15th - 19th Feb

So we've been here one month and the time has flown by. It has gone so quickly and yet it feels like so long ago that we were at home, slightly jealous of the snow (yeh right, we are loving the regular 35C!). We find the days are long and the weeks short.

This week we had a slight change to our schedule as the children at the safe have had exams on Wednesday to Friday which gave a change to our days as we spent the mornings helping on the building site at the Safe Haven. On Monday and Tuesday we continued our series on Jesus' life with the children acting out Jesus healing a paralytic and the feeding of the five thousand; the bread we bought made it more practial for them and encouraged them to engage in the story. We taught them british bulldog, which they absolutely loved and we are sure will feature heavily in the games in the future - if you have any ideas of new games we can teach the kids then drop us a line!
In the afternoon of monday and tuesday we finished working on the plant nursery (attaching the netting to the scalfolding frame), and we have continued our Khmer lessons, with our dynamic teacher Dara. We think we are improving, and continue to work hard at it, well we say that...

This week Rebecca from Hope for the Nations arrived for one week, but is returning to CHO some time at the end of April. Hope for the nations have a big presence in CHO, probably contributing the most financial support currently. Rebecca is great fun and we look forward to her return later in the year, when she will stay for our remaining time in Cambdia.

On Tuesday evening after a really good home church, with quite a few other western faces and a great talk on Colossians 3:15-17, we enjoyed playing some games with the girls from the restuarant, Emily, Rebecca and Sarah. Musical statues, musical chairs and teaching the Khmer 'big fish little fish cardboard box'were highlights! And they taught us the traditional Khmer dancing, watch out UK.
For the rest of the week in the mornings we worked at the safe haven building site lending an extra pair of hands to move rubble. We once again visited two school on a mat projects playing games and singing songs. The kids at school on mat are different to the safe haven children, in a way we are not quite sure of, possibly due to their different lives and home environment. But they share the same enthusiasm for playing games!

On friday afternoon after a morning of moving rubble at the safe haven, we led the weekly prayer meeting, and this week started a series looking at the various aspects of prayer; what, how, why, where, and when. As we prepare for these sessions it makes us really think deeper about prayer and our own prayer lives. We would love your prayer support on this.
After this session we played music with the worship band, and then went to Pip's house for drinks and nibbles. Pip is a Christian who has set up the 'Christian care for cambodia'(CCFC) who organise football and other youth orientated events. In Cambodia there is no real youth culture, after leaving school you are expected to work, and so this is a really valuable ministry, in Poipet. After this we cycled (we have a push bike each) to Matt and Nori's and watched a film, and said our goodbyes to Rebecca.

Thank you for all your support, especially to Joy James (our Tearfund coordinator) who we recognise has worked so hard for us despite our lack of organisation, thank you. We know we have said this alot, but we love reading your comments so keep them coming!
With our love, and till the next exciting installment, ciao! (is that the right language?)