Day Seven -- Friday, July 8

Another day retrofitting tanks. Today was the hottest and most humid since we've been here. The first school we worked at had almost no shade. In addition, there was a nest of some kind of flying insects (termites?) beneath the cement pots we removed. We started spraying RAID on them when one of the teachers stopped us. Evidently, the nest is like a honeycomb (although black like tar) and he wanted to take it home to eat. Not kidding! We told him we had sprayed poison on it but he continued to remove it and lick his fingers. We looked at each other and said, "T.I.C." (This is Cambodia).  This is what it looked like before the RAID (the nest is in the middle cylinder):

The Cambodian "to-go" cup.

The second school had much more shade and there were a lot of children. Luke and I spent a long time playing with them tossing the football. Many of the kids could speak more than a little English and so we were able to engage them in a bit of conversation. We saw one boy with a cross necklace and asked him if he believed in Jesus. He said yes and we said, "We do too! You are our brother!" Several other children indicated that they were believers, too. I was surprised because this school is literally in the courtyard of a Buddhist temple. Yay God!

Providing much needed medical care.

Shelley went out separately again today. Here is the story of her day: "Taught a Bible story, played some song games, balloon animals, bubbles and coloring pages with about 60 children. Ate lunch, then to another village where I assisted in nutritional class for 10 pregnant ladies, followed by BP checks, general health assessments and Q&A. Was allowed to pray for all of them, although none are believers. Found a little boy, less than 3 years old, I think, who had burns and blisters on his low back and buttocks. His mom boiled water and he got splashed. I cleansed and dressed his wounds. It broke my heart - again. This is one reason why many of the mothers don't want to boil the river water for drinking; they are afraid of the accidents. Watched one malnourished mother trying to nourish her 3 month son - he weighed about 10 pounds. Gave out more prenatal vitamins. The medical team are trained lay persons with much heart for helping. A little girl fell out of the house - equivalent of a 2nd story - and broke her leg. Our team tried to persuade her mother to take her to the hospital, but they are superstitious and fear the doctors will cut off her leg. Please pray for her - the mother has agreed to go on Monday. So hard to deal with the cultural fears and get them on the right path. So grateful for opportunities to help in small ways."

Another prayer request: last night there was another powerful storm. We found out that a house in one of the local villages collapsed and killed one of the occupants. Pray for the family and that the response of the local believers will meet their needs physically and spiritually.