Day 13 - Thursday 14th December

A flight to Siem Reap, not surprisingly, involved us going to Phnom Penh airport. This was absolutely crowded and we had great difficulty getting in. Once through the melee we discovered the congestion was being caused by a huge group of several hundred muslim Cambodians in their best clothes who had all come to see off a few elderly folk. Unfortunately the entrance to the departure lounge is via a set of escalators and it became apparent that none of them had ever been on a moving staircase before. They were therefore approaching it one at a time. Each person would wait for the person already on the escalator to reach the top and get off before starting to think about how they may consider venturing on to such a complex piece of technological equipment. The whole process therefore taking about 5 minutes per person.

Once in Siem Reap we checked into our air conditioned, marble bathroomed luxury hotel, complete with swimming pool etc and confirmed the price - £8.25 each including breakfast. We stuck with the whole tourist thing, hired an air conditioned minibus taxi for the day (£2.50 each) and set off to do the temples. These are big and fascinating if you like that sort of thing - lots of old carved stones put together in an amusing way. The best news is that the highest of the temples was never finished as each time it got to a certain height it was struck by lightening and had to be rebuilt. Apparently they did this three times before they finally got the message and abandoned it. You are supposed to spend about three days looking around the temples - we managed three hours before we finally all got bored and abandoned ourselves to the hotel swimming pool and the waiter who could not get to grips with the concept of a starter and a main course.

No doubt there will be more shopping tomorrow - then we start the journey home

Day 12 - Wednesday 12th December

Last day of our team today. Sadly we said goodbye to the guys we have been teaching English to & doing bible studies with. During the afternoon we ran our second and final youth cell, focusing on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This included a panel style question time of how do you receive prophecy, tongues, healing etc. The panel was made up of Simon, Emma and Andrew. Simon and Andrew were predictably boring and long winded. Emma however, revealed a rarely seen side of her spiritual character and explained her process of working through dreams that she has had and believes are form God. Andrew & Simon of course had no idea! We were also able to spend some final time with Steve and Midge and Andrew was in his element opining on the pitfalls and joys of church planting - they said it was helpful, but quite honestly Andrew would probably have carried on anyway.

So sad were we at saying goodbye we didn't remember to take any photos! Two days off now before flying home on Saturday

Day 11 - Tuesday 11th December

We did some hard work today - English lessons, DIY, Bible study and Andrew lead a team meeting for the Cambodian church leadership team, focusing on the ultimate purpose of the church and our need to be committed to this in church planting situations and not allow ourselves to be distracted by other ties that do not build the church no matter how worthwhile they are.

Whist Andrew sweated over the preparation of this message, having of course spent many hours in prayer, the girls went off and got their toe nails done! In the evening we went for a boat ride on the river followed by a meal in the most bizarre restaurant built on stilts above a small lake. After we had ordered our food we were approached by local traders to purchase various items. The obligatory single rose, of course, followed by a man offering us a raw potato, a lady offering us something wrapped up in a banana leaf, and the local representative of "The book club" trying to flog us copies of "The medical encyclopaedia" and other strange titles. The wine list consisted of a coloured post card with a picture of an exotic lady on and hidden in the background was a picture of the wine bottle. The beer range was also chosen by looking at a postcard of a bottle of Bud. We managed to upset the lady by refusing such offerings and insisting on the local beer which is both cheaper and much more pleasant than the American stuff.

Day 10 - Monday 10th December

I remembered this morning that I forgot to mention the frogs legs that Andrew and Rochelle decided to have for dinner the other evening – lovely but the bones are a bit of a pain to pick out of your teeth. We had a day off today, which meant going back to the Russian Market to spend our dollars on local goods. Hot, slow and crowded – bit like most shopping really. The girls decided to take themselves off to a spa for a pampering session during the afternoon, Simon wanted to do yet more shopping, so I retreated to the coffee shop and spent the afternoon there. As a consequence no photos were taken and no work completed – so quite a short blog for today!

Day 9 - Sunday 9th December

An incredibly busy but exciting day today. Andrew went to the Olympic Stadium at 6:30am to find the place crowded with groups playing football, doing aerobics and eating breakfasts. They clearly have no concept of “This is my day off, therefore I need a lie – in” - must be a Western disease designed to make us think that 10:30am on a Sunday morning is very early and we are real martyrs to the cause.

We were at the church building by 8am to pray and we ran a guest service from 9am – 10:30. There seemed to be quite a few Cambodian guests at the meeting. Andrew led worship, with all songs being sung in Khmer. The children sang a song and our team did a quick mime drama. Simon preached and we were once again able to pray for the sick. One middle aged lady had been suffering for some time with painful knees. After prayer she said that the pain had gone instantly and she was able to bend them totally free of the pain she had been feeling just minutes earlier. We also prayed for a lady in her very early thirties. She has AIDS and lost her husband a few months ago to the sickness. She has four children, two of whom also have AIDS. Immediately following the meeting we had a party and this lady was enthusiastically teaching the whole church a party game that had everybody laughing.

During the afternoon we held a party for over 40 children from the slum village. These children were great fun to be with. Most were dressed up in their best clothes. Once again we acted out a small drama to illustrate a story that was being told. Hence Emma and Rochelle's acting abilities have grown considerably this week! The children made party hats for a hat parade and every single one of them wanted there photo taken at least three times each. All in all it has been a thoroughly worthwhile day.

Day 8 - Saturday 8th December

Last night we celebrated a minor milestone – we have been here a week and nobody has managed to fall out with anybody yet. We also had another minor milestone – nearly 3 minutes of rain, the only vaguely inclement weather since leaving Heathrow. Unfortunately we have also had our first case of minor illness, with Becci succumbing to a slight stomach upset.

A half day off today, so following a powerhouse style prayer meeting at the church building, Andrew, Emma and Rochelle have played tourists – lunch at the Foreign Correspondents Club followed by a tour of the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda – ornate buildings (think “The Last Emperor” and strange Buddhist / Hindu temples (think “I will serve no foreign gods ...”). All under a hot sun requiring tea and smoothies in the colonial style Java Café.

Day 7 - Friday 7th December

The daytime activities continued in the same pattern as the last couple of days – decorating, Bible study, English lessons, and running the village kids club. It's wedding day today and tomorrow. This seems to involve erecting a large, brightly coloured marquee in the middle of the street totally blocking it to all traffic and playing music as loudly as possible for as long as possible. When I say music I use the term very loosely. One such marquee has been placed directly outside Savath's house thus Simon and Andrew had to walk right through the middle of it in order to get inside the house – very strange.

Becci's English lessons are becoming more ambitious. Today she decided to tackle positional language and the present perfect tense (whatever that is). This appears to involve building an obstacle course from upside chairs and tables and students wandering around it with their eyes closed. I'm not really sure how this helps, it all seems a long way from my school days.