Michael told me that if I can pop out a blog an hour, I can have the title of 'Most Prolific Blogger In The History Of The BEC'! So I'm on to it! :P
This one’s a bit of a longy!!
Before the Bible School, two teams of about 8-10 foreigners, plus our wonderful Khmer friends and translators, had the opportunity to go on a 4 day adventure to the Cambodian provinces of Kampong Thom and Sihanoukville.
Team ‘Bulldog’ embarked on a journey to Sihanoukville and consisted of:
· Jonno Nutter
· Kat Ward
· Annie Abson
· Chris Abson
· Esther Abson
· Shoshannah Walton
· Gary Gonzales
Team ‘Fried Tarantula’ (later known as Team ‘Sparkle Tiger’ – long story..) headed for Kampong Thom and was made up of:
· John Pople
· Esther Pryde
· Mike Petrarca
· Emery Chiles
· Chloe Kenzie
· Dan Turner
· Emily Collins
This one’s a bit of a longy!!
Before the Bible School, two teams of about 8-10 foreigners, plus our wonderful Khmer friends and translators, had the opportunity to go on a 4 day adventure to the Cambodian provinces of Kampong Thom and Sihanoukville.
Team ‘Bulldog’ embarked on a journey to Sihanoukville and consisted of:· Jonno Nutter
· Kat Ward
· Annie Abson
· Chris Abson
· Esther Abson
· Shoshannah Walton
· Gary Gonzales
Team ‘Fried Tarantula’ (later known as Team ‘Sparkle Tiger’ – long story..) headed for Kampong Thom and was made up of:· John Pople
· Esther Pryde
· Mike Petrarca
· Emery Chiles
· Chloe Kenzie
· Dan Turner
· Emily Collins
Plus: Kosal, SoVeasna, Phab, Sokeing and Sophea
As I was on Team ‘Sparkly-Tarantula-Fried-Tiger’, I can only really tell you of our adventures, but from what we all heard, Team Bulldog had a fun, rewarding and successful trip :)
So, here goes....
After a day of final preparation hearing talks about what to expect out in the provinces, what were the correct cultural norms to abide by, how we, and what we had to say, might be accepted etc, we felt excited and ready to go!
24th Dec 2009: P2P Day 1
We all had a 5am wakeup call so we could be checked out of the hotel, on the bus, and on our way to the Bethézer dorms for the 6am Morning Service which we were to help run. Once at the dorms, we split the dormers up into two groups – Team Bulldog took one half, we took the other half. We got everyone to act out the story of Paul and Silus. With some very convincing jail-guards, some very lovely pretend baptisms, and some heart-warming singing, it was a great morning together learning more of God’s word. We then gave those who were interested an opportunity for a question and answer session, which they were happy to accept. We were asked questions about Satan and how we would all get to Jerusalem for the judgement. John took this session which was good for both the students, as they were able to get some logical answers, and for us, as we were able to observe a different way of approaching questions about such topics.
After the dorms we were back on the bus and on our way to LCDI in the town of Roumlong. We each got the chance to teach a class of about 15 students, and taught English through bible stories, singing, telling of the time, pretty much anything we could think of, and then spent the afternoon playing sports and bonding with the LCDI students. The bonding time was really great and was much enjoyed by both the team and the students! Then we were back on the bus for the extra hour drive to Kampong Thom.
We checked into a hotel for our first night out and after dinner, did the readings together - the perfect way to end our first day.
25th Dec 2009: P2P Day 2 – Christmas Day!!
Merry Christmas everyone!! It was a big day and despite how fun and exciting and adventure-full it was, there were still a few tears from some team members (me very much included) as it was most of our first Christmas’s away from home and away from our families. But our fantastic team banded together and had a beautiful family day together in the villages of Mneau and Sroo Jeuv. We spent the first half of the day in one village where the boys gave bible talks to the adult villagers and the girls, plus the amazing Sophea who we could not have survived without, entertained the village kids. We also were given the opportunity to teach English in the local school. After lunch, we repeated the morning program in the second village. It was a really great day, immersing ourselves in village life and culture. The hospitality and friendliness of the villagers was so beautiful, we felt more than welcome!
After our day of teaching, playing, entertaining and being surrounded by people who just wanted to love us, we were taken on a tour of Phab’s (another one of our trusty Khmer friends and guides) farm and ‘back yard’ as we would be sleeping in her village that night. The scenery and serenity were amazing! We were taken down to a little creek/dam where the village gets it water from and just sat there contemplating – it was beautiful.
Back at Phab’s house we talked and mingled while some of the team went back to the hotel to pick up our pre-ordered dinner. We then all sat around eating our Christmas dinner out of styrofoam take out containers, it was fantastic :)
That night, we set up a projector and screen in the village and showed all the villagers a Mr Bean movie and another Khmer movie. They seemed to really enjoy it! We then set up camp in two of the villager’s houses – bamboo mats, mosquito nets and a blankie (not really needed considering the heat, but a nice touch!) then laid our heads down for 40 winks as Cambodians.
Another really rewarding day and a Christmas to never be forgotten!
26th Dec 2009: P2P Day 3
We all awoke at some crazy hour of the morning with no need of an alarm clock – we had roosters crowing and dogs barking! We needed an early start anyway, so it was good that we had a ‘natural’ wake up call! The hospitality of the people we had stayed with was beautiful – they treated us like royalty. We were there in the hope of preaching God’s love, but they more than showed us brotherly love throughout our stay.
We were on the bus by 6am back to the hotel for our seminar day. We had, had some leafleting done in the area previously and had 70 registered to attend our half day seminar on ‘An Introduction to Christianity’. Unfortunately, because we were trying to book into a hotel at 7am, they only had one room available for the 11 of us to all shower in and be up in the seminar room, set up and ready to start by 9am. Quite a task!! Needless to say, there was no hot water left by the time the last person got through the shower... (No, I’m not asking for sympathy! :P) The seminar seemed to have a good response – each attendee received a certificate for attending, were given lunch afterwards, and we had a few come up and talk to us afterwards about the possibility of having lessons at the BEC. YAY! A huge thankyou to our fantastic translators; Kosal and SoVeasna - CHAMPIONS!
The afternoon was ours to spend as we pleased. Most of us explored the small but quaint little town, in some way or another – by foot, by tuk tuk, by elephant! (Nah, I made that up :P) and then all met up to do the readings together before dinner.
We found a really nice little restaurant for dinner as we were all pretty sick of eating at the hotel, and enjoyed more laughter, fun and bonding time together J
For our movie night in the village, we had previously planned to show a couple of ‘Veggie Tales’ episodes but because of the language barrier, it was decided that it would be pretty pointless, so we decided that seeing as we had them, why not watch them ourselves! So before laying our weary heads down to sleep, we all piled into one of the hotel rooms and watched a few episodes – a good bit of kids bible cartoons never goes astray!
27th Dec 2009: P2P Day 4
Our super early start was delayed when we decided against climbing a mountain as our final activity before the trip back to Phom Penh. Instead we had a leisurely trip back stopping at a really cool dam/river/creek – very picturesque, and to buy fruit off the side of the road, and to eat lunch. And all in time to be back at Asie Hotel (our home for the Bible School), checked back in, showered, and at the dorms for the memorial meeting at 4pm.
The memorial meeting was fantastic as all the pre Bible School P2P’ers were back, plus the Bible School speakers, post Bible School P2P’ers and all the Khmer brethren, sisters and friends. It was an amazing experience to break bread with so many people from all over the world, brought together by our one love and one hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Overall, our P2P experience was incredible! We were blessed with so many opportunities to preach, teach, meet, greet and immerse ourselves in the Cambodian culture and way of life. We thank God for being with us and keeping us safe as we endeavoured to do His work. We also pray for His continued blessing on the team who are out on a P2P province trip at the moment.
~Emily :)
As I was on Team ‘Sparkly-Tarantula-Fried-Tiger’, I can only really tell you of our adventures, but from what we all heard, Team Bulldog had a fun, rewarding and successful trip :)
So, here goes....
After a day of final preparation hearing talks about what to expect out in the provinces, what were the correct cultural norms to abide by, how we, and what we had to say, might be accepted etc, we felt excited and ready to go!
24th Dec 2009: P2P Day 1
We all had a 5am wakeup call so we could be checked out of the hotel, on the bus, and on our way to the Bethézer dorms for the 6am Morning Service which we were to help run. Once at the dorms, we split the dormers up into two groups – Team Bulldog took one half, we took the other half. We got everyone to act out the story of Paul and Silus. With some very convincing jail-guards, some very lovely pretend baptisms, and some heart-warming singing, it was a great morning together learning more of God’s word. We then gave those who were interested an opportunity for a question and answer session, which they were happy to accept. We were asked questions about Satan and how we would all get to Jerusalem for the judgement. John took this session which was good for both the students, as they were able to get some logical answers, and for us, as we were able to observe a different way of approaching questions about such topics.After the dorms we were back on the bus and on our way to LCDI in the town of Roumlong. We each got the chance to teach a class of about 15 students, and taught English through bible stories, singing, telling of the time, pretty much anything we could think of, and then spent the afternoon playing sports and bonding with the LCDI students. The bonding time was really great and was much enjoyed by both the team and the students! Then we were back on the bus for the extra hour drive to Kampong Thom.
We checked into a hotel for our first night out and after dinner, did the readings together - the perfect way to end our first day.
25th Dec 2009: P2P Day 2 – Christmas Day!!
Merry Christmas everyone!! It was a big day and despite how fun and exciting and adventure-full it was, there were still a few tears from some team members (me very much included) as it was most of our first Christmas’s away from home and away from our families. But our fantastic team banded together and had a beautiful family day together in the villages of Mneau and Sroo Jeuv. We spent the first half of the day in one village where the boys gave bible talks to the adult villagers and the girls, plus the amazing Sophea who we could not have survived without, entertained the village kids. We also were given the opportunity to teach English in the local school. After lunch, we repeated the morning program in the second village. It was a really great day, immersing ourselves in village life and culture. The hospitality and friendliness of the villagers was so beautiful, we felt more than welcome!After our day of teaching, playing, entertaining and being surrounded by people who just wanted to love us, we were taken on a tour of Phab’s (another one of our trusty Khmer friends and guides) farm and ‘back yard’ as we would be sleeping in her village that night. The scenery and serenity were amazing! We were taken down to a little creek/dam where the village gets it water from and just sat there contemplating – it was beautiful.
Back at Phab’s house we talked and mingled while some of the team went back to the hotel to pick up our pre-ordered dinner. We then all sat around eating our Christmas dinner out of styrofoam take out containers, it was fantastic :)
That night, we set up a projector and screen in the village and showed all the villagers a Mr Bean movie and another Khmer movie. They seemed to really enjoy it! We then set up camp in two of the villager’s houses – bamboo mats, mosquito nets and a blankie (not really needed considering the heat, but a nice touch!) then laid our heads down for 40 winks as Cambodians.
Another really rewarding day and a Christmas to never be forgotten!
26th Dec 2009: P2P Day 3
We all awoke at some crazy hour of the morning with no need of an alarm clock – we had roosters crowing and dogs barking! We needed an early start anyway, so it was good that we had a ‘natural’ wake up call! The hospitality of the people we had stayed with was beautiful – they treated us like royalty. We were there in the hope of preaching God’s love, but they more than showed us brotherly love throughout our stay.We were on the bus by 6am back to the hotel for our seminar day. We had, had some leafleting done in the area previously and had 70 registered to attend our half day seminar on ‘An Introduction to Christianity’. Unfortunately, because we were trying to book into a hotel at 7am, they only had one room available for the 11 of us to all shower in and be up in the seminar room, set up and ready to start by 9am. Quite a task!! Needless to say, there was no hot water left by the time the last person got through the shower... (No, I’m not asking for sympathy! :P) The seminar seemed to have a good response – each attendee received a certificate for attending, were given lunch afterwards, and we had a few come up and talk to us afterwards about the possibility of having lessons at the BEC. YAY! A huge thankyou to our fantastic translators; Kosal and SoVeasna - CHAMPIONS!
The afternoon was ours to spend as we pleased. Most of us explored the small but quaint little town, in some way or another – by foot, by tuk tuk, by elephant! (Nah, I made that up :P) and then all met up to do the readings together before dinner.
We found a really nice little restaurant for dinner as we were all pretty sick of eating at the hotel, and enjoyed more laughter, fun and bonding time together J
For our movie night in the village, we had previously planned to show a couple of ‘Veggie Tales’ episodes but because of the language barrier, it was decided that it would be pretty pointless, so we decided that seeing as we had them, why not watch them ourselves! So before laying our weary heads down to sleep, we all piled into one of the hotel rooms and watched a few episodes – a good bit of kids bible cartoons never goes astray!
27th Dec 2009: P2P Day 4
Our super early start was delayed when we decided against climbing a mountain as our final activity before the trip back to Phom Penh. Instead we had a leisurely trip back stopping at a really cool dam/river/creek – very picturesque, and to buy fruit off the side of the road, and to eat lunch. And all in time to be back at Asie Hotel (our home for the Bible School), checked back in, showered, and at the dorms for the memorial meeting at 4pm.The memorial meeting was fantastic as all the pre Bible School P2P’ers were back, plus the Bible School speakers, post Bible School P2P’ers and all the Khmer brethren, sisters and friends. It was an amazing experience to break bread with so many people from all over the world, brought together by our one love and one hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Overall, our P2P experience was incredible! We were blessed with so many opportunities to preach, teach, meet, greet and immerse ourselves in the Cambodian culture and way of life. We thank God for being with us and keeping us safe as we endeavoured to do His work. We also pray for His continued blessing on the team who are out on a P2P province trip at the moment.
~Emily :)
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