We’ve been adjusted back for quite some time. Life hasn’t been slowing down and it won’t for quite some time! In a couple weeks we won’t be the only Americans here until after February! We are going to have a a lot of people coming through helping with the house that ALAM bought and they are going to fix it up! Once the house is finished we’ll be moving out there. Luke and his girlfriend Stephanie bought tickets for Jan-Feb!!! We can’t wait!  Combine all that with holiday activities and we shouldn’t have much extra time!

The Mountain View team left yesterday… it was so refreshing to have other people here! They only had a week here, but we enjoyed every minute of it!
The day after they got here we went out to the fishing village with dad. We sat in on his lesson, then took a boat ride out on the lake. After eating lunch one of the girls went to Khmer class with me while the rest of them went to town. They spent the next day going to Angkor Watt and the silk farm.
Sunday was extra special since the team sang for us, and Jeff had the message! It was quite a treat to have a Sunday evening with playing games and hanging out with youth again.

Monday the team went out to the school house and started tearing down walls. In the afternoon we were going to take the girls fabric shopping but when we got there everything was closed! So we went back and picked up the guys and went to see the boat races… and by the time we got through traffic, they were done boat racing for the day! So we slowly wiggled our way back to the truck. As soon as the fireworks started, everyone stopped wherever they were, pulled out their phones, and made it next to impossible to walk at all. Ryan and Austin met us at the restaurant for supper, then we all headed to night market. Almost all of the team did the fish massage (basically you pay somebody to let their fish nibble all the dead skin off of your feet). Some of their reactions were priceless!

The next day, after the guys worked on the church house, we went out to pick them up and all the girls sampled grilled dog. After the boys washed up, we headed into town again, and this time we got there in time to see the races. I think that the big crowd with voices and music blaring over the speakers was a good taste of the culture for them! The team cooked us a delicious Mexican supper that evening!

Thursday, their last day here, the boys took the day off and we all went out with dad to Preah Lingeang. This village is about 50 miles from our house. But because of bad roads, it takes 2 1/2-3 hrs. to get there. They still do not have electricity. A couple of Chum’s siblings live there. Soon after we turned off of the main road, I started hearing comments about how bad the road was. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself to think about what they’d say about the last road! The poor baby! She was probably bounced more on the way there than she ever has been before! She couldn’t even keep a hold of her bottle! Once we finally got there, dad told a short bible story and the team sang for us. The guys past us, soon after we got on the dirt road, however they took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up way off the road. By the time they got there, two of them had lost their flip flops and we were ready to eat lunch without them! Right after lunch, we headed home, they were leaving that evening and weren’t going to have much time to get cleaned up and have supper. It was getting close to dark when we got back, they showered, ate a quick supper, and started their goodbyes. It was sad to see them go!

In two weeks Dad’s uncle is coming to do plumbing at the house. So if anyone wants to send cards or family pictures etc… We would love to get them! They should get there in time if you send them soon. You can send them to, 2033 Irish path, Rockingham VA 22802.

~Heather for the Helmuths~