From Cambodia

Dear friends and family,

I can hear the light spitting of rain on the roof of our little wooden house – spitting that can turn into torrential downpours amid ear blasting thunder rolls and blinding flashes of lighting. The rainy season is here. Things are getting greener and at night the sounds of frogs and night insects sound like they are on loud speaker. I washed my clothes yesterday and hung them out, only to have them drenched by the now habitual ‘after lunch’ shower. I wrung them out by hand a second time and pinned them up in the house. My housemate tells me it can take up to a week to get clothes dry in this season. Ok, I’m going to have to be really organised from now on. I can’t wash my clothes the day before I need them any more!

Two of my students, Sokear from grade 8 and Seyha from grade 6, turned up on my doorstep on the day of perhaps our ‘introductory’ downpour, dripping wet and asking if I wanted to come out and play. No way was I going to refuse! So I left my class prep on the table and changed into my swimmers. Out side, lakes of water were forming by the minute and the dirt was a cool, squishy mud. We had so much fun kicking water and mud at each other, and then one of them had the bright idea we go down to the soccer field. It had become one big lake with the recently cutgrass floating on the top. Straight away a grass war began! The two boys against me! We chased each other, slipping and sliding, back and forth across the field, covering each other in grass and dirt. Sokear and I were trying to see who could douse each others’ faces the most times! The war continued until we had mud and grass all through our hair, clothes and in our mouths – and until we were so tired we couldn’t walk another step. Then we declared a truce and walked over to the pond across the road to rinse off. I just love being able to be a kid and play with my boys as buddies, not teacher and students.

Tuesday night: its time for me to go down to the orphanage and teach English to one of the housemothers, her son and a few of the girls. But its not your average class, we have a ball! Some of the things said have us all cracking up and we enjoy just being able to hang out and get to know each other. At the end we write down the new words they heard that evening and it’s their job to remember and use them throughout the week. Some of the words so far have been ‘toothpaste’, ‘flu’, ‘babysit’, and ‘superintendent’.

I went riding for the first time since coming to Cambodia. Like one of my friends and fellow volunteers said ‘everything feels better when you’re on a horse’, it felt amazing! I would have been thankful just to be able to smell and touch a horse but to ride…. it was stellar! I am so thankful that God knows the desires of our hearts and I was able to go and spend some time with my favourite of all His wonderful creation.

Avondale education students will be arriving tomorrow (Sunday) to begin their two weeks of prac here at WPY. On Monday they observe us teaching class and then take over on Tuesday. We still need to be present in the classrooms, but it will still be really nice to have a break from class planning. It will also give us some time to begin writing exams – which will be upon us in four weeks!

These are some snap shots of my life recently. Of course there are so many other things I would like to share with you all but I would be here for the next few days trying to write it all down. I just want to finish up by saying how thankful I am to the Lord for His goodness. At the moment I am studying the book of Romans, a book which I have struggled to understand in the past but am now beginning to grasp through the help of the Holy Spirit. I am amazed, humbled and filled with gratitude as I realize what God’s grace really is. It is the commending of His love toward us while we were still making mistakes. We don’t have to find His favour, He already loves us before we do anything. All I can say is WOW! How can God love me that much? But He does.

“He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.”Psalms 103:10, 11

Again I want to say thank you SO much for your financial support and your prayers! You are making a difference in Cambodia. May God watch over and bless each one of you,

Ely

 

Ely and Sa