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!

Riet Riay Bon Noel!!!! (Merry Christmas!)

I know it has been ages and I apologize. A lot has been going on. Piano and Piano and more piano, just like I previously wrote about. The Sunday after the performance were we played for the embassadors, we played our first hour long performance in the lobby. In the past we were told only a few people watch and then leave and the some more people wander in, listen to a few songs and then leave. However when we arrived there were chairs set up and everything for people to sit and listen and we had a group watching us. It was nerve wracking. Especially since the children had learned most of the 15 songs just that week, cause we had a lot of last minute joiners. When we performed it was terrible. No other word for it. We left music on the bus so we didn’t have everything we needed, the piano cut in and out, the children started off key, music went flying with the fan, I played terribly, it was bad. So bad that Sharon had us take off two class periods for the next week to have extra practice. She also had a new piano bought that works. All the extra practice worked and the following Sunday they sang beautifully and this past Sunday was awesome as well as the Christmas eve program and the Christmas day program. I love those kids and I am so proud of them! They worked so hard and they amaze me :D

The Christmas program on Thursday went well. Kinda surprised me. During practices it seemed like there was no hope of ever being organized and I felt like I failed at organizing a Christmas program. I didn’t even realize that I even was in charge of the whole Christmas program till the week of, and then I realized that was what everyone was expecting me to do. I am still not sure if I was in charge… anyways it is over with, the drama skit is over with and I am FREE!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful Christmas is over with, because I was involved with so much I had no time to do my teaching stuff such as grading and lesson planning. Now it is catch up time… :/ Not the funnest thing to do.

Christmas day was a strange normal day. On Christmas Eve we went over to Tim and Fay’s and we stayed over night. In the morning we had a pancake breakfast. We then went over to school and got ready to leave to go the Royal to perform. At the Royal we only sang for ½ hour instead of a hour, which was good but kinda disappointing cause I wanted to go out with a bang. But they sang beautifully and played decent. Afterward we came back and did laundry, cleaned up some, and finshed wrapping Christmas presents. We then went over to Tim and Fay’s again for supper and ate lots of food. We then watched the Nativity. Actually a decent movie.
Today a normal Sabbath day, except we are planning for Thailand! Kristie, BJ, and I bought tickets to Thailand and are spending a week there for Christmas break. Yeah!

It's December!

Story of my Life right now:
Teach
Christmas Music
Being hated by 10th graders
Piano and More Christmas Music
Korea
Christmas Music
Drama

Explaination.

I cannot remember what I last wrote about and I am writing in Word right now and I do not have the internet so I cannot check so I will write about what has been happening lately.
As you can tell Christmas music is playing a large role in my life right now. Being the only CAS teacher willing to play the piano makes me a very busy person. I am the leader for the Christmas program. Since English Christmas music is not a very familiar topic to the Khmer teachers I now teach choir to all grades pre-k to 8th. So I can officially say I have taught all grades in the school except 9th grade. I’m enjoying it because I am meeting more students and the eighth grade girls now are my new little sisters, but the down side is I lost all my planning times and my library times to do this. So all my grading and lesson planning is down outside of school. But there is not enough time, so lesson planning has kinda been placed on hold. I think my students are loving it, cause lessons have not been too tough lately. Sometimes I want to go crazy and just hide so I no longer have to play the piano, but God is good he’s getting me through. See the Christmas program is not the only program I am playing the piano for. I also am the pianoist for the special choir which sings for a hotel in the city. So on top of that there are days through this month were after school or on Sunday I have to go to the hotel and play for the choir. I’m a little scared for when that starts. The first day is on Monday. Please pray for me and for the choir so that we can be a witness. Not only do I play for that but random special musics that I get asked to do. This Sabbath I played accompaniment for all the Korean volunteers (Kristie, Hannah, Grace, David Kim’s wife) as they all play the flute. Also I was asked to play for the 12th grade class vespers, but I told David I would rather not. Hopefully I can get out of it. All of this takes practice time and well, lets just say the piano is not pretty for all that I am doing. I don’t think the people realize how limited I am with the piano. Sure I can play the notes if they are in front of me, but all Khmer pianists here only play by sound and so they expect all pianists to do the same. That is not me. Oh well… I’m doing my best. I actually have learned how to play by chords (like a book that just has chords for the guitar). It’s not too pretty but the basic background noise to a song. But I’m proud that I have learned that much. So as you can see Christmas music is taking over my life.

Now the 10th graders do not hate me, or at least I hope not. They are just “disappointed” with me. I was a judge for a debate about abortion and the 10th graders were pro-choice and the 9th graders were pro-life. The MC for the debate did not try to hide how teachers judged and so all know that I was the one to cause the 10th graders to lose the debate. Also the day earlier I promised to do Christmas decorating with them for Algebra. Now who would I be to take time out of a math class to decorate without doing math. So I was going to have them make a paper chain and on each piece they would have to solve one algebraic equation since they are learning to solve for a variable. Well, they had started cutting the paper, but when I introduced what they were going to do. They pushed the paper aside and said they were not going to do it cause that is no fun. I said fine. You get homework then. Previously I said I would not assign homework. According to some I disappointed them cause I broke my promise. Whatever. They irritated me. I sound like a kid I know, but they were just so ungrateful so I gave homework. I even brought Christmas music. They have not learned that when they irritate me they get homework. Let’s just say they get a lot of homework. :D lol

Some exciting news is I think I am going to Korea for Christmas break. We (Kristie and I) found tickets to go at a discounted price and we reserved the tickets. However they did not tell us we had to pay by a certain day so when we went in they said we lost the tickets. The price went up and so then we were thinking of not going. They on Friday the travel agent lady called and the discount sale had extended and is now cheaper! So yeah we still might go!
I’m in charge of drama class which is a challenge for me since I have never participated in drama except to make props. We have two productions this month. Scary.
What is really exciting is David Kim a Korean Missionary is starting a project to get the teens in the church active. Every Sabbath after church they get together have a choir practice, potluck and then go out into parts of the town and have classes for the kids. It’s cool to see the students getting active and having them do the “mission” work instead of the foreigners. Kids who are shy in school are getting involved and it is neat seeing them doing something that is not in their norm. I think it is a great start to keeping students in the church. They have the same problem here as in America. Students get baptized and then leave the church when they get bored. So hopefully this will give them a sense of purpose. Next step is to reach the collegiate level and that is where I think all us SM’s will step in since we are their age.

Now for a new list of why I can tell I’m starting to fit in here.

I have sandle tan lines.
When I open a packet of roman noodles and there are ants inside I just brush them off, cook the noodles and pick out the few ants I didn’t see.
I get cold at night. It is probably 75 degrees
I can ride a bike with a 12th grader on the back. (while going on a dirt road that is all potholes)
When I greet someone I hit them on the shoulder. (a terrible habit that I need to stop. Everyone hits each other here…. lightly though)
I got my makeup done for a wedding. (It was scarylooking. Kristy and I were so embarrassed walking home)
When someone yells teacher I responder quicker than if they yell my name
When I see another white person I think… oh that tourist and I laugh silently to myself
I crave unripe mango with salt and chili power. It is yummy
I crave durian especially in duk kru lok, which is a fruit shake. Durian smells like rotten trash. No lie
I don’t want to leave ever and I am 100% sure I will be back in the future. One reason is I promised Orng I would go to his wedding when ever that is… he says 6-8 years, but we’ll see, his girlfriend lives in another country. I just want to see what see my students where they are older and see how they have changed. It would be awesome to see. I was told that we would have culture shock. And there are moments that I think to my self… life would be so much easier at home. But those instances last two hours at the most and then I again love it here. There has not been a moment that I thought I would rather be at home. I am very blessed to have such a great support system here and at home. It makes me feel more comfortable know that I still have friends at home and so I want to thank you for all your prayers and for answering my phone calls and for the emails or facebook messages cause even though I may not respond cause I forget to, it really helps me out.
One last thought. What is really cool about helping out with ESL is seeing them improve. When we first started the ESL class could not sing any song in English. Now they can all read and all love to sing and would like to have worship last forever if possible. I teach the hour after lunch and at the start of this quarter I made a new rule of no Khmer during that class hour. I expect complaints about how that is impossible, but they have surprised me and have taken it to heart. I told them I would give them a warning if I heard Khmer and then points would be taken away the second time. I have only given warnings and no points have been taken away. They love the idea that they can go an whole hour just speaking English and they are doing well. Even kids who would not even respond to ‘how are you?’ are talking to me asking me questions. It makes me so happy seeing how they are improving. Kristie is doing a great job with that class. A sad thing though is that Orng is leaving us :( He is now sponsored to go to Mission college in Thailand and is leaving in Jan. AHHHHH!!!! I don’t know what we are going to do. He is the one Khmer Teacher’s assistant that is always there, knows all the students, only speaks Khmer when he has to, is not lazy, and works his but off for that class, and the kids love him. I’m going to be very sad. He walks like a grandpa when he wears tennis shoes cause he is use to only wearing flip flops so I call him Lok Da which means Mr. Grandpa and so ne now calls me Lok Yey- Ms. Grandma and his is the one who always fixes our problems whether it be with the sink, finding glue, our bikes, finding a noodle place. Life will not be the same without him. and Kagna left us for the Philippines and the girls deans Sok Cheng and Souphea may leave as well! All our Khmer friends are leaving us! New Mission College graduates are going to start working here in Jan. so maybe we’ll make new friends.

May I also say, this Thursday is our next senior fundraiser and it will be a carnival. I'm nervous about this one cause there is a lot going on.... Praise God that Sopeap is another advisor and she is willing to help.

Any ways. Have a great night!


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=125268&id=735963980&l=bcb2fe5646

Thanksgiving was a more different day. On Wednesday night, Kristie and I spent awhile making lots and lots of donuts for all of our students. That is all of highschool and ESL. We figured around 140 students and we made at least two donuts for each kid and we had enough for two per each teacher as well, and then had left overs to spare. We do not have a working oven, so we are limited in the deserts that we can make. Donuts were are best option to give to the students. We were going to make rice pudding but that would have taken a lot of milk, and we do not have that kind of money.

Thursday we went to school like anyother day, but handed out donuts. For breakfast though Sharon had us over and we had belgium waffles with raspberries and strawberries! Now that is a very, very, very, very special treat. After the day I taught adult ESL which went okay. There was a whole scandle with that. Tricky issue. I already am booked with things to do and then the pastor told me to choose a day to teach adult ESL after school. I though he ment only one day so I agreed, told him a day, and then it turned out to be everyweek. I felt bad since I already agreed so I was kinda just grudgingly going along. Sharon found out, and it is school policy that teachers can only teach at CAS and if I wanted to teach ESL she is looking for a ESL teacher for a after school class for CAS students. I told her I wanted out, cause I do not have the time. She talked to the pastor and explained. THen I talked to the pastor to explain how I do not have the time, and he thinks it is all Sharon's fault. Everyone allways blames Sharon cause she is the only one who has the guts to speak, so I feel bad that this is one more thing, where the Khmer people blame Sharon. I tried to tell the pastor that it was me without the time, and I am just agreeing with the policy, but that didn't stop his perception. Any ways I told him I would teach one week since it was such last minute that I said that I could not. (the next day I got talk to by a teacher friend of mine explaining how I have to make time, and I guess I am only thinking about myself instead of others.... ohh that made me upset. Says the one who does nothing for his class while I do his job. anyways.... sore subject.)

That night we then had thanksgiving dinner which Sharon hosted and all the expats in Cambodia were invited. (expats are non-khmers) Only the phnom Penh residents came though. And it was funny how a majority of them were not American. haha it was an international thanksgiving. It is the first thanksgiving I have had Chappatties next to my mashed potatoes. I would have it no other way though. Whitaker was sick so he did not enjoy the food that much. So sad... it was yummmy!

Picts of Thanksgiving

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124111&id=735963980&l=6156abc26b

Then today was a wedding day. We were invited although I do not know the couple that was getting married. Foreigners are good luck. I was excited to go to see what it is like. The wedding starts bright and early around 8'o'clock and the guests march in the streets. Then breakfast is served, then there is the "Western" style wedding ceremony, then lunch. We skipped all but the ceremony and lunch. Early in the morning I went with two dorm students to get flip flops, since mine were stolen a few weeks ago when I went camping. Then we planned to meet Reachany to see how she was going to do her hair and makeup and to see if we wanted to do the same. We went to the market to meet her, waited for a long time, never found her, and so we went to our own place, cause we figured if we were going to go to a wedding and pay $10 to eat, we were going to go all out. So we went to a salon and to our suprise Pastor Pen Chenda and his wife, were there getting ready for the wedding. So we took it as a sign and stayed. We got our hair and makeup done. My hair turned out a little funny. I have never had so much hair spray in it in my life. You could actually see the hair spray and there was so much that the curls stayed all day, even after changing twice. That is miraculous with my hair. The makeup scared me. My face was covered with foundation, altough surprisingly it looked natural. The eyeshadow was a little iffy the eye liner scary as it was put only on my lower lids, and I made them take off the fake eyelashes as after they put them on I noticiably could see the fake lashes and below it my real lashes. Then they decided to fill in my eyebrows. Now my eyebrows are really light and thin. So adding dark brown color to them, made me look like a Auntie Bertha who has no eyelashes so she draws them in. Funny looking!

Kristie was just as unique with moons of blue colored on her eyes. On the way home we laughed the whole way at how ridiculus we looked and the worst part was to get up to our place we had to walk through the wedding. We definatly ran past our students and pretended not to see them. Once we got home, we toned down the hair and makeup and went to the wedding. We made it for the last part of the Western part. The bride never smiled. We think it cause they are not allowed to eat till all guests are gone and it was a hot day in a heavy dress.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124114&id=735963980&l=68c97997e1

Since loud music was playing at the end of the wedding we decided we would be more productive at school. Yeah right. I love the kids too much and they distract me. I got nothing done except got some pictures of them. I had some good coversations with students I have never talked to before cause I do not have them in class. A lot of times it is hard for students to accept Christ cause no one in their family believes. It is a reality that is hard to remember. I am very fortunate to have a family who believes as I do.


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124119&id=735963980&l=911fdc58cd

samaira is the best

I'm sick and my stomach hurts and a hotpack would be really nice, but the closest thing I have is my very warm computer. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have my computer on my stomach and update my blog.

Life is crazy right now. Since I can play the piano I am the one playing for the christmas program and I have to practice with all the classes. All my planning periods were taken away for practice time. It's only the first week and I am already a little stressed out cause I do not have time to do everything. oh well... it will soon be over.

I have been having a lot of good discussions with my students. I love how open they are with me and how they are willing to ask me questions. I had the "sex talk" with my 10th graders about how waiting for marriage is the best way to go, it was amazing how they listened, didn't laugh it off and they asked questions. My 10th grade class is my hardest class cause they are all talkers but I love them cause we always have the discussion, communisim vs. democracy, pro-life vs. pro choice, relationships. These are just a few of the topics we have talked about.

samaira is the best because she made me lunch. well, i'm not thinking logically right now so I am going to stop.

Here is a text from a student of mine today.

"I got a pray request. I pray for my math teacher, c (she) sick today. Math class without a good teacher like her is meaningless. So Lord i pray that c (she) will be fine well from sick and healthy. Give more strength to her coz c need to correct many student homework. Amen from sear to teacher Amy."

Isn't he the sweetest!

enjoy your day!

some more photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121958&id=735963980&l=fc721f1d34

Sous Dei Hello!

Coming back from camping was crazy. Grades were due that first day back at school, and that definitely did not happen. I finished the grades for the homeroom teachers that I knew would be asking for them from me and then I talk to teacher Moses and told him I would be late. I knew he would understand, cause he is one of the people always trying to get me to put doing grades aside to go out and have fun. lol partner in crime. The grades were done a day late but all worked out well. It just stressed me out some. This week was a little on the crazy side too. Two weeks ago we had three days of school because of Water festival and that is when I went camping. Water festival is a big holiday here where around 2-3 million people from the country side to watch the boat races on the Tole Sap River. I believe it is to celebrate the changing of directions of the river. I did go and watch on the last day cause it was raining and I had grades to work on and I don’t miss it. It is so crowded that it is nearly impossible to move, so I think I would have been so irritated at those around me I wouldn’t have even paid attention to the boats racing. After that holiday we came back for two days and then had Friday off for Parent teacher conference and this Monday we had off for Independence Day. So needless to say, going back to work was strange feeling. It was nice having all those days off. On Monday we spent it with Hannah and Grace the two Korean girls across the street and made Kim Chi. It tastes yummy. I tried it last night. I have to say that we are good kim chi makers. It is so easy and did you know that there are asian pears in it? I definitely did not. This week we had some students over for pancakes. There are a group of boys that hang outside the mission everyday so we have gotten to know them well. We promised them cookies one day and then cookies grew into a pancake dinner. We had fun. It’s funny what boys talk about. We got a group picture which I will try to put up soon.

It is the 11th grade class fundraiser tomorrow. For some reason students and staff think that since I did it once for the 12th grade (since they are my class) I am the one to go to for help for this one. It’s funny. I just need to learn to say no. I ended up shopping yesterday with some students from the class so they could make cinnamon rolls and banana bread to sell tomorrow while watching Finding Nemo. We went all over the place and made it back after one of the student’s curfew. I’m not a good responsible adult. I need to learn to be strict teacher Amy. It’s so easy to forget that I am suppose to be the responsible adult to the students. It’s a hard balance. I want to have friend here and the students become friends, but I have to remember that I am their teacher first. That is why I am so thankful that there are so many new teacher’s this year, so it has been easy to make friends with the Khmer teachers cause there are so many in their 20s.

Today was a first for me at vespers. I gave my first “realish” sermon for vespers. I did it on thankfulness and gratitude. I will paste my main outline for my sermon below. I’m very happy at how it turned out. I had many people come up to me and say they were inspired or blessed. I have never had anyone say that to me and it was such a awesome feeling to know that God spoke through me. I felt very used by God. I want to do it again. I was so nervous before I went up but then when I went up, the words just came. It surprised me. I didn’t look down at my notes, but once.

Funny stories for the week… Everyday I have prayer with my class and I ask for prayer requests. At the end Rattanack always says, “Any other prayer requests, please send them to teacheramy@gmail.com.” So I thought that I would surprise him and so I made a gmail account with the address teacher.amy6@gmail.com since teacheramy was already taken. Haha he laughed so hard. I’m praying for that class. I know that God is trying to reach so many of them, and there are few that I feel are searching. Please pray for my classes that I may be an example of Christ and that they will accept him as their savior. Anyways, I am excited to see if anyone will actually send prayer requests. I hope so.

I was told last Thursday I need to know the name of the skit drama is doing for Christmas by this Tuesday. So I searched online for all the free stuff and finally found one. Today I had Kristy show the 10th graders so that they could see what parts they want to try out for. As they began reading they surprisingly told Kristy, this was the drama that was done last year. Isn't that crazy. The one skit I choose out of the many I read, I choose the one from last year. The irony...

Here’s my sermon. It is a monologue of the 10 lepers.

Luke 16:13

While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.

Hey, did you guys just hear! I was healed! Why do you look so confused? Don’t you remember me?! I guess not. You Israelites are not too fond of Samaritans. I know. I’m a Gentile and it does not help that I had leprosy. I was one of the 10 that sat outside the city gates every day because I had leprosy. Maybe be your not familiar with leprosy. Leprosy is a disease that is affects the skin and causes it to turn white. I was honestly repulsive to look at so it is understandable that you do not remember me. But, let me tell of how I became healed.
I was sitting around the fire this morning as normal talking to the rest of the leper’s in our colony outside the city gates. Normally there’s nothing else really to do except try to think about things to talk about and throw stones, but this day was different. One of my friends overheard someone say that Jesus was going to soon be passing by. WOW did my spirits lift. See I had heard about this Jesus. Some said that he was a King going to save the Jews, he claimed to be the son of God, but that is not what I was thinking about. Jesus was also known to cure people from their illnesses.
Our group then made a game plan. We decided to wait near the road to see if we could catch a glimpse of him, any maybe if we yelled enough to get his attention, he would heal us. So we did just that. We waited some time and then waited more, and then waited. It honestly felt like forever because I was so excited to see him. Have you ever been like that. You are looking forward to something sooooo much, that it never seems to come. Well that is what it was like. Finally, after what seemed to take forever, we heard a murmur of noise from a far away crowd. It grew closer and closer, until we saw that it was Jesus walking amongst a crowd. We started yelling, “Jesus, Master have mercy on us!” At first it seemed hopeless that he would ever pay attention to us. We are lepers, outcasts. No one is suppose to come in contact with us. Why would a man who claims to be the Son of God care about such a low life as me. But then when I began to give up hope, he turned towards us. I have never seen such love in anyone’s eyes than like when he looked at me. It shocked me then when he spoke and he told us to go to the temple to show the priests.

I wanted to respond, “what do you mean, so myself to the priest ? I am not healed, only healed people go to the priest” Even that was crazy to think, because leprosy is incurable. But something about that love in His eyes, made me have faith that I should do what he asked. So I turned around and started walking towards the temple, still with my white skin, gross face, and missing fingers to show the priest how I was healed. But as I was walking closer, I started to feel better, I looked at my hands and all my fingers were there, my skin began to glow a healthy color and when I felt my face there were no sores! I was so happy I jumped up and ran back to my Lord. See only the Son of God could cure me like that. I ran back rejoicing and when I saw Jesus I fell at his feet in thanks, praising God. I was so excited about being cured that I didn’t even realize that my friends did not come back with me. Originally I thought, maybe I was the only one healed, but no Jesus looked at me with the kind face once more and asked “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are the? Was not anyone found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”
I was the only one to come back to thank Jesus! I don’t understand how that could have happened. Jesus is so good, I cannot do anything but give thanks and praise God. Don’t you agree? Not only did God heal me of my leprosy, but he accepted who I was. He was not repulsed by my looks, he did not say I will heal only the Israelites. No he loved me! And what is even greater then that he loves you to.


This is a true story that can be found in Luke 17. Does it not amaze you the faith of the leper who was willing to go to the temple as if he was healed when he was not healed and When hearing this story it is easy to think. Oiy I definitely would have gone back to say thank you if Jesus had healed me. But when you woke up this morning, did you say thank you? Did you praise God for what he has done for you? Everyday God pours so many blessings on each one of us, we have friends, family, food, education, a home, a God who listens a heavenly friend who paid the price on the cross for us. Why do we so easily forget to say thank you.
In psychology I learned about research done on positive thinking and we read a book called the Thank you Power by Deborah Melville. In that book she present research on the power of saying thank you. Research has proven that those who take the time to say consciously say thank you are seem to be more helpful to those around them. There are also many characteristics that were common among those who were thankful such as They felt better about their lives as a whole. * They were more optimistic. * They were more energetic. * They were more enthusiastic. * They were more determined. * They were more interested. * They were more joyful. * They felt stronger about handling challenges. * They exercised more (nearly an hour and a half more per week!). * They had fewer illnesses. * They got more sleep. * They made progress toward important personal goals. * They were more likely to have helped someone else. * They were perceived by others as more generous and helpful. * They were less envious of those with more possessions. * They were less cluttered
Imagine if we were like that. Wouldn’t we be a better representative of Christ if we had those characteristics which he also had. How much more Christ like would we be if our personality exude happiness. Do you say thank you to those around you, even for the small things? I have a friend that challenged my bible study group to find something to say thank you for the things that we had complaints about. An easy example is when one is given food that one does not like. Ahh I do not want to eat it! Instead of complaining I was challenged to say thank you for at least having a meal to eat. It was a difficult challenge, but I found that I felt better when I did so.
It is something that I even struggle with. It is easy to complain, and focus on how everything is going wrong, instead of focusing on much how God has blessed me. It is something that I am working on and I want to challenge you to find things you are thankful everyday and see how it changes your outlook on life. To conclude I would like you to pair up with someone and tell them three things that you are thankful for. It may be difficult at first to think of something, but once you get started it is easier to find many things that you are grateful for. In a few minutes I will close with prayer.

it's as easy as peeling bananas

So I was planning on going camping the last time I wrote, but then on Wednesday I paniced and decided not to go because of everything that I needed to get done for school. So thursday morning I walked down to tell pastor that Kristy and I were not going and instead I got talked inot going... lol I ran upstairs through some stuff in a bag and left. Kristy and BJ still did not go.

I'm glad I went. I took the stuff I needed to get graded and did most of it on the bus. I prayed the whole weekend that it would not rain and get my papers wet, cause I forgot to take that into consideration when packing.

I'm glad I went and do not have any regrets. I had a blast hanging out with the students and became closer to a lot of them. It surprises me how comfortable students become to a teacher when they trust that teacher. I never really had that kind of relationship with any of my teachers so it still catches me off guard when a student will come up to me and explain how the last time they were at this river they got baptized and he hung out with his dad and how much he misses him while walking away quickly(his dad pasted away from cancer). Or a student will just lean on me when sitting next to me, or explain the ups and downs of their dating relationships. I like it. It just saddens me how I am just temperary. I keep of thinking of things I wish I could change for next year, or do better for next year, and then I am reminded that there is no next year. It depresses me.

I have a family here now :D When we signed up to go on this trip the pastor told us we would be in charge of our own food cause we wouldn't like theirs (he kinda offended me assuming we were foreigners too different to eat the same food. He was trying to be nice I know and it is very kind of him to think of us) so I talked to David, a student of mine, who was going with a nother group with his dad and asked if we could eat with him. So we ate with the bicyling group. Their group rode their bikes to Ka Kong instead of taking a bus. It is over 200 km. But anyways, David's mom did a lot of the cooking and she is amazing cook and I knew so already cause I taste david and vireak's food during lunch time at school, so we ate well. anyways what I am trying to get at is david's mom calls me daughter now, and she told me to call her mai-dai which me mother and his dad is a sweet heart, who has worked as a pastor in Cambodia for ages. He can speak multiple languages. David is like a little brother to me and I got to know david's older brothers and so we hung out with them alot (we learned the coolest dance ever... think like the chicken dance) and the bicycle group consided of all of david's cousins and we ate everymeal with all of them. therefore i feel like i have a family here. :D

There were only squatty potties in the bathroom, no showers, so to take a bath we washed in the stream. :D FUN! It is the first time I have every gotten my picture taken while taking a bath. LOL Cambodians are really modest so we wore our cloths while bathing and swimming. The water was clear, so I actually felt clean after wards. It was truely camping. I enjoyed it tons.

I'm going to bed now, so I'll tell more tomorrow.

good night!

Vespers