Cambodia Missions Trip

For a long time now I have felt God calling me to Asia.  I was able to answer the call recently by going to Cambodia.  As most of you know my family and I traveled there in 2010. This second trip to Cambodia with the Grace Christian mission team changed my life.

           We landed in Cambodia after fifteen hours of flying pan-pacific.  As I looked out the window on our final approach I had a surge of adrenaline and excitement. I was back in Cambodia.  I couldn’t believe that I was back in one of my favorite places in the entire world.  We stayed in Phnom Penh for a few days to acclimate to the culture and time change.  While there, the team and I toured the city and visited some temples.  At the central temple, Wat Phnom, two Buddhists monks came over to us and wanted to practice English.  Mrs. Bouman and I were amazed that the monks approached us and started to talk to us. We were amazed because monks rarely talk to foreigners.  I thought that was a cool way of God introducing the team to Cambodia.

            After spending time in Phnom Penh we drove south to Sihanoukville and the orphanage where we would be teaching.  I had no idea what to expect, mostly because I had never really been around orphans or been in that kind of environment.  As we stepped out of the bus, little Khmer kids came running towards us.  I was immediately engulfed with kids pulling on my arms and screaming in Khmer.  After things settled down we had a little futbol (soccer) match. It was team Alaska versus team Cambodia. We thought it was going to be a fair matched game but the Cambodians basically destroyed us. It was still a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we went to Church in Sihanoukville.  All of the songs were in Khmer but I could still feel the presence of God there.  When the preacher started to speak a huge monsoon storm blew out the power.  Still the pastor continued with his sermon while God showed his power outside, pouring down sheets of rain onto the little church.

When the school week started the team and I went to our designated classrooms to teach. I thought teaching English would always be easy, just sit down and start talking.  Oh no.  Since they know hardly any English you have to talk about .01 mph, it’s slow and very testing.  I explained the game to the kids but all I got was a bunch of blank faces.  At some point patience is rewarding and after three days the kids started to understand what I was saying. After school was over I would hang out with the kids at the orphanage. It’s amazing how joyful they are.  A lot of these kids come from horrible backgrounds yet they still have an ever-present joy radiating from them. Sadly the week came to a close. I was surprised how hard it was to say goodbye to the kids I befriended. I didn’t expect to become so close to them as I did in just a week. Two of them wrote me cards and about a half dozen more gave me bracelets they made. I can’t remember how many hugs I received or the number sad faces I saw.  As we loaded up into our shuttles all of the kids ran alongside us to the end of the drive way and then waved a last goodbye.

            From Sihanoukville we flew to Siem Reap. We went to Angkor Wat, Tonle Sap, and a boarding house for kids who come into Siem Reap for school. I have been to Siem Reap before but it was still amazing to see everything for a second time.  After Siem Reap everything was a whirlwind.  One and a half days back in Phnom Penh, three days in Takeo and then back to Phnom Penh to catch our flight.  Our last stop was Takeo, a small town about 25 miles from the Vietnamese border.  There we taught English at a Church and a village school a half hour outside of Takeo.  By the time I was done teaching, I was so exhausted I didn’t even want to say, “Hello my name is Taylor, what’s yours?” to a single soul. At the same time I was sad that we were leaving Cambodia and all of my new friends.

            As I stepped up to the customs counter, in Seattle, I had a flashback of everything that happened half a world away. It was bittersweet, bitter that I had to leave, but sweet that I was home. I’m already excited to go back next year.

Colorado Trip

Harvard, Massachusetts

Breakfast by Sean McLaughlin

For breakfast Mr. McLaughlin made french toast along with warmed up left over steak tips and mashed potato's with onions. Home made whipped cream, strawberry jam, pineapples, pineapple sauce, and maple syrup which Mr. McLaughlin's Dad made were all available to put on top of the french toast. My personal favorite was the whipped cream because it was the perfect consistency. The breakfast hit the spot and gave me enery for day of work on the farm.

Farm Work:
Mr. McLaughlin had too much mulch for the boarder of his patio. Our job was to remove some of the mulch, load it onto the John Deer Gator and make a pile in the woods in case it was needed later for another project. The John Deer Gator is a machine similar to the Kawasaki Mule we have in Talkeetna but has no top seats and no cover to protect the driver from rain. It does has the capability to dump it's load like a dump truck. This was helpfully with the mulch job. We worked for about three hours then took a break for lunch. Some may consider farm work boring but personally I thought it was fun loading the Gator and dumping the mulch. Loading the mulch was a little hard but since I have never used a pitch fork before I thought it was cool.

Lunch time:
I was very hungry for lunch because of all that work I did. For lunch we ate delicious quesadilla with cheese and ham. That's the perfect combination in my opinion. There were also fresh steamed muscles but I didn't try any. We also had some strawberry juice that tasted good on that hot summer day after farm work.

Pool Time:
Finally we got to the pool. It was nice to go in the pool on a hot day, with squirt guns, playing with your friend. We played for about an hour and a half. I got tired of the pool quickly so I decided to leave.

Once we were all dried off and changed Catherine and I rode around the farm on the ATV's. That was fun. I learned that when you are driving the ATVs you shouldn't go through the tall grass because ticks and other nasty insects could bite you. We drove all over for about an hour.

Dinner:
For dinner we had more steak tips, mashed potatoes, and salad. While eating dinner I told Jack and his family stories from my adventures.

Movie:
After dinner we decided to watch a Harry Potter 5. Before we could watch the movie we had to clean up. Jack and I volunteered. I loaded up the food cart with plates, rinsed them off, and handed them to Jack to put in the dish washer. Since they have such a big family and lots of extended family in the Boston area their kitchen is designed like a commerical kitchen. First, you roll the cart to the table. Second, load all the dirty dishes on the cart. Third, roll the cart back to the kitchen. Then rinse them all with the powerful commercial grade sprayer. Next, load the dishes into the special trays that go into the dishwasher. Start the dishwasher, wait 2 minutes, unload that tray and load up the next. I have to say doing dishes this was is totally fun.


It was a treat to see Jack again and it was even better to stay with him at his farm. I hope I can go back there again some time. The farm work was very fun and more fun with the Gator. Massachusetts is a good place to visit on the east coast. Not only did I see Harvard but I also saw Essex and Boston.