Teamwork!

Never let it be said that living here is a one-person show. For those of you who actually think about moving to Cambodia, keep in mind that I have support teams helping me transition. Eric and Ginny have been there every step of the way for acclimation. My wife and son provide inspiration. You fine folks who read this blog - especially those of you who comment - help provide emotional edification, and of course, the ever-loving hot blazing sun provides perspiration.

That said, the same philosophy holds true when it comes to working with and helping the Khmer. Specifically, I am speaking of the ministry's short-term missions program.

http://www.ihsionline.org/get-started/

You've seen in a couple of my posts that we have teams come occasionally and work with the people here as part of In His Steps' ministry. I'd like to show you some of the things they do.

Denver United team.

Since I've been here, we've had 3 teams come in. Denver United, a team from Hong Kong, and a team from Singapore.

The Denver United team I covered in a previous post. They came and worked with the children - both in Saang and in some other areas. They were a great group, and I look forward to seeing them again.

The team from Hong Kong.

The next team I had the chance to meet came from Hong Kong. They brought with them a very cheerful, open disposition, and a nice camera, which they bravely let Aidan use.

Brave. Really really brave. :)

They came and also worked with the children, teaching them about Noah's arc and having fun. They attended and served in the service the next morning, performing music and one choreographed musical number.

Children's service. They had to freeze like this. :)

As with the other teams, I was very impressed with them. They had hearts to serve, and some of them were quite geeky, which always gets a thumbs-up from me. Aidan in particular enjoyed them, as he was constantly hanging around, trying to take their picture, and admiring the anime t-shirts and chatting up a storm.

I think they made him an honorary team member...

While they were here, they also traveled to one of the villages with Sak Saum to do an anti-trafficking seminar. They were joined by one of the girls from Father's House too. They taught on trafficking, on some common techniques that people use to trap or capture others, and on the dangers of this happening.

It was an honor to meet them, and I wish I'd had more opportunity to spend time with their team. Hopefully, they'll be back again soon.

Noah's arc. If you look close, you can see someone on the ground being covered by the flood waters (blanket)! :)

The most recent team came from Singapore. Their focus was on teaching. They attended Sunday service with us, and then shortly after taught on self-defense. The focus of this class was on teaching women how to safely escape attackers or people trying to capture them. I'll post more on this later.

Breaking a choke hold. The gentleman assisting was also brave... and probably bruised later.

I had the pleasure of dining out with this particular team. We traveled to a local cafe' here that serves breakfast and fusion food.

Cafe Yejj (pronounced "edge"). Pretty good food, but don't make the mistake I did - there's an upstairs that has air conditioning.

I led them on a walk from Sak Saum to here, only getting a little bit lost in the process. We got to talk a lot during the lunch, and while I attended a silk screening class they were teaching. They are amazing and friendly people, and they truly loved coming to teach and meet us. I just wish they could have stayed longer (they left yesterday). They even invited me to come visit one day!

Silk screening class - they taught me a new skill! So awesome.

So, as you can see, it gets exciting around here meeting new people. Follow the link under the logo picture up above if you are interested in bringing a group to Cambodia.

Singapore team. They were posing after the self defense class, in case any of you were wondering why a couple of them are shaking their elbows at the camera. :)

We have more teams coming, which I am sure I'll get to fill you in on. In the mean time, there was one more team that showed up I haven't mentioned...

The dog days of summer...

Team puppy! What? Everyone likes cute puppies. Don't look at me like that. :) In truth, this lil guy actually did show up during the self defense class. He wound up finding a home with Theavy and Sokun. Just remember, if you come here, it's still not a good idea to play with the animals regardless of how cute they are.

I also recommend not letting Aidan hold your camera. ;) But who am I to stop you from being brave and courageous?