Hanoi Trip, Day 1: An Evening in Bangkok

I love traveling.

I love traveling and especially love flying. Today, as I was gazing out at the clouds while the plane glided from Cambodia to Thailand, I was again amazed that I get to fly. God is so good, so kind to me that He would allow me the privilege to see the world from up above. I can go from one country to another in less than 2 hours. And I can travel half way around the world in a day (or two). What a blessing! I pray that I never get tired of staring out of plane windows with amazment--and praising my God for loving me so much.

And he blesses me with the whole package of traveling, not just flying. Like luggage. (A quick shift to the material, I know.) I like buying new luggage (see my $13 North Face knock-off below). I like deciding what to pack--even if it keeps me up until 2:30 in the morning. And I really like planning the details of the trip: finding good deals, researching hotels, figuring out the transportation, and learning about where I'm going on my next adventure.




















[My $13 backpack purchased at the market in Phnom Penh]

Today I left Phnom Penh on a seven day adventure to Hanoi, Vietnam. This trip initially began as a venture to Laos, but reading about 24 hour bus rides made staying a week in Hanoi look really appealing. The great airfare I discovered a couple of months ago required an overnight stay in Bangkok before flying to Hanoi tomorrow. So, day one of heading to Hanoi begins with Bangkok!















[The busy shopping (and modern) shopping center just around the corner of our hotel]


My faithful travel buddy is, once again, my roommate Kerstin! When we first spoke on the phone (maybe in March?), we talked about wanting to travel and both got excited about the idea of traveling together--and so we have!

After checking in to the hotel, we exchanged some US Dollars into Thai Baht at the shopping center above. We then wandered the night market stalls right along the street; we found our first souvenirs! Next on the agenda was dinner and a movie...and our long lost friend Ronald McDonald met us at the entrance to the movie theater!




















[Ronald and me giving the traditional Thai greeting. He's so polite and adapts well to other cultures!]


After a quick and delicious meal at McD's, we headed upstairs for a movie in a real movie theater! And after the movie, we went back downstairs to grab some Oreo McFlurries!




















[Major Cineplex in The Mall (I really think that's what it's called) near our hotel]

And that, my friends, was a pretty great way to start off a trip! Now I'm off to bed (in my comfy, clean, air conditioned hotel room: JL Bangkok Hotel) and praying that my 5 hours of sleep will feel like 8. Our taxi comes at 5am tomorrow and the flight to Hanoi leaves at 6:45! Hmm...maybe I'll have time to hit the Starbucks at the airport...

Koh Kong: Part 2

Arriving in Koh Kong

We arrived around 1:30pm in Koh Kong City. "City" is certainly an overstatement, but the spattering of storefronts, small guesthouses, and traffic let us know that we had reached our destination.

The information about our hotel said that the bus stop is just 20 meters away. So, I thought that the bus would stop right by our hotel and we would walk on over. It turns out that there is a main bus depot for Koh Kong City where all of the buses stop (there are several bus companies that go to and from Koh Kong). We arrived at the station with no idea where we were. I tried to talk to the moto drivers to find out how far away we were from the hotel. Several drivers hounded me as Kerstin waited to get her bag from under the bus. They, like always, followed me around asking where I was going and if they could drive me there. Eventually one of them came up to me and said he knew the hotel. (1 out of 10—not a good sign.) I still had no idea how far it was and, therefore, what was a fair price to get there.

I decided to call the owner of our hotel, a nice Australian guy who I had spoken with the day before to make the reservation. I figured he could tell me what to tell the moto driver. I told him we were "in the middle of nowhere" at the bus station. He said the hotel was just about 5 minutes away and, to my pleasant surprise, he offered to come pick us up! It was a nice break to be in a small town and already have friends! Grant, the Aussie, was there shortly and filled us in on Koh Kong on our way to the hotel.

The Hotel

My definition (and expectations) of hotels and other travel accommodations has been altered by my four-plus months in Southeast Asia. There doesn't seem to be a set standard. Some website and travel books use star ratings, but I'm pretty sure the stars are given at random and probably after someone has paid for a good rating. I didn't see many "star" ratings for hotels in Koh Kong. In fact, in all of my internet searching, I didn't find many hotels to rate. I typed "hotels Koh Kong Cambodia" (and variations of my search criteria hoping to produce more and new results) and found the same web pages over and over again. So, I visited them all, trying to find out as much information as I could about visiting mysterious Koh Kong.

One of my friends had been to Koh Kong before and recommended the Dugout Hotel (run by Grant, mentioned before). The Dugout does not have its own website, so I relied on the one photo and blurb online, as well as the information from my friend, to make my assessment. There were a several things that influenced my decision to choose the Dugout Hotel: 1) It was cheap. (Kerstin and I shared a room: $15 per night.) 2) It was on the main road. (This ended up being essentially insignificant upon our discovery of the actual size of Koh Kong.) 3) It had a restaurant. (Nice to know there is some Western food nearby.) 4) It had a pool. (We love to swim.) 5) My friend said it was good. (This was probably the greatest influence.)

We were greeted kindly by the Cambodian staff at the small hotel (12 rooms) and checked in. Grant led us through the hotel to our room at the back. The rooms opened onto the "courtyard" and the small swimming pool. We had the biggest room in the place, which included: a king-ish sized bed, a large TV (with sporadic cable access), a wardrobe, a small couch, and a coffee table. There was air conditioning (yay!). The bathroom was off of the back of the room, with screened openings to the outside; this means no A/C (not so uncommon in Cambodian hotels). Everything about the room and the bath was clean and in decent shape. The bathroom, however, left much to be desired—the water pressure was pretty low, poor tiling on the floor meant that it was always wet, and it got a little musty and hot. The bathroom aside, we had everything we needed and we slept very well every night—mostly because we were exhausted!

Friday in Koh Kong

After we settled in to our rooms, we headed back out to the reception desk/restaurant to get some lunch and figure out what do with our afternoon. Lunch at the Dugout was okay. I think I was a little optimistic and ordered the Fish & Chips (I mean you can wrong with a meal that is completely fried). Unfortunately, the fish just tasted weird. So, I ate my fries and perused the brochure and booklet about Koh Kong found at the hotel desk. We got excited about a couple of things we found until we realized that half of the booklet was about Sihanoukville, not Koh Kong. Apparently everything that I had read online really was the "Complete Guide to Koh Kong."

When we had check in earlier, Grant mentioned that he had a friend who rented out motorbikes by the day. I think that, originally, Kerstin and I planned to take our helmets for when we would ride as passengers around Koh Kong. When we found out that we could rent our own motos for $4 per day, we changed our minds. With Cambodian driver's license in hand (or wallet) and a meager amount of experience, we asked Grant to call his friend—moto drivers we would be! A few minutes later, two Cambodian men drove up in a pickup truck to take us to a guesthouse/hotel run by one of the men and his wife. Mr. Neat was a former police officer and now owns a hotel and organizes tourist trips around Koh Kong. He spoke English well, was very hospitable, and gave a deal on our half-day rental. We signed a rental agreement, agreeing to pay $1000 if the moto was stolen while under our care (apparently Mr. Neat had had some problems with shady tourists), and away we went!

Part of my reason for visiting Koh Kong was to check out some hotels for the upcoming staff retreat. Kerstin also wanted take a look at a possible place for her family to stay if they went to KK during their visit here in December. So, we used the most detailed map in the booklet and just drove around! The light traffic and wide streets gave us the extra confidence we needed for lots of driving practice and our most extended solo moto rides yet. We went to the riverside, found a couple of the hotel and went inside for a look, stopped and bought gasoline out of a barrel from an old man, and quickly realized how small Koh Kong really was.

My favorite part of the long, afternoon ride was when we drove out to find The Oasis: a cluster of bungalows, surrounding a serene swimming pool, and bordered by palm trees. I remember running across this place during my pre-trip research and thinking how lovely it looked and sounded. It only had about 10 bungalows, so it wouldn't work for the retreat. It turns out that Kerstin's dad had come upon it online, as well, and told her about it. The route to the Oasis took us away from the paved streets of KK. The first sign we found for the Oasis had a foam board (broken in half) over it that read: "CLOSED for Rainy Season". Since we just wanted to see it and not stay there, we headed on down the road. We passed some road construction (they were paving the road!) and came to another sign with arrow pointing right and some indication of how many kilometers away we would find the Oasis. I've never been good at knowing distance and really don't know how far "5 km" is, but after dodging some chickens in road and getting some stares and smiles from the locals, we headed right.

The hot midday sun had settled down and the sky was turning a beautiful deep blue-gray color as evening storm clouds made their way in from the sea. We found ourselves driving past fields and small houses and more chickens. We didn't see another sign for the resort, so we turned a few different ways, went down new streets, and saw more lovely scenery. Once I remembered that we had no agenda, I began to make stops along the way to get out my camera and try to capture the beauty and the moment. After a little more driving, excited "hello's" from children, and more chickens, we asked a woman where to find the Oasis. It was just down the street! This street made me really feel like I was off-roading, but did in fact lead us to the Oasis! We peeked in the closed gates, agreed that it did look like the picture, wondered what it would be like to stay so far away from everything, and considered our mission accomplished!

Our ride back to the Dugout was simple (and we definitely knew our way by then). We stopped at a convenience store for some snacks, ate dinner at our hotel (much better than lunch!), took a dip in the pool, and hit the sack! Our trip to Koh Kong was already, most definitely, an adventure.

Koh Kong: An Adventure into the Great Unknown, Part 1

During my four months here in Cambodia I have had the chance to see a lot of the country. Where have I been? Phnom Penh (I live here), Siem Reap (a weekend trip; visited the famous Angkor Wat temples), and the beach town of Sihanoukville (twice). My most rural experience was in Kampong Cham for a 2-night stay in little Suong. That trip was arranged by my office and the purpose was part cultural orientation and part program orientation. My most recent trip was past weekend to one of most untraveled parts of Cambodia: Koh Kong. It was definitely an adventure!


Koh Kong is directly west of Phnom Penh and is the last coastal town before the Thai border. Koh Kong is known mostly for being a border town and a good way for tourists to go from Cambodia to Thailand (or the other away around) via land travel. I had never heard of Koh Kong until I began planning the staff retreat for this November. (Where is Koh Kong? See the Google map here.) One of my jobs as Interim Church Partnership Coordinator is to find the location and arrange the details for retreats that are sponsored by our church partners. In the past the Leader's Retreat has been held at a retreat center on the way to Sihanoukville or at the beach town itself. This year the staff would like to go some place new! So, the hunt began.

[Koh Kong: on the way to the Ta Tai waterfalls]

Armed with my trusty (yet, not always helpful) friend Google, I began researching Koh Kong. "Developing" is the word most used to describe Koh Kong and I have to agree! My internet research turned up a few possible hotels and many questions about what one could actually do during a visit to the beautiful land of Koh Kong. I read about possible waterfall trips, boat rides to islands, beaches, and mountains. What I didn't find were any details about these trips or any good descriptions about what they involved. It was clear that to plan a retreat to a new place, I would need to actually go there myself and check it out! So, I marked "Trip to Koh Kong" on my calendar and planned to make the trip with my roommate, Kerstin.

[A river in the mountains of Koh Kong]

I am, by nature, a "planner." I like to know what, where, how, when, and what to wear. My trip to Koh Kong, however, was less planned and more prepared for. I want to share about my visit to Koh Kong (and share pictures!), but I would also like to write out some information that might be helpful to other people (coming from abroad or within Cambodia) as they plan an adventure to an area of Cambodia that is still developing as a tourist destination.

Preparing

I packed a backpack with the basics for a 3-night journey: basic clothes (khaki pants, t-shirts, modest tank tops, long shorts, and pj's), swimsuits for waterfalls/beaches, Keen's for trekking, flip flops, toiletries, sunglasses, sunscreen, computer (which I didn't use), and camera (which I did use—a lot!). I went to the bus station in Phnom Penh the day before and bought tickets for the trip: $10 per person each way (from Virak-Buntham, St. 106 across from the river). I called the hotel in Koh Kong and made reservations for an air conditioned room. I was as prepared as I was going to be!

Getting to Koh Kong

I really like taking busses around Cambodia! It's relatively inexpensive and easy to navigate. We left our apartment around 7am and hired two moto taxis right outside to take us to the station (the "station" is a really store front on the corner and the busses park on the street). We decided to take motos to the bus and to carry our helmets with us to Koh Kong. I always wear a helmet when riding motos. (It's the law if you're the driver and it's just smart if you're the passenger!) Motos are usually faster than tuk tuks and cheaper as well. Moto ride from Toul Kork (NE corner of PP) to Virak-Buntham Bus Company (near Wat Phnom on the NW side): $1.

Since I woke up 15 minutes before we left (whoops!), breakfast didn't happen at home. Thankfully, we arrived at the bus with plenty of time to spare—and there was a lovely café just to the right of the bus company! Jaan provided the perfect breakfast to start a day of traveling: bagel with cream cheese (hard to find in Cambodia!) and a cup of really good coffee for $4. We had time to drink the coffee, but asked to take the bagels to go. The great people at Jaan packed up our food in very nice (but not very eco-friendly) containers.

[Kerstin: on the bus and excited about the yummy bagel.]

The bus was quite nice and the staff was friendly. It had air conditioning (essential) and some perks that I hadn't yet experience on the Cambodian buses: they gave each passenger a chilled bottle of water, a wrapped pastry, and package towelette to wash your hands. Wow! Such service! The bus ride was pretty uneventful. They played the standard Khmer karaoke videos (music videos with the words at the bottom that light up like karaoke). I listened to my own music, read, and napped. Kerstin did the same.

The scenery really was amazing as we made our way of the city, past rice fields, small town, markets, and into the mountains. Cambodia was changing before my eyes. I was thankful for a gorgeous day to take it all in. The trip was long, longer than the books said (4 hrs.), and we arrived in Koh Kong City around 1:15 pm, a little over 5 hours. Some road work and careful driving on the part of our bus driver (no complaints there) may have accounted for some of the time, but I think the roads probably aren't as good as they were three years ago when the travel books came out.

[Me at the "bus stop" on the way to Koh Kong.]

Our only stop on the 5+ hour journey was along the side of the road. Um, yes, in the middle of nowhere. Usually the bus stops at a roadside "bus stop" with vendors selling drinks, snacks, and Cambodian food—and toilets (of varying degrees of cleaniness). This "bus stop" was more rural; i.e. people went into the trees to rest. We got off the bus to stretch our legs and take in the middle-of-nowhere-ness. Oh Cambodia.

To Be Continued…

The Summer Wrap Up

Wow. I cannot believe that the month of August is half over! The summer months were very busy with many volunteers here throughout the summer teaching English to the Cambodian staff. ESL ended the last week in July and we had a fun graduation dinner and ceremony to celebrate everyone's participation. Two of those volunteers were my wonderful parents! Mom and Dad came the first two weeks of July to teach here in Phnom Penh. Their visit included my birthday (the big 27!) and we celebrated together at a really cool restaurant in Siem Reap during a weekend trip to visit the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. It was so good to have my Mom and Dad here, but their arrival triggered every emotion possible! I was pretty homesick! I'm doing much better now, but it was rough for awhile.

[Mom and Dad atop one of the temples at sunset.]

As soon as ESL ended, a team from my home church, College Park Church, arrived in Cambodia to lead a staff retreat for the SPY (Community Health) program. It was so great to see familiar faces! (And they only made me a little bit homesick.) I got to get out of the city for a week and join the retreat held on the coast in Sihanoukville. The team did a great job teaching, organizing activities and games, and connecting with the staff. Many of the SPY staff are not believers, so a major focus of the week was to communicate the Gospel clearly and share the message of Christ's love for all people. We showed the Jesus Film, as well as a movie made to show before the Jesus Film that does a great job summarizing the Bible starting from Creation all the way to the life of Jesus. The second movie was also in Khmer and had Cambodian actors and actresses as narrators. Several staff members told us how much they enjoyed the films and that they were able to understand the Bible stories better after seeing what the places and people may have looked like.

[Me and Mom with some of the ESL students at the Kandal office.]

It is now exactly halfway between my arrival in Cambodia and my departure date. It's been an adventure so far and I can only imagine what God has in store for the next 3.5 months!

[That's me on the way to the famous Angkor Wat.]

Here are some ways to pray:

1. Pray that I would be disciplined in spending special time with the Lord each day.

2. That I would hunger and thirst for the Word and prayer.

3. I don't know very many people in Cambodia outside of work. It's easy for me to feel lonely, but I know that God is with me and I want to use this time to really grow in my relationship in Jesus.

4. As I mentioned, the month of July was a tough one for me. I was very homesick and discouraged about pretty much everything. I'm doing better, but could use prayer for my work. That I would have joy for the tasks before me and diligence to work hard and well.

Thank you for praying & for reading! It is a blessing to be here!

A Day in My Life

Some friends have told me they really want to hear about my day to day life in Cambodia. Well, yesterday was such an interesting day that I'd like to share the whole thing with you! It's pretty detailed, so if you want the good part, skip to the afternoon!

To set the scene: We've had groups of volunteers in Cambodia throughout the summer to teach English to the WR Cambodia staff. We have three teaching sites: Phnom Penh (the capitol city), Kampong Thom (near Siem Reap), and Kampong Cham (northwest of Phnom Penh). We are in the last two weeks of the ESL program. On Sunday, on the way to K. Thom, one of the volunteers lost his passport. Today, I help him get a police report, as well as try to get some other work done.

Here is the story of Wednesday, July 22, 2009:

7:15 am Wake Up; get ready for the day; eat American cereal with Lactose Free Skim Milk in a box (UHT—Ultra High Temperature milk). This week my cereal is Post Banana Nut Crunch. At $5 a box, it's one of my treats.

8:15 am Take a moto taxi from my house to the office: three blocks, 1000 Riel ($0.25). A major plus is that most of the moto taxi drivers on our street now know where our office is!

8:30 am Call the volunteers coming back to Phnom Penh to see what time they might arrive.

8:45 am Check with our office manager to make sure the driver can take me to pick up the volunteers.

9:00 am Search online to find some lessons and activities for the Advanced ESL class. I find a crossword puzzle about geography and a paragraph correction activity. I do them myself to see if I can and to find out how hard they really are. I'll look for more later.

Continue my research on how to replace a lost passport in Cambodia and how to acquire a police report.

Work on balancing a cash advance for the ESL program.

9:45 am Send an email to a local hotel to reserve rooms for the volunteers for one night next weekend.

Talk with Ashley, our ESL Coordinator, about the plan for today and the next couple of days as she travels to Kampong Thom to substitute teach. Also, make plans for girls' night on Friday and for a pool visit on Saturday!

10:45 am Receive an email from a hotel confirming rooms for the volunteers for next weekend. Send my own email with names, final confirmation, and a "thank you" for being so quick. Check that item off of my To Do list!

11:30 am Send some emails to people in the states to make sure details are set for the volunteer team. Hope that I get a response and everything resolved by Thursday.

12:15 pm Leave the office and drop Ashley off at the ESL house. Run in the kitchen, grab two pieces of cold fish sticks left over from dinner and stuff them in my mouth. Lunch will happen later!

12:30 pm Go with our driver to the bus station to pick up Randy & Tim (two volunteers from Lake Ave. Church in Pasadena)

12:45 pm Purchase a bus ticket for Ashley for 2:30pm today. Find Tim & Randy and head back to the house.

1:00 pm Eat some lunch: this time I heated up a plate of fish sticks and French fries and enjoyed them more.

1:40 pm Go with the driver again: to a police station to get the report necessary to get the replacement passport for Tim. (The first thing on the list from the embassy is "A police report substantiating loss or theft.") *I'll write more on my police station experience, but overall, it was a highly unsuccessful visit and a complete waste of time. (Thankfully, only 15 minutes.)

2:00 pm Drop Ashley off back at the house to take a tuk tuk to the bus station.

Go back to the WR office to find out which police station can actually help us.

Do some more research online and a PDF from the UK embassy called "How to Obtain a Cambodian Police Report," which turned out to be the most useful information I'd found so far. *Why can't the US Embassy have a similar document? 10 points for the British!

Solicit some help from Grace, our office manager, to contact the Tourist Police and type a letter from our organization. She is Cambodian (her Cambodian name is Rachny) and speaks English very well.

I find some more material for tomorrow's ESL class. Two lessons on adjectives: Comparative and Superlative. The lesson is complete! Print copies, punch holes (with help from the volunteers), and check it that off my To Do list!

3:00 pm Grace convinces me to drive (for the first time!) to take us (Tim, Grace, and me) to the police station. *I have my Cambodian driver's license, but have not been brave enough to actually drive a car here. More on this later! Note: I avoid telling Tim that this is my first time driving in Cambodia! Innocence is bliss, right?

3:30 pm I drive, Grace is the navigator, and we make it safely (in the afternoon rain) to the Tourist Police office. *Thankfully, it's on our side of town and traffic is a little lighter than the city center.

We meet with the police officer (I'm not sure what his position or rank is) in his office. He is very nice and seems quite helpful. Grace is invaluable in this whole process!

I play Solitaire on my iPod Touch (Thank you again Mom & Dad!), while Tim and Grace work things out with the officer.

5:00 pm The report is almost done! Tim pays the $30 "fee" to the officer and we arrange to meet him later to pick up the final report. He needs to get one more signature from one of his superiors.

5:30 pm I drive through a few ponds and lakes that have accumulated on the roads since the rain started and drop Grace back at the office.

Tim and I go to the ESL house to eat dinner and wait for the call to meet the officer.

6:00 pm The report is ready early! (Does that really happen in Cambodia?!) We drive 2 blocks to meet the officer and get the report. Step 1 of 'Getting Tim a New Passport' is complete!

6:30 pm Eat dinner!

7:00 pm I drive back to the office to leave the car and pick up my moto helmet. *My first nighttime driving. Only 4 blocks.

Blessings!: I get a ride home on a moto from one of the WR staff that is heading home late. And the night guard loans me his poncho to wear home in the rain!

7:15 pm Home!

Watch some TV on DVD with roommates. Send some emails. Eat some Pringles. Eat some ice cream.

10:15 pm Lights out! Sleep!

And that, my friends, is one day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia!

Two Months in Cambodia!

This week marks two months since I packed my life into two 50 lb. suitcases (as well as a compact carryon and a computer bag) and moved to Cambodia. One forth of my stint here has already passed by! Wow!

So, how am I doing? How is life in Cambodia? I am doing very well! And I am really enjoying life here on the other side of the world!

I am amazed at how normal my life seems after just a couple of months. I don't have a regular routine (and I may not for a couple more months!), but I feel like I'm settling into the Cambodian way of things. I'm continuing to take language classes; I'm learning my way around the city (and able to tell the drivers where to go!); and I'm starting to feel comfortable...natural...at ease. I have yet to have a dramatic "culture shock" moment. Perhaps it will come still. (But I hope not!) I do feel homesick occasionally, but I've only cried myself to sleep one time! But really, I do miss my family and my friends and my church family and the many, many people who are so dear to me back home. I am so thankful for technology. We have pretty good internet at the office and at home, so I can use Skype, facebook, email, and this blog, to keep up with those so far away.


[Chilis drying in a field near a Wat (Buddhist temple)]

I feel like I am getting into the swings of things. I’m merging into my role as Interim Partnership Coordinator. I’m thankful for the gradual transition process. Right now the main focus for partnership is our summer volunteers. Our summer ESL (English as a Second Language) program began two weeks ago and will continue through the end of July. Groups of volunteers from our partner churches come for two weeks at a time to teach English to the WR staff. This is the fourth year of the program and it’s evident that this is a great opportunity for the volunteers and for the Cambodian staff. I have really enjoyed meeting and helping to host the diverse teams of volunteers while they are in Cambodia. The teams bring lots of energy and enthusiasm for the work of WR and for building relationships with staff members.


[Fun friends at the Hope staff retreat in May]

I get to be involved in ESL in my own way this summer by writing new curriculum for the advanced class! No, I was not an education major, nor have I ever formally taught ESL (or any other course!), but it needed to be done! I consider this an opportunity to take advantage of my internet resourcefulness. I hunt down grammar and writing lessons, find devotionals and stories, adapt exercises and games, and put it all together in a lesson format. I can’t promise that it’s anything remarkable, but as long as our staff are practicing their English and feeling at least a little bit challenged, I believe I have succeeded.


[Reviewing last years curriculum...and working on my own!]

Thank you so much for praying for me and missing me! My parents tell me often about friends from home who ask about me and say “hello!” It means so much to me. I feel so loved. And God is so good. He continues to confirm that Cambodia is exactly where I should be right now. I would appreciate your continued prayers for my future and clear direction from the Lord as to where he would want me next.

Please pray:
--For the summer ESL program: that WR staff and church partner volunteers would each be blessed and be a blessing. Pray that volunteers would gain a vision and passion for the work of WR Cambodia and take that back to their church families.
--For me as I continue to write lessons for the advanced ESL curriculum. Pray for diligence and joy for the work. I do enjoy it, but it’s a bit daunting and seems never-ending! Pray too that I will do a good job and create lessons that are helpful for the students and teachers.
--That I would hunger daily for God’s word and time with Him. I am excited about how God is using this time in my life. I desire to learn more about Him and what it means to live a life devoted to Christ.

Photos!

Me and my Off! Deep Woods--we're bonding.


This photo goes with the post below on mosquitoes and their daily interference in my life.

You can see many more photos of my life in Cambodia, the crazy things I see while driving around the city, and my trip to Thailand in May!

Go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/Katherine.E.Williams