Monday Oct. 24 The children didn’t know I was coming in October, Hong didn’t tell them exactly when I was coming. Hong told the children not to come to the house on Monday but wouldn’t you know it Hoa, his 2 Aunts and Thuan came to the house to talk to Hong. What a surprise they had when they saw me and what a surprise I had seeing Thuan. (I totally surprised Men, he jumped up and down screaming ‘Teacher Leah’)
Thuan is 4 months pregnant and ran away from her husband, because her mother-in-law was treating her like a servant – making her do all the household chores. Hong has hired her on do the cooking.
Wednesday Oct. 26
I (Leah) taught the Adults bible study. Hong and Nguyen have been teaching the parents English greetings- they all came up to me one at a time to say “Hello how are you? How is your family? They were so excited to speak to me in English! I taught on the Character of God Exodus 34:6,7 “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”
Saturday, October 29: Joanne Beach from our C&MA National office (my sister-in-law) arrived in Siem Reap in the evening.
Sunday Oct. 30 We went to Psa Leu Church and the Vietnamese children sang “I’ve Got The Joy,Joy,Joy Down in My Heart” in Vietnamese and English. They did an amazing job singing! We had a wonderful representation of CANADA at church, Joanne and I, Mike Schmidt (serving in Phnom Penh who is from St. Catharines), Ben and Hannah from Foothills Alliance Calgary and Hong and Nguyen! In the afternoon is the Vietnamese Church service with the children and Nguyen taught about the Inn Keeper in the Christmas story. The children love to sing, and they sang several worship songs. After the service they received their hard boiled egg and peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. Then they had play practise for the Christmas production. Their play practice went well, many of them have already memorized their lines.
Sunday, October 30th After the morning service at Psa Leu Church, the children have a Vietnamese service.
This is our Christmas Play practise. Hoa,Hoang, and Tuan are the three Wisemen, Mot and Nhi are Mary and Joseph &
Ha and Thi are narrators.
Monday Oct. 31 We were up bright and early, leaving for the lake at 6:30. We went to visit the children at the school. Each time we go to the lake we give the children a “gift bag” filled with rice, packages of noodles, school supplies and cookies. There are about 72 children that attend the school on the lake. Hong and Nguyen led the children in a couple of worship songs, Leah taught the children the story of Jesus sleeping through the storm and the disciples being afraid. Leah started off by teaching them how to make the sound of rain and thunder by clapping your hands, snapping your fingers, slapping your knees and stomping your feet. (Note: rubbing sweating palms together doesn’t make any sound!!!) We took a short tour of the lake, it is a huge lake and it was wonderful to see the water levels up.
After the lake we went for a much needed massage. Then we took Joanne and some of the children to Koulen Buffet and dance for a special meal.
After asking up all the supplies and travelling to Tonle Sap Lake – we had to load the boat and travel to the floating village.
When we arrived at the school, Leah taught a lesson, everyone sang and worshipped God and each child received their gift.
