Hot

Welcome to Cambodia, or as I have been calling it, "the sun." It is hot here, but I am not complaining, just stating the obvious. I love it here. My friend Rachel was asking if I could move here ever. I told her that there is nothing that i don't like about this country, and so yes, I could move here.

The team is doing great. We just started on our building project yesterday, so we are a few day's behind due to rain and miscommunication. We also went to an orphanage yesterday and everyone loved it. We played with kids, had lunch together, sang songs and gave out gifts. The kids sang for us as well, it was beautiful. We talked a bit today about culture and how it is so different here. With the Christians here, they really love Jesus with all their hearts and are doing his work, but you can't help but notice the western influence in the church here. The songs they sing, the way they respond to the work or to worship, etc. It looks allot more western than Cambodian. It is scary that when we westerners come over here we in the name of Jesus we not only bring Jesus, we bring Him in the way that works for us.

My friend Wade and I were talking about this today. What would a truly Christian and truly Cambodian church look like? Beautiful I am sure. I am scared though that I may not be able to see it until I reach heaven. I hope that all we are bringing here is Jesus and not culture. And I definitely hope we are not taking Cambodian culture away.

I see this even in the building. We have some contractors here from the Canada and it is very frustrating to do things the Cambodian way as it is very different and does not make sence to us. It is a fine line between doing things differently and teaching them how to do things more effectively. Pray for us that we would be sensitive to this.

Thanks.