Leaving the Mekong Behind

My flights were great. All connected and no delays so I was at the airport in Little Rock at 10:35 p.m. after twenty two hours in flight. A nice run through DFW gave me some exercise but made the flight with time to spare! It was wonderful to attend church Sunday and then have lunch with my family! God is Good! gail

At the Airport

I am sitting in the coffee shop with my coffee and free wifi. Not a bad way to wait for the flight. I pulled one of my dad's stunts to reach this point, however. If you didn't know dad then you won't get it! Earlier this morning I checked in online but it said I still had to go to the counter to get the boarding pass. When I arrived at the airport, the lines were already full. I notice a counter with two ladies that looked like they were checking in some boxes. There was no line. I went up and told them I had already checked in and had no luggage. Rick (bless his soul) had taken my bag with him. The lady took my passport and bingo, I had a boarding pass. I walked around about a hundred people and headed to passport control. I'm sorry, it is in my blood!!
The next post will be from Arkansas. We will try to post some but our life is not so exciting stateside. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragements! gail

Happy Thanksgiving

I am sure your first thought about the picture is that it is a sunset. Nope! It is a sunrise. Most mornings I only surface for a cup of coffee, but today I was going to leave for Phnom Penh and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with many Christians working in the city. I didn't leave till much later, but I think I was excited about the day, so I moving around alittle faster! Rick left last tuesday to enjoy time with some of the Northens in Texas. I stayed behind to captain the ship. Ok, not captain, but make sure the crew didn't jump ship. In reality, the crew is probably more scared of me than Rick! But no worries, things are great and I will be flying out saturday and if all connections go smooth, I will be in Arkansas the same night! By the way, Greg, will you pick me up! Enjoy your friends and family this special time. gail

Winds and NO Rain

The river is dropping now after the rains have stopped. Here we are at KoKi docked near the ferry. You can see from the pictures how quickly the water has dropped. The captain had to move the ship off twice while we were stopped here. The winds are strong too. It feels great to me but the people are covered from head to toe. I have to ask some to remove their heavy jackets to take blood pressure. We are moving across the river next and we won’t feel the wind as much. The water tanks are low and the waves cause a rocking motion beats the water against the sides. As a visitor once noted, it sounds like logs hitting the side of the ship. But we get use to it and it lulls us to sleep! gail

T-Shirts

Many people come onto the ship wearing T-shirts made for the American market. I have asked at least 50 kids wearing Mickey Mouse shirts if they know who Mickey Mouse is! They all say no! Most of the shirts are made for some US company and rejected for some minor flaw or misspelling of a word. This man’s shirt was different though.
Ask Me About Jesus. What a great idea. So I did. He was Vietnamese and could not speak a lot of Khmer but I asked him about Jesus. He was confused at first and like most did not know what his T shirt even said. I kept asking him about Jesus and he said he was a Christian. He said he attended church every week close to his home.
Maybe, as Christians, we should get some of these shirts also. Pretty scriptural actually. Maybe the shirt could say, “I’ve got Good News”. Romans 10: 14-15 urges us to do just that.

Cambodian Children

Each village is unique, but they all have one thing in common, children. Depending on where the ship is docked, we see the children playing throughout the day. Many times they just come and sit and stare at all the activity going on. In the afternoons, they lose interest and go about their riding bikes or playing their games. This village was a good place for the jumprope. But now, we are at Ko Ki and there is not a good area. So the kids just hang on the ropes! gail

Deck Full

Last friday which was the last day the team from the Philipines was here, we had the kids come on ship to sing and play games. Of course we had to have popcorn! Chito told stories aboutJesus as Piseth translated. The team had bought sandels to give to the kids and I am pretty sure they enjoyed getting them! After taking the team to the city for their departure, Rick and I drove back to the house that was built by the crew for the grandmother and her grandkids. We just thought it would be good to check on them. The yard was cleaned up and they had things arranged very nice in the house. It was worth the drive to see them again.

Hard Days Work

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While the ship was docked at Bantiey Dek, we watched these ladies weed several plots of land. Wow, I stopped complaining about being hot when I saw them squat in the hot sun all day weeding the rows. The first picture is early in the morning. The second is later that day when we were about to stop clinic. The next day they began another area farther from the ship. It sure made me appreciate even more the blessings I have. gail

Bantiey Dek

The village where we worked with the team here was called Bantiey Dek. As you can see we were docked next to fields and there were no trees for people to wait under. The Captain put up the canopy to help shelter from the sun. Dr. Josie worked with a translator called Chhay Heng. The other translator was Sioudom and they both did a good job. It was their first time to volunteer to translate. They had a good experience. We were all kept very busy and saw around 250 patients for medical and 50 or so for dental a day. Dr. Gina and Dr. Lani worked with our dental student who was with us for the week. gail

Team from the Phillipines

We have not been great with the blogs for a good reason. We have with us this week a team from the Phillipines. Six wonderful and talented people who are working very hard to help the people here. Dr. Gerry is a surgeon and Dr. Josie is an obstetrician. Both have seen many people. We have two female dentists, Dr. Lani and Dr. Gina, who have given relief for Rick. The leader of this group is Lusi "Chito" Cusi and his wife Tess. They have been invaluable with the pharmacy and helping register and keep the people moving in the right direction. After clinic a couple of days, the group would go out and have sessions with the children. Teaching bible stories, singing songs and coloring. They have been great with the crew and I think everyone has had a good week. This group is coordinated by the March for Christ organization that has medical missions in the Phillipines and many other Asian nations. Cambodia is blessed to have them come here. gail

Sailing By

We left Kos Keo and went north to Bantiey Dey where we stayed for the week of our holiday, the Water Festival. It was a great trip for me because I got to stay on the ship. Rick had to drive the truck because I told him I couldn't back it onto the ferry. You can see him do it with ease! It was a nice trip and great to see the life along the river. gail

Good Friends

As Gail wrote earlier, we enjoyed visiting Myanmar and the home of our good friends Bill and Marie Claire McDonough. They are wonderful host and catered to our every wish for the 3 days we were with them. We visited the world’s largest Pagoda in Yangoon and several other interesting sights. There are many ethnic tribes in Myanmar with very interesting customs and dress. While shopping at one market I was shocked to see a Razorback shirt for sale on the rack! So……I bought it. Who would have thought the Burmese were Hog fans! They also had LSU and Texas A&M shirts. The picture is for my A&M crazy son-in-law.

Myanmar Lord's Day

This past Lord’s Day we had the priviledge of worshiping with the brethren at two house churches in Yangoon, Myanmar. The two houses were owned by two impressive Burmese sisters. I will not mention their names for safety reasons but I was reminded of Paul’s mentioning the church at Laodicea meeting at the home of Nympha, a dear sister he wanted to greet.
The singing was strong and loud and full of life. The members were sincere in their love and fellowship and we felt blessed to have been with them. Many are being taught and the Word is being planted in hearts of Myanmar people day by day. Praise God!

Back to Phnom

Sorry we have been out of touch for a few days. We have been visiting our dear friends Bill and Marie-Claire who are now based in Myrammar (Burma). The country is pretty well controlled by the "Generals" so control on communication is tight. You can not access Yahoo or Blogger but we could access Facebook! The next few days while we are guarding the ship while the crew is on holiday, we will post some pictures from our trip. Then on Sunday, the 7th, the Phillipine team comes so it is back to work! gail