Cambodia - Day 6 and 7 - Youth Camp

I missed a day of writing but that's ok as we simply traveled from one city to the next for our next project. The only interesting thing of the day was a stop for lunch where for some reason someone ordered the "bug soup". It was the nastiest looking stuff. Literally had ants and winged mango flies in it. About the size of a small bee. Reports from those brave enough to try it said "Uh, it's an acquired taste." Translation, gross. Someone said it actually tasted like urine. I felt no need to try it.

We are at the beach in Sihanoukville in a hotel with 250 youth that have traveled from all over the country to come participate in the youth camp. It was a crazy, hot, long day yesterday as we traveled and then checked in all the kids. It was chaotic to say the least and our team was a bit on edge last night and this morning. When we got here, the hotel left a little to be desired, some of the rooms not being adequate for sleeping in (at least to our standards). And on top of that, Setan got a call that an extra couple hundred kids were coming on the bus hoping to be able to stay at the camp even though they had not paid or registered. We would need to weed thru and only let the ones registered into the camp. There was sure to be heart braking tears as we turned away kids that shouldn't be there. Each kid had to bring a preregistration paper with a picture of themselves. Everyone that came had to pay $20. That's a lot of money for them. Anyway, as people arrived we had two lines of defense with registration. The Cambodian leaders had to ensure each child had actually registered and take their payment and then we had to get them room assignments and colored bands for teams/games later.

It's not quite like in the states, kids don't really know how to make a line and stay in line and we can't talk to them without a translator and well, you know it worked itself out. But after the first round of kids was checked in we had a little chapel time and made smores (that was interesting to explain to the kids who had never seen marshmallows). Then we got report that 2 of the buses coming had broken down and the kids were stranded. So later that night another hundred or so kids arrived. I got a bit of heat exhaustion and had to go to bed early so left the hard work to the others and passed out in my room. I think I was still processing the stories of the ladies at the women's center. I was lightheaded and nauseated. Nothing a good night's rest didn't fix. But there was also a bit of a spiritual oppression felt by everyone (whether they realized it or not) to kick off the camp so this morning I really had to pray. And God's mercies are new every morning so we cleared the pathway for a great day today.

Randa got pretty seriously sick last night as well. Fortunately we had a nurse on the team that recognized what was wrong with her and was able to get the right medications. God took care of all the details. She has been resting all day and hopefully will be up and around tomorrow a little bit.

Events of the day...chapels, games, small groups, swimming, more swimming at the beach, more chapel time, more small groups, more games. The kids looked exhausted, I am exhausted. So until tomorrow...more of the same.