After Chinese New Year the Chua children and families left for their respective homes in Ipoh, 1 ½hrs east of Ayer Tawer. The house, once again settled into the usual quiet hum. That night, Friday 20th February Dr Chua, Dr Wong, Isaiah (Joshua and Mary’s youngest son), and I went out for dinner, garlic nan and tandoori chicken. Yum! The chicken was so juicy. On route home I knew something was wrong. That day I unfortunately ate some left over dessert of which the coconut milk was slightly sour and now my tummy was telling me there was a problem. Sure enough I had a terrible bout
of diarrhoea. Praise the Lord I was living with doctors who dosed me up with Imodium and charcoal tablets amongst other things. I was up several times during the night and on Saturday abstained from solid food. To keep hydrated I drank fresh lime water as well as coconut water which is full of nutrients to assist with rehydration. I ate nothing till evening when I had a little rice porridge and salted egg. I felt much better. At least I was the only one to suffer. I suppose you can say I received my just desert.
After my tasting, the dessert was re cooked and was fine, although I understandably stayed well clear of it.
Saturday although I didn’t feel 100% I had arranged to be picked up at 11am by Pastor James to visit the children’s home they had started. His wife had taken over the church which I’d helped plant in Ayer Tawer in 1986. The children’s home had recently been constructed and can hold up to 70 children. At the moment there are around 25, all of school age and although it was a holiday, they were all in a communal area doing their homework. There are two women teachers who are also the house mothers as well as kitchen and house help. James tells me they are also looking for a male teacher come house father to assist with the boys. So if you have the burden to volunteer at the home please let me know.
Sunday I was taken to the church I used to attend those many years ago. It was lovely to catch up with those who remembered me. It was funny because they told me the face was familiar but they didn’t recognise who it was because of my short hair. I have only had my hair cut short since April 2012, prior to this my hair hasn’t been short since 1973 when I was in the UK. After church we joined in the once a month fellowship lunch. Thank God my tummy was feeling 100% again as I would have hated to miss out on all these great home cooked curry.
Sunday evening 7pm we left for Ipoh to take Isaiah, Joshua and Mary’s youngest son back home to for school on Monday. While in Ipoh it was decided that it would be easier for me to leave for KL from Ipoh instead of Sitiawan. Ooohhh dear the second change! Fortunately, once again there was no charge and a seat available for 11am. Then it was another trip back to Ayer Tawer to pick up my belongings to say good bye to Maria and Brownie the dog. The funny end to this ticket saga was that Dr Wong thought Joshua could take my ticket and change it to the 28th when he was leaving Ipoh for the airport. So, when Joshua arrive we once again returned to the booking office and changed the date and time this time to 1am. We returned once more after realising that 1am didn’t leave enough time between the bus arriving late and Joshua’s flight out. Wow! Four changes! Every time a change was made more scribbles were added to the ticket it looked a mess! Once Joshua was able to take my ticket I then booked a bus straight to Seremban which is what I wanted to do but couldn’t because the company I had booked with didn’t go to Seremban.
On the 25th of February at 7am Dr Wong received a call from Sitiawan bus station asking where I was! Oh dear, when the change was made in Ipoh they had not informed Sitiawan.
While in Ipoh, Joshua, because he was going to be very busy when he returned to Cambodia, arranged a contact for me with a Korean based mission His Child International. I contacted them via email to introduce myself and received a welcome, introduction email. I left the rest in the Lord’s capable hands.
My stay in Ipoh was another culinary delight as I caught up on more of Malaysian dishes I remembered from bygone years. Dr Wong and I also visited the international school where the Chua boys study and ran around shopping for things we both needed including a power adaptor for me so that I can recharge my electrical equipment.
Then it was off to the bus station at 8:30am to catch the 9am bus which didn’t leave till 9:30! Oh well at least I was there on time. The trip down was quite interesting with one 
stop along the way to pick up more passengers. My friend Paul picked me up from the bus station and took me to meet his pastors over lunch before we visited his veterinary clinic where, he reminded me, I had stayed for a while paying my way by walking the St Bernard he was caring for at the time. Paul told me at the time he had only recently opened the clinic and having a westerner walk one of the animals was good advertising for him. 😉 We then went home to meet his wife whom I had met at their engagement in 1986. They now have two grown sons and a 2yr old adopted daughter. I stayed the night, was taken out for a typical Tamil breakfast before being dropped off at the airport by Paul and his eldest son.
This time I was prepared, no water through the security check. A one hour flight took me east across Malaysia to Phnom Phen where Joshua had arranged for me to be picked up by his friend, a tuk tuk driver, who took me through the city, across the river to a meeting point where Deborah picked me up for the last leg of my journey to His Child Int. The roads were so dusty that I wore my face mask. I have started to wear it on public transport after listening to all the coughs and splutters. On the flight over the woman behind me had one of those very congested head colds that sounded like her sinuses were totally congested with muck! Every time she blew her nose I prayed for divine protection!
It wasn’t till about 10mins into the journey I realised we were driving on the right hand side of the road. I think it took me this long to realise because, although there were two rows of traffic the motorbikes and bicycle were all around us going in both directions.
That night was fellowship night and I met most of the team. Deborah and Martin are from a Korean church in Sydney, Debora is Korean and Martin of Chinese decent, then there were 3 Korean girls and a Korean guy and a Chinese pastor from Singapore. His Child was originally set up by a Korean missionary in 1995 as a relief ministry for orphans and children in crisis. In 2002 a church was planted by some of the older children and staff from His Child, along with some local ministries which I will be visiting while I’m here. Recently HisChild have completed plans to build an international education ministry which is greatly needed here in Phnom Phen. You can read more about this project by down loading His School brochure from their new website.
Pictures: 1. Map of countries in Asia that I hope to visit. 2. Saying good bye to Brownie. 3. Malaysian beverage. 4. Paul’s vet clinic Seremban 5. Flying into Cambodia. 6. On the road Phnom Phen 7. My first Cambodian meal: rice, fried fish, spicy salad (like Thai green mango salad)
Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for His hand in all the arranging before I left Malaysia and for answered pray in regards to opening a doors in Phnom Phen. For His Child and their ministry here and for inviting me to join them for a season.
I thank the Lord for the opportunity to catching up with Paul and his family in Seremban before flying out. God willing I will be able to return before my final flight back to Perth.
Praise Him for answered prayer re exit from Malaysia and entry into Cambodia.
I thank God for good health, please continue to pray that I remain in His divine health as I travel throughout Asia. I’m told dengue fever is prevalent here in Phnom Phen.
Please continue to pray for the Lord’s leading and guidance while I’m here. I’m hoping to join Joshua on one of his trips to Vietnam and on my return renew my visa so that I may stay in Cambodia another 2-3 months.
Thank you also for your prayers for my Mum’s health. Please continue to ask the Lord to keep her in good health. The scar on her face if healing well, still no word concerning the results of the growth they removed.
Please pray for my safety on the roads here.
Please pray for His Child ministries especially for the finances needed for the International school project.
Thank you all my mighty prayer warriors. I would not be going out without your prayer covering.