Team Hong Kong: Cambodia/Thailand

Team Hong Kong Newsletter #21
Angkor Wat
May 12, 2008
by Ben Herr

"Pineapple lady!?" (!? indicates a rising vocal tone, contrary to the standard high-then-low tone we would generally apply to a sales call such as "Peanuts! Popcorn!") "Mangos, bananas, cold drinks sir!?"

As you probably already know, the last two weeks we were in Cambodia, to provide child care at the EMM retreat, and Thailand, for our team vacation. During our time in Cambodia, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit Angkor Wat and the temples around it. At each and every entrance to each and every temple, you could hear the voices of people selling fresh fruit and cold drinks (see above) mixed with the more subtle voices of small kids surrounding you, all selling postcards, bracelets, and bags. When all the voices blended together, the resulting sound was as distinctive as the temples.

While we were walking through the temples, which are now sometimes referred to as ruins, I kept wondering what it must have looked like when it was built. The tall towers, structures, and carvings are still impressive, but the plants growing on them, the continual restoration work, and the way trees are slowly pulling parts of one temple apart was a constant reminder that their glory days were long past. Other people who were at the retreat had some similar and some slightly different observations, but they all seemed to zero in on the same thing: Man-made kingdoms come and go; only God's kingdom is eternal.

Praises:
-We had a good time with the kids at the retreat.
-Safety in travel.
-God's protection. In Thailand I was bit by a 6-inch centipede that can sometimes be poisonous/people can have bad allergic reactions to them. I only got two small bumps that went away in a couple of days.

Prayer Requests:
-For renewed focus now that the retreat, which was something we were doing a lot of planning for and looking at as "the next big thing" is over.

Here are some pictures from our trip.