On being home ….

Since at this rate I cannot seem to put together a coherent thought about this past year, let alone a blog, I will simply just "ditto" Jimmy's most recent post.  It seems to be the most thought out and understandable piece of how we all have experienced re-entry so far.  I think we all are just going to need some time.  Jetlag plus the lack of our community and normalcy (which when we started wasn't so normal) has thrown us for a loop.  And to think it's been less than a week.

So far I'm managed to avoid driving a car, Walmart, and emptying out my toiletries bag (it just seems more convenient to have it all in one place).  

Hopefully Jimmy's post will give a little more perspective.  J

As of Monday night, I will officially have circumnavigated the globe.  :) 

With a flight from Hong Kong - a layover in Taipei, Taiwan - a night in Los Angeles - a layover in Dallas - I will FINALLY arrive in Missouri Monday night.

I am trying to prepare myself for many goodbyes.  All while trying to prepare myself for many hellos.  It's a little overwhelming.  It's hard at times to know if I am really excited or just really sad.  A little bit of both it seems at most times.  I would ask for your prayers during this transition time and as I attempt to process this year.  I love each of you …. You can look forward to several more blogs once I get home. 

Until then …. See you in AMERICA very soon!  ahhhhhhhhh!

At every debrief, we have the opportunity to share stories about the month and tell about our experiences.  A part of me likes doing this … since we are separated most of the time, it is good to hear what has happened and get an update from the teams.  Another part of me, however, really doesn't like doing this.  For me, I don't really care what happened during the month.  After all, our eyes only see so much … we might have had a low quota month in "happenings" and the Lord might have done some powerful things that we did not see.  And vice-versa, lots of "cool" stuff could have happened in our eyes, but the Lord might not have ever been in it at all. 

The one thing I do know … is that the Lord is in love.  Where there is love, God is present. 

So instead of the usual "What happened this month?" question, I so desperately want to begin asking "Who did you LOVE this month?"  Show me the faces of those you loved.  Tell me the names of those who have a piece of your heart.

As the Race and the year wraps up, I am overwhelmed by the amount of incredible people and beautiful little ones that I have met along my way. 

These are the faces that I have loved.

Just wanted to give a shout out and let everyone know that we've made it back from China safe and sound! There are officially 6 DAYS LEFT and we are currently participating in our final debrief here in Hong Kong.

Hopefully there will be some final thoughts/reflections over the next month or so, but for now I just wanted to thank you for your prayers while we were in China and let you know that we had a fantastic final month of ministry. I'll leave you with a few pictures ….. and I will see you back in the States SOON!!!

Blessings. Michelle

Until we find out the exact details about China, for now (and possibly for the rest of our time in China) we are going silent on the blogs.  If I am able, I might be able to blog later through an outside contact … but because of the monitoring of the internet there by the Chinese government and for the safety of our contacts we will not be accessing the World Race website anywhere outside of Hong Kong.

I wanted to give you advanced warning so you were informed and so I could ask for even more prayer this month while we are there.  There is no need to be worried, I simply ask that you would pray for the Lord's favor and hand of blessing to be over the entire World Race squad throughout our time in China.  We are excited for the opportunity to minister in China and finish out this year strong.

We will be traveling to Bangkok on Monday, October 8^th and then fly on the 10^th to Hong Kong.  From there we will have our training and orientation - and then we are off!  Hopefully I will be able to blog between now and November 19^th, but we'll have to wait and see.

Blessings to each of you and I'll see you when I see you!

Ordinary people, empowered and chosen by a gracious and loving God, can make a difference in our world .

We each have one voice, one heart and two hands. It is up to each of us to decide what those will be used for.

We've been here in Siam Reap now for almost two and a half weeks.  I feel bad that I haven't actually posted about what we're doing here - but if you know me, you know that I hate to post without pictures and I haven't had the chance until lately to take very many!  I actually really love it here in Cambodia despite my lack of blogs.

Siam Reap is a small city located about 10 minutes from the Angkor Wat complex.  Despite its relatively small size, the city is definitely a "tourist town."  As Cambodia continues to rebuild and recover from the war and its devastation, I believe that Siam Reap will only continue to grow.  Already there are resorts and hotels popping up everywhere!  It is definitely an exciting place to be right now and a prime location for the development of ministry.

We are living and working with a YWAM contact, Fonkie, and his family.  He's lived here for a few years and has established a free school for kids in the community.  He saw a need for English and computer classes and that's where his ministry took off.  They currently rent out a building for classes, but are in the process of building their own center near their house.  With our new friend and contact Fonkie and all of the opportunities for ministry here in Siam Reap, it is our hope to establish Siam Reap as a main ministry location for Cambodia and for the World Race.  We are hopeful that many more teams can come through here.

During the week we teach a variety of classes - from Powerpoint to Photoshop to Basic and even Conversational English.  While rules about religion and evangelism with the government are tricky here in Southeast Asia, we are able to give these kids skills for their future and are able to show them the love of Christ along the way.  Sometimes it's hard to know if we're really making a difference … especially when we don't feel like we know what we're doing!!  Fonkie has been a great encouragement though and tells us that we are "blessing the nations" through even these simple English and computer classes.  I choose to believe this - and that the Lord will take our love and somehow use it in these kids' lives.  

I am "Teacher Michelle" and I teach quite a range of classes.  At 4pm I have Typing 101 with about 8 little boys.  They are the cutest guys ever.  Their English is actually decent and we have a pretty fun time.  Plus ... we get to play MARIO in class!  Who knew that Mario could teach typing!  ha.  They could quite possibly be my favorite class of the day.  This is us, minus a couple, in front of our progress poster!

At 5pm I enter into my most challenging class of the day.  Fonkie originally told me that this would be a basic starter English class for 7-10 year olds.  Needless to say, when I walked into the classroom the first day and there were about 25-30 kids, many of whom barely looked seven, I knew I had my work cut out for me!  These little ones are just learning their ABCs and basic vocab.  When they don't know what I'm talking about, they pretty much just repeat what I've just said.  They have to start somewhere though I guess, so I do my best.  I do have to say though that teaching English to 30 seven year olds in a room the size of a small bedroom in the middle of the terrifying heat and humidity of Cambodia is not the most ideal of situations.  Ah!  How did I become a TEACHER?!?  J  Here is me with the little guys.

And then finally we wrap up the day with my 6pm Adult Conversation class.  Adult meaning over the age of 16 - all are under the age of 22!  Crazy.  Depending upon attendance and whether or not they actually choose to come to class, on a given night this class can range from 8 to 16 students.  The most difficult thing about this class is the varying levels of English skill.  There are some that definitely need to be in there - they know the basics, are still learning grammar and basic usage - they just need practice in conversation.  Others, however, struggle big time …. The problem is that there is no intermediate class between the children's classes and the conversation classes.  So while these students can't keep up in my class, I can't exactly send them to the children's classes.  It's definitely hard to keep a balance.  I don't know how real teachers do this!!!  Anyway, here is a picture of some of my friends from class.

I hope you've enjoyed the glimpse into my life here in Cambodia!  Blessings and love!  Until next time.

Angkor Wat - Siam Reap, Cambodia

The ridiculously huge moat that surrounds the temple complex

The ridiculously long walkway leading up to the main temple at Angkor Wat.

And finally we're here .... Angkor Wat. 

The temples of Angkor were built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 A.D.  From Angkor, the Khmer kings ruled a vast area expanding from Vietnam to China to the Bay of Bengal.  The structures at Angkor today, over 100 stone temples, are the surviving remains of a grand religious, social, and adminstrative metropolis.  Many other buildings, built of wood have long since decayed.

The temple was originally dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, but has long since been transformed into one of the countries most respected and visited Buddhist temples.

A view from one of the side windows.  This is the front entrance from a different angle!

The walls are completely covered with intricate artwork!  Incredible.

These are the steps going down from the innermost temple.  It's not completely straight down, but close!!!

Restoration projects are happening year round at Angkor Wat.  Many different countries and universities are involved in the effort to restore and maintain Angkor Wat and its many temples.

We EASILY spent 8 hours at the temples and still did not see everything!  On the right is our sweet tuk-tuk driver - Mr. Brown.  He drove us around all day ... We love Mr. Brown!

The bridge and entrance to another temple complex - Angkor Thom.

Many of the temples are being restored and maintained at Angkor Wat.  However, many others have been overrun by the jungle and are in ruins.  The Angkor authorities wish to leave them this way, undisturbed, much like they were originally found.  It is amazing to see the centuries old trees that have caused the destruction of the buildings.

The ruins of one of the temples, Bayon, at Angkor Thom.

I know that 20 pictures can not even begin to display the greatness of this place.  Maybe some of you should arrange a visit to Siam Reap to see it in real life!  I'd love to give you a tour!

Much love to all of you.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures.  :)

While in the Phnom Phen, we were able to tour the city and learn a bit of the history of Cambodia.   It is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that only 30 years ago a genocide occurred here … but what is more astonishing is the fact that I had never even heard about it.   The Khmer Rouge … the Killing Fields … 1975-1979 over 2 million Cambodians murdered.   In his insanity and drive towards creating a Communist Cambodia, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, killed off anyone in his way - the educated class and their families, doctors, teachers, students, engineers, Buddhist monks, foreigners, etc.   He believed that by having an uneducated mass of followers, he could more easily create a working class which would help to establish the Communistic "equal" society that he dreamed of for Cambodia.  

It's all just REALLY messed up.   We were able to visit the S-21 center where approximately 20,000 Cambodians were imprisoned, tortured, and killed.   The statistics say that of the thousands of citizens who entered S-21, only 7 survived.   The sick part of it all … the center is directly in the center of the city and was once a high school before Pol Pot and his regime transformed it into a killing center.   Makeshift wooden and brick cells in the classrooms, cruel torture methods, bar on the windows, barbed wire across the length of the school buildings.   It's like a terrible, unbelievable nightmare.

There were rooms and rooms of snapshots of the prisoners killed at S-21.   Apparently the center kept incredible records of the men, women, and children who were funneled through there.   This included mug shots with their numbers on their chests and the many pages of "confessions" that were extracted out of the innocent prisoners.

We spent several hours at the center.   It was all overwhelming to take in.   It was hard to understand how we can as human beings continue to do such appalling things.   And that we sit thousands of miles distanced from it and don't even know that it is occurring.   And that we don't intervene when we DO know it's happening.   It all gets really messy, I understand … but 2 million people in the span of 4 years is a high price to pay for our ignorance, blind eye and politically "neutral" stance.

After the museum, we visited one of the actual "Killing Fields."   The Khmer Rouge would transport truckloads of Cambodians to these locations for either death or burial.   The site is currently the location of a monument to the victims.   I would ask that you would respectfully read what information that you can from these photographs and consider looking up more information about the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields.

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