Happy New Year

Surprise! Well, maybe it's more of a surprise for me than for you. I didn't think I'd be able to blog until next weekend, but an unexpected opening in our plans means I can fill you all in on Cambodia so far. We've been here for just over a week now, so have settled into another culture, another climate and another way of life. The journey from Bangkok to Phnom Penh allowed us to see the spectacular beauty of the Cambodian countryside (from the luxury of an air conditioned van too). Sadly I haven't got any photos to hand to share with you, but take my word for it that the vast expanses of flat, green rice fields, traditional wooden houses on stilts, palm trees and the smiling faces of the Khmer people made the 8 hour ride very enjoyable. Phnom Penh is a very different city from overwhelming Bangkok and I much prefer its quieter, less developed and more relaxed feel. 

Much of this week has been given to working out things in our team, and having some much needed team times, but of course we have also found time to do some ministry work which we are primarily here for. New Years Eve was spent with some university students at their dorms, celebrating together the start of a new year. Bizarrely we watched a few clips of Britain's Got Talent before the real 'party' started, so even though I'm half way round the world, I am unable to escape from our talent shows. Shame. We ate lots of food, played lots of games, sang, danced (Khmer dancing, which is all about slow, graceful movements and is quite hard to do well, it turns out), and had times of encouragement for the year ahead. It was a very fun NYE and definitely very different from any I've experienced so far. 

When I look back on 2013, it's been such a busy, crazy year! I went from not knowing what to do on my gap year, where to go to (and even whether to do) university this September, being consumed by school work and living at home to having travelled to three countries so far, my plans for uni are sorted, I'm now living in Cambodia (if you can call a month living here) and not having to worry about any school work at all. I could go int so much more depth, but I don't think you'd be at all interested with my musings, so I will move swiftly on to one of my highlights from our first week in this beautiful country.

Thursday evening found us at the riverfront in the more touristy area of the city. We went there to do a prayer walk, and were approached by two very cute street boys trying to sell us bracelets, and a girl later joined them too. We chatted to them, gave into their big, puppy dog eyes and brought a selection of bracelets and they kept following us down the strip. In the end, I had one on my back, and two of the other girls gave piggybacks too. We raced, and spun, and tickled, and tipped and loved these boys as much as we could in the short time we had with them. It was so humbling to run along to Mekong river with a seven year old boy on my back, seeing him smile and be a child again. I loved it! If only I could do that everyday, and be able to impact them more deeply too, I would be so happy!

Yesterday was our day off, and as it was also my birthday, the girls thoroughly spoilt me with a lie in, a lovely breakfast of fresh fruits and the best banana cake ever, and they then took me to the local sports club to go swimming. It was the first time I've swum in almost four months and it was delightful! It's been getting hotter and more humid here as the weeks gone on, so it was such a lovely feeling not to be constantly sweating but to be in cool, clean water. For me, it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon of my birthday - so thank you Kris, Becka, Julia and Lindsay! For dinner, we went back tot he riverfront and found a peaceful, very stylish restaurant for a very good price. The view was out over the river, with twinkling lights, soft music, candles, cool air and good food in a very ornate and well decorated building. Again, I wish I could just show you as I'm not doing very well describing it at all! It was a lovely birthday, definitely one I'll remember for a long time to come. 

That's our first week in a nutshell. Thank you all for your various Christmas, New Year's and birthday messages - I'm sorry I don't have time to reply to you all individually, but I hope a blog will suffice for now. Thank you also for all your prayers over myself and our team, we really feel safe and loved in our Father, and are so excited to see more of Him in the coming weeks. This week, I am leading, aaah! Panic! It's ok really, I've planned the first three days already, so we have three jam packed days at least. I would really appreciate your continued prayers for us, especially for our health, rest and energy - some of us are struggling with sleeping well but we're not sure why, others are a little sick, and we're all tired. If you could remember us in these things, I would really appreciate it. I hope you are all enjoying the first few days of 2014, and I expect many do you are settling back into life as it normally is. I pray you will be blessed this year in many ways, and know God more by the end of it. Depending of what our plans are for next weekend, I may find time to get to a cafe with wifi and update you all on my week, but I will for sure do at least one more update before we leave for Thailand again at the end of this month. Much love to you all!