We as in the UK and the rest of the World were very saddened to hear about the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She was a wonderful lady who dedicated her life to her family, her subjects and God. Recently on her 70th Anniversary of being on the throne, we told the children about her and all about their own King. They then dressed up as Kings and Queens and had a mock street party. We in Day-care will be praying for her family as they mourn and wish King Charles III a long and happy reign.
In our last newsletter I commented on UK roads being very different than from those in Cambodia. This morning while I was driving to work, I had this van driving in front of me. I am not sure what was holding it together or how the two gentlemen in the front stayed inside the cabin, but they were driving along as if they were sitting in a Rolls Royce.
At the start of the month Sokheng and I went to buy play equipment for the roof of the building, the children’s eyes were like saucers when they saw the scooters, bikes and skittles for them to play with. The roof is such a great resource and is used a lot for playing and for teaching as it is so high that there is always a nice breeze to take the heat away and it is therefore more comfortable for them than inside.
One of our children recently had surgery. The little boy aged 16 months had a hernia which needed fixed sooner rather than later.
We praise God that through the generosity of some Christian surgeons who waived the cost of the operation and his stay in hospital, he is through surgery and recovering well. We cannot thank the people who were involved enough for helping to make this happen (You know who you are)!
We have another boy who is being assessed at another hospital for Autism. We are praying that he, his family and day care get the information we need to help him and make this little boy’s life happier and more fulfilling.
Poor Mark had a kidney stone recently, he was in a lot of pain but we are praising God he is now feeling better and we are praying there will be no re-occurrence.
We have started the process of looking for 7 children to replace those who will graduate day care soon. We are again seeing many who need help and who are vulnerable. One such child is one year old living with his grandma, she has to go out to make money for food each day, to protect him she is tying him up to a post by his feet. Another boy is with a grandma who keeps falling over and has trouble walking, she is also desperate to keep him safe. We will look at each of the applications, pray over them and see who is most at risk before making our decisions on who to place in day care.
As I am writing this, I heard about the death of a wonderful lady of God from my home-church who was a very active follower of Jesus, Margaret Saunders. Margaret worked tirelessly for the Kingdom for many, many years and was an inspiration, a prayer warrior, a mentor to many and much much more. She always had a smile for you and words of wisdom. I remember her giving me time, prayer, good advice and some literature before Mark and I moved to Cambodia. We will miss you Margaret. We offer our sincere condolences and prayers to Hilary, Bishop David and the extended family circle.
On 18th September, Sokheng our Director graduated having gained a Batchelor’s Degree in Business and Administration. Mark and I were so pleased to be able to be there with her family to celebrate her hard work in gaining this degree. Sokheng never sat her year 12 examination as she went to work to ensure the family had enough money to live on. Passing the year 12 examination is a requirement before you can pass a degree, so she had to sit year 12 before she was allowed to graduate. We are so very proud of her and her achievements.
The Ballyhenry Mission Team will join us in a little over 2 weeks’ time. We are really looking forward to seeing them and spending time with them. They have a full programme which includes working at day care, doing a night programme with street kids and doing various kids programmes within the village amongst other things. We would ask for your prayers for them as the travel to Cambodia and also for safety as they travel within Cambodia – for people who they will come into contact with that they be impacted by the love of Jesus, but also that the team will be impacted by what Jesus reveals to them. The team consists of 3 men and 4 women. Martin, Geoff, Gerald, Katie, Kathryn, Joanne and Rosemary.
On my daily commute to Day care, I drive through a road with rice fields on either side. In the rice field most mornings is a large herd of water buffalos – you think cows are Big!! These guys decided to block the road, I wasn’t getting out of the car to move them, hence I was late for work!!
Dog with a purple tail – why???
Sometimes when I see the women coming for Bible Study, I ask myself, I have known Jesus for many years and yet when times are difficult, I try to fix things myself instead of asking Jesus to walk through it with me. I look at these women, who have nothing, who struggle with things I am glad I don’t have to struggle with and yet they have such enthusiasm and joy in listening to the Word of God, in asking questions about Jesus and they are hungry to know him. They made me realise that although I know Jesus, I don’t know Jesus in the way I should; I pray that through these women, my hunger to know him will be the same as theirs. I pray the same for each of you.
Blessings
Liz and Mark
