Sunday, May 27, 2007

I'm ALIIIIIVE!

I'm ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE
So I'm in Mondulkiri now. There is internet. So I can blog and update again! Hurrah. I've been feeling so cut of, so homesick, and in much need of encouragement.

How was Ratanakiri? Beautiful beyond my expectations. When I get to Phnom Penh again I will upload pictures. A monkey sat on my head even. I don't have a picture of that, but I do have pictures of the monkey and his family.

But.

How was the jungle you ask? Ahhhhh. HAHAHAHAHA. Tribal, they said. Buy what you need in advance, they said. Whowering in front of a big jar in public, they said. Oh no. We stayed at this huge freaking palacial mansion of a church, with a park, bamboo huts, and a zoo. Walking distance from the beautiful lake. Tropical flowers blooming, wonderful clouds, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and almost every day sunny. The living conditions were nothing like they'd told us to expect.

Not to say things weren't difficult, they were. The church has a lot of problems. I can't tell you all of them here, but the pastor was really messed up, his family was messed up, and after spending a week wondering why such a big church had so few people, we started being told things and put the pieces together. So we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned this huge empty place. The team went on outreach trips to the tribal villages, but I taught four classes a day - one English Bible, three English Language -- and only went to the jungle for outreach once. I did see a beautiful waterfall on a free day. We went and had a barbeque.