It's over. I finished on Wednesday staff debrief, and it's finished for now. The Earthcare school will be up and running come next October along with the Backpackers DTS and the Cross Roads DTS. It's an exciting thing to know that the earthcare will continue on, even though the Blakelys will not be able to lead it come Oct.
My position as base staff has become a bit clearer, I'm looking forward to the opportunities at base to serve not only as grounds keeper, when needed I'll be able to work in the kitchen or hospitality. Also I'm excited to say that Courtney, a student from backpackers is coming back to take over the Kitchen from Alley, her and I will share a room come May in the Staff house! I'm so excited! We've become such good friends already. We've grounded tents, gone climbing and had a beach trip all in about a week! I'm so grateful she'll be on staff- for 2 years too.
This Tuesday I'm going up to the Blythens (family from Oakridge) and staying 2 weeks up that way to celebrate Easter and go to Leigh's Engagement party. (Leigh is their daughter who is engaged to an Oakridge staff!)
Lots of love, Happy Easter!
Laura Yemen
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Earthcare NZ Debrief and Grad
It is FINISHED! I can't believe it but the Earthcare School finished on friday night with the student grad night. It was emotional and teary and we had about 70 people show up for it, which was really remarkable considering the size of our school. We had a presentation to give the next DTS last thursday, it went very well. It's been just wonderful to have some of the students and staff around from the the Backpackers and Cross roads DTS come back to base to help and visit us on our debrief week. I've been able to catch up with 3 backpacker staff and just have some awesome down time with them and with a local family that has really taken me in, and I am very grateful for.
The students all but leave tomorrow save one girl, who has malaria and has been in the hospital since thursday night. I'll be able to go and pick her up this coming monday. I'll have debrief for three days and from there I really don't know. I don't know my place at the base, or how long I'm staying, I'm hoping I'll get some decent time to pray and seek God's next step and spend some time somewhere quiet. I'll be heading up north to visit the Blythen family again and just chill out. There is much more that has happened, but I haven't been able to record it fast enough.
This saturday I Hiked Mt. Oxford with some amazing people and we worshiped on the top and prayed for the town of Oxford and for one another. It was wonderful. The people here are really kind and have really made me feel welcome.
Love to you all
Laura Yemen
The students all but leave tomorrow save one girl, who has malaria and has been in the hospital since thursday night. I'll be able to go and pick her up this coming monday. I'll have debrief for three days and from there I really don't know. I don't know my place at the base, or how long I'm staying, I'm hoping I'll get some decent time to pray and seek God's next step and spend some time somewhere quiet. I'll be heading up north to visit the Blythen family again and just chill out. There is much more that has happened, but I haven't been able to record it fast enough.
This saturday I Hiked Mt. Oxford with some amazing people and we worshiped on the top and prayed for the town of Oxford and for one another. It was wonderful. The people here are really kind and have really made me feel welcome.
Love to you all
Laura Yemen
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Along the Gulf of Thailand
This is my last blog before I return home to New Zealand. We have spend the week here in Sieouk Ville which is the ulitmate beach party town. We managed to get a hotel with air con, a swimming pool, hot water and telephones! Sheer luxury- we have been very spoiled.
Debrief has gone remarkably well. I am so grateful for all of the positive feedback that I have recieved from the students. It makes it all worth while to hear that not only have they grown but also that they see God working in their lives and see that there has been a huge difference in their thinking and relationship with God and with one another. It is safe to say that all of them are soaring here and are throughly enjoying themselves- it's been a ride and a half and I was ready to go home a week ago, my patients is all but dried up, however times of refreshing come in morning runs and sleeps by the pool and awesome devos on top of heaps of down time. It will be wonderful to go at least physically rested. :) We also took time last night to pray for our Khmer contact Seang, who is really devistated at our team leaving, he has invested a lot into our team and has worked so hard to make things run smoothly. It was great to hear God's next step for him.
The majority of the time has been spent looking for restaurants and places to swim and tan. :) We took a boat to 3 islands yesterday to swim snorkel and explore, it wasn't the best equiptment, but you get what you pay for, and we payed 13 US for the day- so not too many reasons to complain. Some of the girls and I are looking into massages and pedicures later today all in all a perfect wind up to a long but invaluble outreach in Cambodia. See you at Debrief in New Zealand! (With a day layover on the Gold coast- so hard to take!)
Love laura
Debrief has gone remarkably well. I am so grateful for all of the positive feedback that I have recieved from the students. It makes it all worth while to hear that not only have they grown but also that they see God working in their lives and see that there has been a huge difference in their thinking and relationship with God and with one another. It is safe to say that all of them are soaring here and are throughly enjoying themselves- it's been a ride and a half and I was ready to go home a week ago, my patients is all but dried up, however times of refreshing come in morning runs and sleeps by the pool and awesome devos on top of heaps of down time. It will be wonderful to go at least physically rested. :) We also took time last night to pray for our Khmer contact Seang, who is really devistated at our team leaving, he has invested a lot into our team and has worked so hard to make things run smoothly. It was great to hear God's next step for him.
The majority of the time has been spent looking for restaurants and places to swim and tan. :) We took a boat to 3 islands yesterday to swim snorkel and explore, it wasn't the best equiptment, but you get what you pay for, and we payed 13 US for the day- so not too many reasons to complain. Some of the girls and I are looking into massages and pedicures later today all in all a perfect wind up to a long but invaluble outreach in Cambodia. See you at Debrief in New Zealand! (With a day layover on the Gold coast- so hard to take!)
Love laura
Ratanak Kiri
It has been a while since my last blog, we spent the last week of February and the first week of March up in Ratanak Kiri. It is the most North Eastern part of Cambodia and borders Vietnam. We stayed with a Thai Christian contact who formerly worked with Whitecliff bible tranlators in amongst the villagers. It was such a beautiful place, but everywhere they were burning their forests- there was smoke always rising from a distance, it was so disheartening. So many forgien investors have stolen the villagers lands for rubber, cashew and palm oil plantations- which the land cannot withstand more that a few years because a lack of biodiveristy and a total devistaion of the ecosystem by a slash and burn method.
We had the privalege of staying 2 nights in a village collecting data and compiling information about 3 different villages and their new agroculture methods that had to be rapidly developed when a flood wiped out their upland rice crops and swept away there food from the previous year and their seed for the next harvest. The missionaries have come in with much forgien aid, but there is still a small yeild in contrast to the labor. We documented this all from both ours and the villagers stand points. Our team compiled an 11 pg report. I was very impressed with our team- not only to withstand some tough conditions in the village but also a challenging task of compiling and organizing data.
I got very sick in the village and was pretty sheepish to find out that it was caused by dehydration. But 4 days of rest and 8 days of diarrhea later I came right. We had two students take an additional 4 day tramp through the Cambodian outback along the Vietnamese border where they came face to face with illigal logging and forging of the land. It was a real eye opener in that area. We were just outside the town of Banlung and it felt like the wild west. The police were completely corrupt and though there was law, it was not upheld.
The Villagers are in constant fear of the spirits and are always making sacrifices to appeal them, the most tangelble spirit that is destroying them is greed. Please pray for justice in this land, there are a handful of christains scattered among the villages that are constantly being persicuted by fellow villagers, but they are so faithful to God and are sure of the power of his grace. It was so inspirational to see, our God gives life and vision and hope and a future.
We had the privalege of staying 2 nights in a village collecting data and compiling information about 3 different villages and their new agroculture methods that had to be rapidly developed when a flood wiped out their upland rice crops and swept away there food from the previous year and their seed for the next harvest. The missionaries have come in with much forgien aid, but there is still a small yeild in contrast to the labor. We documented this all from both ours and the villagers stand points. Our team compiled an 11 pg report. I was very impressed with our team- not only to withstand some tough conditions in the village but also a challenging task of compiling and organizing data.
I got very sick in the village and was pretty sheepish to find out that it was caused by dehydration. But 4 days of rest and 8 days of diarrhea later I came right. We had two students take an additional 4 day tramp through the Cambodian outback along the Vietnamese border where they came face to face with illigal logging and forging of the land. It was a real eye opener in that area. We were just outside the town of Banlung and it felt like the wild west. The police were completely corrupt and though there was law, it was not upheld.
The Villagers are in constant fear of the spirits and are always making sacrifices to appeal them, the most tangelble spirit that is destroying them is greed. Please pray for justice in this land, there are a handful of christains scattered among the villages that are constantly being persicuted by fellow villagers, but they are so faithful to God and are sure of the power of his grace. It was so inspirational to see, our God gives life and vision and hope and a future.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Some slow down time in Seim Reap
Hi everyone! We've just finished our time in Battambang at the youth centre and the orphange. Things were finished well in terms of relational ministry. However for the gardens we weren't able to complete our second water tank at the orphanage due to time constraints. It was difficult for me to be unable to finish however Seang (our cambodian contact) was right in desiding that we should not begin the base of it- better on something like that to just build it all or bless with the finances to do so! At the YWAM base there is a leak in our other tank, so when Seang goes back to Battambang that's an odd job that will be waiting for him!
Wednesday we offically left Battambang and have landed ourselves in Seim Reap for 2 days, we are staying in a beautiful guest house with hot water showers, TV with Olymipics coverage free internet and a tiny pool. Yesterday I've been shopping and dining and having my feet exfoliated by tiny fish that are kept in a pool on the sides of the streets. (sketchy? Kind of!) and today I was up at 4:30 to go to angkor wat and surrounding temples to watch the sunrise with 5 other team members. It was a wonderful morning- we took HEAPS of photos and saw monkeys. After we came back to eat and then I was off for a 7$ One hour full body Khmer massage- it was heaven! I came home and showered and then slept in my air con room until It is time to eat again and go to the night market. It has been an absolutely magical 2 days of vacation- something I haven't had since I was with my parents in November. Tomorrow we leave for Phnom Penh for 2 days to see the holicaust museums and the killing fields before we go on to our final stretch of ministry in Ratinakeri. I am grateful for this time and feel very rested and (almost) to take on the next 3 weeks.
Loves
laura
Wednesday we offically left Battambang and have landed ourselves in Seim Reap for 2 days, we are staying in a beautiful guest house with hot water showers, TV with Olymipics coverage free internet and a tiny pool. Yesterday I've been shopping and dining and having my feet exfoliated by tiny fish that are kept in a pool on the sides of the streets. (sketchy? Kind of!) and today I was up at 4:30 to go to angkor wat and surrounding temples to watch the sunrise with 5 other team members. It was a wonderful morning- we took HEAPS of photos and saw monkeys. After we came back to eat and then I was off for a 7$ One hour full body Khmer massage- it was heaven! I came home and showered and then slept in my air con room until It is time to eat again and go to the night market. It has been an absolutely magical 2 days of vacation- something I haven't had since I was with my parents in November. Tomorrow we leave for Phnom Penh for 2 days to see the holicaust museums and the killing fields before we go on to our final stretch of ministry in Ratinakeri. I am grateful for this time and feel very rested and (almost) to take on the next 3 weeks.
Loves
laura
Saturday, February 13, 2010
last days in Battambang
we have come to the end of our time here in Battambang- we leave to Angkor Wat in Siem Reap on Wednesday. the 12h of Feb is exactly 4 weeks before we leave for New Zealand. A month is a long time and it isn’t. We will be traveling quite a bit- hopefully to get a good sense of Cambodia’s history and an understanding of it’s spiritual climates. God has been very kind to our team. Everyone is in high spirits even though they are exhausted. We are 99% finished our model garden at the YWAM base; and with a little help from another outreach team from the Philippines we will be very close, if not able to complete all that was required for the garden at the orphanage. They kids there have worked hard for the garden., they have almost built the fencing themselves and helped with the leveling of the garden beds. All that remains is the soil prep, water tank and drip line.
We have done a kids carnival at the orphanage, as well as a valentine’s party coming up this Sunday at the YWAM base. Some students are very sad to leave their classes that they’ve assisted in. It’s bitter sweet, but I’m thankful that we are leaving at this time while people still don’t want to leave. We are definitely leaving on a crescendo, believe is very important for short term missions. Leave with a party! Our team has come together remarkably well over this last week. They are all hopeful as I am that we will finish this project on time. All of them are committed to this and to one another. It has been a highlight for me to see us all come together. Please pray for this to continue, for God to give me wisdom and insight and for continued protection and health in Cambodia.
God bless and HAPPY WINTER OLYMPICS- GO TEAM CANADA!
Laura Yemen
We have done a kids carnival at the orphanage, as well as a valentine’s party coming up this Sunday at the YWAM base. Some students are very sad to leave their classes that they’ve assisted in. It’s bitter sweet, but I’m thankful that we are leaving at this time while people still don’t want to leave. We are definitely leaving on a crescendo, believe is very important for short term missions. Leave with a party! Our team has come together remarkably well over this last week. They are all hopeful as I am that we will finish this project on time. All of them are committed to this and to one another. It has been a highlight for me to see us all come together. Please pray for this to continue, for God to give me wisdom and insight and for continued protection and health in Cambodia.
God bless and HAPPY WINTER OLYMPICS- GO TEAM CANADA!
Laura Yemen
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Heat is up in Battambang
This is our last official week here in Battambang. The Blakley family left this Wednesday and although sad, it has been a real team stengthening event. We have finished work on 2 of the 4 gardening commitments and will be using this last week to complete the remaining two. Team morale is up as they see the end in site. All of them have really taken ownership of the classes that they teach in the afternoon and are committed to the team. On our day off (Saturday) I have finally found the City Cafe! It's air conditioned and has free wireless! It's very hot right now- maybe 36 degrees and it can get to you after a while- a coconut shakes does help though! I am very excited with all of the ministry opportunities we've had here, this Sunday we're taking the service at the orphanage and doing the parable of the seeds, after the kids will start seeds of their own for the garden we are helping make. We get to teach and minister and build. It really is a perfect combination of service and relational ministry. God has really been teaching me so many things, and I am seeing more and more how much I need His Spirit to live well every day. Besides an emergency trip to the clinic for one of our students things have been going very smoothly. Please pray for our final weeks, It will have been 5 weeks in Cambodia, we have five more to go, and we've been on the move since dec. It has been the longest I've lived outside of western culture, I do enjoy the differences, but some things can take their toll. The language barrier has been keeping things on a surface level for 5 weeks, and that can be frustrating. Please pray also for our team dynamics- we are rounding up here and some relational patterns have not been so inclusive, I really am asking God for wisdom on how to encourage the team out of this. I trust everyone is well. Being on the extremes of both hot here in Cambodia, and the freezer of New Zealand, I have concluded that both are miserable and that everyone should live on the west coast. :)
All my love,
Laura Yemen
ps. Shout out to my Dad for being so awesome! Happy Birthday fasha!
All my love,
Laura Yemen
ps. Shout out to my Dad for being so awesome! Happy Birthday fasha!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
