Another Day at the Elim Center

We have been having a wonderful time here at the Elim center. We have been going to an outreach everyday the most recent being visiting an aids patient in Kampong Cham. Getting there was probably the most difficult part of the out reach as we got a flat on our back tire. And all I can say is that it is great to be in Cambodia because moto repair men are as plentiful as Starbucks in Seattle. After the short delay we finally were ale to meat up with the rest of the group at the sunrise center were we cheered up the patients with simple good hearted conversation laughter and we even sang a few songs. After visiting with the Aids patient we went back to the Elim Center were we fertilized some of the plants with one of the nastiest concoctions I have ever come across they say it has urine  manure and some other things I don’t even know how to write. Then finished our night off with the Williams were we played Skipo, visited, and even had some delicious chocolate cake.

I would like to not that due to the slow internet connection we can only upload 1 picture so we will be updating the rest of the pictures probably when we get back to the states.

The first few days at the Elim Center

Well we thought that we were not going to be able to update the blog but luckily due to Uriahs inovation we are now connected to the internet in the middle of no where! So far we have been here 2 days and are working on third. The trip was smooth but we did hit a hitch when we got off the bus as both of our cell phones were not able to call Jeff. And since we could not speak khmer and had no idea were we where I guess you could say that we were lost. Luckily for us Jeff called and eventualy picked us up from the side of the rode.

Life here has been grand we start the day out bright and early at 5:30 in the morning with the whistle blow and the start of morning chores. Which usualy consist of working in the garden or watering by using Uriahs manuel pumps. After chores we have breakfast then a time of worship and devotion to God. Then Jason and I break off as the the students are in class after this point and we either do a short project or simply read and hang out with the locals. Next comes lunch and then traveling with Church planting groups made up of staff and students with the idea that the students are able to see various stages of church planting and we are able to to help them out. We stay there for a few hours then head back to the center were we have dinner and enjoy the evening usually retiring early as we know it will be an early morning the next day. 

We have also uploaded some more pictures.

Island Fiasco

Yesterday Jason and I decided that we needed to get away from the tourist areas and go to somewhere more remote like an island. So we did some research and found that "The Kings Island" was a great place to in fact many peoples exact words were "Paradise". With this in mind we began searching for a ride to this island and just our luck a cargo boat was leaving last night at 9 P.M. and they were willing to take us on for a cheap price so we went for it.... Bad idea.

We were initially told that the boat ride was going to be 2 hours long and we thought that we were the only ones going to be riding on the boat. Which was the first communication error as the boat ride was really 6 hours long and we were crammed with 10 other people in what looked like a slave holding cell. Then what made it all worse was that it began storming so that combined with cramped living conditions equaled major sea sickness that I am just now getting over as I write this blog.

Now you would want to believe that this story would have happy ending of us finding the most beautiful Island getaway. But what really happened was that we got off the boat it was raining dark and not a single person was awake on the island. So we trekked around the entire island which took all of 30 minutes and found that this really was not a paradise like everyone said. With the new realization that there was no beach we ended up getting on another boat back to were we came from.

But alas we are back were we belong and are going to finish our trip off with a snorkeling provided by the much safer local dive shop.

So the moral of the story is that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

To |The Beach!

After finishing teaching our computer classes it was great to have some time planned out for some R & R and what better place to do that then at the beach! The trip to the beach was no cake walk. We had to take a 6 hour bus ride back to Phnom Phen, then from there we met some locals who said that they would take us in their van for only 4 dollars each. What they did not tell us was that they would be taking us and 17 of our closest friends in a(converted) 10 passenger mini van. To say the least it was an interesting trip but alas it was not over yet. For once we got to Kampot we then rented a moto for the last leg to the beach where I Oliver had the unfortunate accident of laying down the moto and burning Jason's leg in the process. He says "everyone lays down a bike at least once", that may be true it does not help the fact that he now has a foot long burn in the shape of the exhaust on his leg.

But in the end the trip was worth it for we are staying right on the beach in a Bungalow for only 3 dollars more than what we were paying to stay at the University of Nations. The beach here is beautiful, you can eat a meal for a dollar (mango pancakes are my favorite) and take intermittent dips in the 70 degree ocean waters.

I have posted some pictures of the beach though they do not do it justice.

The last weekend in Siem Reip

So as you have noticed there has not been a post for the past couple days as we have been doing a lot of traveling. Therefore this post will be a little longer so that can I catch everyone up on what we have been doing the past few days.

To start Friday was our last day teaching at the university of nations and we decided to teach them how to expand what they learned from us after we were gone. So we had all of our students come to the school and from there we all rode to the nearest Internet cafe. The trip itself already made this day one of my favs as it was quite a site seeing 20 or so students on moto and bike riding down the road playing around just having a wonderful time. After getting there we began to teach on how they could use the Internet to further their education but we ran into problems. As it was hard to teach them not to follow an exact set of instructions but too take the examples that we showed them an apply it to things that they wanted to learn. In the end though everything worked out and I do believe that at least some of them will be able to carry on what we taught them and hopefully get a job.

On Saturday we spent the day with our friends Pset and Heugh at the Ancient Temples of Angkor Wat. Which meant that our day had to start early as Pset insisted that we see the sunrise 5 a.m. and since the temples were several kilometers away and we were getting there by bike we had to wake up at 4 a.m. so to say the least it was a long day. But it was well worth waking up that early for walking through the temple gates and seeing the sunrise was incredible. In all we visited around 7 of the temples my favorite was Tom Phrom which as you will see in the pictures has been swallowed by the jungle. I even climbed to the top of the gate were one of the scenes of Tomb Raider was filmed! Unfortunately though because up my climbing we were not able to see the sunset as they close the pathway to the mountain at 5:30 p.m. even though the sun does not set until 6:20 but other than that I am certain that we will remember that day for the rest of our lives.

Well thats all for today and I will try to be better about keeping you all up to date on our journy in the future.

Christian Values Day

So on Wednesdays the University of Nations here in Siem Riep does a Christian values day instead of class in order to evangelize to their students. In briefing us they wanted to make sure our expectations were set that we would probably have 3 to 4 students and thus we would merge our computer class with the English class. And what they said was true for the first two classes as we only had about 7 students. However for our 3rd class everything changed for once the people started coming they did not stop until the room was overflowing. To start off the class we played a game were there are 3 teams and the goal is to see which team can stand on the smallest piece of paper and if you were wondering who won the girls did. Next we sang the song "everybody needs some love" which the lyrics were just the song title at different speeds and pitches like many of the songs that they sing here. Finally we finished up with the bible story of how 4 men cut a hole in the roof of the house were Jesus was staying and then lowered down their friend so that Jesus would heal him. Unfortunately no one came to the lord during this class but that's OK. Because we were still able to plant seeds in all of their hearts and one day I believe that those seeds will come to fruition and that it is just a matter of time before they come to know Jesus.

The Orphanage

Today was a little different as our friend Samein took us to one of the many orphanges in Siem Reip. We started out at 6 in the morning and took a 5 mile bike ride to the outskirts of town. Were we found a small orphange which was really pieces of wood laying agaisnt eachother. We came there expecting to help Samein teach english but we got something much better. For we were able to share the gospel to Samein's class and though the laguage barrier was huge the Holy Spirit was stronger. And we believe that we were able to get through to at least one of the children which if that is all that comes of this trip it will be time well spent.

Computer Class

Well last night was our first run at teaching computers and it was a trip. The language barrier was really difficult to get by and simple words like think or instant had no meaning to our students. That being said we had great translators who helped us work through these problems. And by the end of the night we had fully dis and reassembled a computer and got most of the parts explained.
Now all we have to do is teach them how too diagnose hardware issues which we will do tonight. Then the rest of the week we will spend talking about the software side of things like reformatting the hard drive and fixing driver issues.

We also had the first math class this morning we came in to teach them adding and subtracting and by the end of the class we learned that they were currently learning Calculus at their High School. So to say the least we have our work cut out for us as we attempt to teach Calculus to our new Cambodian friends.


Well that is all for today and in case you were wondering the pictures have been updated.

Our First Weekend

We Started off our weekend on Saturday morning by searching for computer stores in Siam Reip. At first it was depressing as we could not find any cheap parts. But eventually after our 6th or so try and over ten miles of biking we hit gold! We were able to get a computer up and running for $35 and we also got a monitor old but still good. The store owners were so happy about the purchases that they personally closed up shop and took our parts back to the University of Nations.

For Sunday we had two services one for the baby Christians that have come to Christ through the school. Which was a particularly eventful service as the kids put on a rather moving show about Christs love. The worship was full of joy and laughter with lots of dancing. From there we broke into small groups to talk about what we learned that day and to give some more personal touch to questions that every baby Christan would have. The second service was international and it was amazing to see people from all over the world worshiping God not to mention there was air conditioning which was enough to make me feel God in itself.

The best part about the weekend though was the night at the queoue.
It was a place were the local Cambodians hung out and had fun. So what you would do is find a mat and then from there you could play some carnival games which Jason not only tried but won a Sport( a knockoff of Sprite). From there we pereused the food options and picked up several different foods including grasshoppers which both Jason and I ate two! Anyways after getting all of the food we went back to the mat and we all feasted and laughed and just simply enjoyed life. It was great to build realationship and it allowed us to connect and get a feel for how life is here for the common person. Giving a great perspective on life in the outside world and how some things are not all that different from home.

That is all for now and I post tomorrow of how our first computer classes went.

Our First Day of Classes

Well we have just finished our first two days of classes and are starting on our weekend of Computer repair. The classes truly were a joy and it was amazing to see how eager all of our students were to learn. We are currently teaching 5 classes that consist of typing, Microsoft word, power point, photo shop, and excel. I would like to note though that we really are not teaching the excel class as there is already a native Cambodian that is in love with the class and is insistent on the continuing of his teaching. Which just fine for us as we are worn out by that time and it is wonderful watch him teach.
Everything will change next week though when Jason and I attempt to go off the beaten path and teach new classes that have never been taught here before. These classes will consist of a math class and 2 computer repair classes. Word has gotten out fast about these classes and it seems no matter where we go there is someone that will come up and ask us "are you the teachers of the computer repair class?" Thus already confirming in our hearts that we will make an impact in their lives and possibly change them forever.
Well I best be signing off as we have some computer shopping to do.

With Love

Oliver and Jason

Pictures

Pictures

The Trip

Our trip first started in our 15 hour journey down to California and from there went to LAX were we departed for taipei at 1 in the morning. It was a 15 hour flight filled with slepping and lots of movies. Once we got to taipei we were kindly met with a 15 minute quarentine were several people were not allowed to enter the country. We then made our way to our connecting flight making the final 3.5 hour leg to Phnom Phen were safely arrived on time.

Getting Started

Well it looks like we are officially good to go for our trip to Cambodia. So I am marking the event with the creation of this blog. I must say that it feels really good to get this Cambodia trip out of our dreams and into reality.
So far we have gotten our plane tickets and passports which is a relief. Though preparation is far from over we still have to get shots, plan what we are going to do, fund raise, and of course beg our friends and family for money : ).
Well That is all for now and I will make sure to keep you all updated with posts and pictures for the future.

-Oliver