Hello everyone,
This will be my last blog. Sorry I did not make one sooner, the internet was not good in Vietnam.
It was so hard leaving the ship and the amazing crew (but I plan to return). After a great last week of seeing more precious people, my small team and I headed to Saigon, Vietnam. We had to take two long bus rides to get there. We stayed one night in the same hotel we stayed at in Penom Penh, then continued on the senod bus ride to the beautiful city of Saigon. We enjoyed shopping, dinner with live music, a beautiful hotel, and a half-day tour of the city.
We stayed at the famous Rex Hotel. It was built to be a hotel, but soldiers took it over and lived in it during the Vietnam War. Now, it is being rennovated and is very nice. We went on a tour around the city, visiting a palace, a Catholic cathedral, a big bus station, the Vietnam War museum (that was difficult), a pegota (which I described in the last blog), and a handicraft store where handicapped people make everything in there. They use egg shells and pearl along with paint to make paintings, pottery, coasters, etc. They are so beautiful. I bought some coasters.
On Sunday we went to a church made up of mainly young kids. It was singing week which was awesome because we got to hear their sweet little voices! The man who started the church is one cool dude. He was imprisoned several times for being a Christian, back when there were underground churches. His church is legal now thankfully. But through everything he endured, he did not want to stop pressing forward, which is so inspiring. I felt honored to have met him. I hope to return and visit him again someday.
To end, I have been blessed beyone measure. I am not able to even attempt to describe all I witnessed, saw, heard, and experienced. I hope my blogs have given you a taste of my adventure. I hope these have encouraged you and have helped you realize that there is good in this world and it is worth fighting for. Please be in continuous prayer for the Ship of Life, its crew, and all the sweet people of Cambodia.
One interesting story to share and to think about: The translator on the Ship of Life worked as a translator at a huge hospital in Vietnam several years ago. He saw how Christians coming over to volunteer were serving other people with strong compassion, and not themselves. Being able to see that was extremely powerful to him. He wanted to know about Christianity and immediately fell in love with Jesus and became a Christian. He is one of the strongest Christians I have met so far in my life. Service is huge. Jesus was the perfect example of a servant. Being someone with a servant-like heart stands out like a sore thumb. It is noticable and draws the crowds...and I love it!
Thanks for reading my letters. Blessings,
Megan
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Update from Siem Reap
Hey everyone,
Just gonna update you on how my trip is going. Lots of exciting things to share. My last post was about getting to Hong Kong safely. After our last flight, we arrived in Phenom Penh and then drove about five hours to the Ship of Life. I love living on the ship, it is a lot of fun. The Cambodian men, the crew, are each so precious. We settled in Monday night and began working Tuesday morning. My job is taking blood pressure and temperature before sending them into one of the three doctor's offices or to the dentist. We have seen about 140 patients each day so far, made up of medical patients as well as dental. The people are so kind, they just sit patiently and smile at you.
I have gotten to see many different things like a scar from a snake bit on a woman's foot, the PA work on a blister on the bottom of a woman's foot, wisdom teeth removed, etc.
This weekend the people I travled with and I have spent a few days in Siem Reap visiting the Angkor Toam and Angkor Wat temples. They are amazing! We will go to church in the morning and then head back to the ship for our last week of work before spending our last weekend in Vietnam. The ship moves to a new location every weekend. It has currently been in a village about three hours from Phenom Penh, but friday while we have been gone, it has moved about five hours north of its location. So, we will have to figure out how to get there once we leave Siem Reap after church. Fun! I am looking forward to helping new people and seeing a new place.
Some cool things to share:
1) if you want to try a new food, why not a bbq tarantula?
2)there are beautiful buildings called pegotas, which are little temple-like buildings that people will make to "get points" so to speak if they have done bad things. They think that if you do a lot of bad things and make a pegota, you are then ok. There are pegotas everywhere you go not far apart from each other.
3)Many houses have boxes that look like bird houses. They are spirit boxes. They put their relatives' ashes in the box and believe the relative's spirit lives in the box.
4)Many houses have scare crows in the front to keep out evil spirits.
5)want to learn a khmer word? acun means "thank you"
6) a took-took is a moto with a buggy on the back
Debbe's and my way of finding out what time it is: taking a picture of the bathroom with her camera and adding 12 hours!!
From seeing tarantuals to pegotas to scare crows to water buffaloes to buddahs; to riding ferrys and took-tooks, it has been a great experience so far and I am so blessed and thankful that I have this opportunity to see a different part of God's beautiful creation and to bless many people with my hands.
I will update again next weekend in Vietnam. Blessings to you and please keep praying for all of the people we will be seeing this week!
Megan
Just gonna update you on how my trip is going. Lots of exciting things to share. My last post was about getting to Hong Kong safely. After our last flight, we arrived in Phenom Penh and then drove about five hours to the Ship of Life. I love living on the ship, it is a lot of fun. The Cambodian men, the crew, are each so precious. We settled in Monday night and began working Tuesday morning. My job is taking blood pressure and temperature before sending them into one of the three doctor's offices or to the dentist. We have seen about 140 patients each day so far, made up of medical patients as well as dental. The people are so kind, they just sit patiently and smile at you.
I have gotten to see many different things like a scar from a snake bit on a woman's foot, the PA work on a blister on the bottom of a woman's foot, wisdom teeth removed, etc.
This weekend the people I travled with and I have spent a few days in Siem Reap visiting the Angkor Toam and Angkor Wat temples. They are amazing! We will go to church in the morning and then head back to the ship for our last week of work before spending our last weekend in Vietnam. The ship moves to a new location every weekend. It has currently been in a village about three hours from Phenom Penh, but friday while we have been gone, it has moved about five hours north of its location. So, we will have to figure out how to get there once we leave Siem Reap after church. Fun! I am looking forward to helping new people and seeing a new place.
Some cool things to share:
1) if you want to try a new food, why not a bbq tarantula?
2)there are beautiful buildings called pegotas, which are little temple-like buildings that people will make to "get points" so to speak if they have done bad things. They think that if you do a lot of bad things and make a pegota, you are then ok. There are pegotas everywhere you go not far apart from each other.
3)Many houses have boxes that look like bird houses. They are spirit boxes. They put their relatives' ashes in the box and believe the relative's spirit lives in the box.
4)Many houses have scare crows in the front to keep out evil spirits.
5)want to learn a khmer word? acun means "thank you"
6) a took-took is a moto with a buggy on the back
Debbe's and my way of finding out what time it is: taking a picture of the bathroom with her camera and adding 12 hours!!
From seeing tarantuals to pegotas to scare crows to water buffaloes to buddahs; to riding ferrys and took-tooks, it has been a great experience so far and I am so blessed and thankful that I have this opportunity to see a different part of God's beautiful creation and to bless many people with my hands.
I will update again next weekend in Vietnam. Blessings to you and please keep praying for all of the people we will be seeing this week!
Megan
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