Monday, January 14, 2013

Cambodia Part III- Sihanoukville


The Sauder Family’s vision is to start a new mission base in the beach town of Sihanoukville, about a 4 hour drive from Phnom Penh. Early Monday morning Jason and Chad rode with a truck full of their furniture and boxes down to their new home. Jo and I followed in a van with the kids. 

 There is quite a lot of sex tourism in Sihanoukville and not much of a Christian presence. The beaches are beautiful, but the spiritual atmosphere is quite dark. But we know that light shines bright in dark places and will not be overcome (Luke 1:5). Part of their vision is to start a day center for at risk boys and they even have some land they are looking at buying. We helped their family move into a beautiful new home up on a hill and had a great time together praying and worshiping in their house. It was quite intense for me to imagine their situation of moving to a town in Cambodia where they don’t know anybody and learning how to do life and ministry. It is truly pioneering mission work. Jo and I had a great afternoon scouring the markets trying to find some basic essentials for their home. I jumped up and down and clapped when we found the toilet brushes we wanted, ha, ha! Of course we had to barter for everything. I also got to visit an international school with them that they are considering sending their children to. 

We got to have some fun times at the beach while there. The kids built sand castles, Jason ran, and I got massages for a couple bucks on the beach- rough! Our last day in Sihanoukville we rented a scooter and got around Cambodia family style. Jason is a great driver but my mom, sister, and brother have all been involved in motorcycle accidents both in China and Vietnam- so I was pretty reluctant for us ALL to get on the bike. But we went really slowly and mainly on a quiet road out to the beach. Annette fell asleep coming home on the scooter. By that point I knew Cambodia was really getting to us and it was time to head back to Hong Kong (: 


I love the way Josiah draws people
 Girls in bikinis- wow my belly looks white!






I'm not really sure where this photo fits, but I couldn't not include the big tray of fried tarantulas we were offered. No, we did not eat them!
 








3 comments:

Sara said...

Cutest family ever. Seriously.
No thank you on those tarantulas. Goodness gracious!

The Liconas said...

You guys are so awesome! I love to see your cute white belly! Your adventures make me feel like I am right there with you all....and that is really neat.

Rhiannon said...

I love all of your photos and stories of Cambodia. Kind of crazy coincidence--around the same time you were there I just happened to be reading a fiction book on my kindle that takes place in Cambodia. What are the chances? It was actually pretty good. It is historical fiction, not a Christian book, but it was entertaining and really interesting. If you are looking for something fun to read right now you would probably love it. It is called "The Map of Lost Memories" by Kim Fay. -Rhiannon