Back in the states/Last week in Cambodia update

Dear friends and family,

I thought about different ways to start this email with a BANG, but my mind is still flying all over the place to come up with something. Although one of my bags is missing, Jonathan and I made it back safely to LAX last night! Because of that, we took a lot longer than the rest of the people on our flight to come out and sent a wave of anxiety over the people waiting for us at the terminal, haha! Thank you all again for coming out to welcome us back at the airport and for your prayers, emails, messages, and encouragement! I didn't think I'd be too excited to see my parents and friends since I was sad to leave Cambodia, but all your warm smiles melted my heart away for sure, haha! My flight back was amazing! One of the interns left me some anti-nausea medication that's only sold in Canada, and wow, did it help me sleep well throughout the entire flight! It was my first time feeling so well on a plane, and I was even able to look out the window and marvel at God's creation as we were descending! Praise God!

My mosquito bites are starting to die out now; I sure felt the prayers from y'all for the last part of the trip! I apologize for the lack of email update during the last week of our time in Cambodia. Our schedule was packed for the last two weeks, and we were constantly traveling around. I have to say, though, that it was my favorite time in Cambodia besides the English Camp in Siem Reap. We were exposed to more of the Khmai (Cambodian) life with the Strong's planting rice and spending time with Akphirin and Theary (friends we met from last year's English Camp) in Koh Thom. We slept in traditional Cambodian stilt houses, commuted on motos and packed taxi vans, and ate many Cambodian dishes and snacks... including rice field rats. We were told that rice field rats are a lot tastier than the rats in the city. I nibbled on the meat but skipped out on eating the skin, and Jonathan cleaned up the bones until every bit of the meat was settled in his stomach. MmmMm, yum yum!

A couple of my goals for my time in Cambodia this year was to 1) experience more of the Khmai life and less of the "American" lodging and food we are usually placed in with our host missionary and 2) understand more about and know how to better pray for the different ministries our missionaries are involved in Cambodia. Not to say that I don't appreciate the comfort provided by our host missionary, but I really wanted to have a deeper understanding of life as a Cambodian. It took me six weeks to finally realize that it's not so much of how I can "tough out" the physical discomfort, but rather how much grace God gives me each time. And once I learned that, God opened my eyes to place a heavier emphasis on the spiritual burden and the struggles in partnering with the Khmais our missionaries face everday. It was very humbling. Jonathan said it took me long enough to learn this, haha. I'm sure I'll be sharing more of this at fellowship.

I'm very thankful that God gave us iron stomachs. We were eating and drinking anything and everything the Khmais offered us wherever we went. But no, I still didn't eat a tarantula, and I'm not sorry for it either! Jon ate one though. @_@ I'm also very thankful for all the safe travels, especially the time when I traveled alone to Kampong Saom to meet up with Jonathan and the group at the Vietnamnese Youth Camp. As we were about take a bus back to Phnom Penh from Battambang, my headache increased from earlier in the morning, and I started to feel weak and shaky. The bumpy roads didn't help the pain as the headache grew more intense, but I was able to pop in some tylenol before leaving the Strong's. I spent the first hour of the bus ride sleeping and woke up feeling better. However, my headache was still there, because it'd hurt every time I coughed or leaned forward or lied down.

This continued into the next day and the pain actually woke me up the next morning. (The headache found its way into my right eye too!) Jonathan and I were supposed to take a 630 bus that morning to Kampong Saom, but I knew I wouldn't be able to make it. I tried getting up after using the restroom only to weakly flop back into bed, so I called Jon to tell the rest of the group to go on without me and that I'll try to catch a later bus that day. When I woke up at 10, the headache was still there, although not as severe. Ilana, the host missionary, stopped by to check up on me and advised me to stay and rest up in Phnom Penh for the day. She told me I'll be good to go if my headache goes away the next morning. If not, I'll need to get a blood test. A blood test?! But, it's only a headache! I reluctantly said OK and prayed really hard that God would take this mysterious headache away so I could join the Youth Camp the next day... which He did! God's hand totally led me safely to the bus station and to Kampong Saom the next day! It was actually exciting to be traveling alone in Cambodia! :-) I'm still not exactly sure why God allowed this to happen, but if anything, this taught me to be obedient in unexpected situations.

So now that my two months in Cambodia is over, what's my next step is the question I'm constantly asking myself and God. After many conversations with the missionaries in Cambodia, I think I should finish my teaching credential degree before taking Bible classes in preparation to become a missionary. Haha, actually, I'm still waiting to see if that's where God is leading me. I will continue to exchange emails with the C&MA Candidate Development Team for more advice and guidance.

It's... different to be back in the states, to be in a familiar yet unfamiliar place, to wait on God for what He has for my next step, to swing back into LA time zone and the numerous activities/appointments here, to continue my journaling/processing time, to prepare the team for fellowship sharing, and many more. I ask for your patience and understanding as I'm still in the process of reflecting and transitioning and adjusting through reverse culture shock.

Thank you for reading! Once again, Jonathan and I would like to say thank you for your prayers and for being a part of this experience as one body in Christ in Cambodia. I look forward to sharing with all of you when I'm ready. I'll see most of you at the church retreat on Friday!

All glory to Him alone,

Em

PS- Thank you, Castalia and Rocio, for helping us keep our friends and family up to date with our emails! http://sgvac-cambodia-stm-08.blogspot.com/

Prayer Requests from EM

Written by Em Aug 9

Love you all!!!

-em

ps- just kidding, one more side prayer request... or two actually. 1) didnt really have a chance to talk much to mr. chu today, but as i was leaving, i asked if he goes to church (knowing what his answer would be, but trying to start a convo w/ him) and encouraged him to read the Bible and the Christian magazines that he receives. jon and i might go back for breakfast tmr morning before dave picks us up for church. pls keep praying for convo opportunities! i really didnt know what to say to him and was praying for God to just provide me w/ His words and open up convos last night. pray that jon and i will be quiet and sensitive to the Holy Spirit's lead if we have a chance to go back! rocio, feel free to cut/paste this part on the blog/email to castalia for me, thanks a bunch!

2) i wish i was exaggerating, but these mosquitos must think i'm delicious or something. mom, i've been putting deet on everyday, really i have! but they still feast on my legs! and the bites get really big and pink and itchy. the khmais keep pointing to my legs and saying ohhhhhh moke (which means mosquito)! not that i'm complaining, but it'd be nice to have a break from my mosquito friends... especially in kampong saom. i got a bunch of mosquito bites last time i was there for field forum :-( arkoon tom tom!!!!!!!!!!!!! good nite!

Dateup: ...the Dark Side ...Moringa Pill Popping... Closing up Time in Battambong

Hey guys,

Another awesome day in Battambang has come to a close. (Maybe this country map will help you visualize all these cities we have been talking about.) The Strongs drove us up to a mountain in the vicinity of the city. During the civil war with the Khmer Rouge the mountain was a fortified position with a clear view of the flat terrain surrounding it. Two artillery cannons still sit on the mountainside, silent guardians of an era past. The Khmer Rouge also used caves in the mountain as an execution site. Prisoners would be bound and bludgeoned into unconsciousness and dropped into a vertical opening and left dead or dying. A large number of bones remain in the caves but they have been collected and placed in protective memorial shrine type enclosures. It's a pretty gloomy and depressing place. All the temples and shrines that sit on the mountain don't help to alleviate the oppressive spiritual atmosphere.

On the way down from the caves and temples Doris saw a fruit stand selling starfruit. It was a rare sight and she was excited to be able to purchase some. She began talking to the seller and he said that there are a lot of trees at the base of the mountain that produce starfruit but he never eats them. He lifted his shirt to show Doris a string tied around his waist. The string was placed there by a witchdoctor and was supposed to ward off evil spirits or something like that. A person who has that type of a string tied around them can never take it off. This person then considers themselves part of the darkness and starfruit is not good for someone who is part of the (I am really excited to be able to use this phrase in a normal context) the dark side. Doris remarked later on how interesting it was that these people consider themselves in darkness yet they are ignorant of the gravity of their spiritual darkness.

After our trip we rushed back to town to get the two young lady agriculturalists on their bus back to Phnom Penh. Holly, the American, has to teach Sunday school and had to be back in time for that. Later we spent the early part of the afternoon at the Strong's house talking about the morninga tree project. If you want to know more about the moringa tree Trees For Life has a good website with lots of information. Some quick background on the Battambang Morninga project. Dave and Doris have been working hard to promote this surprisingly nutritious tree as a nutritional supplement for the general Khmer population (many of them are not getting the proper nutrients in their diet) as well as AIDS patients. There are several small orchards around the Battambang area on land owned by families who have taken an interest in Dave's work. For the first time the project has generated more moringa powder than they have sold. Dave is now looking into marketing options and partnerships with health food companies to create a regular demand for morninga and to spread awareness. The long term goal is to hand the project over to a local person but the Khmer are reluctant to take the weight of the responsibility unless a clear benefit is demonstrated. God willing the project will become self sustaining and someone will realize that they can make a couple hundred bucks a month just by running the thing.

Dave has also talked to the Ministry of Health here in Cambodia and they got really excited about moringa. Currently there are numerous health supplements that are imported from Thailand. The Ministry asked if Dave could produce a line of supplements based on morninga that could be produced locally. That's a bit beyond the capabilities of the project at this point but they also gave Dave permission to produce moringa capsules. So this afternoon on the living room floor of Dave Strong's house the first (probably the first) moringa capsules were manufactured in Cambodia. This was all done by hand with pre-made gelatin based capsules and a Cap-m-quik home capsule packer. A full dose of morninga for a day is about 20 grams. We were able to fit 400 milligrams into one capsule. If you have a general idea of how the metric system works (as weird as it is) you will soon come to the same conclusion that we did. To get a full dose of moringa every day one must take 50 capsules. We still wanted this capsule idea to work though since it would be an easy way for people to take moringa but no one would want to take 50 in a day. Dave decided that a 10 gram per day dose should be sufficient and maybe if we were able to pack 100 more milligrams into the capsules that would only mean... 20 capsules a day. That's still a lot of pill popping. I know some of you are thinking that you go through more Tylenol than that in a single afternoon... just kidding. So I don't think this capsule idea, as cool as it was, is going to take off.

Later in the afternoon we went back out to the field where we planted our rice experiment to take a look at it. There wasn't much change but the little 7 inch seedlings that we planted all seemed to be standing up straight with their vibrant green color intact. I guess that is a good thing. The family that owns the field was out there planting another section in the traditional way. They worked much faster than we did yesterday and the lady and her two daughters who were planting jokingly asked why three people are faster at planting rice than ten. Us foreign folk just don't know how to plant rice. Before we left the family invited us to stay for some roasted corn. They gathered a bunch of dry sticks, dead leaves, hay, and assorted garden waste; piled it up, threw on some corn, and lit the whole thing on fire. Even Dave was skeptical but after about 15 or 20 minutes we had delicious roasted corn. It was sweet with plenty of flavor, we didn't need butter or salt, which is good because I doubt we could not have easily gotten any even if we wanted to. It was an excellent appetizer for a dinner of tuna sandwiches and chaya at the Strong's house.

So Dave and Doris are really into eating tree leaves. Chaya is another tree that is high in nutrients. The tree produces leaves a bit smaller than your palm that look like a maple leaf but with five points on it. The high nutrient content and fast growth rate make it ideal for use as a food. The not so cool part about it is the cyanide content. Because of that the leaves need to be boiled for at least 5 minutes before being eaten, a bit longer if you want them to be nice and soft. They were actually pretty good, just boil them in plain water and add a dash of vinegar and they taste great. Even Emily, who is a total carnivore, liked them.

Anyway, Battambang has been great. Matthew, their five maybe six year old son is going through an energy overload phase running around, climbing on people, and talking a whole lot. Still as cute as ever though. Tomorrow we'll attend church and eat an early lunch and then jump on the 12 o'clock bus back to Phnom Penh. No resting there though. The next morning at 6:30 we leave on another bus headed to Kampong Saoum (or Sihanokvile as it is labeled on the map). We will spend three days there helping out with a Khmai Vietnamese youth camp. Sounds like fun but for the first time we won't be staying at a dorm, guesthouse, or hotel. I think we'll be in some sort of hut which is basically a thatched roof on four poles. We'll see. Not sure how much time we'll have to do email updates there so if you don't hear anything for a few days its OK. Pictures here. I think this update has reached a sufficient length. Until next time.

In Him,

Jonathan

Our state-of-the-art sterile capsule packing lab.


Experimental Rice Field


A beautiful sunset in the countryside.

Mr. Chew's Noodles...Education system...New Methods in Rice Planting

Written by Jon Aug 8

Chum reap sua,

Our stay at the Teo last night was great. We each got small room but it's clean so we can't complain. Dave came to pick us up at 8 and we went to Mr. Chew's noodle place for breakfast. Hand made egg noodle with beef and a wanton. We remembered it well from our trip last year, the food and iced coffe was just as good. Dave, our host missionary in Battambang said he's been going to Mr. Chew's since '94. But now that the prices are going up ($.75 for iced coffee and $1.25 for a bowl of noodles) he's not there as often. Mr. Chew is a first or second generation Cambodian-born Chinese and speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese. Emily had a good chat with him and, supplemented by information from Dave, we found out that he was baptized and calls himself a Christian but it's just something he puts on his religious shelf along with other beliefs. Having a succesful noodle shop that is open seven days a week is not condusive to Churchgoing either. We'll be back there for breakfast tomorrow morning.

After breakfast we went to visit a family to pray for the grandfather who is sick. The doctors say that he probably won't recover from this but the family asked Dave not to give any indication of that to him so that he won't loose hope and give up. Dave and Doris spoke to the family in Khmai and since one of them is a teacher they talked about the widespread corruption in the education system. Test proctors often accept bribes to allow students to use notes or cheat sheets during tests. These proctors then have to pay bribes to their supervisors to be allowed to continue to proctor tests. The family was saying that recently it has gotten twice as bad as it was in the past. One encouraging aspect of the visit was finding out that this family are the inlaws of the family I was staying with and will stay with again in Phnom Penh. Dave explained in Khmai that I was staying with their inlaws and they all seemed very happy to discover this connection.

After lunch at Dave and Doris' place we relaxed for a couple hours before heading out to the fields. Joined by an American and Khmai agriculturalist from Phnom Penh and some members from a local Church we set out to demonstate a new method of planting rice. A small plot of land about 10 by 20 meters was set aside for the demonstration. Half was to be planted in the traditional Khmai method and half in the new method. Really it's a simple change. Instead of the average 30 centimeter spacing between transplanted seedlings the new method calls for a spacing of 50 centimeters. This reduces the number of seedlings used and the labor it takes to put them all in the ground while yielding a greater harvest since the rice has more space to allow new sprouts to come up. The side that planted 50 ceintimeters apart finished twice as fast as the side that planted at 30 centimeters but only time will tell if the yield is increased. The Khmai as a people are generaly resistant to change in methodology whether it has to do with infant nutrition, building a house, or planting rice. But just because it has always been done that way doesn't mean that its good. The average yield for a Cambodian rice field is 1.8 tons of rice per hectare (A measurement indicating a square with 100 meter sides.). That sounds like a lot until you find out that the potential yield for a rice field in this part of the world is upwards of 10 tons per hectare. God willing the demonstration today will be a small step towards improving Cambodia's agriculture and, therefore, the lives of the farmers in this country. And of course we also pray that when we take care of the physical needs of people it will open doors to take care of spiritual needs. Grow rice, grow!

Chum reap leeah!

Jonathan

P.S. Oh, if you wanna see some pics click here.

MUD!!!

That's Dave in the foreground. The yellow string marked the proper spacing for the seedlings.


Jon in blue, Doris in stripes, and Emily in pink.


Rice planters minus Dave who is behind the camera.

A Rice Planting We Will Go.......and......Out to Catch a Leech

Randomness from Em to me Aug 7:

guess what we'll be doing tomorrow?! eating breakfast at mr. chu's place! haha, well, that's not the only thing we'll be doing. ........we'll be planting rice! oh my! sharon (the filipino nurse who works w/ the strong's) say it's hard work because you can't sit and you can't stand. dave strong says she even has a filipino song called it's hard to plant rice... or something along those lines. here we go!!! .........i'll try not to burn myself on a moto tomorrow if we take a moto out to the rice fields, hahaha! :-P and uh, yeah, pray that we wont have any leeches stuck on us! oh, and we're both being brutally attacked by mosquitos... they bit through our pants! those little suckers!