The first thing to do when I came back to Cambodia was to look for a new apartment.  God was gracious in that I could stay at a missionary friend's home while looking.  After a week of seeking, I was a little worried because I also needed to prepare things for the American team coming on January 1.  On the other hand, I was still adjusting to being back in Cambodia, especially the weather.  Praise the Lord that I managed to move and settle the team's things in two week's time.

The new home

As missionaries, we usually need to be ready to move easily.  This is also a good chance to cope with changes and brushes up our alertness of the environment.  My new apartment is a newer house, with my landlady living on the ground floor.  The safety is marvelous - I've got 7 keys for different padlocks and door locks. The landlady also has 5 dogs, but they are friendly ones - unlike the one at my previous landlord's.  What I like the most is the spacious kitchen where I can enjoy cooking.  Some of the drawbacks are that there is only one small bedroom and a toilet.  Also, there are two workshops on the other side of the street, and they create lot of noise during the daytime.  Moreover, the apartment is about 10 minutes drive from the market, so I have to drive to buy stuff instead of walking as I did in the past.  Nevertheless, God's provision is wonderful.  Nothing is as perfect as what we expect, but we experience the riches of what the Lord has prepared for us.

The visit of the Cross-cultural studies team

This was the first time I needed to take care of a team on my own.  Lots of preparation and coordination work was needed to be done before they came for the 17-day trip.  Thank the Lord, Isaac and Meah helped me a lot, especially with interpretation and booking things.  There was a total of 16 members on the team, of which 14 were university students and 2 were professors.  It was quite a brand new experience for me because they are not like the teams that we are used to taking care of.  They needed to travel from place to place and meet different people like monks, local university lecturers, children who have AIDS, missionaries, school principals, etc.  Actually, I was quite exhausted to make the arrangements on time when faced with the slow pace of making arrangements in Cambodia.  God is gracious in that we had safe and happy journeys throughout the period.  Not only did some students experience the cultural difference but they also were touched by the needs of the poor and vulnerable people.  May God continue to guide their hearts so that they may fulfill God's mission in future.

Meetings and Adjustments

After the team left, I have had lots of meetings to attend.  Making decisions can be a painful process, especially when we need to carry out some disciplinary actions.  After the 3-month home assignment, I feel a bit behind on what has been happening on the mission field.  Furthermore, the whole team needs to re-adjust to each other when new members are joining. 

I have experienced the busy life not only in the struggle of time constraints, but also the drainage of the mind and emotions.  Daily fellowship with the Lord is the only way to tackle busy living so that we may not lose our focus and mission.

Prayer points

• To build up a good relationship with the landlady's family
• To maintain the close fellowship with God and have a joyful spirit to cope with the busy schedule
• To catch up with language study
• For the preparation work for the coming Annual Mission District Meeting; may God prepare  new committee members during the election at the meeting
• The unity of the team