Phnom Penh Peregrinations

Last week I visited the Blaines! And what a marvellous time it was…. lots of laughing, chatting and drinking coffee. I got to see their lives – where they do language school, where they worship, where they might find ministry partners in the future. We visited Siem Reap – which is more than just an amazing historical site (Angkor Wat etc), but also a potential place they could find themselves working in sometime down the road. And I had a lovely time playing with Clara: she turned 1 while I was there and is just gorgeous – so close to walking and talking… she sings with joy and laughs and climbs and plays with the love of life you would expect from a child of J&S.

Jesse, with his natural affinity for languages coupled with constant application, has made extraordinary progress in speaking Khmer – he seemed to chat effortlessly with all and sundry. It was such fun watching him engaging with locals in various settings. Sarah has her hands very full with Clara, but is also making splendid progress with learning language chatting with her landlady and bartering in the market place- she also got us safely around Phnom Penh and Siem Reap – negotiating and guiding endless tuk-tuk drivers to various destinations! She has made some good friends in a short space of time – it was lovely meeting some of the community of other young moms while I was there!

Life is not all a bed of roses though: they do need prayer for:

1. deeper relationships with friends and neighbors
2. ongoing progress with their language acquisition
3. wisdom as time goes on as to where and with whom to develop ministry partnerships
4. peace in their calling: they are clearly where God wants them, doing his bidding, but it is a faraway, foreign place and its good to get extra reassurance from God from time to time. Pray that he will bless them with an outpouring of his generous grace!

They love emails from home (Sarah@worldorphans.org, jesse@worldorphans.org) – so keep them coming. Life moves so fast sometimes it’s easy to forget to tend relationships which are important to us – let’s make sure that we as a community support the Blaines well.

For their latest news do follow their blog here

And here is a reminder of their departure!