delicious peppermint tea and the calm of the atmosphere. It was a wonderful study break!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Cambodia Stories
Below are several blog posts with pictures and stories from my time in Cambodia February 20-24, 2011. I traveled with Gayle, one of our missionaries who is based in Bangkok with her husband, and travels once a month to the Kilometer 13 village across the border from Thailand. I hope you enjoy hearing a bit about my trip!
A Glimpse of My Cambodia
Entering Cambodia!
In Poipet, the border town
Gayle praying for one of the quilting ladies after church- Sopone's husband struggles with alcoholism, which is a major problem in the village
A typical village home- raised sleeping area, with kitchen beside it
Even though it is the dry season, it rained almost every day we were there! Gayle and I got caught in a downpour one afternoon, and sought shelter under someone's awning. The dirt roads became quite a mess!
Market area in the village
Many people have shrines outside their homes or businesses. The area is primarily Buddhist.
One of the main crops in the area is tapioca. They chop up the root to make what we know as tapioca, and then bundle and sell the stalks to start new tapioca plants. 
Village home with the mountains in the background.
The river that separates Thailand and Cambodia
The little guy in front is Ezra, Pastor Sophan and Sopheap's 2 year-old son. The other two are Sophone's son and daughter (she is the woman Gayle was praying for above, one of the sewing ladies and also sister to Pastor Sophan). I entertained the kids for a solid 30 minutes by taking pictures as they posed and then ran to look at themselves, giggling and pointing and saying who knows what in Khmer. It's amazing the relationships that can be built even with a language barrier. 
At lunch Sopheap would cook for Gayle and I, and in the evenings she and I would eat at this little restaurant. I enjoyed the fried rice and the noodles. Thankfully I did not have to use chopsticks every day during the week, as the Thai and Cambodian people only use chopsticks to eat noodles. The Ministry Center
A couple of years ago, Gayle and the local pastor, Sophan, had a vision to start a ministry center to house the quilting work as well as other community outreach programs. They began renting a building and were eventually able to raise the money to purchase this building to use. Sophan and his wife Sopheap and their two-year old son Ezra live on the top floor, and the bottom floor is an open room used for sewing and also Sunday church services. In the back they have various projects going in order to make money for doing outreach and ministry. They have a fruit grove of mango trees and several other kinds of fruit, goats, chickens, and they also have land where they are growing various nutritional grasses for the goats as there is not adequate pasture ground nearby. Their goal is to be self-sustaining and to be a light in the community, leading the way in growing gardens and taking good care of livestock, and providing for the needs of others in the community.
The ministry center
The ministry center
Sunday church service
Goat shelter
Fruit trees
Land behind the ministry center where they have a fruit grove and various grasses growingQuilting Ministry
Gayle saw a need in the village for women to have a way to make money to support their families, and she began a ministry where women could learn how to sew quilts. There have been a few different women in the last three years since they started the ministry, but there are currently three women employed by the ministry center in Kilometer 13 who sew quilts, which Gayle then sells in the US and Bangkok.
When we got to the ministry center on the first day, Gayle and I pulled all the fabric out of the cupboards and put it out in color-coordinated piles. Once the three women arrived, Gayle checked in on their current projects and began assigning the next month's projects. She worked with each woman to pull out the fabric they would need and answered any questions they might have.
Each woman has her own sewing machine and various quilting materials. They are paid by the quilt rather than by the hour, so it is up to each woman how quickly they want to get done. I was amazed at how quickly the different projects started to take shape. The women make quilts of various sizes and designs, and also do baby blankets, tableclothes and wall-hangings. Gayle buys all of the fabric and materials in Bangkok and brings them to the village on her monthly visit, and then takes back all of the finished quilts. The pastor's wife, Sopheap, oversees the quilting ladies during the rest of the month.
I had seen the finished work of the women so it was really cool for me to actually meet these ladies and see them at work. I watched them work, helped with some small cleaning projects in the mornings and then in the afternoons I got to help sew a little bit! The women are trying to use up a lot of the little scraps of fabric that they have so they have been sewing together scrap blocks and then putting them together to make a quilt. I made several scrap blocks to go toward the next scrap quilt! I enjoyed piecing together the fabric, trying to make them fun and interesting. Here's one of the blocks that I made.
At the end of the week the women met together and Gayle answered any last-minute questions and then they prayed together.
Gayle makes the trip every month, giving the women freedom to work but being a wonderful resource for them. She has learned right along with women, bringing a friend from Seattle to do the original teaching as she had never quilted before herself. The quilts are really beautiful! Here is one of the quilts that I had been given before I went to Cambodia that came from the ministry.
When we got to the ministry center on the first day, Gayle and I pulled all the fabric out of the cupboards and put it out in color-coordinated piles. Once the three women arrived, Gayle checked in on their current projects and began assigning the next month's projects. She worked with each woman to pull out the fabric they would need and answered any questions they might have.
Each woman has her own sewing machine and various quilting materials. They are paid by the quilt rather than by the hour, so it is up to each woman how quickly they want to get done. I was amazed at how quickly the different projects started to take shape. The women make quilts of various sizes and designs, and also do baby blankets, tableclothes and wall-hangings. Gayle buys all of the fabric and materials in Bangkok and brings them to the village on her monthly visit, and then takes back all of the finished quilts. The pastor's wife, Sopheap, oversees the quilting ladies during the rest of the month.
I had seen the finished work of the women so it was really cool for me to actually meet these ladies and see them at work. I watched them work, helped with some small cleaning projects in the mornings and then in the afternoons I got to help sew a little bit! The women are trying to use up a lot of the little scraps of fabric that they have so they have been sewing together scrap blocks and then putting them together to make a quilt. I made several scrap blocks to go toward the next scrap quilt! I enjoyed piecing together the fabric, trying to make them fun and interesting. Here's one of the blocks that I made.
At the end of the week the women met together and Gayle answered any last-minute questions and then they prayed together.
Gayle makes the trip every month, giving the women freedom to work but being a wonderful resource for them. She has learned right along with women, bringing a friend from Seattle to do the original teaching as she had never quilted before herself. The quilts are really beautiful! Here is one of the quilts that I had been given before I went to Cambodia that came from the ministry.
The Journey
Reaching the village area where I visited for five days was an adventure in and of itself, involving various and interesting modes of transportation. Gayle and I left her apartment by taxi at 4:00 a.m. in order to get to the bus station and purchase our tickets. 207 Baht later (roughly $6.75) we stowed our belongings and climbed on the bus for our trip from Bangkok to Poipet, the town on the Cambodian border. We made various stops along the way, picking up and dropping off passengers. Here are a few guys waiting at one of the bus stops.
Once we reached the the final stop, we loaded our belongings into a tuk-tuk to take us to the actual border crossing area. Drivers, like the one in the picture, wait for passengers to come along.
We went through immigration and customs to leave Thailand and enter Cambodia with no problems. They had previously had some issues with this border crossing so we were very thankful to get through!
Gayle hired two motorcycle taxis to take us to "the end of civilization" or at least the end of the paved road. Riding behind the driver, I managed to hold on to all of my belongings and stay balanced enough to take a couple pictures of Gayle up ahead!
Once we reached the corner, we didn't have to wait very long to catch our ride to the village where we were going. Drivers gather passengers into their small pickups, and we piled into the backseat of an almost-full pickup. We managed to cram 3 people, plus our belongings into the backseat, and then then there were 4 in the front including the driver. At least 20 other passengers sat in the back of the pickup and on the roof, jumping on and off along the way at their stop. We were off on a dirt road which followed along the Thai/Cambodia border. We drove past fields and villages along the way, hitting about every rut and pothole you can imagine and getting covered by a solid layer of dust. I was thankful for that dust because it meant the window was open getting some air flowing through, since there was no electricity. After a two and half hour drive we made it to our stop in the Kilometer 13 village where we stayed. I wasn't able to get a picture of our particular truck (because I was rather squished), but here is another truck getting passengers ready to go.
The journey out at the end of our trip was basically a repeat of the same, although for the first portion out we took a car, a four-door Toyota Camry in which we fit 8 people. I enjoyed all the various modes of transportation and getting to see a lot of the countryside along the way. Here's a picture of the road in the village to give you a bit of an idea.
Once we reached the the final stop, we loaded our belongings into a tuk-tuk to take us to the actual border crossing area. Drivers, like the one in the picture, wait for passengers to come along.
We went through immigration and customs to leave Thailand and enter Cambodia with no problems. They had previously had some issues with this border crossing so we were very thankful to get through!
Gayle hired two motorcycle taxis to take us to "the end of civilization" or at least the end of the paved road. Riding behind the driver, I managed to hold on to all of my belongings and stay balanced enough to take a couple pictures of Gayle up ahead!
Once we reached the corner, we didn't have to wait very long to catch our ride to the village where we were going. Drivers gather passengers into their small pickups, and we piled into the backseat of an almost-full pickup. We managed to cram 3 people, plus our belongings into the backseat, and then then there were 4 in the front including the driver. At least 20 other passengers sat in the back of the pickup and on the roof, jumping on and off along the way at their stop. We were off on a dirt road which followed along the Thai/Cambodia border. We drove past fields and villages along the way, hitting about every rut and pothole you can imagine and getting covered by a solid layer of dust. I was thankful for that dust because it meant the window was open getting some air flowing through, since there was no electricity. After a two and half hour drive we made it to our stop in the Kilometer 13 village where we stayed. I wasn't able to get a picture of our particular truck (because I was rather squished), but here is another truck getting passengers ready to go.
The journey out at the end of our trip was basically a repeat of the same, although for the first portion out we took a car, a four-door Toyota Camry in which we fit 8 people. I enjoyed all the various modes of transportation and getting to see a lot of the countryside along the way. Here's a picture of the road in the village to give you a bit of an idea.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Where's Your Hope?
There are a lot of crazy things happening in the world right now. A huge winter storm has blasted across the US, leaving people without power, attempting to navigate icy/snowy roads, and stranded in airports. I'm on my second day of having to work from home because of the conditions here in Dallas, and I know that it is a lot worse as one goes northeast.
Since I have been stuck at home I have also had lots of time to watch the news. As I write this there are reports coming out of Egypt about violence that continues to erupt as protesters clash with pro-Mubarak supporters. The whole Middle East seems to be unstable as other governments are having issues and protesters are getting ideas from what's happening in Egypt. I heard one commentator yesterday talking about the growth of Islam, particularly radical Islam, and the goal of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood of taking over and forming a one-world government based on Islam. If Egypt falls to the leadership of this radical Muslim group, it is possible that the countries around Egypt could quickly fall like dominoes as well.
There are a lot of questions coming out of the situation with Egypt and many, many unknowns. It's enough to get us in a panic, filled with worry and fear.
Yet, as believers, we know the ultimate victory is ours, and that God is in control. When everything else seems to be falling apart in the world as we know it, we can find great comfort and strength in knowing that God sees the big picture and He holds the world in His hand. We have the opportunity to share that hope with those who are paralyzed by fear, or hopeless in whatever situation they might be finding themselves. Here are a few verses that offer great hope for us:
Psalm 5:11-12 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Psalm 46:1, 10 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Since I have been stuck at home I have also had lots of time to watch the news. As I write this there are reports coming out of Egypt about violence that continues to erupt as protesters clash with pro-Mubarak supporters. The whole Middle East seems to be unstable as other governments are having issues and protesters are getting ideas from what's happening in Egypt. I heard one commentator yesterday talking about the growth of Islam, particularly radical Islam, and the goal of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood of taking over and forming a one-world government based on Islam. If Egypt falls to the leadership of this radical Muslim group, it is possible that the countries around Egypt could quickly fall like dominoes as well.
There are a lot of questions coming out of the situation with Egypt and many, many unknowns. It's enough to get us in a panic, filled with worry and fear.
Yet, as believers, we know the ultimate victory is ours, and that God is in control. When everything else seems to be falling apart in the world as we know it, we can find great comfort and strength in knowing that God sees the big picture and He holds the world in His hand. We have the opportunity to share that hope with those who are paralyzed by fear, or hopeless in whatever situation they might be finding themselves. Here are a few verses that offer great hope for us:
Psalm 5:11-12 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Psalm 46:1, 10 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
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