Well, it’s our last night in Cambodia. How can we even begin to recap what we’ve experienced here and what this trip has meant to us? We should have plenty of time to reflect and compose our thoughts tomorrow during the numerous flights, so I’ll just give you a brief update for now. We’ve stayed very busy during our time here, and these last two days have been no exception.



After spending the weekend in the village, we returned to our “luxury” accommodations at the hotel for a restful night’s sleep. Sunday morning we headed to church and then spent the afternoon at an orphanage in the city. Words in a blog can’t accurately describe what it was like to be there with those children; it was an absolutely joyous event. As the van pulled through the gates to the orphanage, children started running toward us, and they proceeded to mob us with smiles and hugs. I felt like I had just made fifty best friends. They surrounded each one of us, wanting to show us their artwork, sing songs for us, and play games together. We came to the orphanage to contribute through our donations, but in the end I think we all felt like our contributions were small compared to the blessing we received by being with them.

Early this morning, our group took a walk down the riverfront as a final goodbye to the city. Like every other morning at 5:30 AM, there are crowds of people walking, doing aerobics, and playing games. We of course joined in the fun by participating in some Cambodian dancing. We took a walk to Wat Phnom, where we saw some monkeys and the elephant. After our early morning walk, we went to the hospital to say our final goodbyes. It seems strange to be saying goodbye to the staff there after having only just met them. We’ve been impacted in many ways through our experiences at the hospital, but we will always remember the remarkable kindness and hospitality of the people at Sihanouk.

The remainder of the day was filled with last-minute trips to the Russian market and other errands, as well as a final meal together. As we make our journey home, please continue to pray for us.

Thank you so much for all the encouragement and support you’ve given us. See you all soon!

Hi, everyone! Let me give you all a quick update on our day. We left Phnom Penh this morning for a six-hour, uncomfortably warm bus ride through the Cambodian countryside to Siem Reap. Siem Reap is famous for it’s ancient temples, most notably Angkor Wat. After arriving at our hotel this afternoon, we rode the tuk-tuks to one of the temples to see the sunset. It was beautiful, and we were blessed by a nice breeze as we watched the clouds from atop the temple.
Our plans for tomorrow include several hours out at the temples to experience the 3-D history lesson. In the evening we will go to a performance of traditional Cambodian dance. It should be an exciting day, and I’m sure we will have lots to report on!
Thanks to all for staying in touch!

Greetings from Thailand! After a long journey (almost 40 hours on planes and in airports), we have arrived safely in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is the first stop on our itinerary that takes us to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and a Cambodian village. After stopping in the Hong Kong airport, and a seven-hour layover in the Bangkok airport (sleeping on cold floors is not too comfortable!), we finally stepped on Thai ground around 8am yesterday.

After reaching our hotel and taking a short nap, we attended a Thai cooking class. Our instructor led us through the markets, where we learned about traditional Thai ingredients. Then, at her kitchen, we prepared various Thai dishes, such as spring rolls, green curry, and sticky rice with mango. The names of some of the other dishes I don’t know how to pronounce, much less spell, but luckily we each received a cookbook with the recipes. Now we can cook Thai for you guys back home when we return!
Today we had a very “interesting” trek through the hills around Chiang Mai to visit a hill tribe. The guide had promised us that it would be “easy,” but this was definitely not the case!. It was very steep and very long–eight and a half hours! There was lots of mud, sweat, a few tears, and pouring rain involved, but in the end we all agreed that it was a great time. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous! Tomorrow we have a day planned with elephant riding, rafting, waterfalls, and much, much more. We will definitely keep everyone updated, and we hope to get some pictures up!
Thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers, and all your comments here! Halfway across the world, it means so much to stay in contact with you all!