Day 1 wrap up

Its 5 am of day two and the internet connection is very spotty.  Luckily Andy plugged in the TV and blew the power to the whole neighborhood.  then the internet started working!  :)  So I can wrap up for yesterday.  After tonight (MON) we move to where it will be more difficult to put up posts.  I am already having trouble getting pictures up so this will be without.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the New Hope Orphanage in Siem Reap.  It was in the middle of nowhere after driving miles on rutted dirt trails with lots of water buffalos and chickens running amok.  the Cambodian folks houses are all on stilts because it floods a lot.  The makes it so they have their cooking areas below the houses.  They cook over open fires and its pretty neat cause the cows etc just hang out under the houses with the people.

At the Orphanage there was a walled in compound of three buildings.  Two of them were occupied and they were working on the last one.  In the main building it was segregated into three rooms.  a dorm for girls, one for boys and a main area.  each dorm is really just a small empty room.  The children each have a basket with all they own and a matt to sleep on.

When we arrived the children treated our group like rock stars.  They were shy with me.... probably cause I was shy.  but in about 5 minutes we got along wonderfully.  We played with the children for about 30 minutes then jumped right into it.  It was organized chaos.  we moved materials, assembled beds and they barely fit.  We were at a point in the afternoon, when we were out of gas and we just didnt think that the beds would fit in the dorm.  Andy had a great idea and we all stopped and prayed to refocus ourselves.  it worked miracles.  We jumped back into it and Andy and I reorganized the dorm and all the beds fit!!  We moved to the Girls dorm and amazingly we knocked out 12 more beds in like half the time.

As soon as we finished the boys beds, the boys figured it out one at a time and started sneaking in to look.  I ended up in a sword fight with one little boy with sword balloons on top of the beds!!!  Way to go FRC these beds are very sturdy! 

While we were working in the Girls dorm, i looked back in the boys dorm and the boys already had moved their sleeping mats and belongings onto a bed.  It was almost too much to take.  They were so happy to sleep on a bed.  Amazing

My final story to tell is one of a little girl.  I had just finished in the girls area and I was so tired.  I seated profusely for hours and hours with water streaming down my face.  I leaned against the beds and looks in amazement to what we had accomplished in God's name.  suddenly i felt a tugging on my shorts.  I look down and this precious little girl with her basket in hand had a HUGE smile in her face.  She motioned that she wanted me to set her up on the top bunk.  So i did.  I smiled at her and picked her up.  she set her things down and came and hugged my neck smiling all the way.  precious.  amazing.

One thing I noticed today that you would never see in the USA.  There were about 50 children here today.  I was with them for about 9 hours.  I heard one child cry one time.  They just don't act like our children.  Can you imagine 50 american children playing and learning for 9 hours with no fights, no tantrums, no tears?  These children are amazingly resilient.

I would leave you with a final observation.   Looking out on the children playing I realize that all of us are the same.  Every human being, every adult, every child.  we are truly made of our creator and a place like this will erase any ideas that any one person is better than another.  Jesus loves us all the same.  completely.