Very excited about this addition to our blog! We will be featuring a new item each week, with options of what it might be. It will be hosted by a different BYKOTA kid every week, so you will also get to meet some of the amazing kids we work with each day :) Hope you enjoy! Here are the options, just in case you missed them in the video:
a. Ancestorial Spirit Chaser
b. Khmer Dance Instrument
c. Cow Bell
d. Khmer Ceremonial Cup
Remember, either post your answer in the comments section or send us an email with your guess as the subject to micah.kelsi@gmail.com. We will reveal the answer next week on the next episode of WHAT IS IT!? :)
We love you guys and are so thankful for your support!
BecauseHeLives,
Micah and Kelsi.
Kelsi and I have decided to begin a new series called "Khmer Phrases with Micah and Kelsi" We hope to do it frequently, but I will not promise a weekly post :) I hope you guys enjoy it. Again, the video/audio is messed up. I am trying to find the source, but it is still watchable. Enjoy! :)
I know it has been a little over a week, since we posted last, so I wanted to give you an update of what has been happening in Phnom Penh J
There is a video with all of the pictures in it, because Blogger is not photo friendly, and it is easier to put them in the video. If you prefer the other (completely more inconvenient way), let me know and I will do it that way the next time.
Laser Tag
Well it has been
nine weeks of school and lots and lots of hard work. The students completed 165
PACE books! We had a poster that they had to fill up to go play Laser Tag—most of
them had never heard of it before. I made it with 200 slots, but everybody
knows that YOU HAVE TO BE FLEXIBLE. That goal was WAY too high. Each and every
one of the kids worked their butts off (pardon my language), so we went anyway!
When doing things in another country, I find myself setting my expectations
really low… when I was told that we had laser tag, I did this. I showed the
kids a video so they could see what it was like, but was very clear that I have
never been to laser tag in Cambodia. The whole time we were building towards
laser tag, I was praying, “please, God, make this a good time. Cause it could
be a stinker, and I would feel horrible.” The day finally came, and we called
two tuk tuks… for seventeen people. I thought Mark was crazy, but we could have
fit like ten more people on those tuk tuks. It makes me laugh when I think
about all of the safety regulations in the states, and I see a baby in her
mother’s arms on the back of a moto on the road, or three children and a mother
and father on one moto… Speed is the key… no one drives faster than forty miles
an hour, so everyone is usually safe. Back to laser tag, though. We get to the
place, and it is next to a gas station. Boo, our driver, pulls over to call,
because he is lost, and Mark and I are pointing to it (it was hilarious!). We
go inside and it is full of random artwork and black lights (you know it is a
good sign, when you see black lights at laser tag). We signed everyone in on
teams, and unfortunately there were only fourteen positions for the laser tag
game—we had fourteen kids, so that worked out, but I didn’t get to play with
them. I think that you have reached true adulthood, when you find out that you
don’t get to play laser tag and you aren’t upset, because you know the kids
will have fun… yeah, I really wish that I was to that point… who has two thumbs
and is not a true adult: this guy right here. I did get to run around in the
game with the kids and video tape, and take pictures, so that was a plus (there
were multiple signs that said, no cameras, but the guy let me anyway). I keep
saying that the kids loved it, but even our oldest Peroom enjoyed it, and he is
19 years old! It was a truly great experience, and afterwards we stopped on the
side of the road and bought seventeen cold water bottles for two dollars…
crazy! Thank you to our supporters for making this happen. The kids really do
not get the opportunity to do these things everyday and it was really a great
blessing to be able to give them such an amazing reward for all their hard work
in school.
Chantee and Sol Chea’s
Birthday Party
Right after laser
tag, we had a birthday party for Chantee and Sol Chea. Nobody knew about it
until we got home, because Kels and Rhonda decorated while we were gone. The
birthday cake was a soccer field, and Chantee loved it. He said, “Mr. Micah,
can you please get a picture of the cake for me.” And he got a cell phone,
which he has been wanting for a while now. He turned fifteen, and he is one of
the most mature and godly young men I know. I cannot wait to see what God has
in store for this awesome young man! Also, if you spoke with Chantee, you would
never guess that he was fifteen. Sol Chea turned sixteen. He has been with Mark
and Rhonda for a while, and has been learning a lot through our afternoon
computer class. Mark wrote a blog about him a while back, and I have recently
taken over the afternoon class and found out what a great boy Sol Chea is. His
sense of humor is great. You go up to him and try to click something with the
mouse and he says, “no.” and pushes your hand away, and then turns his head away
and smiles to himself. He is beginning to learn his abc’s and colors through a
program on line called starfall. He is a joy to have with us, and I know that
he enjoyed his birthday, and the cake especially (see picture in video).
Sewing Class
I (Kelsi) started a
sewing class a few weeks ago. I had two
classes, one with Chantal and Mary (the Benz girls) and the other with Srey
Heng, Mekarah, and by her own request, Srey Ruah (one of the BYKOTA
staff). We started slow and I told the
girls that if they would just stay for the first 5 lessons they could choose
whether or not they wanted to continue.
The first 4 lessons we just sewed on paper and practiced making straight
lines, pivoting, and making curved lines.
We finished up by making a small purse out of a Cambodian scarf. The whole time I was thinking they weren’t
liking it and that it was just another thing they had to do. It turns out that they actually did like
it! The oldest, Mekarah and Srey Ruah,
even asked for a sewing machine at their house so they could make more purses
for gifts and to sell! I am very happy
that they like it so much, and I am very excited about all the things we will
be making in the future! I have a long
list of things we can make but I have decided that our next project will be PJ
pants! J I’ll post our “fashion show” pictures when we
are done. J
Short Staffed
This past week, Srey
Ruah (one of the staff at BYKOTA house) found out that her mother was abused
and had bad head injuries. She left to go to province, and would not be back
all week--this became a dilemma, because we have just taken in three new BYKOTA
kids, and were already short-staffed. Kels and I gladly said that we could take
some of the kids during the day, and were able to take care of Srey Roat and
Srey Niet. We had a blast. Srey Roat is hilarious and wants to be chased all
day long. She is three years old and bites at you, if you make her laugh (you
can see it in the dish washing video a little). Srey Niet is just eighteen
months old, and cries over everything—I think she is a little spoiled because
she is the baby of the house. I told Kelsi, after trying to put her down for a
nap for thirty minutes, that Niet was a professional sleep fighter (did you
catch the play-on words there J).
We only took care of them for a couple days, but here is what I learned about Niet:
She must eat right after school, or she cries. After she is finished eating,
she will cry to let you know that she is done. If you want her to go for a nap,
you have to stand in front of the fan in the kitchen until she falls asleep—never,
ever, ever take her into the nap room before she is fully asleep. Once you have
her asleep, you must sit on the bed until she is back into “fully asleep mode,”
which coming down the stairs disturbs. After she has gone into “fully asleep
mode,” you may lay her down on the bed for the nap, but by no means let her
have the falling sensation or she will wake up, cry, and you will have to start
the process over again in the kitchen. As soon as she wakes up from the nap,
you have to give her a snack… or… she cries. Her crying is adorable, though. “MING!
MING! MIIIIIINNNNGGG!” And she looks at you with her deep eyes like you should know
what she wants… which I do, because Ming is the word for aunt in Khmer: aka, “I
DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT TAKE ME BACK TO MY AUNT!” Aunt is what you call
anyone who is a girl, so she was probably asking for the staff that takes care
of her usually—just like we call our tuk tuk driver, BOO, even though this
means uncle… still have yet to figure out his real name…
Khmer Lessons
Kels and I have
begun taking Khmer lessons from one of the students, Mekarah. It has been going
really well. We are learning a lot more of the language, and I can now tell our
tuk tuk driver where I want to go, and have a very superficial conversation
with a stranger in which I ask them for: their name, their age, and how they
are doing. We have also learned the Khmer consonants, which has already proved to be helpful,
because when we don’t know a word, Mekarah will show us the letter and sound to
make.
On a final note, I
have been sick with a head cold the last two days, and our power was out all
day today, again J
Gotta love Cambodia. God has been really faithful during our time here, and I
am so excited to see what other things He will teach us as the months go on. We
are continually grateful for everyone’s support and we love you guys bunches!
That is all for now!
The students of School of the Nations earned a party by filling up their "Behavior/Goals Thermometer." They were very excited about it. Kelsi and I planed a few things for the day. Firstly, they got a day off school, for the party. Secondly, we made a pinata out of their finished PACE Books and filled it with candy. Kelsi also put together a balloon drop raffle that was awesome! We watched a movie, and practiced our memory verse for the last time before testing next week over it. Kelsi also made a turtle watermelon fruit tray--pictured below. It was fun and the kids really loved it. I think it will be a great motivator for the next nine weeks. Also, is it crazy to think that we have been here almost two and a half months!? Time goes so fast. We are continually grateful for everyone who supports us both in prayer and financially. Hope you enjoy the video! :)
BecauseHeLives,
Micah and Kelsi :)
Hello everyone! This
week’s blog is going to be under the heading: what happens when the power goes
out in Phnom Penh? This update would be a very short one, if the answer to that
question was “life stops and we all cry—we would curl up in a ball, if it didn’t
make you super hot.” However, in Cambodia, much like the rain, power outage is
a much more common occurrence, and although it is not an everyday burden for
the power to go out (like the rain), it is much more common place here than in
the states; therefore, life goes on. Here is how life went on the past two
days—in categories of course, but this time by day.
The next morning started out normal.
Kels and I got out of bed and started getting ready for school. The electricity
went out while I was in the shower at eight o’clock. We finished getting ready
and went down stairs. The part of yesterday that made no electricity
aggravating: we had school, we had a group coming in from Singapore to help
with school, we had small group that evening, and finally the group was cooking
food for the evening and our water purifier uses electricity. School went well,
the group that came in had four ladies from different countries, and they all
shared about their country for our geography lesson—awesome! With no lights and
no fans to make the air move, however, we had to let the kids leave early—the
conditions were just too sleepy, and most of their heads were hitting the desk
in front of them. One of the ladies from the group had some experience in eye
conditions, and we have a three year old girl Roat with an eye problem—she was
in our last post. For this reason, Kels, Rhonda, and Vallory headed to the eye
doctor. The first doctor simply took some blood (I say simply, but all that were
involved would tell you that it was not). Roat said the first words that Kelsi
has ever heard her say, “Ott Chjeng! Kinome ott chjeng!” Which translated is “No
want! I no want!” A better translation would be, “I don’t want this! Why are
you doing this!?” We were afraid that she couldn’t speak at all, so this was a
praise God moment… After getting home, Rhonda called an eye specialist and
asked for an appointment—which was for the same day. Roat has been found to be
blind in her right eye, and the specialist says that she will always be blind
in that eye. “The doctors saved her eye, but it won’t ever be used to see,” he
said. Now, he may be right, but I also see this as an opportunity to see what
God wants. God may want Roat to be blind in that eye, so that He can use it to
bring glory to His name—like He did with the boy who was born blind (John 9).
She may bare that burden her whole life so that she can be a comfort to others.
However, Jesus brought glory to God’s name by healing the boy, also. That is what
I am praying will happen. God has the power to heal Roat’s eye—we all agree to
that. If it is God’s will, then it will happen, and I pray for God’s will and
for the healing of Roat’s eye. As the day progressed, the electricity was still
off—cooking still happened in the kitchen with a little burnt rice from not
having the rice cooker. As the group from Singapore set everything out to serve
dinner to everyone before small group, the lights came back on! The rest of the
night was fantastic, as three of the group members shared their testimony and
performed a “skit” for the kids. We worshiped at the end, and it was
wonderful—God used the monstered guitar and His people from all different
nations to bring glory to His name. After the team left we all retreated to our
bedrooms to sit and relax for a while… and that is when we found out what a
puppy does for hours, when he is locked in a room with no light… Muggy
completely trashed the room. I walked in and found that he did not go to the
bathroom where he was supposed to, he had gotten our clothes out and chewed on
them, he pulled the trash out of the trash can, and he had chewed up one of our
towels… I just stopped and said, “Muggy!? Where are you?” I looked all around
the room, and then found him sleeping in our clothing hamper—which was “hidden”
behind a table supposedly to keep away from him. I wish I had taken a picture
of his face! It was pure ignorant innocence. He just looked up at me like he
wanted to say, “Oh, you’re back. I thought you were gone forever. That’s why I
took ownership of the room.” We will never forget about him again. We
understand that he should have never been left alone for that long of a period,
but we did have a lot on our plate ;) I guess that is all for now. We will be
coming out with another update shortly. Thank you guys for all your support,
and we will keep you posted on everything that is happening here in Cambodia!
So it
has been over a week since our last update (and even that was just a video), I
wanted to catch up on what has been happening here in Cambodia. God has been
working, and it is extremely exciting to see how He does things and to be
completely dependent upon Him. Again, we will be giving you guys the down low
with categories. You can read which ever you like or all.
Babysitting
First of
all, I thought that I would explain why we were unable to update the blog this
weekend. As some of you already know, Kels and I adopted seven children this
weekend… just for the weekend J The missionary couple we are working with here, Mark
and Rhonda Benz, had their thirty year anniversary this past Thursday!
Congratulations to them! They had planned a getaway weekend to the beach, and
we babysat their kids—all seven of them. It was more shocking to take on
authority of seven children than all the culture shock of Cambodia combined
since we have been here. I don’t think that parents realize how amazing God is
with his plans for families. You have your first child, and then you are unable
to have another for at least a year spent with the one practicing how to be a parent.
Then you add another one, and you have a year to practice with two… I think
that it is quite like juggling. Yeah. Definitely juggling. You have to add one
at a time. So now you have the mental image that is accurate to what Kels and I
went through this weekend—just picture someone throwing seven bowling pins at
us at once ;) Really, it wasn’t that bad and the kids are great. Mark and
Rhonda are great parents, and so the kids hardly needed to be told what their
responsibilities and chores were. And a trick that my mom created, I think, was
already implemented with the Benz kids—the older kids all had one of the
younger to take care of during the day. So in reality, Kelsi and I played a lot
of cards and Kelsi cooked a lot more food than she was used to cooking—and let
us not forget that at the end of the day we were both way more exhausted than
usual. It was a great experience, and it was great to serve Mark and Rhonda in
this way, so that they could have a much deserved break. Also, Kelsi did Mary and Madi's hair :) When they let it out, their hair was curly... I got in trouble, cause I suggested that someone needed to brush Madi's hair... apparently... it was curly! :) lesson learned.
While
Kelsi and I were in the States raising support to come here, people asked us
all the time “how many kids are in BYKOTA House?” We always had a hard time
answering that, and now I know why. BYKOTA has taken in three new children. Let
me share with you about them. Here is
how Niet and Roat came into the Bykota family as best as I know it. They were
adopted from an orphanage by a wife and husband. The husband ended up being
abusive, so the wife and husband separated. Well, I guess the wife did not feel
like she could take care of the girls on her own, and she was given an offer to
try to leave the country and couldn’t take the girls with her. By the grace of
God, one of the staff who takes care of the Bykota kids was the aunt of the
girls and was told about it, so she took them into the house. At first, we
thought that we only had Niet (the one year old in the picture below), and her
sister was still lost somewhere, but we recently found out that the girl who
came to visit her aunt at Bykota house, was the sister—it was very confusing.
The sister’s name is Roat (pictured with Kelsi), and she is three years old.
She has an eye that looks very interesting, and it is because she had a hatchet
accident when she was younger—not sure if it was abuse or simply an accident.
They are both safe here and the mom is still trying to leave the country, but
if she is unable, we will try to reunite them and help as best as possible. For
now, they are in our care, and they are both adorable :) We also recently
received a boy named Ratanak—not to be confused with our other boy whose name
is Ratanak-- he is ten years old and speaks no English. His back story is
harder to understand. I believe one of the staff found him digging in the trash
for food. We have paper work on him, so I am unclear how all it works, but he
came while Mark and Rhonda were on their anniversary weekend. I have been
trying to learn more about him, but have not gotten very deep. He is living in
the same room as Visoth and I know that he has already made a connection with
Visoth. He is in good hands, both with Visoth and most importantly God. Pray
for him as God continues to work out Salvation in his heart and His plans for
his life. Now you can see why we were never able to get a solid number. This
should also tell you that we have three new mouths to feed, Ratanak needs
shoes, Niet needs baby formula, shots, and cute baby girl dresses, and her
sister Roat needs dolls to fall asleep holding. We will continue to love on
these children as long as God brings them into our lives, and we are thankful
for supports back home who make it possible. If you feel so led, Mark and
Rhonda need some help supporting the needs of these kids financially. You can
email Mark, if you feel led to help. His email is mark@orphanaid.org
Roat
Niet
Ratanak
I think that is all I have to share about right now. I
can’t express to everyone how much we appreciate your continuous support in
prayer and financially. Kelsi and I have been so amazed watching God work here,
and it is fantastic to be able to come. We could not have followed God’s call
here, without your help! Thank you!
The events of the last two weeks
have been pretty great. A few changes to the School of Nations, a trip to Thailand,
a Fourth of July bash, and new Bibles for my Young Men’s Bible Study. I will be
giving this information to you in another chunked blog with pictures—just like
the last one.
School
I will begin with an update on everything
that has been happening in the school. Kels and I are now in complete control
of the teaching, and Heather has taken on the little kids as their
Pre-school/Kindergarten teacher. After being in the school for a while, Kels
and I thought of a few changes that would benefit the kids. The first thing
that we noticed was that the kids were not keeping up on their books. The
School of Nations uses a PACE book system in which each student is on their own
level and as they complete PACE books, they move on to the next one. What has
happened is that the BYKOTA kids put off the books that they do not enjoy doing—just
like any kid would do—and have fallen behind because of it. Kels and I wanted
to give the students some motivation to keep on track, so we talked to Rhonda,
and Rhonda said that she just saw that someone had posted about taking their
youth group to laser tag in Phnom Penh. We immediately made the PACE goal chart
for laser tag and introduced it to the students. In the PACE system, the
students are supposed to complete thirteen books in nine weeks. For some of the
kids this is impossible, because they are either not on a reading level high
enough or, in the case of some of our older boys, being pulled out for Khmer
tutoring so they can begin Khmer school in the fall. The goal has been set,
however, and the students as a whole group are doing great. We also placed individual
daily goals on each of their desks that are laminated to be dry erase. The kids
set their daily goal, and most have been meeting it. It has really helped to
motivate some of our teenaged students who are not as excited about school
anymore.
Since I mentioned
the older boys getting ready for Khmer school, I want to let you know about
this prayer request. Some of the students of BYKOTA house have a desire to go
on into a college here in Cambodia. All colleges in Cambodia (even Bible
colleges) have a requirement for students to have a certificate of completion
of High school, which as of now School of Nations cannot give. Mark and Rhonda
are weary of the Khmer schools in Cambodia, because they have a reputation for
being corrupt, but because these four boys would like to go onto college, we
have arranged to have them placed in ninth grade at the High School in October.
Please pray for them as they prepare for this big step in their life: Chantee,
Peroom, Ratana, and Peter.
The second change that Kels and I
made about the school came about after two of our boys failed their Social
Studies tests (which in the PACE system means you have to re-do the entire
book). As I graded the test and noticed what content it was covering, I
realized that it was of no relevance to our Cambodian students—one was over
North American Missionaries of the 19th century and the other was on
the American Civil War and Slavery. Mark and Rhonda explained that these books
were the best thing they had, and that the Social Studies was really just
another way to teach the students reading and writing skills, but it was
bothering us that the students were forced to learn about another countries
history, so we came up with a new plan. We decided that the best thing for the
students would be to get rid of Social Studies PACE books all together and
begin teaching Cambodian history. We are using Friday as our Social Studies day,
and since the Science PACEs were boring (and I have always wanted to do science
experiments), and Kels is an expert on Geography, we have begun teaching Social
Studies, Science, and Geography on Fridays. The students work on their Math,
Word Building, and English throughout the rest of the week. Also, the Khmer
tutor for the older boys has a degree in Science, so I have asked him to help
me with the science. Our first unit in Science is over Newton’s Laws. Kels is
teaching the Continents in Geography, and in History we talked about the Tower
of Babel as an introduction, and we will begin on Asian history next Friday.
Overall, it is pretty fantastic to be doing what God has called you to do,
right alongside your best friend.
Trip to
Thailand
Because Kels and I came into
Cambodia on Business Visas that only lasted a month, we needed to renew them
last Saturday. This meant that we had to cross the border and come back into
Cambodia. We decided that the cheapest and easiest solution would be to hire a
driver and go to the Thailand border. We would have made a trip out of this,
but just the weekend before we spent out one year anniversary at a resort for
the weekend, and we didn’t feel like taking another trip so soon. The trip to
Thailand started on Saturday morning at 4 A.M. We were on the road until about
11 A.M. when we stopped for breakfast/lunch. Along the way we got to know our
driver (Tohan, pronounced “tawn”). He seemed like a nice guy. He explained that
his other job was working with NGO’s and keeping track of adopted children,
after they have been adopted. The drive was uneventful, other than when we
stopped because the breaks were too hot, and we made it to the border with no
problems. I would like to say that we crossed into Thailand and got into a
fight with some ninjas or fought some zombies or something cool like that, but
in reality, we just filled out a lot of paper work and walked back into Cambodia—sorry
to disappoint :) Although, we plan on going back in the future—and who can say
that they walked to Thailand from Cambodia?
4th
of July
You were probably thinking on the 4th
of July as you watched the fireworks, “I wonder what Micah and Kelsi are doing
today?” Well, because of the time difference, we were waking up on the 5th
of July and getting ready for school . . . so that answers your question. If
you were wondering how we celebrated our 4th of July, I will tell
you that now. We started our day at the swimming pool with the Benz family,
Heather, Gina, and Linda (the swimming pool was at the same resort we stayed at
for our anniversary). The Benz kids loved it, and S.J. came out of the pool
looking like a pickle. After swimming, we went back to the house and prepared
for our evening. We decorated the school in a very American way, and Mark cooked
twenty-four burgers. Kelsi made her famous cucumber salad, and the kids ate on
a blanket on the concrete floor. Kelsi made her first apple pie ever, and they
were delicious—or at least that is what everyone said . . . if you know me
well, you know I can’t eat apple pie. Rhonda insisted that we listen to country
music, so it was blaring as we prepared the food. After we finished eating, we
went up stairs and read the Declaration of Independence, because Rhonda thought
that it was one of my family traditions :D I don’t know where she got the idea
that it was, but it was funny when she pulled the Constitution books out and
said, “Micah, this is for you.” After reading the Declaration of Independence
(which took at least twenty minutes), we played Just Dance and Wii Baseball
with the kids until it was dark enough to go to the roof and light our
sparklers—which in my old age has now become the most nerve racking experience
ever. Watching the kids with the thousand degree fireballs, waving them through
the air was slightly terrifying, but it was also pretty cute—and you can’t have
4th of July without fireworks!
Bible
Study
My Bible study with the young men
has been going really well. God has been working in the small amount of time
that we meet every night, and the boys are so interested to hear what God has
to say to them, through His word. Early on in the Bible study, I found out that
most of the boys did not have a Bible, and the ones that did had only New
Testaments. I really felt like it was important for them to be able to read all
of God’s word. I spoke to one of the girls in the school (Mekerah), because she
had a Bible in Khmer that was Old and New Testament, and she said that her
church had them for sale. I posted on Facebook about the need, and within two
hours someone responded that they would sponsor the Bibles for the boys. It
took about a week and a half to actually get the Bibles, but the boys have been
reading them like crazy, and it is so much easier to explain a word in English
like “Reconcile” when they can look in their Bible and read it themselves. God
really provided in this way, and He has been working in this little room. Our
Bible study meets every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
starting at six, which is 6 A.M. for all of you in the states, so if you would
please pray for these young men, that would be great!
That is all for now! We will keep you all posted on news from Cambodia! We hope to be adding a video soon, and we will let you know when that is up! Hope you all had a great 4th of July, and we appreciate your prayers and support!
There has
been a lot in the past week, so we have decided to break this post into
categories. You can pick and chose which one to read or read the whole thing,
but know that we have wanted to post all week and did not have the time because
of all of this…
-Organizing the Books and Rooms-
Early on in
the week, when we were still overcoming jetlag, Kels and I were in a room full
of stuff—all kinds of stuff: painting stuff, crafty stuff, cleaning stuff,
technology stuff, and the list goes on and on. When we started, there was not
even enough room to walk around freely. Mark and Rhonda asked us to organize it
for two reasons. One was because they had moved so quickly that they had not
been able to organize it better, and they needed to be able to access things in
the room. The second reason was a medicine cabinet. Down stairs in the kitchen,
there was a medicine cabinet that was placed right in front of the guest
bathroom—making it difficult to get into. Mark and Rhonda asked if it were
possible to get it into the storage room. Kels and I took the challenge. In the
end, the room was organized with the medicine cabinet up against the wall.
Cleaning this room and organizing had another purpose, however. The Benz’s gave Kelsi permission to take one room in the school and transform it into what Rhonda called a “resource room” and Kelsi called her small group room. Basically this was a place to pull small groups and work with them without distraction. The problem was that the material we needed was both in the room with all of the stuff and the resource room itself. I am not sure exactly how long it took to accomplish this goal, because we worked on it for several days while doing other things, but both rooms are up and running.
-School News-
Although school was out for a week (which was a good thing, because we had a lot to get done), we started as normal yesterday (Monday). It was really exciting to see how all the work the week before had paid off. One project in particular was a great success. Kelsi wanted to have the students come in the morning before school officially started and read—time they usually spend goofin. She explained that in her classroom, she had a classroom library, and she wanted to do something similar. So, we set up a shelf with colored baskets with different book genres and book levels in them—that were labeled, of course. Kelsi also found some key chains on which she placed the names of the individual students. We had hooks on each basket, so that each student could hang their key chain and take a book from that basket—so they would know where to place the book back. I thought it was cute, and I thought the younger kids would enjoy it. Today they were allowed to use the book shelf, and Kelsi explained how it worked. She did this at the beginning of their break time, and as soon as she finished explaining it, they all rushed (young and old) to the book shelf to get a book to read. It was amazing to see how much they all loved to read and how excited they were to find that the books that were packed away in boxes were now available for them to read. I think that most of you understand that this one paragraph was a ton of work—the key words like sorted, genres, and boxes of books give you an idea of what went into just this one aspect of our school day. It was totally worth it, though! And the resource room is great!
-Clinic-
Kelsi also
went with Rhonda to the clinic with the BYKOTA kids to get their shots, and I
will let her tell of this adventure.
Almost every month someone from BYKOTA house needs to go get shots or blood work or something from the doctor. I got to go on this trip to be more familiar with the doctor and the facility. I think I mentioned before that we have access to very good health care. The lady that works with us is very nice, she is also very blunt. In Rhonda's words "she cusses like a sailor and smokes like a smoke stack but she knows her stuff." Something I found comforting is that even though she has been doing medicine for a very long time and in several countries and really knows her stuff, she is not afraid to say " I have no bloody clue" and then go find the answer or someone who knows. Anyway, on this trip we took three siblings to get blood work to make sure all the vaccines took hold, and two special needs children to get shots. I "got" to go in with Ty-yu ( I don't know how to spell his name) he is maybe 2ish. The poor baby had a hard time. She could not get his vein to stop rolling and he just cried and cried. When it was all over we got to cuddle a little and he was all better, especially after we stopped and got some sugar cane. :) His brother who is probably about 4ish was really cute when he came out. We all heard him crying when he was in there but when he came out he had one tear streaming and wouldn't look or talk to any of us but just sat there looking out the window till he gained his composure. I was thinking the whole time, wondering how Rhonda kept track of who needed what and when, but then she told me that the doctor keeps track of it all in a spread sheet and e-mails her every month with who needs to come in. :) Very cool!
-Tuesday Night Small Group-
One aspect
of the BYKOTA house that I enjoy is Tuesday nights. Every Tuesday night
(weather permitting), all of the children and staff come together for a worship
service and a message. This past Tuesday, I gave my testimony (this Tuesday is
Kelsi’s turn). But before I talk about that, I want to talk about the worship,
because it was great. There is another ministry here in Cambodia, and I wish I
remembered the name, but they come every Tuesday and lead the worship… in Khmer
:) Although some of the songs were unfamiliar, there were a few that I knew,
and it was great to hear all of God’s children praising Him—in Khmer and
English. One of the boys, Bee (who is around seven years old) sat with his
hands in the air singing with his eyes closed . . . I know it made God’s heart
as joyful as it did mine. After worship, I was up to give my testimony. I spoke
with Mekerah (an older BYKOTA kid who translates really well). I have to admit,
I lost my train of thought a couple of times waiting while she translated. I
found that my mask of using a lot of words when I am nervous does not work,
when every five words I have to stop and be translated—I also found myself
taking more time to choose my words. We also met two women that were in
Cambodia for a visit with their teenage children—one lived in South Africa and is
serving in Malaysia and the other spent seven years near Cambodia (I didn’t recognize
where she said, but I am also terrible with Geography). The one that lived near
Cambodia told us that we better be careful, because she and her husband only
planned to serve for a year and a half, and ended up on the mission field for
seven years! :) It makes Proverbs 16:9 really stand out in my mind: “A man’s
heart plans his way, but the Lord directs His steps.”
Tonight, Kels told her testimony--she did great! The worship, again, was fantastic. We then learned a Cambodian game from the kids that was a mixture between heads up seven up and red rover.
-Birthday Fun-
Since the Benz's got back from their furlough they have been very busy and had not had a chance to celebrate anyone's birthday since January. One Thursday we had a big birthday party for all those who had been missed. This was nine kids! We ate gumbo and had cupcakes. The day before a mission team had brought candy bags so we also handed those out. Micah learned how to play "Happy Birthday" on his guitar and we sang to each child individually! We ended up singing it 11 times! Once for each child, once for all the kids who had had birthdays that had already been celebrated, and once for Teacher Heather. Everyone had a lot of fun.
-Young Men’s Bible Study-
God really
laid it on my heart to get some of the young men of BYKOTA house together to
get in God’s word. Rhonda explained the ways in which young men fall in
Cambodia, and it made my resolve to get them grounded in scripture even more. She
explained that anyone can lay with a prostitute all night for only $2.50 and
that there are internet shops that are only a dollar to enter, and are places
where many go to look at pornography. I thought of Proverbs 7 and my heart was
frightened for the young men in this perilous land. One thing that I really
wanted for this Bible Study, that I believe God laid on my heart was to have it not
just once a week for a long period of time, but instead to have it almost every
night and make it brief (thirty to forty-five minutes). We met for the first
time last night, and the boys did not seem bored at all but were a captive
audience. We plan on meeting every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday. We have Tuesday night small group, and most of them go to church on
Sunday. What I desire for this Bible study is to simply get them in God’s word
on a daily basis and give them a group of men to support them and hold them
accountable to what is in God’s word. I do not have a curriculum or plan, other
than to open God’s word and allow Him to speak. Just like Proverbs 16:1 says: “The
preparation of the heart belongs to man, but the answer of the tongue is from
the Lord.” Hopefully, God has prepared me for this daily leading in His word
through the fifteen years I have been following Him, but I still need prayer
for the words to speak and the answers for the questions the boys may have for
me. I will keep you posted on what God is doing in this amazing opportunity.
-Other News-
Well, Kels
and I have been here for only two weeks, but we have adopted a son. His name is
Muggy and he is a Doxen puppy ;) (GOTCHA!)
I am excited
to film some at the markets here in Cambodia, because it would make for an interesting
video. I will leave it at that, and allow you to wonder, until I get the video
made . . .
I got my
hair cut yesterday, and it turned out to be interesting. The barber did a great
job, but he cut the sides of my head pretty short, and in the end thinned my
hair out with some scissors on top… I have never needed that done before! I
guess he thought I had thick hair :/ It is nice and cool, though! :)
I think that
is all I have for now. Like I said, we would like to get more frequent and less
lengthy posts up, and we will later. It has just been crazy lately!!! God is
doing some cool things here in Cambodia, and I am excited to be in on it. Also,
if you have been praying for us or supporting us financially, you are involved
too. We appreciate you guys’ support so much :) keep up the good work! We will
keep you updated.
