Sunday November 6, 2005
Roger: We are home now. Praise God for delayed flights. 3 of our fights were late arriving and we were on a tight schedule. But all of the departing flights were late also so we missed no flights. One piece of luggage did not make it though. We saw two other cool things since the last blog. It just so happened that we were in Phnom Penh at the time of the annual boat races. These are narrow boats with up to 60 people rowing, sometimes while standing. And while flying from Salt Lake City to Columbus we saw God put on a fantastic light show as we flew over and around a thunderstorm. It looked like ground fireworks except when it would cover all of the visible cloud cover. The weird thing was to look up and see stars. Again, thanks for praying. Pray that our heads will return to this time zone and we will be able to do the work the still needs to be done on the projects.

Friday November 4
Dave and I started on the long journey home by taking a bus from Battambang to Phnom Penh. The trip took about 7 hours. Dave and I estimate that while here in Cambodia, we spent around 40 hours traveling by car, van, or Bike. Because of the rough roads, no reading or writing could be done during that time. Some of it we were able to talk to each other. Thanks for praying with us even though we could not keep you up to date with the blog. Hopefully we will see you all soon. We are excited about what God is doing here in Cambodia around us and through us. Dave has been a great addition to the team. He is really excited about the pig farm idea and that has given me the freedom to focus on other issues. When we get home we will put pictures on the web so you can put faces with the names, and objects with the strange words like Cow tractor (Koh yuen in Khmer)

Thursday November 3
Steve Wise and I (Roger) finally made it to Reaksmey Samiki. It is so exciting to see what these faithful people are doing. The project there was to purchase a cow tractor. Narin,(in the picture with their cow tractor) the leader, has 6 families living on his property who were able to use that. It looks like there will be a good harvest. He also shared ideas for a rice bank. And he let us know that he would like to be a part of the pig farm project as he can see many ways it would benefit his community.

Wednesday, November 2
We had an immunization clinic in the morning for Tim and Jessica Robertson (shown in the picture) and Ohn. Each got 2-3 shots from me. For their sake, I wish that my nurse, Karen was here. All had sore shoulders. But they were better on Friday. We also helped Tim and Jessica move to their own apartment from the home of Steve and Deborah Wise. In the afternoon we went to Svay Kang to ask about what they knew about the causes and treatments for diarrhea, headaches, and arthritis. I am trying to develop lessons emphasizing natural treatments that are readily available since they cannot afford the medicines we might take. For part of the time a Kru Khmer, traditional Cambodian healer, was there. He seemed to open up after I assured him that I was not there to take his job (either personally or with good health lessons) I would like to work with him to a certain extent, but he also uses the magic of the spirit world, that is demonic. So pray for wisdom on future trips as I try to develop these lessons.

Tuesday November 1
Both of us went to Kaprich to visit with Pang. He shared with us how the projects are helping their community. They have a new cow tractor that was used to plow approximately 60 acres of land. He has developed a rice bank to provide seed to the farmers, and they have a pond to provide water to the community. It will soon be time to harvest the rice. Pray for a good harvest and for the pond water to hold out during dry season which has now started and will last till next June. Pang is on the left end in the picture with their cow tractor.

Monday October 31
A day to read, organize my thoughts, and write summaries of the meetings so far. Dave and Ohn visited another pig farm. This one was well managed and gives us the hope that this is a very doable business to help GBMC (Grace Brethren Missions of Cambodia). The vet who helps out happened to be at the farm at the same time. So we think the timing was organized by God.

Sunday October 30
It was inspiring to start the day worshipping with the Siem Reap GBC. Pastor Chhom's message from Mark 5 can be summarized, "Do you want peace or the pigs?"
After lunch we all, except Steve and Deborah who rode a bike, piled into a van for the return trip to Battambang. The 100 mile trip took over 7 hours. It was a fun trip because of our traveling companions: Suah, Ohn, Tim and Jessica Robertson, and Chhom. We only briefly played no smiling with the Cambodians. They could not help smiling. I also enjoyed the beauty of the countryside. I think this trip I have noticed the beauty of Cambodia more than ever before; magenta or violet water lilies, yellow or green fields of rice, red bougainvilla, pastel blue butterflies at the Angkor temple Ta Keo, and, of course, the smiling Cambodian faces. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing a bridge which we had crossed on Thursday, totally collapsed. Dave got some great pictures of how we got around that.

Saturday October 29
Dave and I went to Angkor Wat in Suah's Tuk-Tuk. It was good to give him the business. Look him up if you are ever in Siem Reap. We visited 5 magnificent temples from the glory days of Cambodia known as the Angkor Kingdom. That was 1000 years ago. The temples are amazing feats considering when they were built. The sad part is that they were built on the backs of the labor of what had to be thousands of people, probably slaves and they were built to honor either Hindu gods or the king. One of my favorite temples, though, showed the power of the true God, Ta Prohm. In it huge trees were growing on and breaking apart the stones that had been laid. It was magnificent. Another Candlelight dinner due to no electricity (are you seeing a pattern here to explain why these blogs are not getting published?), this time at the Soup Dragon. And again we were rescued by the Blue Pumpkin.

Friday October 28
This was a refreshing day in Siem Reap talking about the projects there. We talked to Chhom (shown by himself and with his family on his bike and side car)about his new bike he is using for his nursery, Suah (shown with his wife, Rottanak, daughters Naomi and Lisa ands two sisters) about his Tuk-Tuk he uses to carry tourists around Siem Reap, and Sokahn (Mrs. Kahn shown with Dave in front of her business) about the increased inventory of her nursery. All seem to be improving their business skills. The test will be December to February when all business will be at their peaks. Pray for them as they enter this busy season that God would bless them abundantly. In the evening we had a candlelight dinner at the Dead Fish Restaraunt because there was no electricity. The cool thing is that they can still make dinner without it. I just could not have my fruit shake. We had dessert at a really cool place called the Blue Pumpkin. They had a generator. The room we were in was all white. Hopefull we will have a picture up after we get home.

Thursday October 27
It was a humbling day. I started out the day trying to be the center of attention. While going to breakfast, I skipped across a mud puddle onto a wet tile floor, slipped and landed on my back with my head hitting the floor with a sound, in the words of Tim Robertson, "like a bowling ball being dropped." I split the skin on the back of my head. I did not pass out. But for the next 7 hours as we traveled to Siem Reap it oozed blood. You would have been impressed as I did eat a breakfast of Cambodian beef and noodle soup with chopsticks while holding a pack of ice on mey head. I was humbled by the gentle care of Ohn who sat behind me in the van and wiped my head and neck whenever the blood would get near my collar. I never got a headache or infection. By the way, sorry to hear about your fall, Kathy. I was also humbled by our inability to get to Reaksmey Samiki due to a very boggy road.

Wednesday October 26
Today was somewhat sobering. We are looking at two big projects that will generate income for ministry expenses for the Cambodian Missionaries, a hotel and a pig farm. We visited the hotel and frankly, it needs a lot of work, money and planning. So that one goes on the back burner for awhile. We also went to look at a pig farm operation to get some ideas. This pig farm run by a Christian Cambodian was failing. The facility was good, but the man had not been trained to run it and 30 of the pigs had died and more were sick and dying. He did not know what to do. It was sobering because it reminds us of the responsibility we bear as we try to do development work.