Nurse Sue

Sue with Chang - unfailingly cheerful despite over two months now without earning and no loi to fix his bike

Patrick has got Susie back into a touch of nursing. The dad of one of the children in the 'Transform Cambodia' schools is a moto driver who was in an accident - and as is so often the case here, could not afford medical treatment. Patrick found out about the situation and got him thoroughly checked out by a real doctor.

There is still a lot of foot swelling in Chang's leg, so Susie got some compression bandages and some cream and we've been around a few times to work on the leg. There are four children plus mum and dad in the 'home' which measures approx 3x5 metres. Oh, and the motorbike lives inside too.

Lovely family; lovely kids. Moto in the background.

Concrete streets

Our days of mud and muck outside the front door may soon be a fond memory. Progress has made it to our street corner. Now we wait to see if the men and women on the wheelbarrows turn up Rue 460 - or leave us as an oasis of mud in concrete surrounds ....

Street 123 - runs north-south and intersects with our Street 460. This will make the run to Psar Tou Tom Pong (the Russian Market) a breeze!

Looking up our street 460 from the corner. The friendly local store is on the right - where we buy our 10 litre containers of purified water twice a week.

The workers and their street-making concrete mixer

Why concrete? I understand that the amount of rain here is tough on the tar-sealed roads, getting underneath and eroding the base. Concrete is less susceptible to erosion and collapse - I'm told.

Samdy

Samdy (pronounced Sam-a-dee) is one of the pastors on staff here at New Life Fellowship. He's a young guy with a most excellent spirit, a working brain and a sincere love for God.

The first Sunday we were in Phnom Penh, this young man really stood out to me. I had no idea who he was - just that he was a 'good 'un' (as Chris Lee would say). So, much was my delight when Samdy turns out to be in the morning small group that Mark and Jo (the Aussies from CCC Whitehorse, Melbourne) asked me to be involved in.

Samdy has spoken the last two Sundays, on the subject of fasting. He is a little fella on a good day. I could not help but notice that there was less of him on week two than on week one of these well researched and thought through messages.

I received such clarity on something last week - that the future belongs to those of a different spirit. It has been a Word that marks me. The future of Cambodia belongs to those of a different spirit. Those of the 'same same' (common expression here) spirit have no progressive future - they are in a holding pattern until they die.

Samdy is one of the new generation - a man of a different spirit. Please remember him.

Gutted - and protected

Since the burglary two doors down from us ( a week or two ago) I've taken to double-locking our 'garage' door that opens onto the street. The second lock certainly was helpful two nights back.

Bringing the moto into the main sitting room is a pain every night - mud and dirt gets into the house. So for two nights I had left it in the garage, locked and 'secure'. Two nights - long enough for the local jao (robbers) to get a sniff. I went to open up the other morning - and was a lock short. The trusty, top quality guts were to be found all over the ground - but no lock. Lock number two was higher and I guess harder to gut. Thank-you Lord!

I got 'No-worries' son of landlord around to look at how we can secure the little door flap (that gives you hand access to unlock the door) at night. Next thing the neighbourhood were at my door - and with good advice. 'No, your Solex mighty-strong locks are the shiny Chinese ones - you want the Solex Thai one - like this'. Thai locks were duly purchased!

The innards of the Chinese lock; the second lock that saved the moto and the new super-beaut 70mm Thai one 'as recommended by the locals'

Last night, after the Proverbs Bible study, a young guy said something really interesting. A few weeks back in another study group, Jesse the pastor here said how Cambodians are 'see-ers' - they are not left-brain analytical but right-brain perceivers. This lovely young guy said how much he was enjoying the studies - and that he always liked to see me because he saw a lot of protection around me. How's that for a blessing - same day as the attempted Spider-moto snatch.

Protection always has to do with prayer. We are just so grateful to all you who keep that wall of protection around us. Thank you so much!

As if ...

As if the roads are not dangerous enough already, our Kiwi friends Graeme and Sue Taylor have just been quite injured as a result of a snatch thief. They were likely targeted as they came out of church - and a few blocks later two guys on a moto pulled alongside and snatched Sue's bible case also containing wallet, $200 and other stuff as well. She was pulled off the motorbike and has concussion and lots of bruising. Graeme has a broken collar bone and grazes. For both of them tho', it means an evac to Bangkok.

We visited them at the emergency clinic today - prayed for and hugged them. Sue was very sore and still somewhat in shock. Good buddy Sue Hanna is pretty vulnerable too. She was following on her moto and did not even see the snatch - just the crash. Stuff like this can happen in any country - but it certainly reminds us of the level of 'wild west' lawlessness prevalent here.

Cambodian pizza

We spotted an unwelcome visitor to our place a couple of evenings ago. So, how to catch a mouse or three?? Meet the Cambodian mouse-catching machine; a tray of sticky stuff that really does work.

Cheese is pretty expensive here, but at least little mousie got a nibble before his/her demise!

The Return of the Sue

We've had lots of questions regarding how Sue's hand is doing. Since the amputation she has been .... nah, just joking. The thumb and index finger are better bit by bit - but she is returning to NZ none-the-less to make sure she's in good shape for the long haul.

The blue, blue lakes of home

We were really happy to get a great ticket - Phnom Penh - Auck in; Brisbane - PP return leg with just a trans-Tasman to sort out. Booked - paid for ... and an hour later my phone rings. There was a woops with the quoted price. Smile and be happy - don't even think about insisting on 'my rights under the consumer guarantee act'....

So, now it's a straight PP-Auck return. Susie is booked to arrive Oct 24 and has a specialist appointment in Hamilton Oct 26 (Loretta, you are a treasure!!) Return flight is Nov 19 - so she is looking to still do a quick zip across the ditch to hug Melody and kiss good friends.