What is it?

That question got the CSP team thinking when I used Marianne Williamson's poem in training.





I think it's a great poem! How about you?!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Jo presented me with this bag before she returned to the States, all the way from Trader Joe's in California...



... Now that will look smart down at the Russian Market!

Jo also blessed me with a copy of the highly recommended movie 'Facing the Giants' which she had brought with her from the States. I looked forward to watching the DVD and learning more about 'Facing the Giants'. No doubt, we all have them.

... the dynamics of the medical team continues to 'change'.

They come and they go and some remain for the 30 days, bringing hope to Cambodia, with some spending up to 40 hours 'on the road' to get here.

This weekend it was time for the Co-ordinators of Weeks 1 & 2 to handover the baton, so to speak, to the Week 3 & 4 Co-ordinators.





Flight delays, stop overs, nothing stops them coming.



The hotel staff have been fantastic to work with and are 'the best ever'. This is surely the best hotel in town.









Do these guys look like a blessing to this nation, or what?!



And Charlie and Mary Ann continue to do an amazing job of managing the Joyce Meyer Festival of Fellowship.

.. they still want to come to the centre.

One little girl arrived looking far from her usual self, so the girls made sure they gave her some medicine and then sent her home with her mum, complete with the English lesson hand out because she didn't want to miss out on her classes.



The girls also have a beautiful 'bedside manner'.

... at Centre 2. Where did the month go?

It seems like yesterday that we celebrated the June birthdays.



This time it was the Centre Manager, Sy, who was included in the birthday celebrations.

What better way to finish off the day than with an evening English class for our little neighbours. They love it!

The circumstances of people on the receiving end of our Provisions and Basic Needs Project varies from one degree to another.

Here is one lady who I believe needs all the support she can get at the moment. Her small apartment looked like a hospital with the IV's hanging around.



Her husband has recently been released from hospital because they could not afford for him to stay there. As a result of no income, this lady has taken on some laundry jobs to feed her family.

The husband has suffered a fracture to the skull and requires nursing and without a miracle doesn’t look like returning to work for some months.



The oldest child has Dengue Fever and the young girl has a high temperature (could that also be Dengue Fever?!).





The baby is doing exceptionally well, as long as someone is swinging the hammock.

We may be in the year 2007, but that hasn't stopped these hungry little ones asking for 'more'. In fact, these children are onto their third bowl of lunch. They looked funny sitting scattered around the room as the teachers removed the other children's tables once they had finished their lunch.

Unlike Mr. Bumble's classic shock exclamation when Oliver asked for more, the teachers are happy to serve up more and fill these hungry little tummies.





Then it was time for the team to enjoy a meal together.

... is underway. I had no idea when I prepared the manual for child educators that we would have more doors open. But that's because I'm not the one who has ordered the days of my life.

... (on the right with Doctor Hester) shared the following with us regarding being a missionary.



You don't need to be just flexible because you can still get bent out of shape. But you need to be fluid and go with the flow!

It was time for an early start and a quick meeting at breakfast...



... followed by the necessary PA work.



I have my own desk in the lobby ...



... and they offered me a uniform and invited me to join them the other side of reception!

... after a week in the province? Pizza, of course!

While a large number of people queued at the door, we had made a booking to ensure that we didn't have to wait.



I met with Mary Ann over dinner to ensure that our records were in sync.

After observing Ron in action at Metro House, someone mentioned to me that Ron had missed his vocation. I immediately thought that they were suggesting that he should have been a children's teacher. But now I am confused, after the same person told me what a great job Ron did of scaling our wall to get into the courtyard!

Does that mean that he would have been a great children's teacher or a great burglar?!

When the medical team returned to Phnom Penh after a week in the province, they were keen to visit an orphanage, so Patrick arranged a visit to the orphanage our dear friends manage.

I am sure those giving and receiving were truly blessed!

The kids performed...



... and the team performed.



Then the suitcases were opened...



The suitcases really are there somewhere under the kids!

The team members are here for anything between one to four weeks.

It has been such a blessing to met them all.





It was great that John, Kay and Helen were able to join us for a visit at the hotel, in between scheduled flight arrivals.

With the demand for training and Child Educators training scheduled, we finalised the necessary equipment purchases.

Can Patrick lift the white board to the second level?



Of course, he can! He's a Freo supporter - Freo heave ho! That's my man.

We are attending the Children Workers Training Conference. Pannarath and Sim are also in attendence (along with 100's of others) and will present to their own team at a later date. The program is presented by Logosdor.

Yeh, the Aussies are in town!

Here's Simon Hood...



... and this is Waffle...aka Mal Heap (and his interpreter). Talk about characters!



Initially, one three day Conference for 700 participants was scheduled for the 30 Days of Hope Festival of Fellowship, but due to the large waiting list a second conference was included. And yes, there was still a waiting list.

It would be awesome if every person who has the privilege of teaching children could attend this wonderful conference.















What an amazing Conference. It's very creative and all of the team member's presentations were excellent!

... that he has managed 100's of people and millions of dollars over the years, but nothing ever prepared him for working with 35 kids!

After calling out all of the names on the attendance roll, Ron still had a number of kids standing in the queue ??!!

... but I missed the boat.

We had planned to go on a dinner cruise, but on the way to the riverside I received some last minute advice via the telephone that some important matters had to be attended to there and then, which meant that there were boundaries to be pushed (it's easy now I have been here for in excess of 3 years), so I jumped the tuk tuk and headed off on a moto to do business.



Robbyn loves steps and stairs!





I did catch up with them when they pulled back into 'port'.

Ron had told me on the telephone during the day that he was looking forward to seeing Patrick regarding Freo. However, he didn't tell me that he had a special presentation for Patrick - can you believe that he gave him a Geelong footy?!



Ron looks pretty happy at the presentation, but it was a case of 'He who laughs last, laughs longest and loudest when Patrick got home and shoved it in the bottom drawer of his desk!



Boys will be boys!

We finally managed to meet the 'Perth Team' and enjoy a meal together.

Thanks to Kim and the Perth Team supervising the volunteers at the centres, the Transform Cambodia team joined 700+ people at the Chenla Theatre for the first seminar of the 3 year Equip Conference.





Our wonderful Pastor Jesse was there...



... and Mike Shepard was one of the presenters. He is an awesome communicator.

We had a wonderful time on the weekend welcoming members of the medical fraternity who had traveled from all over the world to partake in the 30 Days of Hope.

What an amazing group of people, here to do amazing things!























Then it was time for the team to head out to the provinces.

We had such a great time at the first Hillsong London concert, so when the Doctor's we are hosting at one of the hotels asked us to join them on their first night, we jumped at the opportunity and had a wonderful evening up on the balcony.

Even though the venue was changed at the last minute on Friday, Hope Cambodia managed to kick off a day early (see the photos in the previous post).

So on the scheduled start of Hope Cambodia, 14th July, the venue was packed and it was necessary to set up screens and sound equipment outside Chenla Theatre for the overflow. It was amazing!

They are the ‘Rising Generation’.









Can you see Kay, John and Helen in the crowd?

You can take the man out of Australia, but you can't take Australia out of the man. So here he is on the very first night cooking on the new BBQ.

... is to spring to meet the day with a thrill at being alive.
It is to go forth to meet the morning in an ecstasy of joy.

Lillian Whiting

... about the shrimp Craig ;)

Hillsong London kicked off the Joyce Meyer Festival of Fellowship 30 Days of Hope Cambodia and what a night it was!









Here's to Kampuchea Samrap Preah Kris!

People are always enquiring about the road toll when they visit Phnom Penh and get out and about amongst the traffic, but we have never seen any actual stats until we read these on the local homepage.

The article actually states that an official from the Land Transport Department of the Ministry of Public works and Transport advised that in the first half of this year, 2,992 cases of road accidents occured throughout the country, killing 724 people and wounding over 5,000.

Patrick looks like a real tourist guide in this photo taken at Pochentong Airport. Alternatively, he may just be 'going global' in accordance with the 'Prayer of Jabez' that we love to pray ...

'Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory...'



and that, He continues to do!

... we have a BBQ, so now you can come back Craig, Charlene, Leah and Caleb and throw a shrimp on the barbi ;)

After months and months of Patrick's pending task of purchasing a BBQ, it has been delivered and assembled. However, Patrick does have some concerns about the fact that it was Khmer's who assembled an Australian BBQ!





Guess what we will be having for dinner tonight!

Kay was kind enough to treat us to lunch at a restaurant of our choice, but when I suggested Le Royal everyone decided that we needed to have a second vote, so we ended up at a nearby cafe for a nice meal together. After all, it's all about the company, isn't it!



Choices, choices, choices... What will it be?!

There are a 'number' of Khmer vowels, so that kept the Metro House team busy preparing the vowel cut outs during their lunch break.

These little ones at centre 3 were learning a new song and singing 'Yes, we love Jesus deep down in our heart'.

As you would have noticed from previous posts, we have met so many wonderful Canadians over the past few weeks and here's a few more!

We had the privilege of sharing our work with Tracey, James, Cory and Pastor Rob.



You were right Pastor Rob - someone did really need to get behind James and his passion for Cambodia. Now when I think of you, I think of the old song 'Here I Am Lord, is it I Lord...'

... here in Phnom Penh ;)

John and Helen are having a great time, too!

Mary Ann and Charlie hosted a great meeting for the ex-pats when they distributed schedules and T shirts, in preparation of our participation in the Joyce Meyer 30 Days of Hope.

Here's the boys - Patrick and Kim - on their 'Spider' motor bikes - I think they would look great riding along in a 'Spiderman suit' ; )

Yes, the Docker's!



Patrick looks relaxed but the score appears to have Sam on the edge of her seat!

... it was time to the collate the documentation for the ex-pats volunteers meeting.

It's great to see that the Project Co-ordinators, Mary Ann and Charlie, are still smiling!

... because recent rains have made it impossible for vehicles to get out there.





We did a survey on the damage caused to two homes by strong winds and gave them the money to rebuild.





When the homes collapsed, about 35 people gathered together and gave thanks for what they still had!



The kids gave a little 'concert'.





Some of us got a 'little mud' on us...



... and couldn't work out how Michelle managed to avoid the mud.

It's always great to check on the various income generation projects taking place out in the village...











... and just spend some time with the people living in the village.

None of the children needed the services of a physio, but they are always in need of a pronunciation lesson, so the girls had a go and I am sure Michelle's Canadian accent was noticed by the children.

It was time to celebrate this little girls birthday. How sweet it was to listen to her singing Happy Birthday with the rest of the kids.

On behalf of Transform Cambodia we have had numerous dealings over leases with the owners of Metro House. This lady drives a hard bargain and left the centre very happy indeed. She has also become a dear friend of mine since we first started negotiations 15 months ago.

...we have us a convoy!

The convoy consisted of a 4wd, tuk tuk and motor bike, which headed out to the back blocks of Phnom Penh to Pastor Jesse and Soars home for our 'Foreigners Home Group'.

The trip along the dark roads covered in muddy pot holes was a little different to the drive across the freeway to our Floreat Home Group. (Thinking of you all in Floreat)



We did have a laugh at the fact that Pastor Jesse, who speaks fluent Khmer, also drives 'fluent Khmer style'!

The competition was on at Metro House when two teams competed in a 'Dictation Competition'.

While one member from each team took their place at the whiteboard to write down the sentences, the other team members cheered them on!

One of the sentences they had to write was "This is our national flag' - in English!

... here is my handle, here is my trunk!

It was great to dine with Michelle and Tanis and Michelle was impressed with the elephant tea pot when she received her tea order.

The city is on the move with a number of large shops and showrooms opening downtown. A large number of apartments are also under construction.

The children love to take the lead and tell the story to their classmates.

This little girl told us that she is praying that her dad becomes a Christian so that her family can have a happy life.



Join us and stand in faith that her prayer will be answered.

The children at Metro House are now competent at logging themselves on and off the computer and onto the English websites and completing the lesson.





At the end of this month they finish their first year at school and get to enjoy a well earned break from the government school.

What a year it has been for them!

We just had a meeting with an elder from a village where winds destroyed two homes yesterday afternoon.

One house is the home of a lady that attends our sewing income generation project who is a widow with five children and is HIV positive.

Rith explained to us that after the homes collapsed, about 40 people gathered together to praise and worship God and to thank Him for what they have. Rith also took the opportunity to preach certain scriptures to encourage them for the future.

The village and community people are truly amazing and I trust you join us in praying a blessing upon them!

Sam has joined the Transform team and had her first day on the job yesterday.

Sam will be teaching the children and staff and I guess it will not be long before eveyone will be speaking with a 'Radio Voice' ;)

You may remember this little guy from a previous post which showed him waiting to have a meeting with the manager to see if he could attend one of the new centres after it had opened.

As you can see, he is now enrolled and very happy about that.

We had a visit from Loreta and Toby and then a visit from Tanis, so we dubbed it 'Canadian Week'.

Tanis got to observe the children in class...





... as well as receive a cuddle.

These little ones were reciting various verses of Psalm 139 in both English and Khmer.



Where can I go from your Spirit?



Where can I flee from your presence?