Saturday, June 18, 2011

Siem Reap Day 2

Day 2 we traveled to Takom Village. Along the bumpy and muddy bus ride, a few of us were able to listen to Sien tell us about growing up in this village. He lived in an orphange nearby and still loves Takom dearly. We did a small service with the villagers and Stephen's group led an "illustrated sermon". (And might I add on a completely selfish note... going to the bathroom in these villages is not exactly ideal so everytime I creep out of there without having to use the restroom and my own toilet paper, I am ecstatic. I find joy in the small things!)

This village is significant because of the small "business" that the Young Entrepenuer's Society (led by J Stum) has put into place with the help of Lee University's business department. It is a farm where the people are learning to grow their own food and sell off to not only help those around, but create a business that will be sustainable. We toured the village and gave out water filters here and bags of candy to the children.

We venture back into town to have lunch at Common Grounds then headed to the Children's Home for a little Welcoming Presentation and then a service with the children. They are beautiful, vibrant, life-giving little bundles of joy and they will wear you out! I had the pleasure of really connecting with one of the adults whose name is Pheneth. She and her husband Ezra are one of the couples who maintain the children's home. I sat up in her room with her as she fed her son Johnathan and we basically just talked about each other's cultures and how we became Christians. She was eager to learn "Western" ideas as I was eager to learn about her life.

It was an action packed day!




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