On the road again...

Well our time in Battambang is finished and we've been travelling since Wednesday. 

Had a great time at the Youth Centre party on Valentines day and were even treated to a special breakfast of muesli and oranges on the rooftop with a rose for each girl by our two remaining guys on the team.  What a blessing they are!  We also had our last church service at the orphanage with the kids.

On Monday and Tuesday we finished up our projects at the orphanage and the YWAM base and visited Seang's house to check up on the beds we helped dig up and plant.  It's amazing to see how quickly things grow here.  Prayers over all our projects that they will be lovingly looked after. 

The goodbyes at the base and the orphanage were not as difficult as I had feared, but I will miss my students from the youth center a lot as well as the amazing staff at the YWAM base.  Battambang will not be forgotten.

Went to visit Siem Riep, the home of the famous Angkor Wat temples, on Wednesday and Thursday (a 4 hour bus ride from Battambang).  Some of the team went to see the temples, but I took it easy in our guest house enjoying an actual free day with no errands to run.  Siem Riep was kind of a shock after being in Battambang for so long....the streets are over run with tourists and Khmer people trying to sell things to tourists.  The most western place we have been in a very long time.  A lot of thoughts about tourism going on.....made us very grateful that we have experienced so much more of the "real" Cambodia than most visitors.  A highlight for me was meeting a girl who had lost her hearing at a school trying to educated Khmer people in traditional arts....she taught Monja, Liz and I how to sign the numbers in Khmer and our communication was amazingly good considering the gap in language and also hearing!  I also enjoyed a relaxing massage for my sore body after all the hard work and beds that are not exactly luxurious.  Should be well rejuvenated for the last month of DTS.

Arrived in Phnom Penh for a short stopover last night and will be leaving tomorrow morning for Rattanikiri to start our last two weeks of ministry before outreach begins.  Pray for direction for this time as we are not sure what God has in store for us there yet.  Today a few of us went to S21 which is a museum for the Khmer Rouge's prison which was there only a few decades ago.  The prison is an old highschool which was used to hold people suspected of undermining the Khmer Rouge authority and many people were tortured or sent to the Killing Fields to die from this prison.  Some of the devices used to torture the prisoners are still in the prison and the blood stains on the walls remain.  Many of the old classrooms are filled with photographs of the former inmates....it's the type of place that leaves a mark on your heart forever....

So please pray for safe travels, continued team unity, direction and guidance for each of us on the team as we see the end of DTS approaching, and clear communication as we move around and meet new people.