Day Eleven -- Tuesday, July 12

Today was our second day of delivering and installing ball tanks.  The village we went to today was slightly more affluent than the one we visited yesterday.  The homeowners had a little roadside store in front of their house and a nicely fenced-in backyard.  This combination chain link and barbed wire fence caused us a bit of a problem as we were trying to get the base and bottom half of the tank into their back yard.  After much discussion in Khmei between the homeowner and the RDI guys, it was decided to take down a section of the fence.  Much comedy ensued as there was lots of shouting back and forth in Khmei, cutting down plants and trees in the yard, and Chad, Luke, and me trying to figure out what was going on and how/what we should do to help.  We muddled our way through and got the base and bottom half installed, with a plan to come back after lunch to install the top half.

Luke uses his height to his advantage.  None of the rest of us could reach the block and tackle.

The infamous fence and the mud we had to trudge through to get to it.

It's been raining everyday, but the rain usually comes around 4:00 or later.  Today, it came right after lunch, just as we were leaving to go back to the site.  Unlike yesterday, Shelley and I were in the back of the truck with Luke and Chad.  We got soaked.  On top of that, our driver in the afternoon was different than the morning, and he wasn't exactly sure where to go.  We ended up spending an extra 20 minutes or so in the back of the truck in the rain while Chad re-directed him to the right location.  If you're going to work in rain and mud, you might as well start out soaking wet.

The team works to get the truck through the mud.

Tuesday is laundry day, so this morning I put all of my dirty clothes in to be done.  This was essentially everything I brought with the exception of what I was wearing and two tee shirts.  Since the rain storm came in so suddenly, all of the freshly washed laundry was hanging out on the line and it all got wet again.  So, after coming home totally soaked and muddy, I had nothing to wear to dinner.  Fortunately, I remembered that I had a pair of swim trunks, so I put them on.  Poetic, I think...  Chad had a similar difficulty, except he was rocking his running shorts.

Before dinner, Chad, Luke, Shelley, Lori, and I went into town (yes, me in my swim trunks) to visit the home of Viesna, one of the Cambodians who works for RDI.  We worked with him last year on the rainwater tank and started a relationship.  We haven't been able to work with him much this year, so we were looking for an opportunity to love on him.  So, we met his wife and son and asked them questions about their life together.  We looked at their wedding album.  Basically, we just showed them that we were interested in them and loved them.  Viesna says he loves the Christian people he has met, but is not interested in the Christian faith.  As we were leaving, we asked if there was something we could pray for.  He thanked us and said that he would appreciate prayers for health and prosperity -- the typical things.  Please join us in praying for Viesna, that through relationships such as these that he and his family would come to know the Lord and His Good News.  Thank you for your continued prayer support.