Happy 1st Anniversary!
We opened the doors of Eggshell Cambodia Day care on 16th September 2018 and our first year has gone so fast, we have seen God at work over this past year and it has been amazing. We thank God for all he has done and pray for much more of him touching lives over the next year.
One of the ways he has moved recently was our Senior Day Care Worker and Teacher Mazong decided to leave us to pursue work in a laboratory. She has a bio-chemistry degree and felt she wanted to use her skills and travel to different places. Although we were sad to see her go, we understood and supported her; at the same time we started to pray for someone to replace her. Within a matter of days, God blessed us to our latest member of staff, Sokheng. She brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm due to working with children in her church and her passion for everyone to fall in love with Jesus. We wish Mazong and Sokheng God’s richest blessings in their new positions.
We had a little break in September taking a few days up in the North of Cambodia at Siem Reap with our older son Adam. It was so good to have time to see this part of the country with him, visiting more remote Angkor historical buildings, which were not crowded with people and we had not seen before, going to the Kulen Mountains and seeing the beautiful waterfalls. Adam and Mark went for a swim at the bottom of one of the falls, Liz couldn’t get herself into the water… not a water baby! We ate a lot, laughed a lot and got to relax. Thank you, Adam, for organising it.
Our two new children are settling in well. One has a few tears when she comes in each morning but settles within a few minutes. The other is so excited, we are trying to calm her down a little. Her mum gave birth to a little boy while we were in Siem Reap. Liz wanted to see him so much. One morning the following week Liz spent 2 hours in traffic trying to travel the few miles to day care and when she arrived was told the mother had waited for over 1 hour to show her little boy to her. Liz went to the mother’s home. The baby was beautiful, wrapped in a towel, no nappies and one bottle to feed him. Thankfully recent teams had brought out bottles, baby wipes, little baby hats, re-useable nappies and we had a little blanket in our store, so we were able to bless the mother with a few comforts for her new baby.
The children continue to have fevers and coughs due to rainy season but thankfully nothing serious.
On Sunday 22nd September we held our first graduation service for two children who will be going to public school in October. We have spent a lot of time preparing them for the next step of the life, explaining why they had to leave day care and that they had more learning to do with others the same age as themselves. We taught them English and Khmer Praise Songs and some fun action songs. As is typical in the culture the 8am start eventually got underway around 9am! We had to go and fetch some of the children, but it all went well. The two girls looked wonderful in their little graduation uniforms and a few tears were shed by us all as we said goodbye. We will miss them but know that there are so many others needing a safe place. Thank you for supporting our children, you make their lives so much better and safer by helping them stay in our day care, giving them a good start to their education and indirectly supporting their families.
At the moment, we are in the middle of Phcum Ben which is the time of year when Khmer people pay respect and alms to their dead ancestors. Most travel to their homelands, visit the pagodas and pray for their spirits. We kept day care open for all but two days as our children were not travelling out of the village but at the same time the families wanted to mark the occasion too. Phnom Penh is very quiet; most shops and restaurants are closed. It is so unusual to be able to drive around the city on roads not congested with traffic.
We are looking forward to having the team from St John’s Orangefield arrive out with us mid-October and also on the 18th October we celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary. We thank God for our marriage and for his faithfulness to us over all those years and for the coming ones. Please Pray for the team that God will speak to them and that their journey will bring them closer to Him.
Lastly there is an event being held in Willowfield Parish Church which we would love you to get along to. Details below:
Blessings until next time.
Mark and Liz