We Are Home!

Well we are back in Pittsburgh now and i spent much of my day sleeping and resting.. It has been great to see the family again and my body will take some time to get adjusted to the lifestyle here at home (including time changes, work scheds, family life and a western diet).

I plan on uploading pictures and videos as time allows over the next week or so, so please continue to check in with the blog from time to time. On Sunday, August 16th we will have our morning worship services will be dedicated to our trip.

We had a great time!

Last Day

Well this is it folks, our last day in Cambodia! We are winding down with another full day! This morning we will teach children through workshops that we will have at the Phnom Penh orphanage from 8am-11am. The workshops are:

Arts & Crafts - Sarah
Drawing - Cathy
English - Nikki and Mary
Health & Hygiene - Bob
Music - Leroy
Basic Computer - Chrissy
Adv Computer - Dave

Each workshop will last for 25 minutes with 5 mins in between to switch. There will be 6 workshops that they will rotate through. Advanced computer will last for the entire 3 hours with a few short breaks in between. This class is more for the older and advanced kids and staff here at SEAPC-Cambodia and New Hope.

After the morning workshops we will come back to the hotel to check out, then go to lunch with some friends, then visit the Russian Market for shopping and then back to the orphanage to hang out with the kids. At 5 pm today we are going to have a BBQ party with the kids and then at 830 head to the airport. Our flight schedule is listed below on one of the first posts in this blog for Cambodia.

Keep us in prayer as we travel and we will be landing in Pgh at 444 pm Tuesday afternoon. God bless you all!

One More Day!

Well today was exciting and uplifting to our team. We ate breakfast at 645 and then were off to Fellowship Word of Life Church in Phnom Penh at the orphanage. There were about 60 in attendance there this morning. Leroy gave a personal word of encouragement and did a fantastic job! I led the congregation in a worship song "Lord I Lift Your Name on High". Then I preached a sermon they wanted a 45minute so that's what they got (including the interpreter it was a little longer). I began the sermon with the following statements (only I said them in Khmer - and I don't know if they were being nice but they said that my Khmer was very clear and good so I am happy about that)...

Good morning everyone!
How are you all doing?
May God bless all of you!
You are all my friends!

My name is Pastor Dave
I love Jesus and Jesus loves you!
I love you all!
I love Cambodia and I love Sow Mow (a very yummy fruit here, they all laughed at this)!
Thank you!

After that the sermon was based on the stories in the gospels of the harvest and Paul's instructions on one body and many parts. The service ended with a time of prayer where the whole team prayed for each one by the laying on of hands (for those who wanted to hear God's calling for their lives). Most of the church came forward for prayer.

Then we hung out with the children at the orphanage for a while. After which we ate lunch and went to the Resettlement Area (the area of Phnom Penh called the slums where there is extreme poverty, malnutriti0n and statelessness. Statelessness refers to people with no identity, the government calls these people nonpersons. The church that we ministered at (Freedom Church) in this area was mostly full of stateless persons. Since they are stateless they cannot receive any public funding a.k.a. gov't assistance.

In this service Leroy gave personal word of encouragement, sang Lord I Lift and Jesus Loves Me and I preached the same message as I did earlier with just a few changes to adapt to this crowd. After church service we passed out the rice and oil to 40 families. They picked this up at the church. The really cool thing is this... During the offering the pastor's wife told us (was translated) that last week many people from the church came up for prayer and asked for prayer that God would provide them rice because they ran out of money to purchase rice. Then they find out this week that our team purchased rice and oil (500USD) for them and they thank God that He heard their prayer and sent this rice and oil from heaven above. I also found out in a later conversation that August and September many people do not have much rice because it is the end of the year before the harvest of rice is brought in. WOW! What a blessing to know that a measly 500USD could make such an impact on people's lives. Their faces showed appreciation and for each one we had the chance to greet them, tell them God bless you and put a hand on their shoulder to express our love to them!

During the service most of the team was running the children's program for Sunday school. They did a great job and had a lot of fun!After we left the Resettlement Area we ate dinner with Pastor Sinai, his wife Somalay and their three children (Rebekah, Deborah and Angela) as well as the last dinner with our tour guide and van driver (and new found friend) Arun, Boeurn and Sokholm. We have really grown close with Arun, Sokholm, Boeurn and Sothea this trip and have laughed a lot together!

After dinner was back to the hotel to pack up our bags for tomorrow we check out and tomorrow night we fly out at 11 pm local time. We will land in Pittsburgh at 444pm EST so please be praying for safe travels. We are not looking forward to the flying home part because it will be exhausting. We cannot wait to share some stories, video and photos from our trip on Sunday August 16th so please make every effort to be there!

Thank you for following our blog, we will post again most likely!!

Kampong Cham Near Vietnam Border

Today was a long and grueling day.. We ate breakfast early today and some folks had to switch hotel rooms because of reservations that were in before ours. Then we went to Kampong Cham orphanage near the Vietnamese border. There we were presented with paint, paint brushes and rollers. So we began painting and it took all but ten minutes for my tank top to be half drenched and my hair soaking wet with sweat because the temps were extremely high just like the humidity. The air was so thick and heavy it was even affecting a team member or two with some slight ill effects. But no worries, everyone is back to normal and all is well..

We painted a building on the outside and inside (which was even hotter) and we did it in about 4 hours. In between coats we ate some lunch that they had prepared for us. After the painting I had to sit down for a good half and hour before I strapped on my guitar and started the children's program that our team had once again prepared for the kiddos. We sang songs with motions in English and Khmer, Bob told the story of the good Samaritan with the acting assistance of a boy named "Lee" who was one of the younger boys who visited our church in Aug 2007 for the tour. We talked about Jesus' love for each of us and our response in praise and the kids sang Jesus Loves Me in both English and Khmer, which is one of the most touching things you've ever seen.

After that we had the chance to pray for each child with the laying on of hands as we have with most of the other children's programs that we've done. Then it was balloon, candy and puppet time. I learned a few more Khmer words today such as "Mud Kiholm" which translates to "My Friend". The driver of our van this week, Arun, told me today that I was his friend and he hopes that when I come back in 2011 that I will again use his services and bring a team with me. He appreciated all the laughs that we've had this week with him, the sense of humor and the free food :)

Its been great hanging out with other friends here also such as Sokholm, Sothea, Boeurn, Vanna, Pastor Sinai and Somalay and the kids from the orphanages. One other thing I think that I forgot to mention from yesterday's adventures was that we had the opportunity to visit the IJM Cambodia team at their offices (International Justice Mission www.ijm.org). This was a highlight for many because it made our relationship more personal (we support IJM on a monthly basis, the Cambodia branch) and was very informative to those who had not known about IJM or the significance of what they do.

Well thats all for now, I am falling asleep yet again and its only 9 pm Saturday night. Tomorrow I preach in two different church services, the team will do Sunday school with the kids and we will distribute rice and oil to 40 families and have the opportunity to pray with them and chat.

Blessings from our team! Keep praying for us as we have two more full days then a long trip home. See you soon!

Missions In Our Back Yard - Nexus Facility!

Hi Everyone,

All of these updates from Pastor Dave and the Cambodia team are thrilling to read and I'm so blessed by all that God is doing through them. In addition to what is happening overseas, I wanted to let you know that a home missions project is underway right in Oakmont.

Construction on the new Nexus student ministry facility has begun! We want you to keep up with all the updates and view pictures of the ongoing work so please feel free to visit http://www.nexusbuildoutblog.wordpress.com/ for all the latest news.

Please consider joining the team for work days on Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at 6:00 PM as well as Saturday’s at 9:00 AM. God is doing wonderful things through the RCC family ... both here and around the world!

Playground Installation at Phnom Penh on

Yesterday (Friday) we painted 3 pieces of a playground for the Phnom Penh orphanage. Only 3 pieces will fit on their land and it did not need installed since there was cement floor. It is a temporary facility so the playground is setup for temporary purposes to be removed and relocated in 2 years when they move into the new facility they are hoping and praying for.

The rest of the money from our Coins for Kids portion designated for the playground at Phnom Penh will now go to pay for the roof that they just had installed over the bike and patio area. Another few hundred dollars will go to pay for a set of weights so that the children can lift weights and have a little gym in their orphanage.

After we painted the playground equipment we did a children's program, the same format we have been using since it has worked well. The kids loved the time we spent with them. There were a few kids their that had come to the US two years ago on the children's choir tour (Piseth, Pitou, Sreymom, Pisey, Dalin, Maria, Thar, Matthew). They are doing well as others are that I remember from 2 years ago when I visited with them.

We sang songs, some in English and some in Khmer and we danced.. Mary told the story of the fishes and the loaves to the children. We had the chance to pray with each child and for their requests. We made balloons and about 10 of the children kept sword fighting and shooting me with their balloons for about 20 minutes. Very good times! The kids were so nice.. One little girl gave me half of the candy that we gave to her because she wanted to share with me. Another girl gave me a balloon that was made for her after she drew on it the picture of a bird and wrote "Davi, Jesus loves Cambodia and USA". Some of the children liked pulling the hair on my legs and patting Bob's belly. Many children called Leroy "King Kong". It was a great day.

When we had to leave for the evening they were sad until I told them that we would be back for church on Sunday morning and then on Monday we would be having a BBQ party for them!!! After I said we were having a party they were cheering and dancing around throwing their hands in the air and chanting "Party! Party!"

There are 35 children in the orphanage plus a few staff members plus our team of now 9 and the BBQ party will only cost us $150. Not too bad.. We want to bless them all!!

Once again we have been blessed by them so much more than they could ever bless us! What an amazing trip so far! Today we travel to Kampong Cham to do some painting and a children's program. Tomorrow I get to preach in two different churches (one of which is the Resettlement Church located in the slums). After church, we will visit with 40 families in their homes to pray with them and give them rice and oil. Talk to you again soon. Blessings!

Kampong Speu

Thursday we went to Kampong Speu province to the orphanage there. Our mission today was to install one of two playgrounds that we purchased through our Easter/Lent SEAPC Coins for Kids fundraiser. We installed a double slide, two see-saws, one large swing set, a one-seat swingset and a caboose. We dug holes, mixed cement, anchored the equipment and painted it with oil based paint (hard to get off ourselves). In the midst of all the heavy labor we found some time to go to the market to eat lunch. We also found a few hours to spend with the children there in our children's program.

For our children's program we sang children's songs (some in english others they sang in khmer and i just played along on my guitar), Leroy told them the story of Jonah and the great fish, we talked about Jesus' love and prayed with them. We also did balloons with them and hung out for a long time.

It was a great day! It was a day where happiness abounded! It was a day that I will never forget! It was a day that our team will never forget! It was a day where leaving was one of the hardest things to do... I am already looking forward to visiting my new friends again in two years..

Sorry I will post pictures later as i did not download them to my computer yet.. Thanks for all your prayers!

Rongko public school outreach singing "Deep and Wide"


Public school outreach in Rongko


Beatbox and a little rhyme (DJ Dave and DJ Leroy)


Sarah and Sothea


Chrissy and an orphan from Beantay Meanchey orphanage


Cathy drawing pictures for children at Pursat orphanage


Leroy helps a child climb a tree to get some fruit


If you're happy and you know it shout hurray! Pursat orphanage


Mary teaches children to make friendship bracelets at Pursat


Beautiful smiles during the children's program that we led


Leroy eats the spider


Spider lady selling her array of goods



Travels and experiences this week have been amazing. The team is sad that time is winding down though. It goes so quickly! The people that we've met and ministered to have been extremely hospitable, kind, loving and fun. The children have been so excited to see us and spend time with us at every orphanage that we've been to.

On Monday we traveled to remote village near Thai border in the Beantay Meanchey province to a place called Rongko Village. Here is where one of the oldest orphanages for New Hope exists and where the public school outreaches took place. On the way there we stopped at an orphanage in Pursat province and led a children's program there for the kids.

We stayed in a mission house without electricity or modern comforts and slept on wooden frames under mosquito nets. It was like camping out (on a farm). The first night I went to bed at 1030 and woke up every hour feeling like I slept all night. First time I woke up to a pack of dogs barking about something. The next time I woke up was from the loud women upstairs dropping something on the floor :)

Then I woke up at 3:30 because the roosters were crowing and I just couldn't sleep any longer. So I went outside to find Leroy had also just woken up and we stood on the porch looking at the sky and chatting for an hour. The stars were so bright, there were no city lights any where in our view. It was a great time.

That morning we woke up and sat around until we left the orphanage to go eat some noodle soup for breakfast. After breakfast the team hopped on the van and I put my backpack on both shoulders and took a ride on "Billy's" motorcycle to the public school for our outreaches. I put his name in quotes because that was the American name that he chose for himself.

By the way we ran into Chrissy Ostrowski she was staying up there with a woman from another church teaching English to the children for a week. Since our trip up there she has joined our team for the remainder of our time here and she will be returning to the States mid August. It's great to have her along with us. The other lady, Jane, is also joining with us and has been a great addition too!

At the school we greeted students, teachers and administrators. Then we went into a classroom and sang songs with motions in English (some songs we taught the children), we taught them how to draw a butterfly, we told them stories, we rapped (see note below) and we played a lot of games with them outside!

It was a successful morning and very uplifting to our team! As much as we try to bless others somehow on trips like these they bless us more!

*Note: Leroy and I have been "rapping".. actually I'll kickup a beatbox with my mouth and hands while he recites poetry in meter then we switch off and I make funny noises over his beatbox and throw in a few Khmer lines that rhyme. Every time they laugh.. They call it DJing and they love to see the rarity of a DJ perform, so it has been a big hit!

Please enjoy some pictures from our first day:

Back to Western Comforts

We are back from our excursion to rem0te villages and now we are back to a hotel with a hot shower, cold a/c, electricity, nice bed and free breakfast. Tomorrow I will update more but i am falling asleep as i type this..

dave

Out of Internet Until Weds EST

We will be traveling to a far away province to do 3 orphanage visits and public school outreaches. We will be returning Weds morning EST. Then we will post more on the blog.. Until then, God bless you all!

Technology

The children love looking at the digital camera LCD screen after their photo has been taken as you can see here with Sarah and this little girl.

Smiles

Mary smiling along with beautiful Cambodians. Everyone in Cambodia smiles.. Everyone..

Tree

Leroy has a nickname.. Tree..

The kids loved him! And of course he loves the kids too!

Time to Wake Up

Breakfast time.. The crew is awake and lively and we're getting ready to eat and go to church.. Hit us up with some comments too if you get a chance. Blessings!

We Are Here!

After a very long day, two days with time zones, we have checked into our hotel and are getting ready to get some rest. Its midnight here (Saturday night), 1 pm EST (Saturday afternoon) - 11 hrs difference. Tomorrow we will eat some breakfast at the hotel, go to a church service at the orphanage/church here in Phnom Penh, and tour the city before we take the rest of the day off to relax and catch up on sleep. Nikki Lesoon will be sharing a personal word of encouragement to the congregation and of course will be relying on an interpreter to help her out.. We will also lead the congregation in a song of praise.

We will be touring the city and in that time we will visit the national genocide museam. I've been there two years ago and it is very sobering to visit but it will give the team an appreciation and understanding of what this country has seen and what these people have been through.

Thanks for your prayers! We will be posting regularly this trip!

Seoul South Korea Layover

Hello friends! we just got off the grueling 14 hr flight from atlanta to seoul. in 10mins we board for our final flight into phnom penh cambodia. just thought we would let you know we arrived safe and secure all happy and chipper for the longest part of our journey.. we land in cambodia in 6 hrs.. it will be 10pm there.

Trip Itinerary

For those wishing to keep up with us in your thoughts and prayers, check out our trip itinerary below. Thank you again!

Friday, July 24
Meet at RCC @ 5:30 AM
Depart Pittsburgh @ 8:00 AM
Depart Atlanta @ 1:00 PM EST

Saturday, July 25
Depart Seoul Incheon Int @ 6:30 PM (local time)
Arrive Phnom Penh @ 10:00 p.m. (local time – 11 hrs ahead of EST)
Check into hotel

Sunday, July 26
Minister at Fellowship Word of Life Church in Phnom Penn
Meet children at PP Orphanage
Tour including visit to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Relax

Monday, July 27
Travel to Banteay Meanchey Province (Rongko Village)
Stop at Pursat 2 Orphanage
Outreach: meet children, balloons, toothbrushes/etc, share Bible stories
Arrive at BC Orphanage
Outreach: meet children, balloons, gifts
Stay over at the missionary house in BC Orphanage

Tuesday, July 28
Public school outreaches in Rongko
Outreach: games, songs, arts, crafts, English vocabulary
Visit the Rongko University complex
Back to BC Orphanage for dinner and ministry to children
Outreaches: games, pray, teach songs
Stay over at the missionary house in BC Orphanage

Wednesday, July 29
Travel back to Phnom Penh with a stop at Kampong Chnang Orphanage
Outreach: meet children, balloons, gifts, prayer walk, visit fish pond
Thursday, July 30
Travel to Kampong Speu Orphanage for playground installation and outreach
Outreach: balloons, gifts, songs, Bible stories
Travel back to Phnom Penh

Friday, July 31
Playground installation at Phnom Penh Orphanage
Outreach in afternoon
Outreach: balloons, gifts, songs, Bible stories

Saturday, August 1
Travel to Kampong Cham Orphanage for painting and outreach
Outreach: meet children, balloons, gifts, paint walls and various labor jobs
Travel back to Phnom Penh

Sunday, August 2
Minister at Fellowship Word of Life Church in Phnom Penn
Minister at Resettlement Church
Outreach: Gifts of rice and oil to 40 poor families from the church, prayer
Travel back to Phnom Penh

Monday, August 3
Head to PP Orphanage for children’s workshops in the morning
Teaching workshops: computers, hygiene, practice English vocabulary, etc.
Visit the Russian Market
Back to PP Orphanage for BBQ Party!!
Depart Phnom Penh @ 11:00 PM (local time)

Tuesday, August 4
Depart Seoul Incheon Int @ 12:00 PM (local time)
Depart Chicago-Ohare @ 2:15 PM CST
Arrive Pittsburgh @ 4:41 PM EST

Cambodia Mission Trip Prayer and Blog

We will be leaving for our mission trip to Cambodia on Friday, July 24th and returning Tuesday, August 4th. Please keep us in your daily prayers. Pray for safety, good health, rest, strength, fruitfulness in our mission, receptive hearts at our outreaches, warm welcome at all the villages and places that we visit and for God to do an amazing work in Cambodia through our small efforts, an amazing work in the lives of the 7 people taking this 12 day trip and an amazing work in our church family.

We need your prayer support every step of the way! We will be visiting some very difficult areas where there are spiritual strongholds that mere humans can't breakthrough.. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can break through these walls.

Join with us on this journey and visit this blog leading up to the trip, during the trip and after the trip to read updates from myself and our team members.. Point your friends and family to the blog to follow along..

Thank you also to those of you who have donated monies specifically for this trip and to help keep the costs down and even help out a few team members with their fees.. We really appreciate your kindness and your gift will be multiplied many times and used to really make a difference in individual lives.. For those who still want to give towards the trip, this Sunday will be the last day for that opportunity. Just make sure that you clearly mark your envelop and/or check "Cambodia Mission Trip" so that we know how much you have designated towards it.

The team members attending this trip are:

Dave Longstreth, leading
Bob Roth
Leroy Mabins
Cathy Bruno
Mary Sattler
Nikki Lesoon
Sarah Donachy

Please keep us all in your prayers!

Blessings,

Dave Longstreth

Chapter 31 - Personal Study Guide

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Chapter 30 - Personal Study Guide

Click here to download the Chapter 30 Personal Study Guide

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