Home Sweet Home

The day we left Prek Ambel, we woke up to the loudspeaker blaring traditional Khmer music. As soon as a person dies, Buddhist families hire a loudspeaker and musicians and monks to begin a scheduled broadcasting of music, chants, and speeches in honor of the deceased. There is a certain schedule they follow, and they do this for about 7 days, and then again on the 10th day, and then again on the 100th day. If you are unfortunate enough to live next door or close by, and the person dies at 1:20am, you will be rather tired in the morning. This happened to us on our trip!
The morning we left Prek Ambel, the person must have passed away around 5:20am, which wasn't too bad of a time. And then, because the electricity went out at 7:00am, the back-up battery didn't last too long and they weren't able to continue with their noise pollution. Around 7:30, the water also went off. This was humorous to us, as it gave us a realistic last impression of how life can be in Prek Ambel.

Since this was a Sunday, Chheng had to preach without the sound system since there was no power. The fans also, of course, were useless, so we were extra sticky for the worship service. It was all a blessing, truly.

The Hales took us to Phnom Pehn, where we enjoyed dinner together and stayed in a hotel there. The next morning they took us to the airport for our flight, and we were off. Anna was the last to catch the stomach virus we passed around the last week or two, so she was sick on the plane. We found that Asian flight attendant service is excellent, and that God gives so much grace to us to take care of those "worse case scenarios" without it being a big deal. We worry about the "what ifs," but if they actually happen, God helps us! They aren't as bad as we imagined!

We arrived safely back home on Tuesday morning and my parents picked us up at DFW. We are so very thankful to the Lord for granting us so many travel mercies, and helping us even in ways we may never know. We had a great return trip!

We are so grateful to everyone who prayed for us! Thank you for all your words of encouragement.

As we climb into our soft beds without lizards roaming the roof, and as I load my washer and dryer and within a couple of hours have a complete load clean, as we turn up the heat in our temperature-controlled house, and as we drive by McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A, and order pizza, we remember our dear friends the Hales, who so generously lent us their home this past month. They returned from dropping us off at the airport to the same scene: no A/C, hanging clothes to dry on the fence, no pizza delivery, no fast food of any sort within an hour from their home, sometimes no electricity and water for a time, blaring loudspeakers in the middle of the night - they live there for the sake of the gospel of Christ. They are seeking the things above, where Christ is, and they so clearly are reminded every day that their home is not in this world.

What a blessing it has been to be reminded of that. As we savor the conveniences of this great country where we live, we want so much to remember those who labor for the glory of Christ in hard-to-live-places. He does not forget the things they have given up for His sake. We want to be willing to sacrifice for His sake too.

Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." Mark 10:29-31