Work and the Weekend

Today I filed paper work. As I filed away precious pictures drawn by little girls I felt caught in their life. I put in pictures of sunsets, people dressed up, and people being beaten. The picture that grabbed my heart was one drawn with such clarity I didn't feel surprised when I read her story. Her pictures were amazingly drawn and I hoped in my heart that she is using her artistic ability somewhere out there. It is strange to think that an event in your life can be compiled and filed away in an office. I felt honored to see the pictures and read their stories, to feel my heart break at the pain and brokenness they have had to endure at such young ages. It was a reminder of the Truth of why I am here and why others are here too. I don't know what has happened to those girls and I may never know. But my heart was touched. This past weekend I was able to go up to Siem Reap with a friend. The purpose of the trip was two fold. 1) visit the city I have heard about and 2) reconnaissance for the team that is coming up in August. It was nice having a friend with me and we had a great time. There is a lot I have to post as well as pictures and videos! Be ready...but this means there will be several posts over the next week. Day One: Getting there was via bus. We even got water, a snack, and watched GI Joe and Live Free or Die Hard. I was surprised because they love watching their Khmer Karaoke video's. We stopped once and here are some of the food you can buy to eat as a snack :) and here is what I bought. I love they way they cut the Pineapple! Siem Reap is a much slower city then Phnom Penh and it was a very nice change. There is not as much traffic and no one honks their horns all the time. The street we stayed on was close to all the main things in the city such as great food and a couple markets. We arrived a little after lunch and found an Irish Pub to eat at. They even had a sign for The Fighting Irish! Who knew you could find that in Cambodia! We then got to see the new office and center that World Hope is opening there, which were also great. We then headed out to Angkor Wat to watch the Sunset. The way we traveled by by Tuk Tuk and we had a great driver who spoke excellent English. Here are pictures from the Sunset: One of the cool things on that first night was seeing Elephants!You can take a ride up to the top of the hill where the temple Bekheng is. This is one of the popular places to watch the sunset and I have to say it was really cool. Here is a video:

We returned to the city to eat dinner and then went through their night market which was really nice and fun to see.