Well, I made it through the first week here at WWU. It’s been good so far, though is busy already. I’m taking Pre-calculus, Principles of Accounting, Child and Adolescent Development, Tumbling, and either orchestra or wind symphony. The pre-cal and accounting homework is all online, so I’ve been having to get used to that. It is nice to know if you’re right or wrong right away though. The weather up here has been pretty cold, in fact it’s raining right now. It’s probably the first time in about a year and a half that I’ve actually been cold! It’s nice for a change. I’ve been meeting tons of new people thanks to my roommate Elissa; I don’t remember most of their names, but then again, it is still the first week of school–I’ve got time. Last night, Elissa invited some girls to our room for tea and testimonies. She hopes to do it every Friday night. It was pretty good last night and it helps me get to know some of the girls better. Having Elissa for my roommate is working out nicely so far. I’m really thanking God for her.

I’m really praying that God will use me this year. I know He’s got a plan–I just need to figure out what it is. That seems to be the theme of me life–figuring out God’s will. I know most people can relate. I’m still undecided about my major, so I’m leaning on God for that one too. But anyway, I think I’ll enjoy my time up here in Walla Walla. If nothing else, it’ll be quite the adventure…

Man, the summer has gone by too fast… Seems like just yesterday that I got back from overseas, though it also seems like I was never gone. I miss my students in Cambodia; I’ve been able to keep in contact with some of them, but it’s not the same… But life is moving on. I went to Campmeeting, was in Natalie’s wedding, went to the big Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and on a couple camping trips. This summer has been good, but I’m ready for the next chapter. As much as I like home, it gets me stuck in a rut a lot of the time. I’ll be heading up to Walla Walla University at the end of September. I’m telling everyone that I’m majoring in Physical Therapy, but I really don’t know what my major should be. I’m sure all college students go through that feeling, so I’m no exception. The past couple years have had quite a similar theme–uncertainty. I’ve struggled with knowing where to go to school, struggled with what to do with my life, struggled in my relationship with God and certain friends… But I’ve recently realized that struggle is a good thing. Struggle shows that there’s still hope. So, as life continues to move along, all I can do is trust and keep on struggling…

Well, the ARISE CROSStraining program is already finished… The 3 weeks seemed like nothing compared to the 7 months I was gone before… I really enjoyed the program though–it would’ve been nice to have it a couple weeks longer. The first few days we had general classes on things like how to study the Bible, Scripture memorization, cycle of evangelism, and a bunch of others. Then we started what was called Bible Boot Camp. We would go through different Bible doctrines and learn how to give them in a Bible study. We went through two a day and they were taught by 5 different teachers: David Asscherick, Matt Parra, Jay Rasario, Jeffrey Rasario, and Ezequiel Vazquez. I learned so much from them. We also did outreach 3 different times. Though my partner and I only got one Bible study, we still had a good time and learned a bit. On one of the Sundays, a bunch of us played Ultimate Frisbee. It was heaps of fun. I got a bad sunburn though… This last weekend, after church, we had a commissioning service where all the teachers said a little something, and Matt Parra gave us a sermon about not losing what we gained. Then we had a little agape feast before heading back to the hotel. Oh, yes, our accomodations were amazing! We stayed at the Marriot Residence Inn. We stayed up til 3 a.m. that night swapping pictures and powerpoints. The next morning, yesterday, we said our good byes. Since we had only been together 3 weeks, it wasn’t too hard to say our good byes, though there were a couple people who I’m sure I’ll keep in contact with.

So, now that I’m home again, I’ve gotta finish up this psychology class I’m doing online… Ick. In a week and a half is Soquel Campmeeting which I’m really looking forward to. For now, I’m just praying for motivation…

The summer days are passing a little faster than I’d like. I’m not used to this. My time has mostly been filled with my online psychology class (ugh), a PE class at Columbia College, and working a little for my dad.

A couple Sabbaths ago, Charlene and Michelle Narita come over to our house to go on a little hike. Mitchell and I took them up over our hill and down to a creek. There were already some people there that didn’t look too friendly, so we headed back up to a little waterfall we had seen. Mitchell started bounding up it while the rest of us looked at it with less than thrilled expressions. The rocks were really slippery and the sides were almost all poison oak. But Mitchell convinced us to at least try climbing up. It turned out to be quite a humorous experience. Char and Michelle each had a good fall, and Mitchell and I just slipped around everywhere. Char slipped completely flat onto her stomach on the rocks-I’ve never seen Michelle laugh so hard, though she had her own good fall. Though us three girls were complaining to Mitch the whole time, I’m sure they’ll look back on that as a fond memory.

Probably the most exciting thing that’s happened over the past couple weeks was hiking Half Dome in Yosemite. The Naritas organized it, and a few other families came. The group met at the church at 4 a.m. and we headed up. When we arrived and were getting ready to hike, we saw a bear approach and attempt to get into a car that had food inside. They’re just a little too bold these days. By the time everyone arrived and we got to the trailhead, it was around 7:00. We headed up vernal falls, which is really pouring right now. I brought along a poncho-otherwise I would’ve been soaked. The group split up into a few different groups as we continued on. That last bit before the cables is definitely the most gruesome. Tall steps at the end is not fun. The group I was with continually waited for me as I plodded along. Fortunately the cables weren’t too crowded, so my group made it up around 11:30. We ate lunch up there, but then clouds started rolling in and it started sprinkling. Two rangers were up there and advised everyone to start heading down as it is pretty dangerous to be up there in lightning storms. Everyone dashed for the cables, which made going down them a very slow process. Going down the rest went a lot faster. Matthew Narita, Josh Pratt, and I were in the front and made it down to the bottom at quite a brisk pace. I don’t think my knees will ever be the same… We took the bus to curry village to wait for the others to arrive, which ended up not being such a good idea-it was a big hassle for them to pick us up. Anyway, we drove home, and the group headed to the Narita’s house for dinner. It was delicious as usual. We had cupcakes for dessert in honor of Josh and Kirk’s birthdays. Fun day…

Home sweet home! I’ve been home for almost 4 weeks now, but haven’t got around to updating this thing. Being home feels completely normal. I was kinda worried that everything would be weird, but it almost feels like I never left. But everyone has moved on in their lives, obviously, so I’m still getting caught up with everyone. These past weeks have been filled with catching up with friends and family. I’ve showed pictures to so many people that they’re starting to seem pretty bland. But when I look at them it feels like so long ago that I was there… I’ve also job shadowed a few different people since I’ve been home. I observed a dental hygenist and some OR nurses. I also watched Dr. Peterson do a total knee surgery and a total hip. Pretty gross but interesting nonetheless. I can’t say I’m any closer to a decision about a career or college choice, but I have all summer to decide, right?

It really is nice to be home, but I do feel pretty lazy a lot of the time. I’m taking on online psychology class that is proving to be a pain to do. I don’t think online classes are my thing. But it will be nice to get it out of the way. I’ll be starting to work for my dad in a couple days to earn back a little of all the cash I spent while away. Other than that, my summer has been pretty uneventful. It’s nice to be able to relax and not worry about much. This is the life…

Man, lots of stuff has happened since the last blog. Final Exams went good in Cambodia. Emily helped me out with all the grading, so we got it done pretty quickly. For that last week in Cambodia, we were able to see some sites, though Cambodia doesn’t have much to see except Angkor Wat. We saw the floating villages out on the lake. That was something to behold. It’s hard to imagine people actually living that way. I’ll post pictures of it when I get home. We had a guy take us around Siem Reap one day also. He took us to a silk farm, the place where the nuns live (can’t remember the name), a war museum, and several other places. For some reason, he took us to play pool at one of his favorite places. Not sure why. Emily and I were pretty bad to say the least.

We left Cambodia on April 12. When we went to the taxi place to get a taxi to the border, we were literally bombarded by 25 taxi drivers all hoping we would choose them. They even started to take our luggage to their cars, but Wendy helped us ward them off. We finally chose one and crossed the border without any problems. We took a bus to Bangkok and stayed in my cousin Bekah’s apartment. Her and her husband are teaching at the international school there. We loved staying at her apartment with all it’s little conveniences: washing machine, shower, running water, a table to eat at, comfy bed… Life is good. That week in Bangkok was the Sonkran festival. It’s where everyone throws water at each other. One day we went out with the other SM’s that are working in Bangkok and spent the day soaking people and being soaked. First we stood out on a street corner where a hose was and threw buckets of water on passing tuk tuks and motorcylists. We had a blast. Then we went to a street where hundreds of people were gathered, mostly Thais. Everyone was soaked to the skin. Oh, they also have this powder stuff that they mix with water, and they rub it all over each other’s faces. One person told me that it’s a sign of friendship so it’s rude to try to turn away. So, as you can imagine, all our faces were pretty unrecognizable by the end. We didn’t really know what we were getting into as we walked further and further down the street. Pretty soon we couldn’t move at all because there were so many people. We were in there for hours, inching along, trying to get out of there. We finally made it out just before it began to get dark. We were all cold, and it made it worse when people came along and threw ice cold water on you. But we had a good time.

Early Friday morning (the 17th) we had a taxi drive us to the airport. We were pretty ecstatic as our plane took off for Japan. After a 5 hour flight we landed in the Narita airport. We somehow miraculously were able to get bus tickets, store our luggage, and arrive at the bus station where Becky Ishii met us. This lady is amazing! She planned out our whole stay in Japan. My dad somehow got a hold of her name, and she really was an answer to prayer. We stayed at her house for the first few nights. We went to their English-speaking church where we met some really nice people. On Sunday, Becky and her husband Chris (he’s the ADRA director for Japan) took us to Mt. Fuji. It was beautiful. Unfortunately we can’t climb it at this time of the year, but it was still amazing. That night we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. The train is crazy fast. We were met there by Takako, a Japanese lady who lives in between Kyoto and Osaka. She was really nice, though her English was a bit hard to understand at times. She took us to Kyoto on Monday. We saw a beautiful gold temple, a rock garden, and the Nijo castle. On Tuesday, an Australian guy named Gerry took us to the Osaka castle. That was interesting because he actually knew some of the history of the place. He didn’t really know where to take us after that, but we had a great time talking with him. On Wednesday, we took a train to Tokyo. Oh, by the way, the trains here are so confusing! Fortunately we’ve only had to figure out a couple trains by ourselves. Anyways, we went to the school in Tokyo first where a missionary named Jasmine works. She’s from England and has been in Japan for a little over a year. She’s awesome. She took us out to eat, and then we sat in a couple of classes with her. First she had a Bible study with about 10 elderly Japanese people. They were great! Then she had a couple English lessons with some students and then a Bible class with three little boys. Jasmine is really gifted at teaching. The director of the school, Ayoko, showed up and took us to her house, where we stayed for 2 nights. She is the cutest little lady–the classic grandma. Her English was really good too. She took us around to different places around Tokyo on Thursday: the top of a tower where we saw a panoramic view of Tokyo (it’s huge!), a really nice cultural museum, an amusement park (where I had to go on the roller coaster alone…), and to little shops. Man, the Japanese are just too nice. Ayoko wouldn’t let us pay for one single thing while she took us around. It was really nice of her, but it just made us feel a little helpless. Jasmine did the same thing to us when she took us around on Friday. That night, she had us give a little talk at vespers. Emily and I each shared a little of our testimony.

Today we went to the English church again here in Yokohama. We gave a 25-minute talk to the little children’s church and showed them pictures. Then in the afternoon, we talked to the adults about our Thailand/Cambodia adventures. I really love the Japanese people. They are so friendly and polite, even the kids. I’ve gotta come back here someday.

Sorry this post is so brief and not many details. It would just be too long…

I really can’t believe that I’m flying home tomorrow! Unreal. I’ll have to stay up most of the night tonight so I’ll be able to sleep on the plane and hopefully get myself back on good ol’ California time. It’s weird–I’ll get home before I leave Japan. Figure that one out…

Well, all in all I can say that was a great 7 1/2 months. I really needed this and God knew it. I’ve learned to depend on him in a way I haven’t done before. I think one of the biggest things I’ve learned is that religion equals service. When I look back on the times in my life when I was serving others, that’s when I was the closest to God. Otherwise, if I’m not serving, then I lose my focus. Even if that would’ve been the only thing I learned this year (which it wasn’t), it would have been worth it. It’s pretty much impossible to give up a year to God and not be changed. Try it out.

Well, I got my first chance to drive a motorbike (or motorcycle) into town. I have to say that my heart rate was up considerably and I was sweating more than usual, which is saying a lot. I drove around the school a bit before attempting to have Emily ride on the back. I drove from the dorm to our house, and as I tried to turn around, I just about tipped the bike in the deep sand. I don’t know why Emily trusted me enough to ride all the way to town and back, but miraculously everything went okay. I drove it into town today too, and am getting slightly more comfortable with the whole thing. It would be one thing to learn how to drive one in the States, but here… Sand, pot holes, construction sites, and numerous other things are the obstacles one has to go through. I was praying the whole way…

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to a Khmer wedding. One of my students, Chair (pronounced as if with an Australian accent), invited all us volunteers to come to his mom’s wedding. It wasn’t quite as traditional as I hear the other ones are because this was her second wedding and she is also Adventist. It was held at the church here at the school. The ceremony was pretty boring since we couldn’t understand it. One of the bridesmaids kept powdering up the bride every 2 minutes, and the people taking pictures blocked out view most of the time. The reception was held at her house. They set up a canopy outside the house where there were tables and plastic chairs covered in fancy cloth. The music was incredibly loud. Chris and I were standing right in front of the 10 or so speakers taking pictures when they suddenly started up the music. I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear again. Fortunately, we vegetarians were put at a table that was a little farther away from the speakers than the rest of the guests. There was tons of food, but only some of it looked slightly familiar. By this time, the bride had changed into another outfit. She had on an elaborate gold dress and was wearing huge anklets, a very poky arm band, and some white socks with her high heels. Stylin’…  I’m told that by the time the festivities are over, most brides will have changed their outfits at least 5 times. When we finally left, we dropped our money gift into a heart-shaped container. Apparently it’s customary for all the guests to give a cash gift to the bride and groom. All in all this wedding was quite the experience…

This week is revision week, and I have all my exams scheduled for this Friday. That way I’ll have all next week to do grades and see some sites. Then, Emily and I are blowin’ this pop stand!

These last few weeks have kinda crawled by. Though my time here is coming to a close, these last few weeks seems to go by even slower. Emily Yoder (one of my pals from Thailand) arrived here last Thursday. She’ll be here til I finish teaching. So now there are 5 other foreigners here to keep me company.

Interestingly enough, life here at this school has become quite normal for me. It’s normal to take a shower by pouring buckets of water over my head; it’s normal to share a room with 3 other girls; it’s normal to have no privacy; it’s normal to eat rice filled with bugs; it’s normal not to have 24 hour electricity; It’s normal to be called “Cher” constantly (the 2nd half of the word “teacher”); it’s normal to wash my clothes by hand. Most of the time I’ve been here, I’ve thought that going back to the States would be no problem, but the longer I’m here, the more I think it’ll be pretty shocking. It’ll take a little while to get used to civilization again…

Teaching has been getting easier as I get to know my students better. They are no longer afraid to ask me questions, and we have good times in class.

We’ve started up a Pathfinder group with grades 9 and 10. Not that it’s run like a normal Pathfinders would be run. Us volunteers are just trying to get the older students to learn how to be leaders so that if we’re not around, they can do they’re own Pathfinders. These last couple weeks have been pretty rough. Chris has been trying to do the Physical Fitness honor with them, and I’ve been teaching them marching. I had a hard time remembering all the commands and which foot to call things on, so I promptly called up the marching expert (my dad) and had him refresh my memory. It’s especially entertaining watching the students try to do an “about face.”

We’ve also started having Wednesday night Bible studies with just us volunteers and Tim and Wendy. So far they have gone well, though I find myself almost falling asleep by the end because I’m used to going to bed early… It’s pretty easy to when the electricity goes out at 9 pm–there’s just nothing you can do in the dark. But the Bible study is nice just to have a time when we can talk to each other in normal English and be understood without having to simplify our simplifications. I really think I’ve forgotten a lot of English words…

Well, time marches on, and I know this will be over sooner than I think.

So, just after I wrote the last post, I went over to a travel agency to get my visa extended for another month. The lady told me that I can’t extend it anymore–I have to go out of the country and back in again to be able to stay longer. Buffalo! So, I rode home and discussed my situation with Wendy. Since my visa expired on a Sabbath, she suggested that I just go to the Thai border on Sunday and just pay the $5 for being one day late. That sounded good to me. So, early Sunday morning, one of the Khmer teachers drove me and Niet (a girl in 9th grade) on his motorbike to the taxi place in town. I brought Niet along with me to help me with all the translating, plus she has family that lives right near the border.

When we arrived in Poi Pet (the city on the border), we went to Niet’s sister’s house first. Her brother-in-law took me to all the places I needed to go before entering Thailand. When I crossed the border, I immediately turned around and got back in line to return to Cambodia. As I waited, I talked with the lady in front of me. She turned out to be an Adventist who has been working in Thailand for about 4 years. She knows some of the same people I know who are volunteering there as well. I’m sure God set that up for us to encourage each other even just for a few minutes.

When I crossed back over into Cambodia, I bought my visa from a little stand that apparently was a mini police station. It’s a good thing that I had this guy helping me out or else I never would’ve been able to find the right place to go.  With the visa stuff all taken care of, Niet and I took a taxi back to Siem Reap. Poor Niet! She gets car sick really easily, so she threw up on the way to Poi Pet and on the way back.

Since then, I’ve just been doing the usual–teaching. There have been a couple times when I’ve gone over to play volleyball with the students.  Just the 9th and 10th grade guys play, so they’re way better than me, but it’s fun, and I’m sure they have a good laugh watching me try to play.

I’ve only got about 4 weeks of actual teaching left; then comes Revision week (which is reviewing in all the subjects for exams), and then Exams. It’s such a short time, but at the moment it seems to be crawling by. I hear that a few volunteers from Thailand are coming to visit in a week or so just to see the orphanage. There are visitors coming and going all the time at this place. Anyways, that’s all for now folks! GB!

Hmmm. Well, Campmeeting is now over. It went pretty well. The whole week before, people were coming to set up their camps, which consisted of hanging up tarps from trees and poles and whatever else they could find. It was quite a site to see. When everyone arrived on the 8th, most of them came piled in the back of pick up trucks with a few necessities. They just laid out their mats and they were ready for the week. Such a simple life…

The ASAP (Adventist Southeast Asia Projects) team arrived on the 6th. They are a group of missionaries from the States. They had a dental team, a medical team, an eye doctor, and a couple ladies that taught some natural remedies stuff. All day Sunday they set up their equipment in the classrooms. I was recruited to help out with the VBS program. An older couple was leading out with it and they had 2 other helpers. So on Sunday, I helped them get organized and prepare some crafts and different activities for the week. I ate meals with their group as well. They had a couple Americans from Phnom Penh doing their cooking. The food was amazing, but because I haven’t had American food in so long, I don’t think it agreed with my stomach too well…

Dan Augsburger (or however you spell it) was the speaker for the main meetings. Tim and the students had erected a stage in an open field and covered the area in front of it with canopies. Everyone sat underneath them on tarps. I never got an official count of how many Cambodians showed up for the meetings, but it sure looked like a lot to me. I didn’t get to go to any of the meetings since I was helping out with VBS, but I hear they went really well and the people were very responsive, even with translation. VBS also went well. I think we had about 300 kids in all. They were divided into 4 different age groups and each of us leaders were in charge of different activities. I did games and crafts for ages 10-12 and 13-15. We had a group of about 30 translators from the Adventist school in Phnom Penh helping us out with all the different stations. They were a huge help and did most of the work. There were more of them helping translate for the medical teams as well.

As the days past, they seemed to get hotter. VBS was out in the hot sun and I got my first really bad sunburn on my neck. I’m still peeling from it. The ASAP team stayed in Siem Reap in a hotel. During meals, I really enjoyed talking with their group. Having other Americans to talk to is something I didn’t realize I missed so much. Oh, on Thursday during Campmeeting, we got our fifth volunteer: Bronwyn. She’s from Australia but she’s Chinese and was born in Pakistan. Wow. She was a volunteer here before about a year and a half ago and really liked it. She’ll be here for 10 months.

On Wednesday night, me, Maria, and about 7 students did a special music for the main meeting. We sang/played two songs that I had taught the students in class. It went pretty well, all things considered, though the mic for the guitars didn’t work. We had Maria on the pan flute, a blind student on the harmonica, a 6th grader on the keyboard, and me and another guy on guitars. Plus there were 4 singers. Since there were so many of us up there, we really couldn’t hear each other. We got off a couple times because of that, but the Cambodians listening really didn’t know the difference.

Every night, the students from the school did a play. They had been working on all during January. It was a pretty big production for them, and they did pretty well. They had costumes and everything, which were handmade. The play covered from the fall of Lucifer, Adam and Eve, the birth of Jesus, the crucifixion, and 2nd coming, and the new earth. It sounds like a lot, but they didn’t put in too many details.

On Sabbath, Wendy had me, Bronwyn, and another guy sing “Go Light Your World” for Sabbath School. That went a lot better than the previous special music…

The last VBS was on Sabbath morning. At the end, we gave toys to each kid and gave gifts to the translators. Then we all headed to the stage area for Church. Pastor Martin from the ASAP team gave the sermon. In the afternoon, about 500 people got baptized in the pond behind the outhouses. There were 19 pastors in the water baptizing people, 2 at a time. God is good. That night, we all gathered around a huge bonfire and we each had a candle. I don’t know what the people said, but we must have stood there for an hour holding out candles. At the end, for some reason, everyone chucked their candles into the fire. It was quite the site seeing hundreds of candles flying in all directions.

Everyone left on Sunday, and things got back to normal once again. School started up the next day. Since Bronwyn is here, she took a couple of my classes: Bible 8 and Home EC. Yippee!!! Since she took Bible, I don’t have first period, so now I can sleep in til 6 instead of getting up at 5! And I’m sure the 7th grade kids will enjoy making other food items besides Fruit Snowballs filled with bugs!

Time is still going by pretty quickly, though with the almost unbearable heat, I seem to be tired all the time. I am getting to know the students a little better and will be sorry to leave some of them when I go.