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Susadai!! (4th April 07)
(That's "hi" in Khmai.) I'm in Cambodia! I'm sorry I haven't written anything in so long, it's been really busy and we don't have computers we can use at any time like we did in Kona. Right now I'm in an internet cafe (which is really, really cheap), and, um, I'm a lil lazy, so I'm just gonna copy parts of a couple of e-mails that I sent to my parents, since I'd write pretty much the same thing anyway... So, enjoy my long and eloquent blabbing... :-)

I wrote this last Friday: I'm in Cambodia!! ...and it is sooooooooo incredibly HOT!

This week was a lil bit sad, we had to say good-bye to all the other teams ('cause we were the last ones who left...) On the plus side we got to stay in Taiwan a lil longer, so we got to go out for dinner with Jamie, our school leader, and Dave and Mike, two of the staff who aren't going on outreach but are staying in Taiwan to do an SBS. That was nice. But then we had to leave at 4am (I got up at 3.15am...) which wasn't quite so nice, but Jamie, Mike and Dave came to see us off and pray for us, so that was nice. The same bus that picked us up from the airport when we first arrived brought us back to the airport.

The flight was pretty short, only about three or four hours (can't remember exactly), and when we first stepped out of the plane we could already feel the temperature difference, eventhough we were still inside! A women who works with YWAM picked us up from the airport and we drove for about half an hour or more til we got to the "guest house" (which is actually a kind of hotel, it's pretty nice) where we're staying now. We were supposed to stay in a different house, it was all set up (it's a house they're planning to use for YWAM teams that come to Cambodia), but all of a sudden, when they started moving stuff inside, the landlady started acting all weird, saying that she didn't want teams staying there or people cooking there... It seems to be an attack from the enemy, because before she never complained and it all went really well, and the people also felt like they were being led by God to get that house, and now, out of nowhere, these problems start popping up. I don't know exactly what's happening now, but we should still be able to move into the house, probably on Sunday or on Monday. (The hotel we're staying at is pretty nice though, so I don't mind if we stay there longer... :-) But it would be much nicer to all kinda live together instead of being spread out in different rooms.)

Ok, I thought Taiwan was cheap, Cambodia is even cheaper... You can get a really, really good, very good-sized meal for...one dollar!! And it's really good, too!! And I'm in an internet cafe right now which charges 40 cents an hour!

The culture here is really interesting. I never really could imagine before what Cambodia would be like, it's as if the Chinese and the Indian culture were mixed together. The alphabet they use looks a lot like the Indian one, the music sounds India, the food tastes Indian (at least what I would imagine Indian food to taste like), but at the same time it's Asian. It's very interesting. Here in Phnom Penh it doesn't seem as poor as we tend to think Cambodia to be. I haven't seen much of the city yet though.

There's a whole lot of rules about things we should, shouldn't, can and can't do. For instance we should always have our shoulders and knees covered, we shouldn't point our feet at anyone's head (that's considered very, very rude!!), when someone offers us something (like food), we first have to say 'no' a couple of times before we can say 'yes'... If we say 'yes' right away it's seen as very forward and rude. Also guys and girls aren't allowed to touch, not even hug or anything like that, otherwise people think we're a couple. People don't show a lot of affection in public, except some of the younger people, and it's frowned upon. The most you might see a married couple do is hold hands... Also, when we go somewhere it's not good for a guy and a girl to go somewhere together alone. Again, people would think they're a couple. And we shouldn't look people in the eyes for too long, otherwise they'll think that we're either attracted to them, or trying to provoke a fight... And there's a whole lot more rules than that! But it's really exciting to be here, in a culture so extremely different than what any of us (even the Koreans!) are used to.

The heat is a lil hard to bear sometimes, especially when we're in the sun, but even inside sometimes... And I have a cold (which I caught in Taiwan and obviously not here) which makes it kinda worse because my head's all hot and I need to blow my nose a lot. (So if you could pray for that I would really appreciate it. :-)) I think I do like it more though than the cold weather in Switzerland... ;-)

And I wrote this today: We moved into our "new" house on Sunday, and it's soooooo beautiful! I thought the hotel was nice, but this house is way prettier. It's huge, too! There's an "east" and a "west" wing (nothing to do with the TV show though... ;-)) The guys sleep on one side of the house and the girls on the other, and we share the bottom floor where there's a kitchen and a large room where we eat in. The floors and a lot of the walls are marble, and the ceiling lights and the way everything is made is really nice. It kinda reminds me of a castle almost... And it really is huge, there's the bottom floor that we all share, then on both side's there are four floors! (When we first got there we were on the top floor, which meant a whole lot of exercize... Another team was there when we arrived, from New Zealand, but they left after one day, so we moved down into the first two floors so we wouldn't have to walk so far... :-))

We went to a Cambodian church on Sunday, and it was so good! The worship was awesome! It was all in Khmai, but they gave us headsets and radios, and they translated everything for us. The pastor is an American, but he speaks fluent Khmai.

On Monday we went to Watt Phnom (the temple this city is named after) and evangelized and prayed for people. It was a little hard because we had to look for people who could speak English, but the people were really friendly, and they were interested in us because most of us are white, so it was easy to get their attention and they were open to talk to us. (I was really shy and a lil afraid to go up and talk to people, but luckily for me I was with Rachel who had more courage than I and she went up to quite a lot of people.) It was really good. We got to share the gospel with one guy that spoke English, and he translated it to some of the people that were nearby. He had already heard about Jesus and wanted to learn more, so he might come to church on Sunday!

Another thing that we started yesterday and will be doing for ten days is that we're going to the "Agape Shalom Center" (I think that's what it's called) where they teach children and young people English for free, and they also have Bible study on Thursday evenings and two church services on Sunday. We just go and help them teach, mostly just to talk to them so that they can practise what they learn. Those kids are so adorable! Most of them are Christian, though not all of them, but they all have really hard times at home because most of them live in Buddhist families, and their families don't support them at all, and their "friends" make fun of them, too. But they're such nice people, you wouldn't think that they were under so much pressure.

We're really spoiled, we have a cook at the house who cooks us lunch and dinner (and it's really good! It's always with rice though) and we even have people who come to clean the house! We're really enjoying it a lot. I also get along really well with my team-mates, I'm so blessed to be on this team.

Isn't it amazing? In just five months I'll have been in Kona and Honolulu, in Taiwan, in Phnom Penh and Bottombong, and on our last week we're going to Bangkok in Thailand. That's four different countries! (And we also spent about an hour in an airport in Japan... :-))

My cold is much better by the way, and I'm a little more used to the heat now (though it's still really, really hot...)

We'll be staying here in Phnom Penh for about a month, then we'll be moving to the YWAM base in Bottombong where we'll be staying for about another month, then we'll be going to Thailand for about four days for debriefing, where, I think, the other teams are going to meet up with us! (It'll be so exciting to see all of them again!) Then we'll be going back to Kona for one week. I can't believe how fast the time's gone by! I'm glad though, this way I haven't struggled too much with feeling homesick, and being in such a good team has helped a lot, too.

Anyway, I hope all of you are well, and I'm sorry if you've e-mailed me and I still haven't written back yet... I just haven't had a lot of time to e-mail, but I do love hearing from all of you!

Ok, I hope I didn't bore you too much this long text, and I hope I could show you a little of how it's like to be here. I probably won't be able to show any more pictures until I'm either back in Kona or back home, we'll see.

God bless you!

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