Psalm 27:4 "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever all the days of my life..."
Today was fantastic! Exactly what we needed. Even the weather was a little more comfortable. We started the day in church. It was a small church, a rectangular building with corrugated steel roof and plastic lawn chairs set up as needed. The front "stage" area was covered with purple curtains and they wheeled in a small wooden pulpit from which to read and preach. Pastor Rudy Schaser was invited to give a message, he spoke about Jesus being the Living Water - that we should be refreshed by Him and then share Him with others. Refreshing it was - and invigorating, and worshipful. It is amazing how God's love and His Word transcends language. Music as well. The worship team was three or four young men and they were very good - they played many American contemporary Christian worship songs. The children from the Glory of Christ were involved in leading worship. One young boy read Proverbs 18 (in Khmer), and 5-6 of them danced for the Lord. The dancing was beautiful - for many songs there were girls and boys singing and dancing with great joy. Later, just the girls came out dressed in white and purple dresses and just danced with tambourines to songs like "Joy in the Lord" and "Shout to the Lord". I cried.
After service, we visited with the Glory of Christ Orphanage located right behind the church. This orphanage is run by Heng Cheng. The Orphan Grain Train supplied some clothing which was passed out and we were able to give bags of M&M's & candy, a few toys, headbands for the girls, and the biggest joy - soccer balls! George & Paul K. got right in on the soccer games. They started with a few moves passing the ball around until an all out game broke out. George played hard - he was red faced, and breathing heavy but loving every minute. While there, we visited with a mission team from Mercy International, most of them were Australian with a man from Finland and one from England. What a small world we have.
The other orphanage we visited was Center of Peace run by a lovely young woman named Bo Phal. (this is the one that embroidered bookmarks) It was in more of an urban area with 70 children. One bedroom for girls and one for boys, neither had any beds. They had a shelf in the room with mats and blankets & pillows on it which they pull off each night and put away in the morning. There were about 5 filing cabinets which were used as dressers, and these children are happy & well cared for. Ours could learn so much! Again, some more M&M's and another soccer game, and a lot of picture taking. Karen brought along a new kind of 'polaroid' camera so she can not only take pictures of children but give them away too - she is always a center of attention. The children at Center of Peace seemed to be even more loving than the first group. We were immediately swarmed with hugs and a few children took us by the hand and did not let go. Today was filled with joy!
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