Project: Clean! Paint! Decorate!

I will preface this all with 

Don't worry...there will be many pictures to come.

Now on to the subject of the post...I have just signed a lease for my own apartment!!  

For the last year and a half, I have been living with a wonderful family...the Pastor that I also work with.  They have been such a blessing to life and my heart, allowing me to be a part of their family.  But the time has come to move out on my own.  

I am moving about halfway between their house and the church, which was only a 5-7 minute car commute anyway ;-)  I had made a list (surprise surprise!) of the things that I wanted to find in an apartment, making a distinction between necessity and perk.  This apartment not only has everything on the list, INCLUDING the perks, but has more that I never thought of put on there.  Like two bathrooms, coming with a refrigerator and having roof access!  It is also next door to a coffee shop that I enjoy sitting at to get my $0.50 iced coffees...I rather enjoy that unintentional perk, I might add.

It's in need of some love and a good ol' deep cleaning, so I have a crew of friends coming over to help on Saturday and hopefully start painting as well.  I love friend-labor for the payment of dinner!  Granted, I will have to purchase the food from outside since I won't have kitchen supplies yet (or the ability to cook Khmer food), but that's ok by me.  

Once we get it cleaned and painted, the decorating will begin.  That is where I get excited!  I have a few ideas...and I am grateful for my friend Eileen who jumped at the chance to forge one of the most overwhelming markets with me in order to help make my little apartment amazing.  

There are quite a few things that I will have to purchase, like a mattress, a washing machine and all the kitchen necessities.  I will be staying with the pastor for a few more weeks in order to get everything situated and not have to worry about being super rushed, which is always a plus, because anyone who has ever watched me pack knows that I am not the quickest.  I pack a box and then repack it, knowing that there is a better way to get stuff to fit.  Thankfully, I am just moving a few minutes away and can load up suitcases, take it over and unload.  And as I mentioned before, I don't really have that much house stuff anyway.

I will take pictures and post them here...so check back in a few days for the progress of Project: CPD!

Ode To Annie...

There are a few movies I saw as a child that I have very clear memories...and some attachment to:

ET...
{I definitely cried with I thought he was dead and rejoiced when I found out he wasn't!}
Battle for Endor...
{Yes, the Ewok movie!  I so desperately wanted a pet ewok as a kid
...and may or may not still want one!}
Gremlins...
{This is NOT a good memory! I had such horrible nightmares and I am pretty sure I remember my older cousins getting in trouble for letting me watch this with them at such a young age.}
Annie...
{This was my older sister's favorite, but really, but who doesn't love a red-haired orphan that sings?
I even bought the soundtrack years later...judge if you will, but I loved it. }

 There are many others, for sure. But these are the ones that stand out the most to me right now. And as I was looking through some pictures from a recent trip to a village, a song from Annie came rushing to my mind...

 Here is the picture that sent me down memory lane:

...and the song was "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile"

I spend a fair amount of time being somewhat confused by my surroundings here in Cambodia...
 Language. Tradition. Culture. Expectations. Unspoken implications. My solution to all of this?

Smile

I can attest to the fact that a smile can certainly leave a lasting impression, even if you never say a single understandable word. When I was in this village (as the first white-skinned foreigner that has ever been there, I might add), I had lots of people asking me questions, speaking faster than I could understand, and carrying on conversations about me while I was sitting there. I tried very hard to follow, but it was less than easy to say the least. These ladies in the picture kinda hung around near me throughout the few hours that I was at this house, all the while talking and watching me.  And I must give all the credit to God as He continues to give me the grace and heart for this nation to not be too overwhelmed.

I may not have been able to communicate in words, but I did what I could. I smiled. Genuinely. And later, when I got the "reports" on what the villagers thought about me, they all said that I was very nice, friendly, respectful, kind-hearted and lovely. This from people that I didn't actually have a conversation with, but they said they could see it through my smile.

Good thing, because that is all I can do sometimes.  So I make sure to always go "fully dressed."

Introduction time...

I would like you to meet the newest Harvesters group...

And as I have said before, phonetics are a bit different so I am including extra pronunciation "help" in parentheses so that in case you're like me and would try to say the names to yourself. This will give you a better idea of how to say the students' names...

Front Row (L-R): Rambo, Ruth, Srey Nich (Nick), Chenda
Back Row (L-R): Bunrith (Boon-rit), Pheap (Pea-ip), Keo (Gaow), Kakada, Heather, Sambath (Saam-baht), Pannha (Penn-ya), Vannak, Punleu (Pun-lew), Seyha

This class started April 28 and I am very excited for the next couple of months! For all the previous classes, we have met on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. This time is a little different because we are meeting on Saturday and Sunday instead. There were many students that wanted to study, but were unable to due to work or university schedules. As we prayed about this term, we felt that changing our lecture time would open the door to many others. And it did. We really feel that God is wanting to do great things in the lives of these students and I am looking forward to sharing the stories with you. 

Another big change with the Harvesters is that we now have a third leader. For the past year and a half, Seyha and I have been leading this ministry. Come late-July, though, Seyha will be leaving for the Philippines. He has been given an amazing opportunity to study at a Bible school there with a full scholarship for a year. I am so very excited for him! However, it did leave a question mark for me about who was going to lead the Harvesters with me. Thankfully, God has made it possible for Pheap to take over in Seyha's absence.

...Seyha, me and Pheap...

Pheap is a leader in the church and has a passion for the people around him to know Jesus. During this term, the three of us are leading together, which gives him a chance to learn more about the class and how we do things, preparing him for the next teaching term with just him and me leading.

Please be praying for the students, the lessons, the Harvesters leadership team, and the upcoming missions trips.