First Day of Camp

Kim and John getting water from our many water jugs

English camp started today with a million things going wrong. Due to mis-communication we had no guitar with which to lead worship. During the singing of one of the songs in the English camp book, we noticed that instead of turning the page for the rest of the words, you needed to turn two pages. We had two microphones, but one of them was not working.  We had a couple people willing to help lead worship, but they weren't confident enough to be the only one on the microphone, which left me leading worship. So I was holding the microphone and holding up the book, pointing to the pages to help the students see where to go to see the rest of the song. To top it all off we ran out of drinking water which is vital during such hot days.

Despite all of that today was a success! I must give credit to all of the short-termers who have come from the United States and Canada because they jumped right in and make camp work even with all the problems!  During the main time together, every short-termer was engaged with their students and enthusiastic when it came to the competition.  The testimonies were terrific and the devotional on Moses was right on. God made everything work out for good!  Then during the break out teaching times, each teaching team did something different, but all engaged the students in learning English!  I was talking with one of our field workers who told me that one of the students was telling her that this camp was great and it is just the first day.

So what did the first day of English camp look like? Well, at 7:30 all the short-termers and some of those working here had breakfast together.  Today we had something like pancit (for my Filipino friends), a noodle dish with meat and some veggies. Then at 8:30 camp started with our main time together.  After the breakfast tables were put away, chairs were set up for students to sit in.  All of this is being done in what looks like a one car driveway.  In this driveway we fit 6 plastic chairs in each row with an aisle in the middle with close to 100 students. We sang some songs, had a bread eating competition, which the yellow team lost. That reminds me, we had the students divided into five teams, red, blue, green, yellow, and chocolate. Pam and my daugher, Leanne were the first to share their testimonies.  Both did a terrific job! At the end of our main time together, Caitlin gave a devotional on Moses that was concrete, focusing on trusting God.  She did a great job bringing it to the level of the Cambodian students, including comparing the red sea to the Mekong river.  Then we separated into teaching team for team teaching.  Each team has 6-7 short-term teachers and 21-29 Cambodian students. The teams engage the students in learning English in a variety of fun ways. Then lunch.

Each day during English camp we have a teaching time like I explained above followed by a field trip in the afternoon. Today's field trip was touring the King's palace. The field trips give the teachers and students the opportunity to continue developing relationships while engaging in real-life English conversations. The students get to practice carring on conversations with English speakers as they tour or do whatever the field trip has in store.