Well, Covid has hit home! After a year of the government trying so hard to keep it out, it has finally found it’s way in. Now a year after the states has had it and is pretty much back to normal life, we are going through it all over again.

Just this past month it has went rampant in our city! Siem reap had avoided spreading it for a long time, but it is nigh impossible to keep it shut in forever!

A month or two ago, one of the staff men stayed home with his sick wife for a week. They went to the hospital then and had to get tested. He tested positive and she tested negative. So, Seyha had to stay in the hospital for two weeks, while his wife went home freely. She tested again later and it ended up she did have it after all! Poor Seyha! He had to quarantine two weeks in the hospital, get tested, go home and quarantine for another whole week!

Now almost all of Siem Reap is red zoned. Thankfully, it hasn’t affected us much at all! The closest town to us with a big market is closed, but there are other ones that we can shop at. Out here in the village it is pretty much normal still. We’re so glad we moved when we did!

Recent happenings

Changing the subject, we finally have other Americans around! The holderman missionaries from Phnom Penh brought down the new replacement family and their teacher. It was so refreshing to get together for supper with them! I was looking forward to getting to know the teacher better, but since they’re stuck in town, that hasn’t been able to happen.

James’ (on Alam Board) got out of quarantine three weeks ago. They’ll be here another couple weeks before heading back. Lanita and Friedrich’s just started their two weeks of quarantine on Friday. Friedrich’s committed to 2-3 years of work, so they will be around for a while!

It has been raining a lot the last couple weeks. It rained all night one Saturday, the next morning, the water in the rice field came up a lot! Right along the bank was crawling with worms heading for higher ground. It was amazing how many there were!

Then this last week it rained again, on and off for two days straight! The creek filled up fast! From 2 o’clock to 6ish the water came up close to a foot! The next morning the bridge had water flowing over it.

The bridge became the village hang out spot. I wanted so badly to go over and wade in the water but there was not a minute that there wasn’t people there! It is entertaining watching them though. Someone will drive down to the bridge and see that it has water over it. Then they stop , put their kickstand down and give the moto a good washing, right there in the middle of the bridge, before going on about there day.

Other’s come and park the moto on the side of the road, pull off their shirt and jump into the water, swim a couple minutes, and go on their way.

The water is pretty deep! I decided I was going to swim out to where Dallas and the children were. Half way there, I needed a little breather. Well, It was a lot deeper than what I thought! I could just barely feel the bottom with my tippy toes, and my head barely out of the water!

Other than that life has been pretty much normal. Right now I’m busy teaching the children’s school, Dallas is still going drilling, Austin has been getting Friedrich’s house ready for them, and Dad is busy with some of everything!

Till next time.

Heather for the Helmuths