Goals
We arrived in Cambodia yesterday morning, having spent an uncomfortable and mostly sleepless night in the Bangkok airport. After checking into our hotel, we decided to walk to a restaurant nearby where we ran into the team from Central Vineyard Church. Kori, Xiu Dan and I were too tired to visit the Prek Eng homes that afternoon, so we arranged for Pak to go out with them for the evening. Kori, Xiu Dan and I joined Pastor Savorn's family for dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Phnom Penh.
After the team returned from an afternoon and evening of fun with the kids of Prek Eng 2, they brought Pak back to our hotel, and Kori and I went out with a few of them to a cool rooftop lounge down the street. We relaxed and caught up on their trip, and on our recent doings in India. Conscious of our waning energy and a big day ahead, we all got into bed at a decent hour and got caught up on most of the sleep we'd lost over the past few days.
Jeremy Slagle, Deb Woods and Stacy Keyerleber joined Kori and me at a rooftop lounge just down the street. A cool breeze and some great views of the city.
This morning we enjoyed a wonderful church service with the kids and staff of Asia's Hope in Prek Eng, and then the staff took us out for a very Cambodian lunch in a cabana beside a lake. We had fried fish, roasted chicken and Khmer hot and sour beef soup. I've been coming to Cambodia for about 15 years — this is something like my 27th trip — and it always feels like a family reunion.
After church I returned Kori and Xiu Dan to the hotel and I drove out to meet Pak and a bunch of the older boys. We rented a football field for a couple of hours and they boys worked up a good sweat. Such great kids. It's been a privilege to watch them grow alongside my own sons from little boys into young adult men. It was also a bit overwhelming realizing that almost all of them will be going to university in the next couple of years, and that we have a lot of fundraising to do to make that happen.
After a dinner with just my family, we dragged ourselves back to the hotel, where Xiu Dan is now sleeping, Kori is reading and Pak is chuckling over some web video. I've used all my energy putting these thoughts onto paper and editing these photos. Tomorrow is packed as well. Good times, I tell you. It's nice to be home.