What a week....filled with learning that "God's got this"

At one of the farms we stopped at, they also build these chairs! So the man asked Stan to sit in it & asked to have their picture taken together!!:)

 Here is a little glimpse into our week here, hope you enjoy,  Hard to put into words all we experience & feel.
     We arrived back from the trip to Siem Reap stopping to look at a couple farms to check on their crop on the way back. We are still learning all about this process, ("Patience is a virtue " I have to keep reminding myself) we were a little surprised when we were greeted at the farm with a chicken & fish with (rice of course), dinner prepared and waiting for us! Hospitality first :)

   They next day we went out to start the pickup to take "Nisa & Joy out to check on another farm that is close by the general's farm, and then take them to the Thai border, Our pickup wouldn't start:((
the guys here tried to help us get it going, but to no avail.
I was grateful it decided to wait until we got back to the Farm to be a problem though. We purchased a new battery and fuses, still wouldn't work...
It was making us late for our appt. with the farmer. the General kindly loaned us his car & driver for the day.
   The Thai border is at the top of mountain range, ran into a pretty good rain climbing up!

   So the next day we got a mechanic to come look at the pickup, its difficult to say the least when you've got a bunch of guys talking fast, can't understand much that being said and the car is being torn apart, looking for wiring issue ect.....  Causes your prayer life to be deepened  bit! God has been teaching us daily that He is taking care of us each day and through each issue! The mechanic was getting frustrated when he finally found the "brain" and discovered it was a problem. he took it back to town and got a good one, was back the next day. and got the pickup running, I was a bit worried they would never be able to put it back together, because the dash was literally torn apart!!!                                                                                                                                  

Working on the pickup

Exchanging language lessons during lunch English vs Khmer

Saw this while waiting in the car for Stan, a family leaving the DR. office, notice the IV on a stick...its attached to a sick boy on the ladies lap.

 This week we've spent part of each day, with a couple guys from Thailand attempting to teach us all about the Sacha Inchi, from preparing the seeds , to care of plant in the "nursery"

 to pruning , spraying requirements, at each age of the plant thru to maturity, a very interesting task, since they don't speak english, & possibly less khmer than we do, and we don't speak thai!! Lots of repeating and gesturing ect.

Stan stopping to help out the guys for awhile setting posts and digging the holes , they are always amused ;)

These girls, shyly  followed us while we were being "trained" 

This is the new "Pepper" field they just got planted very nice in here under the shade cloth! 

The day after they planted the "Pepper  field this group of people showed up to prepare a special lunch in celebration of the planting. we were introduced to The Govenor of the province where we are living. We never know who we may meet! 

Stan is helping me with laundry :) wringing water out of  the pants! 

This was all hand sawn with a chain saw "perfect 1x8 "HARDWOOD!
PICTURE OF IT BEING SAWN IS PREVIOUS POST

Giving the main house a facelift, new paint & more cement patio area

This little girl (3yr old) is my special friend! :) I was able to Dr her leg, giving her a little candy, 

This has given me a little "in" to attempt to visit with her mama,:) I was praying for an opportunity to show them a little bit of love and care. Another lady brought me her baby to show me, it was 4 mos. old & born without a foot or hand on his right side, pray for this little guy, these are very poor farm families. Pray that God will continue to use us somehow to show them "HIS" love & light in this dark place. We are the only Christians here on this farm, among possibly a couple hundred people if you count all the small kids. We keep reminding ourselves when we don't understand what to do here or how to do things because without understanding fully the language, & there are two languages being spoken around us daily Khmer & Thai. It gets a little frustrating....That maybe God has us here to be "Salt", &  Light. So daily we seek Him to show us and to ask Him to use us however He wills to shed a little light to these people.

Payday!!!

Sunset last night :) nice reminder that God who paints a beautiful sunset for us to enjoy, is the same one who loves us enough to care for us each day! 

A group of ladies planting the Sacha Inchi plants in the new field we spent this afternoon helping , It was a muddy job, but it gave us a chance to work alongside the ladies, attempting to visit a little practicing speaking a bit. It also gave them some laughs! 

Ice cream break :) even way out here the Icecream Moto man
makes his rounds on the farm:) Its not a DQ dilly bar, but its cold :)

One of the improvements of the week was getting WIFI installed!! 

Can you find the guy, installing the Wifi dish/antennae? I couldn't believe this when I watched him climb up the pole like "No Problem"!! 

Pumping the water up to the Fields

Some of the workers enjoying lunch! 

"Oscar", he is a very large Gecko,about 8-10" long and fat! He lives in our room, usually only comes out at night , hence we tried taking a picture with the flashlight! Yesterday i came into our room during the day, he was crawling along the edge of the bed!!!!! I yelled at him! ( the lizard loving kids would like him) along with the large mice that I see running around the room, (we've caught one in one of our steel traps :) ) I was nearly ready to move out!! 

Slowly we are gaining at getting to know a few more of the workers each day, and hoping we are gaining their trust, It is a lot different than working with Sovanapoom or being in Battambang, these people haven't been around foreigners and don't quite know what to make of us.... 

INTRODUCTION TO LIFE ON THE FARM

(Rajana baby girls she is now 8 1/2mos. )
We don't have wifi at the farm or consistent phone service, so Ive been waiting to get to town to update you on all that has been happening! So its a little long....They say in a week or so we will have wifi and consistent electricity at least it that will make things a little easier!

  Last Sunday we spent at Vondy's , Stan shared a little, with the parents that are coming to do learn with the older kids, and to worship.

helping to package food for everyone

the girls showing us the examples of khmer dance the are learning 

On monday morning we headed off to for Province of Oddar Meanchey, but first we had breakfast with Tony Schaeffer & Srey Noit in Battambang and SreyNoit helped Stan go to the bank to pay the road tax that was due on the Pickup. 

Trapang Prasat

   Vondy's husband and son wanted to go with us, because they were concerned for us traveling so far.
it was a beautiful drive, with No rain storms! until we were nearly there! thank goodness. We took the wrong road, for a little while and the trip ended up taking a little longer. The farm where we live is about 11 kila. down a very rough red dirt road that turns to mud when it rains :( So not a fun drive to do to often. There isn't like a main market with in walking distance,like I'm used to from living at Sovanapoom or Battambang,  so for the first few days we lived on duck eggs scrambled  (No chicken eggs here) with rice and ramen noodles. But then as i got to know a few people and observed I asked where they buy the ice, and fish ect. So by Friday I found a few small shops close by to purchase ingred. to broaden our menu. :)
   The living conditions were a bit rougher than I expected but everyone has been nice, teaching me how to wash with a bowl and scrub brush, I didn't know there was a certain way to do it but there is!

it was payday when we arrived

 when I ran out of gas for my little cookstove, the cook lady helped me by showing me how to build the fire in the clay stove so I could cook my eggs.
  No one speaks english here, so it was total immersion from the start! so wish my khmer was better, and my memory!! the people are patient with us at least!

front of the main building

curious boys, helping with language

  In our wandering around the farm on thursday visiting with workers, we came to a small group of ladies hoeing and picking up sticks, Stan started to help them for a minute, which they enjoyed ! they laughed a lot because they couldn't get over how tall he was!! one lady would stand beside him and measure with her hands, saying (wang!!) means long!. was quite comical. just a few minutes after we walked away they all were screaming and running except for 1 lady who started chopping the ground with her hoe!! we came back to see them kill a very big snake with blue eyes!!! it was under the sticks and dirt right where Stan and the ladies were picking up the sticks!! thank you to Jesus for no one getting bit!!!

snake killing!

the ladies kills for the day! "dinner" (Biggest rats we've ever seen!!)

   Then Saturday, 2 men came from the fields holding 2 more biggg!!! snakes they killed!! UGGG!!
but I think they all enjoyed snake meat for dinner!

sorting seeds, for planting, first they are soaked in a solution, then packed in sand until sprouted, 

making lumber for building , amazed how straight he cut these boards! 

New friends:)

    On Saturday Nisa from Thailand showed up and looked at the crop with us, and talked to the farmer about how things were going ect. talked about new organic fertilizers and ideas to improve the growing of the crop. we learned more about what is expected of us, and culturally how busisness is done, lots of time is spent on hospitality !! They fixed a big lunch with many Cambodian dishes! I was impressed with how fast the food was prepared with the primitive conditions!

  Then more talking and waiting, finally at about 6:15 pm they decide its time to head to Siem Reap, we were coming to Siem Reap to meet another Pastor, who is also a representative for the Sacha Inchi growing project, the representatives , help introduce and train farmers on growing sacha inch. Stan and I had kinda decided when we came here we wouldn't drive at night... but the first trip out is at night!! out of our control so we trust God to take care of us,! which he did! it was a 3 hour drive to Siem Reap, Nisa didn't get a hotel booked ahead so it took a few stops to get one for the weekend, but we found a nice clean inexpensive hotel that is fairly new! $15.00 a night, I enjoyed the hot normal shower & wifi!!.
Stan wanted a burger for lunch, so we found one!

always a fun bathroom picture:)

shopping for a bigger "clothes washing bowl" and other household items! 

Meeting with farm representative's in Siem Reap

Khmer BBQ after our meeting

more farm pictures:

Stan found a well rig near by! 

A little mud,! rows of pots of dirt ready to plant the seeds in, 

more of the nursery, ( behind the mud in the previous picture

New field, putting in poles & stringing wire will be planting in a week

preparing a pad for new housing

A "new Pepper field" they are preparing

 Creatures around the house:

Praying Mantis, praying over a white Slug