Trash day!

 Saturday morning was our first trash pick-up day.

The University congregation is trying to be a presence in the community and reach out to our neighbors, make some new friends and relationship, and show our neighbors that the church is here to help them, serve them, and teach them about Jesus.

One of the ways that was decided to do this was trash pick up.  The Khmers (Cambodians) have not been raised the commercials about "Keep America Clean" , "Don't Mess with Texas" and other slogans

that we have.  So, they follow by example and what they see is to throw your trash in the street whenever you are done with it.

We spent about 2 hours walking around in the neighborhood picking up trash and just being visible.

We did have some people ask what we were doing and why and that gave us an opportunity to talk to them about us and who we serve as Christians. 

 These kids were excited about doing this and making a difference - even if it is a small one. 

We haven't decided yet on how often we will be doing this but it was a great start.

In fact, one woman was so impressed that she got everyone bottled water and send her teenage son to go with us and help.

(If you are wondering if it was cold due to the long sleeves and jacket here, it was absolutely not!  It was probably in the mid 90s.  The Khmers do not want to get any sun on them and believe that the more layers between their skin and the sun, the cooler they are.  I have NOT bought into this theory.)

 We ran out of trash bags before we ran out of trash.  So, we are some of us as we are heading back. 

 

 I thought you might enjoy this.  Friday morning, Rich and I headed out on the motorcycle to the Department of Transportation.  They now require everyone to go to one place that is in the far north part of the city. 

While we were stopped in traffic, I took this picture of this guy getting his hair cut.  As you can see this is just a tin shed that they put on the side of the road.  It isn't a great picture because I didn't want them to know I was taking it.

Next door is a nice sidewalk cafe.  So when you get done with your haircut, you can just move over one stall and eat.

As for our drivers licenses, we were told we needed:  our expired Cambodian licenses, 3 passport pictures, passports, work permits, copies of our visa,  our house lease to prove residence and of course, copies of all of this.
 
We get there (thankfully we didn't have a big line to wait in), bring all our stuff to the first window, and she says "Where is your US driver licenses? You have to have a current US license or you have to take the tests."  It took us over 40 minutes to get there on the motorcycle, which is the fastest form of transportation since you get to weave in and out and not sit in the lines.  Rich had to go all the way back to the house, get our US licenses, and drive all the way back.  Of course, she didn't even look at our work permits or house lease.  Ha!

While we were waiting, there was a group of 8 European men who came in trying to get drivers licenses so that they could get insurance on the motorcycles that they were renting.  But since they aren't residence, they couldn't get licenses and therefore, no insurance.  I'm quite confident that they were going to go on without it.  One of these guys evidently had done this in 2016 and now brought his friends.  The laws change here all the time.  It's sometimes hard to keep up.

Rich is giving his final in Ezekiel tomorrow. Then on Tuesday, he will start teaching Ephesians  Veasna is wrapping up Wisdom Literature and then will teach the Humanity of Jesus.

Keep us and the Christians here in your prayers. 
Much love,
Ronda