Goodbye March

Hello everyone, 

March is almost over and I can't believe how time is flying! I've been keeping pretty busy and am not quite sure where this last month is gone...

Since I last updated you a lot has happened! On Sunday, I went to the wedding of a Sak Saum woman named Pieng. She married a man from a different province, a farmer. Their engagement was quite a bit different from what Westerners are accustomed to... the families meet and agree that their two children will marry! It was kind of sudden by my standards, but Pieng was a very peaceful and even joyful bride, and plans to tell her husband, new relatives, and community about her love for God.

Pieng will still be involved with Sak Saum to a degree, and Ginny plans to employ her as a sewer even though she no longer lives in the city. I look forward to seeing her when she comes and visits every other month.

Ginny and Eric are leaving tomorrow for a short trip to the US so they can get some paperwork in order for taxes... While they're gone, I'll be starting an English conversation class with some of the Sak Saum women who are getting to an intermediate level. We'll be meeting three times a week... just had our first class today! 

To start, we'll be practicing verbs and conjugation. Fun stuff... just kidding :P. Actually it's at times like these that I'm so glad I don't have to learn English as a second language. It's quite difficult to explain all the different exceptions for conjugation and spelling!

This week I'll have to stock up on some groceries because in April most stores shut down! Throughout the country! That's because for about a week, the Khmer celebrate their traditional New Year. But since most of them go back to their families homes for an extended visit, nearly every business shuts down or severely limits their hours! So... I'm getting prepared. Should be interesting!

Hope you all are well, God bless!

Emily

Some Women in our Sak Saum Program

It's a Beautiful Day In the (Saang) Neighborhood... :P

So sorry that posts have been sparse...

Some exciting things have been happening at our Foundation Center in Saang! Over 17 people have gotten saved in the past week, an awesome harvest for our staff there that have invested a lot of time and love in people's lives. I'm looking forward to going to Saang tomorrow for their weekly youth Bible study... in the past we've had about 40-50 students each week, but their numbers are growing to about 70! Very exciting that people are engaging with God and not just observing. :)

Everything else is going pretty well, I just started an ISOM (International School of Ministry) class with a bunch of the staff; it's an extensive Bible and ministry course that we are doing each Thursday morning. I'm sort of facilitating the class and taking it too... looking forward to learning a lot!

On Tuesday I taught a two-hour First Aid and Safety class for all our staff and the women in our Sak Saum program. There is not a lot of teaching on this subject here, and a lot of misconceptions about how to care for injuries... people can develop gangrene and need a limb cut off simply because they were never taught to clean and protect a small cut! So it's a really important topic and I enjoyed educating the staff about it. It was fun to see them practicing bandaging each other's "wounds" and tying slings out of kramas (a common regional scarf that they used for practice). 

Actually the timing for that class was perfect, because that night one of the teachers on staff, Solomon, had to care for his brother after a moto accident! Fortunately his brother is recovering just fine.

Hope you all are well, feel free to comment or e-mail me!

God bless,

Emily