Day 3 in Cambodia

Well, today was, shall we say 'stretching' for me. We have spent the entire day (11 hours) on a bus traveling to the orphan home we are going to be working and filming in. We only stopped a few times along the way to use the squatty potty and get gas. The bus was nice and had A/C but Mark andI Shari g a seat got to more than I could handle at about hour 6. He as a great sport even sitting on the chair arm for a while. Ouch!!
Watching the Cambodian country side was fascinating. All of the houses, big and beautiful as well as the shanty wood p,and shacks, are all built on stilts. I discovered that that is partially to do with the rainy season and the water flooding and partially to have an outdoor covered place to cook... Under the house of course! The ancient temples and natural wild life were also breathtaking.
Along the way we did stop at one roadside market that specializes in tranchula spiders... Fried AND live! You could pay $1 to eat one or let one crawl all over you... PASS!!! No thank you! I did getaway group of kids  to meet one very sweet little girl named Holly. It was like she had assigned her to me! She was so sweet. She asked in her broken but good English,  'where you from?' I said the US a she said "where? California? It was so funny. I didn't buy her bananas but I did giver her $1 and get her picture. After 11 grueling hours we finally made it to Chuuk. It was dark and we had dinner and went straight to bed. Tomorrow we get to meet the kids...

We have arrived in Cambodia

Just a quick post to say that we are safely in Phnom Penh (pu-nom-pen) Cambodia. It was one heck of a journey to get here and the enemy was working hard to rattle Mark and I at the airports over the camera gear. We got stopped at each location and searched/questioned about some piece. But we remained calm and confident, praying all the way. God was good and poured out favor.
Our room here in Phnom Penh is very nice with the usual amenities and AIR CONDITIONING!! Just having air moving is a blessing. The planes were very stuffy and warm so we were battling a little nausea. After check in (and a potty break to which I was told NOT to flush the toilet paper) we walked across the street to a gas station and bought some ice cold water bottles. We have showered, brushed our teeth (they had disposable toothbrushes and toothpaste on the 1st 11 hour flight. It was so nice to brush up!!) and have done a little laundry so we are ready for bed.
Tomorrow is breakfast (eggs, bacon and hot dogs) and off to church at the training center (the beginning of Foursquare Children of Promise (fcopi.com for more info) here in Cambodia. Beyond that we have no idea.
Keep praying for health, smooth travels with all this gear (we have been the last 2 team members at every stop so far. We don't want the team to feel like we are slowing them down but they have all been so very gracious and helpful!). We are so excited about what God has in store!!!
More tomorrow!!

Day two in Cambodia

We have returned to the hotel after an amazing, heartbreaking, tear jerking, beautiful day here in Cambodia. 

We attended church this morning at the training center where this all began for the Foursquare Children of Promise mission. As soon as the bus pulled up all you can hear are the children rushing the bus shouting "hello!!!!!" It was precious! A few spoke some English while others saw the camera and struck a pose, with the universal peace symbol on their fingers of course! Ha! Their little faces will forever be etched in my mind. One sweet little boy, named Nazareth, asked what my favorite food was. I told him chocolate and patted my belly. He laughed and said his was mangos. Mark had the chance to I to interview him later and boy does he have a story... I wish I could hear them all, hug them and tell them how beautiful they are and how blessed I was to get to spend some time with them. They truly are Gods little chosen ones.

The service was beautiful, we couldn't understand a word of it but you could feel the Lords presence. Mark and I were filming the entire time and seeing their faces and hands lifted in Praise was breathtaking. No ocean view or mountain view could even begin to compare. After the service we were given a wonderful tour of the property which includes the church, the medical clinic with doctors and a dentist! As well as the housing for the kids, tractor repair shop (where they have been refurbishing old Case tractors teaching the young men mechanical skills as a trade and also selling them to support the home. There was a huge fish pond that they had just drained and harvested the fish from. Funny story there to tell later! They also have a large hotel/apartment building that the pastors live in and they rent out rooms to young women that are factory workers to help keep them out of slavery. 

After our tour we left to get some lunch and had the privilege of going to Mikes burgers. It was a wonderful burger place started by a Cambodian named Mike who survived the genocide here in the 70's and came to California to go to school. He graduated and worked for the US postal service for 21 years then retired back to Cambodia. He missed the food so much he started his restaurant and is actually rather famous! It was packed! And the burgers were wonderful!

After we left there we went to a heartbreaking museum at the S-21 prison from the genocide/communist take over that happened here from 1975-79. S-21 was a high school that was converted to a prison/torture facility and brutally ended the lives of over 14,000 Cambodians. At the end of this heart breaking tour we had the honor to meet one of like 4 survivors, and 1 of 2 still living, and hear some of his story. We bought his book and I am anxious to hear how he escaped. After we left S-21 we took a rather long drive out to the killing fields. I didn't even know this place existed until a few weeks ago. It is where they took the prisoners from all of the prisons and executed them and buried them in mass graves. We took the audio tour read by a young man that was able to escape ever being captured but lived through the horror. As heartbreaking and down right gut wrenching as this was I am so grateful we went. It really explains the hard ships the people have suffered here... And in my lifetime!! Mark was able to capture a lot of this on film so you will get to see some later.

After we were all sad and depressed we sat in traffic for hours and had dinner at a very nice buffet place. I stuck with what I knew while others of our team had chicken feet, fried frog and chicken tongue. No thanks!! I'll keep to the fruit and bread! Ha!

Well, I have showered, washed my clothes in the sink and now fallen asleep 3 times just sitting here typing this. I guess I better get some sleep. Love you all very much!

Oh! Still no phone and the iPad is the only thing we have on wifi so feel free to write back to this address.

Love 

Tiff

Pray!

I am in the middle of some HUGE assignments, one is an essay that ill help determine whether or not I get into a school that I REALLY want to get into. Please pray for this amazing opportunity!