UPG of the Day

Vietnam Cambodia Team Photos

The team with ate Eva at the Sapaco ticket booth (Vietnam)

Lyqa, Nicey, Didi, Abby, and Gio at the Independence Palace

Notre Dame Cathedral

Redsun Hotel at Vietnam with our friendly hotel staff

Cao Dai Temple

The team with Tita Elvie

The Team at Angkor Wat

Royal Palace

Island Park

Tuk-tuk ride to Kenswey

The team with Lola Minda at the Mekong River

Fafa Fruit Juice

Cambodia's Fafa Fruit Juice really rocked our world. It was SUPER sweet, so we had to assume that the sugar content of that drink is up in the clouds. This is the first of a series of videos that we made while under the influence of Fafa's sugar high.

Sunday Ministry in Kensvey, Cambodia - Lyqa

We had our long-awaited ministerial opportunity in Cambodia in Kensvey. Though we weren't really prepared with a lesson because we really didn't expect it, God made a way for us to be able to teach and have fun with the kids. These are some of the stuff that happened.

Khmer-translated Sunday School story

Since it was an impromptu thing, I had to pull out a lesson pretty quick. Because all of them were pretty small kids, I decided to go with David's story. Reaksmey was my translator and I could tell that he was telling the story better than me because he spoke with full emotion and may actions pa!

This is how it went.



David and Goliath skit starring Chara! :D

To make sure that they knew and understood the story well, we had a skit. The funny thing was that our volunteer was a girl, Chara. It became an almost all-girl skit because the only guy in it was Gio-liath. :)

The whole team joined the skit. It was good that they were all game about being in the video.







After the skit, we taught them the game Bahay-Baboy-Bagyo (House-Pig-Storm) or Pteah-Chooroo-Sharpshoo in Khmer. The kids had fun. We're just not sure about who enjoyed it the most, the Khmer or us.



Didi also taught the children the song, "My God Is So Big" which went well with the lesson. The kids did their best to try to learn the song in English.



Overall, it was such a great experience. Jesus really loves the little children, all the children of the world. :) The fact that their teacher was male was also a revelation. How Reaksmey "Kulit" handled the kids was something I enjoyed watching. He had the boys following him and trying to behave. I hope that more boys will consider teaching kids as their ministry.

Please pray...

• that the Kids Ministry in Kensvey and in other parts of Cambodia will continue to grow,
• that God will call more people to serve in the ministry,
• that the current teacher/s like Reaksmey will not grow tired of giving their time to these kids, and
  
• that the kids will continue to grow in the faith and be ready to commit their lives fully to God.
  

VLog 002: Ultimate Shopping Experience --Dee

Before leaving for this trip to Viet-Cam, I had absolutely NO CARE about how much pocket money I was gonna bring. Actually, I was even debating in my mind if I should ask for money from my dad or not. (I still did, though. Hehe.) But when it was time to go to the market on our second (or was it third?) day at Phnom Pehn, I was sooooo glad that I had a pretty good amount of spending power, since a lot of other people gave me dollahs as well. (THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D)

Fortunately for us--and all the other visitors who stay with Tita Elvie, for that matter--the mission house is just a stone's throw away from the Russian Market, which Lyqa said is the counterpart of our Divisoria. It's the ultimate spot for buying souvenirs and other local stuff. It's tourist-shopping heaven.

We were briefed by Tita Elvie about shopping. She said we had to go to 50% off right away, because usually sobrang taas daw talaga ng patong, especially for foreigners. The funny thing is, the locals can tell if the customer is Pinoy. How? It's kinda nakakahiya, but it is true, nonetheless: Mahilig daw kasi tumawad. What's worse, BARAT! But even then, they still like Filipinos.


Off we went, armed with lotsa dollahs to spend and bargaining powers to help us get far with our AMMOney. Tita Elvie didn't go with us at first so we had to find our way around the market, looking around for bags, shoes, shirts, and trinkets to bring back home to our loved ones.

I was just thinking about getting gifts for my family and some friends, especially those whom I know have prayed and are praying for me, and those who helped me pay for that trip. I bought wallets, key chains, fans, shirts, and some stuff for myself since I was kinda running out of clothes. For some of us, a lot of people back home asked them to buy stuff for them, so they really had to get those things. (You should see Ate Tess' shopping list for that! LOL.) Like, for Nicey, it was a silk placemat for her tita and a certain kind of shoe for her lola. What's hard also is that there's really a lot of people you want to give to, but we were all worrying about going over the baggage weight limit, so we had to pick who really was worth having the extra kilos for.

So we bargained with everything that we had. Here are some of the stuff we got.
MALETA: $17 (original price: $22)
SHIRTS: $1.25-1.50.
TRINKETS: $1 per package (keychains, bookmarks, etc).
FANS: $0.50-1.00 each. $1 is too expensive already for that.
"BRANDED" BACKPACKS: (small, heavy duty) $5 from $7 / (large, heavy duty) $9 from $12 / (regular school bag) $7 from $9
SQUARE PANTS: $3-4 each


Personally, I don't want to find out how much I actually spent that day. But a wise traveler keeps track of the money he has and the money he spends, right? Mahirap na ang mag-over budget. I recorded everything I bought on my notebook so that everything is accounted for. Also, never go around the market acting like you want everybody to know you're not from there. Chances are, if you're like that, they won't believe that you don't have enough money to buy stuff at their original price. because Cambodians think all foreigners, including Filipinos, are rich. :)) As for the bargaining, our technique was this:

1. Ask for the price.
2. Chop off 50% right away, within reason. NEVER get anything at their initial price.
3. If the vendor doesn't agree with your bargain, walk away. He'll come running and shouting, "OK! OK! I give you that! Best price!"
4. Buy it, give him a huge smile, and chit-chat. Then you'll be "fren-fren" (friend-friend).

It's good to go shopping with a local or a friend who's been living in the area for a long time so that you can make sure if the price is right for the item, and also so they can show you where to get the best stuff for the best prices. Tita Elvie was the one who brought us to the shirt store where she always brings visitors. In Tagalog, suki na siya dun. So we were able to buy a lot from there.


After all the walking around the hot, noisy place, we were tired but happy. Nicey and I concluded the experience with this statement: "I've never shopped like this before!" (For me, that's because I've never really had enough money to shop for that much before. Hehe.)



So now, all I know is that I still have some dollahs left, a few kilos added to my 8-something kilo-luggage (the limit is 15 for check-in and 7 for carry-on), and I'm looking forward to those smiles when I hand over the gifts I bought from Cambodia. (I hope I was able to buy enough! *bites nails*)

One Short Day

Island Park was so beautiful that it was the perfect place to shoot One Short Day by Wicked. This place was across a bridge where 300 people died because of fear that the suspension bridge would fall during a pagoda parade. We prayed that the people would realize that their allegiance is to idols and find Jesus.

This is the video. Click here.

Music

Yup. We spent our money buying traditional musical instruments from Vietnam and Cambodia. We've been practicing since we got them. This is how far we've gotten. Enjoy!

Justin Beiber's Baby




Lady G's Pokerface