A brief goodbye! Carman and Twyla have left the team for a brief window, but will return! The two are preparing for their lengthy trip to Cambodia as English teachers. Pray for them as they pack up and prepare. They will be rejoining the team within the week.
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Note to self: if tasked with blogging about a road trip, one should try to stay awake to notice what is occurring during said road trip.
I am embarrassed to admit that I slept through the bus ride from La Crête to Peace River. I am even more embarrassed to admit that I frequently snored myself awake before falling back asleep, which Sreyna teased me about. We have all settled into specific parts of the bus, and Sreyna sits across from me. She has come out of her shell, and is now comfortable enough to harass me. She often sleeps in a curled up position which she insists to me is comfortable.
Everyone seems to have a set pattern of behaviour during the long bus rides. Sokthon and Andet are usually using their phones or tablets. Shelly is often crunching numbers or answering e-mails. Sarah and Thavin interact with the kids. Blaine is often working out logistics with someone, primarily with Robb the bus driver, or with Marie if she is awake, since she mostly rests (which she deserves). The kids split their time between sleeping, goofing off, or watching the television screens on the bus. If a song breaks out, all of the children sing it. I switch between napping, playing on my Nintendo Switch, or watching the TV screens.
The two most experienced Canadian Rescue employees.
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Our arrival at Peace River Alliance Church saw us have quite a bit of time to set up. The kids got very hyper as they helped, with frequent requests to slow down being made by the adults. I, at one point, had to act as a bathroom monitor, as the boys seemed to be treating it more like a playground than a restroom. I had to pull a few of them out by their collars which led to cries of "Adam, no!". Apparently using liters of water and entire soap dispensers to wash their hands is something that I overreacted to. Go figure.
Apparently a similar situation occurred with the girls. A significant amount of unused toilet paper was stuffed into a garbage bin, which the girls found to be a non-issue. Marie had to give them a lecture on needless waste and being a good guest, which seemed to make the girls rather sheepish.
At one point during play, the kids remembered that Blaine and Shelly are my parents. This proved unfortunate for me, as they began to request that Blaine punish me whenever I harassed one of them, and they would also seek out Shelly to tattle. Blaine acted along and smacked my hand with a stir stick which earned a large amount of laughter. Now, every time I wrestle with the boys I am met with calls of, "Mom, Shelly!".
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The performance at Peace River Alliance was a more intimate one. While not as small as the Baptist church in Golden, the Peace River church was one of the smaller venues on our tour. It must be noted that a small church is not a bad thing: we would take a small audience that donates charitably over a large audience that withholds their wealth. Based off the early interactions I saw between the team and the Peace River audience, I knew that they would be a charitable group.
Speaking of early interactions, the boys decided to act as greeters for the event. Rather than staying in the foyer, they would run out to the parking lot to greet people as they left their vehicles. Shelly and I were laughing pretty hard at that.
The layout of the church meant that the kids would have to enter from behind the audience. This meant Shelly had to be on standby, as the kids are notorious for not being quiet in the minute they spend waiting for their cue. As is typical of kids their age around the world, volume control is something that takes time to master. I am positive that the audience heard chatter behind them followed by a shushing.
The event went smoothly, with one blooper occurring during the candle dance, which can be seen on the video. Lin got a little carried away with her movements, which caused her candle to fall to the floor. The girls all looking in sync towards the noise is a humorous sight. The dance carried on as if nothing had happened.
After the performance, the people of Peace River helped us pass our goal of 90 new sponsors. Granted, we only needed two more sponsors to meet the goal, but Peace River bears the honor of being the church to do it! Possible new goals are being discussed, but nothing has been set in stone as of yet. The marketplace was also rather busy, leading to several purchases going towards Rescue.
The billeting situation that night was special, as the boys all spent the night at the same guesthouse. The location of the guesthouse was 40 minutes away from the church and because of the sheer amount of people being billeted, Robb drove all of the boys (along with Blaine and Shelly) to their destination. All six boys chose to clamor together at the front of the bus, all of them very close to Robb. They proceeded to bellow out a variety of worship songs in their native Khmer. The entire experience was rather incredible, as they did so completely of their own volition.
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The morning at the guesthouse was pretty interesting. It felt like I got a glimpse of what life at Rescue is like, as the boys all ate breakfast together and got packed. Normally I would only see Kapriel and Yusvae, as they are the two boys I chaperone for billeting. Blaine and Shelly were able to snap some good photos of the breakfast.
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The takedown process at Peace River. Leah tattled on me to Shelly when I gave Vesnae a playful slap.
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The trip from Peace River to Muir Lake was a long one. The Incredibles and How to Train Your Dragon 2 were both watched, which are both slightly more mature kids films, but the kids thoroughly enjoyed them both. We stopped at a rest area for a picnic, as the kids seem to prefer eating outside rather than on the bus. I'm sure it all looked rather strange from an outside perspective. We treated the team to Dairy Queen dilly bars for dessert, which I was scared the kids would not enjoy. Thankfully, they did.
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When we arrived at Muir Lake Community Alliance Church, the billets arrived very quickly. I ended up going with my parents while the rest of the boys went to a single location which would billet them all, and the girls were split up among billets. I am currently in the process of getting photos of what the boys got up to during their visit. I did not have access to wi-fi during my stay with the billets which gave me time to reflect on the trip so far. I realized that I need to start doing interviews with the team to add more content to the blog. It should be an interesting experiment!
God bless & Jesus saves.
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Sorry about the low amount of photos for this entry.
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