Okay, here's the link to the long awaited pictures from my trip...
click here
Here is a cronological version of my journal entries that I posted while on my trip. I have updated it so that it is in order from first to last. Enjoy.
Here is a link to the video that David made that is very good. CAMBODIA VIDEO
Wednesday, June 28th
Thanks to everyone that is continuing to lift us up in prayer. Good news...we made it safely over the Pacific Ocean after our 14 1/2 hr non stop flight from L.A. I'm in Taipei, Taiwan right now and wanted to give everybody an update. I am keeping a journal while on the trip...so I'll be posting entries like this one:
4:20 am..........6-29-2006
"Glamorous life? Someone once told Jeff he led a glamorous life as a missionary because of all the travel and a very different occupation. I'm flying over the Pacific Ocean right now-this is my third flight so far and I've already racked up 20 hours on a plane! Only one more layover and four more flying hours to go. I must say, having completed my first 24 hours as an overseas missionary, I have yet to find anything glamorous. Maybe because I've only had a few hours of sleep, felt like a sardine in a can suspended over water, and somehow managed to squeeze my 6'6'', 250 lb figure into a plane' "lavatory," that I have yet to experience this so called glamour. But I really can't complain, that was just a little venting due to first flying experience. The fact that this is exactly where God wants me to be gives me all the joy and comfort in the world. People kept asking within the last few days before the trip if I was nervous. I always responded with,"No, but maybe because my excitement is masking the anxiety." But that doesn't seem to be the case. I am still very excited about what God is going to do and teach me, and so far (knock on wood) I'm not the least bit nervous.
I've been very encouraged already by two people I've met. On our way to Chicago, I got to sit by Hollis (sp?). He was a very friendly man that is an associate pastor in the Tulsa area. He was full of questions but very interested and encouraging about the whole trip. Right now I am sitting next to Mikael. He was born and raised in the Philippines and moved to L.A. seven years ago. He is on his way back to his homeland to coordinate a medical mission trip. It has been neat discussing our upcoming mission trips and learning a little about each other. We are scheduled to land in Taipei in about an hour, so after a little leg-stretch-time in Taiwan, it's a straight shot to Phnom Phen, Cambodia!"
LA airport
Chicago
I'll have more pics up later...God bless
Friday, June 30th
A couple more pics:
Mikael, on his way to the Phillapines for a mission trip
(our 14 1/2 hrs flight over the ocean)
Saturday, July 1st
Greetings everyone!
This may be my last blog update for about 4 days because in 1 hour we will be leaving for Kampong Thom. Here are a couple of journal entries to update you a bit.
6-30-06.........4:50 am
"Well, we arrived safely in Phnom Penh yesterday at 1ish pm. It was evident to see we were entering a third world country before our plane even landed. Looking out the window we could see miles and miles of rice patties and every road in sight was dirt. Little "houses" were scattered throughout the country sides until we got closer to town when they became crammed together. Nivath (the local pastor-our contact), picked us up in a "stylin" Mercedes van. There is one apparent traffic law...and I mean only one. "Honk-then force your way in." I think there is one, maybe two traffic lights in the whole city, so to an American it looks like complete chaos. I'm pretty sure we came inches from tapping multiple cars, flattening a pedestrian, and sideswiping 47 motorbikes! A funny site to see was a family of 5 all piled onto one tiny motorbike. Obviously their petite size makes it a little easier for that, which brings up another point. Jeff said I would stick out...and he was not lying. The Cambodian's reactions are so funny! Because I can't understand what they are saying, I'll usually just hear some giggles and turn around to see a few Cambodian's looking wide-eyed up at me with big grins on their faces. I've also found out that local parents like to point me out to their kids. The are usually referring to us as (non-insultingly) "fat" and "long." We are staying at the Asia Hotel for the next couple of days. It is actually pretty nice (especially for the cities standards.) It costs me $12.50 a night (50,000 Riel) which comes with AC, two nice beds, at TV & fridge, and a pretty nice bathroom. We're "living it up" here in Phnom Penh, but when we get to Kampong Thom it'll be a different story. We briefly walked through the central market and local mall after we checked into our rooms. You can find all sorts of stuff from silk, to jewelry, to pirated DVD's, to fried tarantulas. I must say the smell about knocked me over when we first walked in. The combination of dirty streets, fried insects, and grilled squid is a real sinus clearer. It was fascinating to see all the vendors and variety of products to be traded and sold."
7-1-06..........3:00 am
"This is day 3 in Phnom Penh. Yesterday was quite exciting and full of firsts. First motorbike ride, first shower w/ a sink hose, first Buddhist monk spotted surfing the web, and first time to see fried tarantulas, grasshoppers, maggots, and grilled squid. After breakfast we started our first day of touristy activities. Because our flight had to be booked for 2 days early, yesterday and today we are seeing the sights. Yesterday after breakfast at the Asia Hotel we came back for showers before our trip around town. Let me explain the shower. There is no shower curtain, no fixed shower head, and no water pressure. You essentially just use this kitchen sink hose (like that for dish washing) with an extra long hose and rinse off while standing in a bath tub. It's kinda awkward at first, but it works. When we were ready to leave it's not like NY where you have to flag down a taxi, about 10-12 motorbike drivers approach you asking "Need ride?" or "Tuk tuk?" When we started driving it was kinda scary at first...I was praying, "God, don't let me die yet, I just got to Cambodia!" But within 2 minutes I was loving it. Our first stop was Tuolsleng where thousands of the 2 million Cambodians were tortured and killed by their own government back in the 70's. It was quite an eye opening experience. After that we rode to the Russian Market. It was really neat and a great place to find souvenirs. We ate lunch at "Jars of Clay." It's a coffee shop started and run by a Christian woman from England. She rescues Cambodian girls out of prostitution and provides them a place to work. The food was great! I had a frappaccino and a BLT on a croissant. Oh yeah, and not to forget about the monk. While Caleb and I were checking our emails and such at the internet cafe, I caught an interesting sight. A legit Bhuddist monk comes in, sits down at a computer to get on the internet, then begins talking on a cell phone! So much for a life of simplicity I guess."
7-1-06............8:00 pm
"Wow, if I thought yesterday was exciting I don't know how to describe today. Let me just start with saying....I RODE AN ELEPHANT!!!!! We went to Wat Phnom today and I rode Sambo. She was very tame but I bit gaseous I must say. What do you expect from a 46 yr old elephant though. After that incredible adventure, we fed some monkeys before we toured the temple. The temple was astonishing. The gifts and offerings people had brought were astounding. It is so sad to imaging the great number of people that put so much trust in a god that does not hear, see, or can have a relationship with them. We then rode over to the palace. Unfortunately the gates were closes due to the rain, but it was still beuatiful from the outside. We ate dinner with Nivath, his wife Sithong, and his two boys Zacharius and Zacharlip. I think I already made a couple of buddies for the trip. Zacharius is 4 and Zacharlip is 2...they're real cute kids. We ate at Ta Ta which is a very nice Cambodian restaurant. The atmosphere, service, and food were excellent. Basically the whole restaurant is outside and they happened to have a great band playing for entertainment. The food was much better than we anticipated. We had a 4 course dinner starting with a plate of cubes of beef in some sauce surrounded with veggies and potato wedges. The next course was fish (with the head and eyes still staring at you), and then roasted chicken w/ rice. They brought sliced watermelon and pineapple for desert...it was so sweet compared to our fruit. It sure was an eventful day for our last day of that kind of fun...now it's time to get down to business, but I imagine it's going to be a new kind of fun."
I've been having some problems uploading pictures since we've been here...so I will only be putting a few up at a time. Oh and my profile picture is me riding on the back of a motorbike on our way to "Jars of Clay"
Wow, such a funny site to see a Buddhist monk online and talking on a cell phone.
A shot from inside the wall's of the prison camp at Tuolsleng.
The Russian Market
Okay for real, how many of you can say you've ridden an ELEPHANT!!!??
(Oh, and by the way, Caleb and I aren't getting "friendly," we are having to shift our weight and hang on for dear life!)
Keep us in your prayers for our 5 hour trip to Kampong Thom today and as we start living a little more rugged and start eating a little more questionable food. It's good to hear from you all and I hope to talk to you soon. I've enjoyed the encouragement from back home. If you would like to get a hold of me my email is bigk5486@yahoo.com
God Bless!
Thursday, July 6th
Hello everyone!
Wow, what a trip it's been so far. I still can't believe I'm here. Sometimes I just wanna pinch myself and go "Kyle, you are in Cambodia, can you believe it!?" It's such an emotional roller coaster because at times it's exciting to see new sites and experience a different culture, other times its exhausting and just plain hot, and other times it's just so cool to see how God works as he reveals things to me reminding me we serve such a huge God.
Today is Caleb and my "day off." Jeff and David are in the second day of teaching at the CBU (Cambodian Baptist Union), but Caleb and I are taking the day to run some errands and see a couple of sites like the palace.
Here are a few journal entries from the past few days:
7-3-06................9:20 am
"I'm sitting in our first training session of the trip here in Kampong Thom. We drove about 4 hours yesterday down roads lined with shacks made of sticks and bamboo. I learned the Khmer word for cow, pronounced "co" as in Coke. I got to play with Nivath's boys quite a bit on the drive and so when we'd drive by a field, I'd turn and say "co, co!" and Zarcharlip would stand up and get all excited. I have some funny pictures of the boys with my sunglasses on. They are very amused by my glasses, camera, and iPod headphones. Sithong (Nivath's wife) brought some very interesting food on the trip. She first offered me a small crab apple like fruit. You are supposed to take a bite, then dip it into this spice. It looked like some kind of sugar. So I dipped it in this "sugar" and as I was taking the bite, Sithong and the translator Seevay go "No, too much!" They found my reaction and facial expression quite funny as I discovered it didn't taste like I imagined. Come to find out, it was a dip made of salt and very hot crushed peppers. We shared some Oreo's and Sweet-Tarts with them. It was funny to see Zacharlip eat the Oreo...he got quite messy. We stopped for lunch at what we would compare to a Cambodian truck stop. We drank Cokes and ate fried rice. When we got to Kampong Thom, we were quite surprised at the Hotel we were to stay at. It's $12 a night for 2 (half of the cost of the Asia Hotel in Phnom Penh) but there is AC, a TV, fridge, and pretty clean facilities. The shower even had a curtain and water pressure! Our only dislike are the beds, it feels like sleeping on a styrofoam mat, but there is AC and overall it's much nicer than we were anticipating, so we're happy.
On our way to the city, we began seeing folded clear tarps hanging from sticks. Come to find out, they're for catching/breeding crickets. Kampong Thom is the highest in the world in "Cricket Production." Jeff said, "You've gotta be good at something." Especially at night is it prevalent that we are in the Cricket Capital of the World because there were countless crickets in the restaurant we ate at last night (among cats, geckos, flies, and roaches.) They had french fries, so that rocked, but it was funny to think how most Americans would react if this were a restaurant in the US. It poured and poured rain last night knocking out the power to the hotel and flooding the dirt roads pretty badly. (Actually, it has only not rained one day since we've been here) Fortunately the hotel has a generator, so we were able to have electricity and AC. The heavy rain made it difficult for some of the pastors to get here in time for the first session, but the small church is pretty much full now. Because of the language barrier, it is very difficult to translate this theological study of Romans, but we are praying God allows the pastors to comprehend the teachings. I got to sing a song for them this morning, I did 'Holy is the Lord.' I'm not sure if they really appreciate Tomlin's style, but it was a neat experience. Jeff is speaking about sin right now. He just had me come up to help him with an analogy: Jeff and I are Buddhist's in a village in Cambodia, while I was working, Jeff sneaks up and steals my chickens. Jeff asked why, even though he had never read the bible, why he shouldn't steal the chickens. He was looking for the answer like, "We naturally know what's right and wrong." But instead...one of the pastors stood up and answered why he should not steal my chickens was because: (translated) "He will hit you!" It was kind of a funny analogy, but it did a good job or portraying the point and the the pastors caught on right away...after clearing up the whole issue of me beating Jeff up for stealing my chickens.
The graduation ceremony was neat. They started out by doing some singing led by the pastor and the keyboard player. They asked me to get up and do a couple of songs, so since the keyboard player spoke broken english, I found out they did "Lord I Lift Your Name on High." That was a lot of fun because I led in a bi-lingual version of the song...some singing in English, and some in Khmer. Each pastor and leader that attended recieved a certificate and individually came up and shook Jeff and David's hand. They were very appreciative and they all had a great time.
7-6-06...............11:45 am
We got back from Kampong Thom last night about 7:30. It was nice to get back to "civilization." We took our bags to our rooms, finished an episode of Seinfeld, then headed straight for Lucky's. It felt like Christmas morning, or like a kid in a candy store, or one of those analogies. We hadn't had an actual meal in 3 days. We had been living off of french fries, slim jims, and Coke during our stay in Kampong Thom. As we were taking our first bites of our Lucky's burgers, I had to laugh when Jeff jokingly said, "Kyle, your wedding night won't be better than this."
The majority of Tuesday was pretty unenjoyable for me. I apparently ate something that didn't quite agree with me. Let's just say that I felt like my stomach and kidneys were in an all out nuclear war! Fortunately I lasted long enough to do a song for the pastors and give my testimony before I got sick behind the church's fence. I got to back to the room at break and I pretty much just curled up in bed and stayed there for the rest of the day. I later found out that the chickens and dogs wandering around the church lawn eventually ate what I had thrown up. So now the guys use "feed the chickens" as the code for having to vomit. David even wrote a sweet little song for me to the tune of Camptown Races: "Kyle fed the chickens in Kampong Thom, doo dah, doo dah..." And I wrote a second verse that goes: "Don't eat the chili in Kampong Thom, doo dah, doo dah..." Oh yes, and that brings up another story. Fortunately the "chili" is not what made me sick in K.T. (it sure would've), but this is pretty gross. The second day of the training, they brought out lunch that looked a lot like chili in America. Nivath was very quick to inform Jeff and David that, "Good for us, bad for you." So they stayed clear of it. They asked what was in the stuff. Nivath replied with, "Well, you put fish in a jar for a long time, add beef, add spices, then dip veggetables in it." Later we asked Nivath, "So you said you put the fish in jars...how long is a long time...like 5 days?" He replied with, "Um...no...like a year." Ugh, and to think the stuff didn't kill of a handful of the pastors after eating it. We found some Cyprolin (sp?) which is an antibiotic...Jeff had been kinda sick the day before too, so once we got on that stuff, we got feeling much better."
7-6-06...............10:45 am
God has become a little more real to me today. I have a unintentional tendency of viewing God as an idea or a feeling inside of me, so I have been praying that He will continue to make Himself real to me (not that I don't believe He exists, but to view Him as the real "person" He is in order for the kind of relationship He wants with me). I have been studying Philosophy-and taking it through TCC-it is a completely secular approach. Nonetheless, a big issue of philosophy is the existence of God. The book seems to cover over and over again how there must be an all-powerfull perfect being above humans, but it continues to diminish the realness of God by only referring to Him as this universal idea or something. This has only added to the ridiculous viewpoints of our American culture that puts God in a box. Maybe it's the celebrities that "thank God" at their award ceremonies, maybe it's the politicians that use God as a platform of which to impress us conservative voters, or maybe it's the TV evangelists who make a mockery of the amazing God we serve by selling half truths about God to get some naive person to send a huge chunk of money to them out of "obedience to God." I have begun reading Donald Miller's "Searching for God Knows What." One way God began to become more real to Miller was through the people God was working through around him. I paused and looked up from my book. As I looked around, I looked into the faces of the thirty or so Cambodian pastors sitting in the room. Like a door opening to my mind (or perhaps my heart) our God became a even more real to me. I realized that these pastors weren't serving a god that would make them want to sound spiritual when they were accepting an award, or abuse spirituality to become a more popular political candidate because they quoted scripture in front of the media, or that they would go back to their congregations to cheat them out of money by making promises that God will make them rich. But these short little brown people have something that didn't make them famous, put them in high positions, or make them rich, but in most cases had sacrificed much. This is the God that I am continuing to want to know as a person. Someone that could make themself so real to a person that it would cause them to give up all desires for the crap of this world, but to cause someone to enter into a real relationship and serve an almighty God. It's become scary to think that God's will is not the safest place to be in, but His will is the best place to be in. I appreciate so much the obedience of these people because of what they have given up for the sake of the gospel...it's incredible. What is evident is that they have so much trust and God is blessing their servant hood-not so much material blessings, but far beyond that. This has truly encouraged my desire to know God as a person and not only the almighty spiritual Being."
Only one week until I fly back for the states. Thank you to everyone who has sent the encouraging emails and continued to lift us up in prayer. I look forward to sharing the pictures and stories and see all my friends and family when I return. Until next time...here are a few pics!
Zacharlip digs the shades.
The church at Kampong Thom
The graduating class at Kampong Thom
(hey, who's that white guy sticking out in the back row?)
God bless
Kyle
Monday, July 10th
Chum Reap Sour!!!
(pronounced: jim rip sue)
(hello)
I am happy to inform everyone that we made it safely to the second largest city in Cambodia, Batambang. We will actually be driving another twenty minutes in the morning to the church out in the country. This will be our last session before I leave on Friday. Jeff, David, and Caleb will be here one more week to do a session in Svay Ring. It’s hard to believe I’m down to my last few days here. I’m starting to get some major cravings for Taco Bueno, to see my friends again, and to sleep in my own bed. It is needless to say I am completely glad to have come and serve God as well as having a great time.
Our session in Phnom Penh went really well. The pastors were very attentive and interacted a lot with the questions and study on the sermon on the mount. I got to do quite a few songs for the pastors and they enjoyed them very much. Their culture is very music-oriented...and even though they are not as concerned w/ things such as...ya know.....rhythm...or pitch....they still know how to worship and highly enjoy hearing others do so.
I do have a specific prayer request. I will be teaching the pastors from II Tim. 2 on Thursday and I’m definitely going to need some prayer. It’s not my normal routine to teach pastors, let alone Cambodian pastors, let alone through a translator, so please keep me in your prayers around what would be you all’s Wednesday night.
I just want to thank all of you who have been sending me encouraging emails. It means a lot to hear that your fiends and family are praying for you supporting you when you are half way around the world. God is so good...and what’s been the coolest thing is to see that He is good 10,000 miles away from home too in Cambodia where He is still the same amazing God.
Sorry this post isn’t as long and detailed, so I guess you’ll just have to wait and hear about the rest of my trip in person one of these days. But I will leave you some more pictures:
This is one of pastors kids in Kampong Thom...but being the Okie that I am, I never learned to pronounce his name.
A statue at an intersection in Batambang.
Birds eye view of Phnom Penh
Pastors at the CBU in Phnom Penh
One of the buildings at the palace in Phnom Penh
Since there's no DOT in Cambodia...this is a typical over loaded truck.
Thanks for the prayers.
God bless
Thursday, July 13th
Howdy Y'all
(I'm trying to adjust back to being an Okie,
so I figured I'd start with a very hick-like greeting)
Well it's hard to believe I'll be getting to the Phnom Penh International Airport in about 12 hours!
We got back from Batambang just over two hours ago, and the first place we hit was this place called the Pizza Company. I've gotta say it's the closest thing to home we've experienced this trip. It is incredible!!! It's basically a westernized Pizza place w/ appetizers and everything. So after a few days of rice and snack foods, it was a great meal. We ate with our translator Mades, and his wife joined us.
Thank you to everyone that was praying for me as I taught this morning. It went great and the pastors really seemed to connect. I was praying hardcore this morning that the Holy Spirit would really work in me to convey the message and that it would translate right. It was a blast! We are fortunate to even have gotten to the church today though. When we went out to the van and tried to start it but wouldn't turn over! The gauge said it had just under a 1/4 of a tank, so we called Nivath to see if the gauge was broken or something. Come to find out, when it gets down to a 1/4 it's really out. Being a diesel made it very difficult to start after putting fuel in it because we tried starting it so many times on empty. It took 2 1/2 hours to get fixed, so we were getting pretty anxious that we'd even get to go to the church and have the last session and graduation for the pastors. Although it was hard to see the blessings through the situation, there were many that we realized once we got on the road. We could've very easily been in transit out in the middle of nowhere and run out of fuel, so we were thankful to be at the hotel when it happened. And what was even more amazing was that about 12 guys came immediately and helped fix the problem and bleed the fuel lines. We realized that in America, nobody actually just drops what they are doing to help some complete strangers back on the road and running.
The whole experience in Batambang was really fun and the pastors and leaders really appreciated us. Some were asking if they'd see me next year...it sure is tempting!
So I guess the next time I post will be when I safely return home. Pleas be in prayer as I travel over the next 2 days for safety. Jeff and I were watching the news yesterday and found out there is a tropical storm hitting Taipei Taiwan about the time I'm supposed to fly in and out. I'm not too concerned about the weather, but please pray that my flights won't be delayed too much so I can get home! Here are a few more pictures:
The graduating pastors and leaders at Batambang
Teaching II Tim. 2
The local trash men
Getting to play in the worship band!
Thank you all so much for taking this journey with me. I've appreciated the moral support and especially the financial support that allowed me to go on this incredible trip!
Within a few days after getting back I'll have a link to a full slideshow from the trip.
See you all on the other side!!!
Monday, July 17th
I'm home!!!
Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday. I got home about 10 am at Tulsa International airport to this...
Wow it felt good to be home. I had such a good time...but 3 weeks is a long time away from friends, family, and Taco Bueno!!! Which brings me to my next pic...
First stop: TACO BUENO!
Jeff, this is for you! Sorry Jeff, David, and Caleb that won't get to experience this for another week...but man was that stinkin' good!
(Disclaimer: Okay, that's not really all my food....and my dad staged the fact that he's broke...but that smile on my face is legit)
24 hours flying time plus 12 hours in layovers is a bit lonesome by yourself I must say...but I didn't get lost and breakdown crying in the Chicago airport so it was a successful trip back.
It was so nice to walk into my house and just take a big breath and go..."Mmmmm, I missed the smell of home."
I did pretty good for the first couple of hours, but then I hit my wall. Only having 3 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours was catching up with me...the problem was that I had to wait until night to go to bed or I wouldn't get back on schedule. And a nap wasn't possible cause I would've never woken up. So I endured, but my family had some good laughs watching my head bob forward and back in between conversation if I sat too long in one place. I wanted to go see my TU friends last night...but my mom didn't want me driving over there, which was a good thing cause I nodded off about 30 times as my dad drove me over there. He was quite entertained with me trying to hold a conversation and coming in and out of consciousness the whole ride. But when I got into a room with 9 other friends eager to see each other, it gave me some energy. We celebrated TJ's birthday, had some good cake (remembered how much I ejoy cake), got to give out souvenirs, show 'em lots of pictures, and tell stories. Spencer drove me home...but in a Jeep w/ no top and doors, there was no dozing off!
I happened to wake up in time to go to church, so that was neat to see everybody and enjoy the service since I didn't have to run the sound.
I must say, today was the first day I have ever had a craving for Taco Bueno immediately after waking up in the morning. Lucky for me I had some left over in the fridge. I didn't get homemade cookies and even milk for 3 weeks....so to wash down my Bueno, I had some milk and cookies. Breakfast of champions.
Once again, thanks for all of your support and prayers. I will post again in the near future a link to a full slide show from the trip.
It was great...I think everybody should get a chance to see God work in a third world country...it's an eye opener and life changer.
Keep the rest of the guys in prayer as they finish the session in Svey Ring and as they fly home at the end of the week.
God bless
Kyle
(PS-David, I was kind of hopeful while unpacking that a gecko had found its way into my bag...but no luck)
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