Arrival in Mondolkiri

Written by Jonathan 7-16 cambo time

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters,

We arrived in Mondolkiri today after a harrowing 10 hour drive through mountain passes and dense jungle. OK, maybe not that harrowing but it was 10 hours including stops in various towns. We met Joyce (the missionary who works in Mondolkiri) outside the dorm in Phnom Penh at 5:30 am and loaded our bags into her pickup. Only half of our team went on this trip myself, Emily, and Jessica. We ate a breakfast of cereal bars and pretzels in the truck as we drove out of Phnom Penh towards the sunrise. The road was pretty smooth for most of the ride and then the pavement ended. We had to slow down after that and avoid the potholes washed out of the dirt and gravel road by the rain. We were more than halfway to our destination but it took the last five hours of the drive to make it to Mondolkiri. We had several stops along the way including a CMA church, bathroom breaks, lunch, bathroom breaks, a patient Joyce was consulting (she is a nurse), and a visit with some church members from a remote village. The last part of the journey was the best. After we drove through a jungle wildlife preserve we entered an area of rolling hills and farms with scattered trees. It reminded me of England for some reason, or maybe Hawaii would be a better description.

So we have spent our first afternoon in Mondolkiri. The weather is nice and cool here actually when we were walking back to the guest house after dinner at Joyce's house Emily said she was feeling cold. Apparently during the winter months it can dip down to 17 or 18 degrees... Celsius that is. I'll let you run that calculation on your own. We had a good home cooked meal that was very close to a beef and potato stew only with a hint of curry to give it that Cambodian twist. We also had fresh squeezed lime-onaide which was quite heavenly. After dinner we sat at the table practicing and learning Khmer phrases with Joyce's helper, Sok Leang. Her story is pretty cool. In short she met Joyce because she was sick and came to accept Christ. Although she was very sick, on the verge of death, she recovered and is now the only believer in her village and has been for a while.

So yes, we are staying at a pretty nice guest house with running water and clean sheets. My initial fears of being out in the boonies and sleeping under a canopy of stars turned out to be unfounded. However we have been told that electricity is somewhat sporadic here and it comes and goes as it pleases. All the guesthouses have generators but most of them shut off after 10. Good thing the weather is cool because we would die without fans otherwise.

Tomorrow we will be visiting a plot of land that the local churches are getting together to develop so that it can be used for a Christian leadership training center. There is the possibility of getting down and dirty with the locals. We hear that there is a well that needs digging.

Prayer requests for today: Sok Leang, that she will persevere in her faith and that others from her village will come to know Christ. Many of the team members are coming down with cold-like symptoms, pray for healing. For the safety of the other three interns as they travel to Battambang on Saturday (Cambodian time so pray on Friday) and for the three of us as we travel back to Phnom Penh on Sunday. We will try to send out another update before the end of the week.

Thanks for reading and praying,
Jonathan and Emily

P.S. I realize that some of you may not have gotten some of the earlier updates. If you want I can resend them to you, just let me know.