the last run

Schools done. It finished two weeks ago. It's weird to think about. When I said goodbye to students for the last time, I smiled because I still feel like this is just a break and then after the holiday school will start again. I'm going to miss them all so much. I'm gonna miss arguing with the 10th graders about the amount of homework, and Sophea saying hi every morning as he is the first one to class, and talking to my kids after school about what it means to be a Christian and what life should be like and what it is like. I'm gonna miss having kids always around even in the afternoon after school. I'm gonna miss all the expats and the stories and the advice they have to give. I'm gonna miss it all, the crazy traffic, the smelly market, school stuff seller, all of it: good and bad.

Graduation was fun. It was so personal. It was three days full worth of ceremonies. Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. I played pomp and circumstance in all with Mark on the trumpet. My favorite parts were on Friday night BJ spoke and he spoke for a solid hour and then some, but the crazy thing was that it was not boring. It was sooooo goood! He made the kids cry. It was a sermon, story, lesson, connection to chemistry all in one. I'll remember it always. We are suppose to go through a nuclear change! :D On Saturday it was a I would call it a "thank you " night, were the kids got up one by one and said thank you. It was cute to see all the kids saying thank you to all their parents and teachers. At the end a student gave me a rose and said thank you. I would have never expected a thank you from him, but he sure did give me a smile, for it. Thank night made me cry. Even though I have only seen one year of their lives, I felt like I was seeing my own kids graduate. It's a weird feeling, like they use to be young but now they're grown. Oh boy it's gonna be weird being a student again.

A week later Kristie and I took a 24 hour bus to Vientiane in Laos. We spent two days there with Jack and Kong, two Lao student of ours, and they showed us around. We were able to go to bible study at their church. I love seeing how people worship. They are so hospitable. It encourages me and shows me what a church should be like. I learn more from them then they from us.

Then we took a 10 hour bus trip to Luang Prabang were I am at now. It is in the mountains. It is soooooOOOSOOOOooosoosoOOOO beautiful. Tomorrow I am speaking at a village church so please pray for me. Then in the afternoon we will see a village and at night head back home. 34 + hours of sitting on a bus. Sounds like fun....
It is crazy to think that apparently we are only a days drive away from China. So close! but yet so far... someday I'll get there.

I think I'm ready to go home. I want to see everyone and I am excited to talk to everyone, but I think I feel the call to serve as a missionary again. I hope that God calls me anyways :D Maybe i'm just making up the feeling... idk... I have always felt more at home traveling, we'll see.

Prayer list for this blog.

Pray for Laos. The church is small here, but the members are passionate. It is a communist government so it is not supportive of the church. Many members face persecution from their family and friends for becoming a christian, more so than Cambodia. They need continuing prayers.

Please continue praying for CAS. They are a powerful witness in Cambodia and it is easy for faculty and staff to forget that. Just like at home it is easy to forget that our daily lives is a witness. Pray that the holy spirit is continually being poured out on the school.

Pray for the students,especially those graduating or leaving the school. It's easy to forget about God once they are no longer in an environment that supports Christianity.

Thank you for all your prayers!

love
amy

fail

Last day for seniors today. I was numb. I was more sad about it at the beginning of the week. I can't believe it is actually over.

Do you know what it is like to have students fail your class and because of it cannot graduate. I do. It hurts to see the kids that I have come to love bawling cause they failed my class. It hurts.

oh time went by quickly.

wow! another blog a week later! :D

Updates on events.

Drama went decent. Could have been better, but they did much better than expected and it drew some of the non-christian parents to church, so I am praying that they were impacted by it :D. Afterwards they all came over for lunch and we had made daal and beans for them with Sumairah's help. They were very respectful and we did not have to kick anyone out. Actually a surprise but a very good surprise. I'm happy with the day. I have not sweated so much in my life. but a good day.

Science fair went very well! The kids did a pretty good job and it actually looked like a science fair. A lot of people were impressed. Next year it will only get better. I'm glad that we started one, cause now the kids actually have an idea of what one should kinda look like. And the kid that won was the one that I talked about in the previous blog about how he failed but now he is trying. :D I have the biggest smile about that.

so just wanted to let you know that prayers are being answered. Now for making final exams....

amy

Photos updated:

Beach: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168732&id=735963980&l=66437459fa

Vietnam: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168724&id=735963980&l=0437cd7ba5

Parents: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163202&id=735963980&l=88a1dbf217

Randoms: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168738&id=735963980&l=84973899fc



If you have facebook please look up Cambodia Adventist School

also the school website is www.cas.edu.kh

UPDATE!!!!!!

I alot has happened in the past few months... I don't even know where to start. So this blog may be a little random as I try to remember the highlights. :D

April:
- My parents came!!!! Yeah!!!! I was able to show them around Phnom Penh so if you see them ask them how it went. :D I think they had a good time. Phnom Penh was stark empty because it was Khmer New Year so all the people leave the city to go to their provinces. I know NO ONE from Phnom Penh originally. Everyone has a "homeland" that they go to.
- The next weekend for holiday I went with the other SM's to the beach Kom Pong Som. We had a blast and we went snorkeling at an amazing island where there was basically no one there except us and the locals. The beach was white and empty. Gorgeous. God has created some amazing things. We saw lots of fish and sea creature thingys... haha... that I have no clue what they are.

May:
- My birthday! I had a blast. It was 3 days of fun :D On friday I had a surprise party with Tim, Fay, Gary, Sharon, Kristie, BJ, and Whit. On Saturday it was Sabbath and I had a fun time at Game time. Finally at the end of the day the boys let me win rook. When ever i play with them, they always bid rediculouly high and so I never can get points but finally they let me bid :D Then on Sunday some of my students led by Rosa threw me a little surprise get together. Now that was a surprise... I love them all dearly :D :D :D :D
- This weekend Kristie, Sumaira, and I went to vietnam and we did all our souvenir shopping. Apparently all things touristy is made in Vietnam so all the tourist things that you can get here and are made in Vietnam are a lot cheaper to just buy in Vietnam... :D Plus I got to eat Pho where Bill Clinton ate. And I got to see the tunnels were the North Vietnamese fought... and I saw the Reunification Palace where South Vietnam surrendered. Pretty cool stuff. It's fun to see that history is real. :D


So those are the major events. Now for some news....

-I only have one more month of school left. Not even. I think I am im panic mode. Already some of the Loas kids went home and I wasn't able to say goodbye!!!! I don't know what I am going to do. Breathing literally gets hard when I think I will be saying good bye soon. I'm gonna cry majorly. I'm going to warn all my students.

-The first science fair ever for CAS is this coming Sunday... we'll see how it goes...

- On Saturday Drama presents for church. PRAY FOR US PLEASE.... I am in panic mode. The kids are not. They are SLOW!!!!!! It doesn't help we have only had one class all quarter cause of all the holidays. Please pray that I am not pessimistic... but seriously I am WORRIED! I am praying that it will go well. On the plus side, because we are doing a program for church I have been doing worship with them every morning for the past month to prepare them for the program so they understand the message they are trying to get across and it is cool to see so many of the students interesting in Christs story.. I don't know what they have been learning so far but some of the kids didn't even know Jesus felt pain for them. Interesting conversations going on there. Pray that they all continue searching.

- 8 students may not graduate. Pray that they get there study boots on and get serious!

- Good news! I had a student who had given up on life... last straw was failing my class and so he was thinking about commiting suicide. BJ found out and so he talk to the principle and I talked to this student and made a deal that if he made up the work he would pass with a 60% (which is barely passing) and he had to prove he would try harder. Now he is one of the better students in my class, trying really hard, taking baptismal classes and he says it is because 2 teachers never gave up on him, and have shown him patience and so now life is worth living. I love happy stories!!! Pray that his interest in Jesus is not just temporary and that he continues searching. He is asking to be baptized. :D YEAHH!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!! (p.s. I have other student who failed were given the opportunity to make up the work and are now trying harder as well... pray for them, and pray for those who do not take up the gift of mercy... now I know how Jesus feels....)

- Please just pray for Cambodia... lots of exciting things can happen, but only we the Holy Spirits help.

Well gotta grade... as always.

Love ya all!!!!!!

snapshots

Two days ago it was so hot that when I took a shower I couldn't get it cold enough. I enjoyed getting out of the shower into A/C. Then yesterday is rained. The rain that starts at 2am and goes to 5 pm. Pouring. Now today I took a shower. I couldn't get it warm enough. oh the irony of life.

This morning I forced Kristie to get up and look at the clouds. There were actually nice fluffy clouds. Usually we either have a dark curtain of clouds meaning it's raining or no clouds. Since January we have had basically no clouds. It's suppose to be dry season.

Last week was the week or prayer at school and this week it is the week of prayer at church. School week of prayer went well. It was student run, so I was proud at how much the kids worked to make it special. It was a little unorganized here and there, but overall it was a success. We had many kids wanting prayer or more bible studies at the end of the week.

What I love most about being here is relationships. What stinks is I am becoming closer to the students so classes are a little more difficult to handle, but now I have so many kids coming up to me and telling me there secret problems and asking me for advice or prayer. It makes my days. I'm afraid that when i leave it's gonna be like when I left the U.S no communication really anymore. Made me cry yesterday when a student told me that. Although he is a person who can get up move to a different place make new friends and can move on. Very independent.



My English is going down the tubes. I starting to speak like the students. Lots of incomplete sentences, forgetting vocabulary. You think I had a difficult enough time saying my thoughts when I was in America, you should hear me now. All the SM's can speak some Spanish so we try to speak to each other in it. It's gets really funny cause we starts saying stuff like this... "Ate, tengo mien.." Which is No( in Khmer) I have (Spanish) have (Khmer. Whitaker is the worst cause he knows the most Spanish and Khmer so he really gets the words mixed up. At the beginning of the year we had the opposite problem. I would go to the market and I would think Spanish words. Now we try to speak Spanish and instead say Khmer words.

Happy Pi Day!

Today I went to S-21 Prison. It is one of the prisons that Pol Pot opened in Cambodia. During his reign people who were thought to be against the regime were charged and brought to this prison to see if they were traitors. Basically, one had to confess or be killed. Or not confess and be killed. It more depended on how much torture one could survive through. Most of those who were sentenced to go to prison were educated people. Pol Pot wanted to create a state that was all one class—labor workers. Phnom Penh was basically evacuated and either forced to work at labor camps or killed if they were of higher class. It is so horrific what the human race is willing to do. It is also sad how it seem the world continued on without realizing what occurred to Cambodia. What is also truly horrifying is that the U.S helped put the Khmer Rouge in power. In Cambodia they have excavated around 20,000 MASS graves. not 20,000 normal graves of people during this time, but 20,000 MASS graves. The time period that this occurred in was around 3 years long, maybe 1976-‘79. They had a list of some of the graves that they have excavated. Each grave had any where around 100-30,000 people in each grave.
It was a place that was just hauntingly silent. The rooms were plain, not much in it except the bed that the prisoners lied in when being tortured along with a box that they used as their toilet, but it was just inexpressible seeing the pictures and reading about what was done in this building. What is remarkable is the prison was a high school before being turned into a prison. So in the rooms there are still chalkboards and little sayings etched in the wall about teamwork and good communication. Two very opposite uses of a building that contrasted greatly.
In the pictures of those that were killed and tortured some looked to be just 5-7 years old. Those who did the torturing were anywhere’s from 16-30 years old looking. Pol Pot trained a very young army. Boys who were only waist high carried guns. There is a pastor here who tells that when he was forced to carry a gun it would drag on the ground because it was bigger than he.

Anyways… to more happier thoughts.
Today the ninth grades did a fundraiser as well and so I did face painting at it. I had fun. I let Chea face paint my face for 5,000 reil. It looked quite interesting. He tried to turn me into a guy with a mustache and beard along with some random other designs all over my face. I then turned him into a tiger… or what was supposed to be a tiger :P haha
On Friday I celebrated Pi day with my 12 graders. I made apple pie, banana cream pie, and mango cake for them. (Yeah our oven works now! ) What surprised me is that they actually ate all of that. I thought I would have left over’s. They enjoyed it. 10th graders on Friday had to do their skits. Decent but still needs more work. I am having difficulties motivating that class to go beyond expectations or to at least make expectations. It’s a slow process. Elementary did very well. I think that it helped that I let them speak Khmer… then I felt bad though, because then I was promoting it is okay to speak Khmer in school. It’s hard. I want chapel to be something the kids can learn from and so if they are going to get something out of it, I feel like it should be in the language that they can understand, but yet they are at our school to learn English and the only way they are going to learn is to be exposed to it all the time. Next time I think I will do it in English though. Give it a try.

Yesterday I did scripture reading for Church. Pisith recommended to the Pastor that I read it … I was confused why until I found out that I was reading the genealogy of Christ. I think he was secretly laughing to himself as I tried to pronounce all the names…. actually not, but yet I wonder…

I lost and found my bible this week. I NEED my bible and I was seriously lost without it. But Kristie found it :D Yeah for a good roommate!
I was told this week by a student that she is trying to be like me… What a scary thought. I told her to only see the good things, but it made me realize how much the students are watching me. I need to be extra cautious about what I say and do so it reflects how God wants me to be.

I have been having lots of interesting talks with people about the trinity. It is something that I forgot that I do not truly understand. I’m not sure if I should except that it is something that we as humans cannot understand, or as humans, are we making it more difficult than it really is? Something I’m trying to figure out.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=151910&id=735963980&l=8a7cbbbac9

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Sihanoukville-- Ex-Pat Retreat

This weekend was filled with fun! :D

Ann's church donated money towards any project of her choice here in Cambodia so she and Mark planned a retreat for all the SDA ex-patriots (foreigners) that are here in Cambodia. We drove down to Sihanoukville to do so, which is the touristy beach area of Cambodia.

It was cool to meet all the people that are in Cambodia and to get to know them better. I have decided that all the coolest people in the world have decided to live in Cambodia and work here (and for some reason they all seem to come from Walla Walla too, where are you Andrews?), because frankly they are just plain awesome. The stories they have to tell and what they have done, and what they have lived through is just incredible. I feel like what they must talk about is not real. They are the people you read about in Mission books. Secretely I want their autographs lol ;D but seriously...


For the retreat they brought in Mr. Scott Griswold who is in charge of Buddhist Ministries. He was a SM for a year in the refuge camps at the border of Cambodia and Thailand, went back to America to finish school, came back a few years later and has stayed in Southeast Asia since. He now lives in Thailand with his family. But the ex-pat here have stories way back. Alot have been here for around 15 years, lived through the end of Pol-Pots reign, lived through the coo (i don't know how to spell it) and seen how Cambodia has developed.

We got to talk to Ben Davis alot cause his family is in Australia right now and he has so many stories to tell. He was telling us how when he was in Sihanoukville, the Khmer Rouge was posted right over the mountain (large hill with jungle) so he went with the loggers that would go into the jungle and he talked and hung out with the Khmer Rouge. The general showed him around the area and the jungle was filled with monkeys, deer, elephants, there were waterfalls and lots of trees. A few years later when the governement pushed the Khmer Rouge out of that area he visited the government camps and there were no animals, all had been killed to be sold, and the area was being logged clean. It is sad how the suppose to be "good guys" really actually caused harm. He was telling how corrupt the government was at that time and a lot of the trouble was caused by government troops. He was actually shot by government troops who were trying to steal his motorcycle. So many stories I don't know how to write them all.

In Montokiri there are a missionary couple that are the first to learn the language of the tribe and they are developing a written language for the Pnong people since there language is only an oral language. They were saying explaining how the people view sin and it is a concept that we should all try to understand. The people do not think of sin as something you do, but something you already have. When they leave a home of another person, they offer a sacrifice to get rid of the sins they (either those at the home, or those leaving) may have commited at the home and brush the blood around the door. Very similar to passover story. Gives me the shivers.

What is also intersting, is that before Pot Pot times it was a common belief across cambodia that there was one God who created everything. It is so cool how God can show up anywhere. Now that belief has died out because Pol Pot basically destroyed all beliefs. Even buddhism here is not really buddhism. Its a buddhism, hinduism, and lots of spirituallism all mixed together and everyone believes something different. Difficult to understand cause it is such a mix of things.

While we were there we also did some touristy things. I got a fish massage were fish eat the dead skin off your feet. I spent most of the time trying not to move my feet and laugh since it tickled so much. :D

Kristie, Sumaira, Ben, and I also did a ocean water park were we played on these blow up coarses. We had fun. My shoulders are now very soar from pulling my self up. We had a pool at our hotel so we swam some in that as well. My camera took lots of pictures in the water. I'm gonna try to post them soon, but internet is not cooperating with me right now.

I must say the ocean was very very warm. Like swiming in a bath tub. We kept on swimming out hoping it would get cooler... it never did.

This is gonna be a really quick post, cause I have about 5 mintutes before I need to go to school.

Internet if finally working yeah!!!

Midterm grades are due today and I have not finished grading....

We are going to have a science fair on my birthday, so I think they are secretly planning it to be a party for me ;P haha.

One class can't decide if they like me or dislike me and in the process I am getting very annoyed and losing patience. Pray that I will make correct choices and not do anything that is unfair when I am upset with them.

Whitaker's mom came yesterday and we made dinner for her and her friend. They are here for two weeks. Today they are going to help Fay in the library.

It is almost mango season so they are getting ripe and cheap to buy. We can now buy 4 for 3,000 reil or 75 cents.

Time to go :D

bye.


p.s. Before this year only 2 of the 30 ESL kids knew about Jesus. We just heard that 5 of them were asking a teacher what they should do because they want to learn more about Jesus but their parents do not want them to. Pray for them as many kids here have to face the difficulty of believing against their parents wishes. Also I am excited because my Morality Class (bible class) for the older ESL classes is going well. It is cool to have a discussion with them. It is a miracle in two ways. We are discussing in English when at the beginning of the year they could not form sentences. Two and best of all they have a real desire to learn more about the bible. :D

sorry

I broke my promise. It's been two weeks.

Senior survival was the bestest! We went to a ropes coarse and did team building activities. We also did a lot of activities that involved being in a harness and jumping from large hights to encourage self confidence. The kids were so brave. Most of them have never done that kind of stuff before and everyone tried all the activities even when they were terrified. One girl took an hour to encourage to finally jump off on the zipline, but afterwards she just crashed and slept for an hour or so. We had a little drama with one girl.

In Cambodia the girls are not really taught how to deal with stress and us SM"s were not aware of this. We were the ádults of the trip cause teacher Rithy needed to go home. After one of the activities a girl colapsed and wouldn't really respond and it was not a sleep cause she would blink in response to questions. She could not move. After three hours we took her to the hospital and the hospitals out in the country are definatly not first class. It took an hour for the doctor to realize that IV he gave here was not working and he only had two patients and they were in the same room. Anyways after an hour in the hospital she woke up and was fine.

The next day us SM's concluded she would not do anything that was too "scary" She agreed and they for the zipline when she saw how much fun everyone was having she wanted to go. We said no and then called Sharon for advice and she called the admin and they all agreed no as well. The girl was not too happy and threatened to commit suicide, ran away and then again went into a coma state like appearance for 4-5 hours. Good times. Apparently she has done this before. It scared us the first time but the second time I was just plain annoyed cause she puts herself into it. She is okay now and she appoligized.

But now school is back to normal. My 12th graders had a valentines sales this past week and we had some mix ups with the orders so there was some upsetness with that, but overall I think it went well. I just wish I could speak Khmer.

Oh the biggest news of all is during Senior Survival, God again told me to switch to THeology and all my kids got to see me cry as I was giving my testimony because my testimony was not supose to have the part were I say "God's calling me to be a pastor and I don't want to.", so yeah... when I am back my new major is theology, good thing I like school.

I cut my thumb and now I have no feeling on the top part of my thumb. Kinda cool.

It's Chinese new years right now so everything is closed. It's funny because I am in Cambodia and it is not an official holiday. I have a feeling a lot of students will be skipping tomorrow, especially the half-chinese students.

Whitaker just bought a moto and so he is gonna pick Kristie and I up from the Internet shop. He is crazy. We are at an internet shop cause the internet does not work at our place. The cord is cut.

I did Chapel on Friday and my Sermon was on the second coming. Too many people believe the movie 2012 that just came out. THey think the world is going to end in 2012 and there will be two suns and two moons and the works. Even some of the christian teachers are confused. It was cool I was nervous when I stood up and then I just spoke and the words came. I could feel the Holy Spirit that is the only way I can describe it. I said things I never planed on saying. The students actually paid attention and some were squiming uncomfortably. Afterwards I felt shot. I was shaking and tired. I think that it was something the kids needed to hear.

I need to go now. BJ's waiting for me.

Love you all and I miss talking to friends. Sometimes I just want someone to talk to from the US, but oh well I love it here and it is soon forgotten.


Amy

week 3 of New Years Resolution

Again randoms from my diary.

Jan. 18:

Today was a good day. I started off reading Romans 5:1-11 and I felt loved. It came at the right time when I just needed to be reminded of how big God's love is for me and how insignificant I am and yet he cared. I recommend you read it.

Health class went better. I don't know if I wrote this before, but they were remembering nothing in review and it scared me. Today I could tell they were studying.

Kristie and I became MaDai Dorm (mother dorm) for the day. Sok Cheng needed to have a day off. It went well for the most part. I worked on my Khmer with the kids and practiced reading some words. Makes no sense to me. I can make the sounds of each letter, but to put it together! what a task! It made me a lot more patient with my ESL group the next day. The only thing that went wrong is I caught a girl with a phone which they are not suppose to have. I took it away and gave it to the vice principle. caused a little drama but not too bad.

Jan. 19

It is raining! It's suppose to be dry season. So much for leaving cloths on the line cause it "never rains" during this time of the year...

Jan. 22:

Semester exams are done! I think I made them too difficult. For example (name) did the best for Physics and his score was 71%. I still do not know how I will curve it. Making good tests is a art that I have not mastered. No one finished my Algebra II test either.

We have to have all grades in by Sunday morning cause we are going to Tum buck hah (something like that) in Preah Veah up north near the Thai border. That is the province were all the conflict with Thailand is occurring so many parents do not want the kids to go because if war breaks out that is where it will occur. I say why live life thinking "what if?" Conflict has occurred with Thailand for the past few years and so far no war. Anyways we are going to have tons of fun at a Ropes Course run by ADRA. It is located in the jungle yeah!!

I have never had so many girls cry to me before. What is sad is I try to think of advice but do not offer prayer and then another student will say we need to pray. Why is prayer my last option? I need to learn to make it my first option in all situations.

Have a happy Sabbath!!!

I like the way my friend Sara does her blog with random things from her journal so I am now going to do the same, instead of think of new stuff to write for the blog each week. Sorry if it seems a little random.

Jan 10: I miss Orng. For Sabbath I was reading what he wrote for me so I could sing the Khmer songs. He forgot he was writing in English so when he came to "preah" which means God, he wrote it in Khmer. Good thing preah and knom are the two words I can read in Khmer :D

Jan. 11: It is Kristie's birthday. We went to Sharon and Gary's for dinner. We ate pizza and I was stuffed beyond belief. Sharon made pizza.

Angellina and Manilla Ros left school. Their parents want them to be able to get Gov. Certificate and because it is tested on the Sabbath our school does not have it.

Jan. 12: I just remembered Roth when he did the time worksheet wrote "60 after 11" for 12 o'clock. He likes to push the rules. Always is thinking outside of the box. We call him BJ's son. haha even other students call him that. They have a special bond.
Alia told me I look old today. He said it's cause my hair is down. It was a little frizzy today. haha I love honesty. Only in Cambodia.

Jan. 13: I'm feeling down, blah and my students can tell. I don't like it. I seem to make more mistakes than doing stuff correctly. Maybe it is Satan tring to discourage me. It is making me feel like a terrible teacher. After school I worked with Sear on Pre-Calc and I couldn't answer his questions. I was told that most of my students think I come straight from high school. I didn't know I make that many mistakes. It's almost a joke now. If I don't make a mistake that it is a strange day and something is wrong. At first it didn't bug me, but it is just piling up and I want to be someone that the students can go to and they will feel confident that I will give them the right answer. I just want one mistake free day.

We had bible study in the evening. Our group was asked to find a bible verse that talks about helping the poor. Sophat wanted to show me one verse and he was looking in the bible for it. When he found it, he got so excited he pointed at it and said "Teacher! here this is it, see it does talk about serving the poor" I just blankly looked at his bible and when I didn't respond yes or no he said "teacher look!" and he got even more excited that I wouldn't agree with him. I tried to calm him down ... "sophat... sophat... Sophat! I can't read khmer." haha he forgot he was reading in khmer and I couldn't read it. I thought it was hilareous! that was the highlight of my day.

Hak was excited today. He came in afer school to tell me he wasn't studying with me because he was going to study with Gary about the Sabbath. It was cool to see him light up. He is a very mellow dude so o see him like that and to hear him talk so much about how he was excited to study the bible was cool to see. Students surprise me and I love it.

Jan. 14: Too bad it takes a semester for me to realize I 'm a terrible health teacher. They didn't even know what a pupil or kidneys are! Ahhhh! Something needs to change.

Good news... My friend in 10th grade who shall remain nameless claims he hates america and when he becomes a dictator of a country he is going to bomb America. At least now he promises he will fly me out before he bombs America. So warning: if you see me flying on a private jet out of America... America will soon be bombed. that child scared me... haha and to think he is one of my allies in the crazy 10th grade class that drives me nuts.

Jan. 16: Angellina came back to school. Apparently the school they transferred to was "mean" the students did not accept her, there were no rules, and even though it was "english" everyone spoke khmer. Even though are school seems crazy sometimes it is good to here that at least we have a welcoming environment. She told me she was glad to be back with Adventists. I'm glad she could see something in us that is different. Hopefully it is God working through the school. She is leaning towards baptism and so I am glad that she is back in a christian environment.

Jan. 17: I went to IBC today and I got two books to learn to read and write khmer. I now know the first six letters and five other random letters. I'm slowly learning. Here is a link to see what the constanants look like for their alphabet.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136927&id=735963980&l=904454603f

New Years

My new years resolution that I just made today: Update my blog once a week. Lets see how this works.... I don't make any promises but I am going to try. I started a journal so hopefully I can just take stuff from that each week and wha-la! a new blog.

Last week was winter break. Kristie, BJ, and I went to Thailand and had a blast! We all stayed at BJ's cousin's house whom he met for the first time ever, and they were the sweetest family ever. They are Filipino and so we got to enjoy lots of Filipino food. Yummy! I was missing out before.

We did a tour basically everyday. The highlights were I was able to pet many full grown tigers and I rode an elephant! Fun times! The low lights was the snake show where i wanted to yell "of course it is gonna attack when you throw the snake. I wouldn't like it either!"

We also visited mission college were some of my friends now go. Except since it was break no one was there. Actually it is now called Asia-Pacific International University. It is a beautiful campus. We went on Thursday so for New Years we brought some people with us from the University went to BJ's cousin house and celebrated the new years on the roof of their apartment complex. It is around 25 stories high and right outside of the city so we had a good view of the Bangkok skyline. Now Bangkok is just like any big city in the US with freeways and skyscrapers galore so it was beautiful seeing all the fireworks going off in the skyline. Although as we looked at one skyscraper, black smoke started coming out of it which was not a good sign. Since we left the next day I'm not sure if the building was actually on fire. You can see pictures of our trip at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132152&id=735963980&l=bb97f59e1f


This week we went back to school :D I missed seeing my kids so it was good to be back. On Thursday we had a holiday but I spent the day grading. I'm still so behind. Today I have to make all my semester exams cause they are due tomorrow. I'm a little nervous if I will get it done. we'll see....

Anyways.. Have a great week!