Mission to Cambodia 2012
from Cassie Wright

Today has been a whirlwind of sightseeing, bargaining, and praising our God. We slept in today and went to breakfast to decide what to do since there was an election for district representatives. Most of the restaurants and shops were closed or opening late, so we thought that taking a walking tour of the city would be perfect. We were guided by the perfect machine woman Mrs. Taplin. She walked us to the Vietnam memorial and the king’s palace. When there was no more city to walk we went back to the hotel via cyclos, a bike with a seat in the front. These rides were very fun and scary at the same time. There were motos, tuk tuks, and cars whizzing by. It was so much fun and it gave us a cool breeze that was much needed after such a long hot walk. Me and Becca almost got lost and took a wrong turn in our cyclo, but thankfully Emily was looking out for us. We heard somebody yell Cassie and saw on the other side of the roundabout Emily was waving us down another street. If we had not heard her yelling then we probably would be lost somewhere on the streets of Cambodia.

After we all met back up at the hotel we went to the market where we haggled and bargained for pretty silk scarves, dresses, purses, and even china. We picked up the haggling pretty quickly after Mrs. Taplin taught us how to bargain with the sunglass man. We were told to go really low and then offer a few more dollars. If our offer is not met then we are to walk away. I learned that this works out really well and I can usually get what I want for half price or lower than what the vendor is asking for. We made a lot of good deals and have started to narrow our list down of people to get gifts for.

After the market we went back to the hotel and showered and got ready for church. I do not think we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We arrived in the tin roof patio where we greeted by 200 smiling faces. There were tons of people who welcomed us to church. We sang and praised God even though we spoke different languages. Many of the songs were in both English and Khmer. Tyler even got up and lead a song in the service. It was amazing to see that there are Christians all around the world. Audrey said it the best tonight at dinner, she said that it was like a little view of heaven when all different types of people are praising God.

The night ended with a good girls night with Erin and Becca as we got ready for bed and all cool in the air conditioned room. Tomorrow will be our first day in the hospital and we cannot wait.