Carry on Cambodia (21/08/10)

Dear one and all,

Greetings, not from Phnom Penh just yet (the photo's just a trick!) but the wonderful Isle of Wight. As some of you may have noticed, I'm still here and it's a few months til I return so I just wanted to write to let you know what's been happening and what's afoot...........

Backtracking............. Well, since I landed in April I've been keeping busy visiting friends in Hull (where I used to live) and doing some youth work there, catching up with all things World Horizons at the mission base in Llanelli, spending time with family here on the island and in Somerset and more recently, working with kids in Shanklin and Newport at the YMCA Summer Day Camps.

Looking forward......... My next steps are a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course in Southampton (4th-5th Sept) and then from mid Sept to mid Oct, doing some training back in Llanelli. As well as updating my WH training from many moons ago, it'll be a great chance to re-connect with people I used to work with back in the 90s and get to know some new folk too. Then it's final visits to Somerset and Hull before coming back to the Isle of Wight for my last week on UK soil for at least a year. Last week-end I booked my flight so I'll be off for definite now on Weds 3rd Nov.

Once I'm back in Phnom Penh I'll be living with some young Cambodian friends who've recently moved from the orphanage (CFC) to a place nearer the city centre. It's a two-way arrangement really, with me staying there as a support to them as they adjust to life beyond CFC and them helping me learn Khmer (the Cambodian language) and adjust to my new Cambodian life. I'm also hoping to pick up some paid work teaching English and continue doing creative projects with CFC, both at the orphanage and where I'll be living.

Reasons to be thankful, 1, 2, 3.......... First of all, it's been great to have been working this summer and been able to pay my flight already. Thank you God!! What's been especially helpful, as a taste of things to come maybe, has been working with people about the same age as the girls I'll be living and working with in Phnom Penh (late teens-early 20s). And all I can say of my colleagues (as they often quote me on) is "I'm so impressed! I'm so impressed!" as they all do such a brilliant job. Here's hoping for a similar rapport in Phnom Penh.

Secondly I've so enjoyed seeing friends and family across the country and sharing about Cambodia with them and hearing their stories too. Just in these past few months it feels like things have been strengthened with different people in different places for different reasons and home for me is in each one in a different way. So I'm thankful for the deeper sense of rootedness this has brought and am praying for it to continue over the next few months.

Thirdly being at St Paul's for a longer time has been great just to be part of things and part of what God's doing among us. My personal highlights have been chatting over coffee at the end of the service, sharing about Cambodia with the kids, usually crying at some point during the worship and learning so much more about Israel and our Jewish roots. For me it's brought my understanding of God and the Scriptures alive again and it's like I'm on a whole new journey with the LORD and in my faith now. So thanks for all of that and for the love and support I've received since I've been back. It's been great. St Paul's is a very special place!

The end bit......... Well, that's it for now. I'll be around a few more Sundays before I leave to go to Llanelli so hopefully there'll be some time for a coffee and a chat. Please talk to me if you've read this and you see me after the service! It'll be good to hear your news too. These blog things are far too one-sided for my liking! And if I don't see you, I'll be back from the 25th-31st Oct so maybe then.

Anyway, bye for now. Better get to sleep as it's church in the morning :-)

Big Shalom,

Fiona X