Cambodia’s People

Cambodia was my first third-world country and it was amazing. I loved everything about it, especially the people. I had the opportunity to go to an orphanage while I was there and I would say it was the highlight of my trip. I know what you are thinking, that I got to go see the world’s greatest temples still standing, and I liked an orphanage better. Folks, I am not crazy, this is my passion. I want to live in a third-world country where you have to drink bottled water, where there is no toilet paper, where everyone is striving to put food in their mouths, I want to be there.
One day, I went to the market and didn’t want to walk the twenty minutes back to the guest house, so I took a “tuk tuk,” a taxi that is a cart pulled by a motorcycle. When we got to the guest house, the driver helped me out and saw a picture that I had bought. He asked me how much I paid for it and I said twenty-five dollars. He said that he wanted picture, but could not afford one. Ladies and gentlemen, I paid twenty-five dollars! I could spend $25 at a dinner get-together in one night and he couldn't ever afford it. I wanted to give him my picture, but he said no. I want to give all my money and bless people. I want to build houses, instead of the people sleeping in a hammock. I want to serve.

Anyway, I really want to tell you about this orphanage. I didn’t take any pictures while I was there because I just wanted to interact. I wanted to play with the kids and just have the children feel loved. When I arrived all the children stopped what they were doing and came running to bow to me. This is a “welcome” to the people of Cambodia and they call me a queen because I have money. The children were so cute, the youngest was two years old and the eldest was fifteen. They were all beautiful children of God. I took a tour of all the rooms and buildings. I got to sit in on a kindergarten classroom and then the best part was that I got to play futbol! They saw this as a keep away game; they kept it away from ME…haha, besides one child that greeted me with a huge hug and the ball.

I am sure that I should live in a third-world country. I do not know when, but I know for a fact that at some point, in God’s perfect timing, I will live in a third-world country. I will live in a country where I am a blessing to the people, instead of another number. I will make a difference in my life to a lot of people and I am not going to wait around. I am making a difference in my life starting now!

I love you all,

Cynthia

Greetings from Cambodia!

I just got back from Cambodia, and though I would have loved to experience my first third-world country with my loved ones, the experience was good. The first day there I arrived at 7am only to wait in a two hour line through customs. Once we arrived at our guest-house, Bou Savy Guesthouse, we ate breakfast and headed out to the temples. Our first three temples we visited were called Angkor Thom, Bayon, and Baphuon. Visiting three temples in one day is not something I suggest everyone does. It was very hot and took over five hours to completely tour them all, however, it was worth every second. My favorite temple was Angkor Thom. This temple had so much detail to it and was still standing beautifully. I cannot ever start describe the way I felt standing in these temples. They are one of the most beautiful man-made creations I have ever seen.My second day was more relaxing because the kids were tired from the first day, so we only went to one temple. This temple is the more famous one of all of them, Angkor Watt -- maybe you have heard of it. I was not that impressed with this temple compared to Angkor Thom, but it was still very beautiful. After visiting the temple for about two hours, we jumped back into a Tuk-Tuk and headed for a hotel that had a swimming pool. For the rest of our second day we went swimming and just relaxed.

The third day Mark left to return to Singapore, which meant everyone could sleep in because Mark always woke us up early. Audrey, on the other hand, likes to sleep in so that is what we did! After we woke up at 8am and ate breakfast, we headed toward the temples one last time to visit Ta Prohm. You may have heard this name before as well if you are a Tomb Raiders fan because the first movie was filmed at Ta Prohm. This temple is also sweet because it is in the middle of a jungle. The jungle has literally moved into the temple. There are tree that are on top of the temple walls and there are trees that have planted themselves right in the middle of the temple hallways. It is amazing to be able to walk through a temple that has been taken over by the jungle!

I wanted to write one journal about the temples and my next one will be about the other things we did and about the people of Cambodia. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Next time you all are over in Asia most definitely stop by the Angkor temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

This week I would like to challenge you to look around outside at what God has created…thank Him for that. When you look at nature, you get a small glimpse at how beautiful God really is.

I love you all,

Cynthia

Experiencing Singapore

So a ghetto friend of mine, A-dogg, said that I should update you on my life, so…here goes! ONE, my computer is fixed! Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow. It was quite the process, but it is finally working. Next order of business is my weekend. On Friday I went out with the middle school teachers to a going away party. This party was fun at first when everyone was talking and having a good time, but then everyone started drinking and talked about dumb stuff. They would bring up topics that I could not relate to and everyone had someone to talk to, but I didn’t because I am new! So most of the time I sat there and read a book, while laughing at the drunken people who kept on saying the F word. How exciting.

On Saturday I went to a softball game, worked on some homework, and went for a bike ride. Sunday was the first day I would go to church in Singapore with Mandy, a friend of Ivory’s back in the States. Since church did not start until 2:30pm we went downtown and eat some lunch before heading to church. Mandy is a wonderful sister and treats me well. She introduced me to Singapore by eating their food and seeing the sights.

The church is called New Creation Church and is quite charismatic. The teaching was on tongues and it was…in the best word, interesting. Some of the things the pastor said were good and others were completely false doctrine. It was good to get to worship in church and to have that back into my life as far as music goes.

After church, Mandy, Tim, and I went out on the town! We walked everywhere including the music theater. It was pretty sweet inside and outside and there were a bunch of little bands playing their stuff and trying to get money.

We also walked to the Merloin, which is Singapore's masticate. It is half mermaid and half lion -- it was pretty cool! Most of the day we just walked around and saw all the sweet buildings that Singapore has and saw a little history. This is all for now, hope you enjoy the update and pictures! I love you all very much.

Seeking His Reason,

Cynthia

Computer Heaven?

Hi friends....this is Breana, Cynthia's best friend/roommate/blog updater. haha. Cynthia's hard-drive on her computer crashed on Sunday, so if you've noticed a lack of communication lately, that's why. It's been a stressful last few days trying to figure things out with Cornerstone in order to get her a new hard-drive. It's obviously difficult figuring things out from the other side of the world, so your prayers would be greatly appreciated. Cynthia has to have her computer during her time in Singapore to complete her online classes, to turn in lesson plans and journals to her supervisor here at Cornerstone, and also to be able to communicate with friends and family. We have a friend from church, Rick, who actually arrived in Singapore last night and will be meeting up with her and doing his best to help her fix the computer. Praise God for his provisions already. Continue lifting up our sister to God in prayer. She needs and appreciates your love and support.

Blessings,
Breana

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” - Deuteronomy 7:9

One week down. . .nine to go!

I made it!!!!! My first week of teaching is over! I just want to say, as far as teaching goes, it was not hard AT all. Like I said in my first post, these kids are well behaved and the school is one of the best in the world. The biggest discipline problem is the type of shoes the students wear. Every school in Singapore has to have a uniform and every uniform has to be different according to the school. Here at SAS, it is a white collared SAS shirt with blue bottoms. The students can wear any kind of bottoms -- skirts, pants, or shorts. I don’t know the rule about shoes, but I know that there is one. I came to find this information out when I went into one of the Head Master's office and saw a whole book shelf full of Crocs. I asked him what they were for and he said, "Well, when the students don’t have the right shoes on, they have to wear these." I was thinking to myself I would never wear the same shoes again, that way I could wear them all the time!

The school has about 1,100 students in the high school with about 100 students in the special education program. Here, the special education program is called “guided learning,” therefore I teach guided learning. I teach five classes -- three are study skills and two are English 9 classes. My students are sweet and from all over the world. Everyone has a different accent and you sure can tell when a student is from Texas because of the Deep Southern accent (plus they are loud and proud like Texans). When I went out with a couple of new teachers this weekend they said that the students have been asking where I was; the teachers said that I made an impact on their lives already!

Let me tell you a little about the SAS high school. First, the whole school is outside. There are birds, plants, bugs, and snails all over the place. I walk outside my classroom door and I am outside in the beautiful sunshine. I guess this is how most schools are in the world besides in the US, but its new to me and I LOVE it. Another good thing about this school is that it has every course you would ever want to take. Honestly, you name it we have it. Just comment and name a course and I am sure we have it. We have six different dance classes, eleven different theater classes, every band class you can think of, and over fifteen different language classes. I call this place every teacher’s heaven. I think this is as close as a teacher gets to heaven in this school, but on the other hand I think that my teaching abilities need to be elsewhere. I feel called to somewhere that they need great teachers and don't necessary have them. At SAS, they have teachers with Doctorates begging for a job. We have many teachers at SAS that have their Doctorates, which is crazy because they could be teaching at a University or something. Oh yes! I almost forgot, there are four different cafés for the high school alone, including a Subway! The school is very friendly and everyone always stops and talks to everyone. It has great community that I think Cornerstone would love, and maybe even learn from.

That is all for now, my family! I must go work on some homework on this beautiful Sunday! God Bless you all. Know that I love you all very much and pray for you often.

“Who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.”- 2 Timothy 1:9

Learning that Christ is Victor,

Cynthia

Singapore! Singapore! Singapore!

The picture above is my host family's house and my home for the next ten weeks. The mom, Audrey, and the dad, Mark, both work at the Singapore American School where I teach. They have two kids -- Daryn, their youngest daughter who is 11, and Kyle, their 13 year old son. The family loves to be active and sports are a part of their everyday routine. It is an interesting household in that no one gets home until five because of sports, and on the days that they don’t have sports, they are awake at seven in the morning to play basketball and shoot around outside. Every day is filled with a sport or with running.

They are a good family and are very well off! HA. The house is beautiful and has mostly marble walls and floors. There are five bedrooms and four bathrooms; I have my own bedroom and share a bathroom with Daryn. Having my own room is hard for me because I hate being alone. It's hard being in a place where my love languages aren't being met. Regardless, the house is very nice and it's quite convenient seeing at I live two minutes from the school. Another great advantage of living in this house is that it is only about seven minutes from the train station. This is a wonderful advantage because the train is the cheapest way to get around the island and the mostly widely used means of transportation. God has really blessed me with quality living arrangements.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and the update. I am truly blessed to live in this beautiful home and in this beautiful country. Addie, our maid, spoils me! I can count always having my clothes washed and ironed and I can count on having my meals cooked everyday, three times a day. It's such a blessing.

I believe that is all for now. I am thanking God for providing and trusting He is doing the same for you all. I love you all very much. Thank you for the prayers and love -- I need them both greatly while I am here.

Blessings,
Cynthia

Asking for a Miracle

I have one prayer request not for myself, but for our maid, Addie. She is from the Philippines, but has been a maid in Singapore for 16 years. She has been away from her family for 16 years; she has 5 children -- 4 girls and one boy. She never got to see them grow up because she had to come to Singapore and make a living to support her family. Now her husband is deathly ill and has to stop teaching. Addie went back home two months ago to see her husband and to get him medical help. She borrowed 2 years of salary from my host family in order to pay for the medical help. So, Addie is here in Singapore working for a family 24 hours a day 6 days a week for nothing. She has to work two years to pay off her debt. I was talking to Audrey, my host "mom" if you will, and she said that they can afford to cut her debt in half. That is still really sad. I was talking to Addie today and she said that her husband was only making 3,600 US dollars a year for teaching so they have lived a poor life. I want you to pray that God works through my sinful self and shows my host family the Lord. I want you to pray that Addie is provided for. I want you to pray that my host family shows Addie complete favor and forgives her debt completely. Our LORD is great and he can do anything. I believe He can and will do this for Addie.

Ok, I love you all very much. Thank you for the prayers, thank you for the love, and thank you for being yourself! Seek the Lord with everything you do!

Pinagbelae,
(blessings, in Tagalog, which is what Addie speaks)

Cynthia