I try to take Mondays off, normally, but given that I am going away for the best part of two weeks, today was a good chance to do Cambodia prep without it getting in the way of the day job! So, managed to establish that our insurance is all in place, that it might not be the wisest idea to take all the money that has been given so far in cash (over £670 from yesterday's offering - thank you Garelochhead Church) just in case we get mugged along the way (so we'll transfer some via the bank), that my good friend Derrick who was on the trip with me last time is happy to lend me his amazing suitcase and so on. Collected a donation from Marco on behalf of the fire station guys (bringing the total from the Anchor charity pub quiz night last Thursday to over £300 - amazing!) and went to the surgery for my last rabies jag, where I collected a large bag of drugs (the legal sort) to take out to the project - everything they had said would be helpful - along with a covering letter to get us through security.
I'm just amazed at the generosity of so many people - why is that never reported in the papers or on the news...?
We got together tonight for a weigh-in. Not us (that's privileged information which won't be appearing on this blog!), but our luggage and we pooled all of the pens and pencils, toy cars, hair scrunchies, stickers, sweets etc. that we have collected and been given. Then we weighed the football strips that Davie has managed to collect through his contacts- enough for four teams and one set isn't even out of the packet! Last time we weighed it it came to around 47kg so I was relieved to discover that my dodgy IKEA scales are on the blink and that it was only 28kg. We divvied everything up, so, as long as we take only one set of clothes each, we should get everything out there!
Best bit of all was finding Poipet on Google Earth. it's been 'mapped' since the last time I looked. So, if you want to see where we'll be and you have access to Google Earth, put in 'Paoy Pet, Cambodia'. It doesn't look much from the air (actually it doesn't look much from the ground either), but God is doing amazing things there, in amongst the dust, the human pain and the poverty.
Had another brain-wave - with the extra luggage space we'll have for coming back, I might buy a stall's worth of Cambodian stuff (they make beautiful clothes, silk tablecloths etc.) and sell it to any of you guys that might be interested on our return. Whatever profit we make we can send back...
In between times, I washed the windows, 'cos life goes on here too. So, if you're walking past the Manse, do me a favour and admire them. It only happens once a year.
I'm just amazed at the generosity of so many people - why is that never reported in the papers or on the news...?
We got together tonight for a weigh-in. Not us (that's privileged information which won't be appearing on this blog!), but our luggage and we pooled all of the pens and pencils, toy cars, hair scrunchies, stickers, sweets etc. that we have collected and been given. Then we weighed the football strips that Davie has managed to collect through his contacts- enough for four teams and one set isn't even out of the packet! Last time we weighed it it came to around 47kg so I was relieved to discover that my dodgy IKEA scales are on the blink and that it was only 28kg. We divvied everything up, so, as long as we take only one set of clothes each, we should get everything out there!
Best bit of all was finding Poipet on Google Earth. it's been 'mapped' since the last time I looked. So, if you want to see where we'll be and you have access to Google Earth, put in 'Paoy Pet, Cambodia'. It doesn't look much from the air (actually it doesn't look much from the ground either), but God is doing amazing things there, in amongst the dust, the human pain and the poverty.
Had another brain-wave - with the extra luggage space we'll have for coming back, I might buy a stall's worth of Cambodian stuff (they make beautiful clothes, silk tablecloths etc.) and sell it to any of you guys that might be interested on our return. Whatever profit we make we can send back...
In between times, I washed the windows, 'cos life goes on here too. So, if you're walking past the Manse, do me a favour and admire them. It only happens once a year.
1 comment:
Great blog, guys! Good to see the group photo too - now I can "see" you there. In fact, that Google Earth is so amazing, if you all stand outside Hope & Health & give us a wave, I probably could see you for real! I just can't work out how far down the road it is. Maybe Chomno could go up & paint a cross on the roof!!
Anyway, I wish you all a great trip. I don't need to tell you to take lots of photos. Hope you'll be able to post a little blog while you're there, otherwise I'll look forward to hearing all about it on your return.
love, Vicki
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