Ashley and Randa's Adventures in Cambodia Day 2

Part 1-
This day was completely worth everything we worked for. We started off our day with NOODLES for breakfast!! Ashley enjoyed the hot tea while I ate fruit and noodles with shrimp. We met a new friend at the hotel...Roger, the cat, and he loved to come and eat with us. After breakfast we took the amazing bus to the salon. Not just a regular salon but a salon ran by Rapha girls. It was super cool and we took lots of pics. We then went on to the island. We had to ride in a boat over the Tigris River to get to the island. The people of the island wanted to build a church but they wanted the cross to be seen from the mainland so it is right where you get off of the boat. The boat was a neat experience. We had to get on the boat one at a time so it wouldn't tip. Ashley always thought it was going to tip when it rocked. When we went up there, children were everywhere. It was so cool to see all of their faces light up when we played with them and just when we said hello. As soon as we got there Lindsey wanted to take a picture with this little boy and girl. The little boy automatically put his fingers up in a peace sign and smiled really big...then everyone wanted to take pictures with them. While we were taking pictures Ashley dropped her camera and it broke! So from now until the end of the trip its my duty to take pics for both of us, which Ashley is really grateful for. After a while of playing with the little children we went on a tour of the island. As we were just getting started, a little boy came up to Ty and was pointing to his muscles. Ty told him to hit him and he did...it made him smile when Ty told him he hit really hard and that it hurt...he then flexed really big and told Ty in Khmer that he could take him, Therin translated for us. The ''muscle man'' as Ashley called him linked arms with her and Josh and Ashley invited his friends to link arms. They all joined and linked arms with Ashley and Josh. They kept speaking in Khmer and we didn't understand a word of it, so we just shook our heads. Then Bev mentioned that Ashley was lop-lop, which means crazy in Khmer the boys burst out laughing. From then on they called me lop-lop and that was my new nickname. Then Randa joined the chain of kids. As we were walking through the trees and fields we started singing In the Jungle, from Lion King. "Muscles" the little boy, was looping arms with Ashley and I, started singing too. We would sing one line and he would repeat it. He kept singing and singing because he had learned something in English and he loved it. When we were singing and laughing and having a good time, we had our first encounter with a centipide. It was scary! Those things are poisnous. When we got back to the church from our tour we had a church service. It was so amazing and breath-taking. They were singing songs as loud and proud as they could in their language while we were singing it in our language. They had confused looks on their faces when they heard what we were singing. They took up an offering and it was amazing to see how the people give even when they have nothing. After the eye-opening service, Ashley played hacky-sack with a bunch of our group and the little kids. As we got back on the boat and watched the little children and the moms wave to us from the stairs, I realized that in Cambodia they have so little and give so much whereas in America we have so much and yet we give so little-Randa. I realized that they have so little and will give it up and in America we have so much and yet are so selfish. Why are we this way? Also, I learned that they are grateful for what they have and don't complain about what they don't have like I tend to do. They have so little and always are joyful and we gripe and have more then they probably will in their whole lifetime. We complain and are never satisfied, but they are excited by what they have.-Ashley

Part 2 of Day 2
We then rode the bus to the Friends for Jesus Club. It is at Therin's house. It was a place for the children in the neighboring area to come and learn about Jesus. It is reaching out to the needy children of the area. As soon as we got off the bus and started walking down the alley to the house, little children grabbed our hands and begged for attention immediately. When we got in the gates we saw quite a few children. We interacted and played with them. We were introduced to Layla and her family. She is a God-pleasing woman and she started the Mark Trotter Foundation, which supports the Friends for Jesus Club. She showed us around the house and told us about the children in the area and how they were trying to help them out. Then we were taken to the homes of one of the children that they had supported to go to school. We were both speechless when we saw the home, or shack. It was pieces of wood that had no roof, and basically just a table. There were no walls. Just a frame made out of wood. There was a man down the alley. This was very saddening, these people had so little. They were known as "squatters" and the government was trying to push them out of the street and they would be homeless. Randa gave her chex mix away to one of the kids and his family that lived down the alley. Then we went to Kiwi's for lunch. It had a lot of different foods. Josh ordered some type of noodle and added some spice, needless to say it made it very hot and spicy. He didn't hardly eat any of it. We ordered pink lemonades and they were really good, but pretty sour. Then we went back to the Friends for Jesus Club. We made backpacks with goodies for the children. There were 300 backpacks made up. As they started to give away food and backpacks it got really chaotic. Kids were pushing and scrambling for food. It was really a sign of desperation. Mothers with their children were lining up. There was pushing and fighting. It was sad. It was really sad when we gave the last back pack away. We had to start turning kids away, which was the hardest part. Some of the kids were allowed to come back and get their backpacks later, others wouldn't get one. There was a crowd outside the gate that was trying to get in too. After the hard work and 300 + kids fed later we were shocked! We had basically been a part of a miracle!! What could we do now? So to lighten the mood we began to sing. The voices were lifted up and we think that they were probably heard in heaven, as God was smiling down on us. Then Therin's family wanted to feed us. Some of us felt a little guilty after we had just turned down kids, but it would be rude not to eat, so we did eat. The spring rolls were amazing and Randa and I said that we would just eat one more, but one turned into like 10, or maybe even 20...lol! Then we were going back to the bus and Randa realized that she forgot her tennis shoes, but Serena, a little friend of ours, went back with her to get them. The bus ride home was pretty silent, because everyone was tired out. We didn't have devos, because we all needed to take showers. We went to our room, took showers, and went to sleep. Our 2nd day was definitely busy, but very rewarding. We felt like God was looking down and smiling at each of us and saying "thank you good and faithful servants."