Day Two

We spent a few hours this morning walking around the neighborhood taking photos. The scenery is such a mishmash of wealth & poverty it's confusing to the eye. Across the road from a palace (yes, a literal palace) is a three-sided shack. As we were moving out of the way of a Lexus SUV backing out of his drive, we had to step over waste oozing down the side of the road. One house has razor wire & a security guard, the next house doesn't even have a front door.

After our little jaunt around the neighborhood we treated ourselves to a tuk-tuk ride to the tourist side of town for doughnuts. (We really can't eat from the neighborhood market anyway.) Our driver Vandeth began to speak to me of his childhood as we passed the king's palace. Vandeth was nine when the bombs came followed directly by a communist reign of terror. He hid in the forest with his family during that time. He saw many, many people killed during his boyhood years. Rather than become fearful or bitter, Vandeth chooses hope. He works very hard & encourages his children to "study, study for good future, so no one can trick you in lies like Communism." Vandeth learned to speak English by watching TV & learned to write in English by looking at local papers written for tourists. He gave us his phone number so he can be "our" driver while we're here. We loved him up good & gave him a generous fare.

We also visited the Love In Action orphanage today. All the children wanted their photos taken & to take photos of each other. Isaac said all total about 200 pictures were taken. (Thanx for the cool camera, Andrew!) All the children also wanted to be hugged & held. Fortunately they're very small, so we could hold two or three at a time.

Ruth, the "Mommy" of Love In Action has wisely maintained the orphanage in a very simple fashion. She reasoned that giving the children "more & better" would only lead to heartbreak & resentment as they have no way to maintain such a lifestyle when they move out as adults. She says she is raising them to be Cambodians, not Westerners. Smart woman that Ruthie is.

Our goal here at Love In Action is to love on the children as much as possible & to see to the needs of Ruth & the volunteer staff. We feel certain our time is to be invested in ministering to the ministers as well as the children.

Thank you so very much for the prayer support. We can definitely sense your help. We are also sensing God's direction in our decisions & know He has made wonderful provision for us. We're praying for you too!