On Friday, Josh and I travelled by bus to Siem Reap, which is about 5.5 hours away from Phnom Penh. Siem Reap is Cambodia's 2nd largest city, after Phnom Penh with a population of 750,000. Siem Reap is a desirable city for tourists and locals, because of it's closeness to Angkor Wat. The temples of Angkor Wat are the remains of the ancient Khmer empire built in the 12th century by kings who regarded themselves as 'god-kings', possessing the qualities of certain gods. Angkor Wat was originally built in devotion to Hindu gods, with statues of the Hindu deity Shiva and Vishnu however, when there was a change on monarchy, those statues were removed and replaced with Buddhist sculptures. Angkor Wat remains, a place of devotion to the nation's religion of Buddhism, and this is extremely evident by the array of glittery alters where people could give offerings to Buddha and put money in the donation box for the monks.
 While touring the famous Angkor Wat temple, a man handed Josh and I incense, and invited us to kneel down infront of the alter and bow three times to Buddha, to receive good luck. We politely declined, explaining that we are Christians and do not bow to Buddha. We gave him an Khmer gospel tract and we continued on our venture to explore the ancient ruins. Our favourite was temple was Bayon, which is also known as 'the temple of many faces' since their are faces everywhere you look, carved into the towers. It was amazing, mysterious and fun to climb. Josh and I also really liked Ta Prohm, a temple that is being literally being overtaken by trees. Huge trees stand tall on top of the stone walls, with their roots crawling down the stone and onto the ground. Some of Tomb Raider was filmed at this temple. Another favourite was the terrace of elephants which was once a giant viewing stand for the king and his associates during public ceremonies. The architecture is exquisite, with the parade of elephant faces that crown the wall and the rows upon rows of sculpted creatures and figures.
What was even more fun than exploring the temples, was hanging out with the children at Angkor Wat. Dozens of kids work at this tourist hot-spot selling postcards, bracelets, t-shirts, books etc. According to what the children say, they sell souvenirs in the morning and attend school in the afternoon, which is very believable because they speak English so well and have knowledge of Canada and other countries. In November during the water festival, Josh and I met 3 girls who were from Siem Reap but had come to Phnom Penh to sell bracelets during the festival. They were such sweet kids that we couldn't help but hang out with them and we also took them to a restaurant for fruit shakes. We told them if we ever went to Angkor Wat, that we would look for them. After Josh showed their photo on his cellphone, to a few people it didn't take long to become reunited with the girls again. We got to meet their friends, and we even returned to Angkor Wat the next morning to spend time and play with them. They enjoyed having a white girl to play with, as they stuck 'bratz doll' stickers on me and braided my hair. These girls have some knowledge of Jesus and know songs about Jesus, but as of right now they are devoted to Buddha along with their families. With this being said, Jesus is real and living. When Cambodians meet Jesus, they will know the inner peace that they once looked for in Buddha. We are not looking to Westernize but to gospelize. Our desire is that people would personally meet Jesus, leaving them in such awe and transformation that they could not possibly deny His existence, and that He is beckoning for them to come and enjoy His love.
Josh and I have been lodging at the King Angkor guesthouse in an $8 dollar room which has the luxuries of hot water and a television. Tomorrow morning, Josh and I will board the bus and head back to Phnom Penh. This little vacation has been great and we even hope for the opportunity to return to Siem Reap and visit the children again. I used to think vacations were selfish and pointless. Now that Josh and I are busy and our work is constant, I see the great value in taking time to refresh and rejuvinate. I feel such importance and joy in the work that Josh and I do in Phnom Penh. I think that always, our work must be for the Lord. What we do, should be a result of our love for Jesus and the aching in our hearts to do only His will. We don't want to do things just to say that we've done them. We don't want to talk just for the sake of being able to say that we did talk about Jesus. We want our actions to be an expression and an outpouring of passionate love to Jesus. We want our words to be from God and to come from His dwelling place in our hearts. We must do things just for Him, being content that if no one found out, it would not make any difference, because He is so worthy and so beautiful to us.
The year is coming to an end, and as we head back to the ministry in Phnom Penh, we reflect on where God has lead us and we feel the wonderful assurance that as we remaining willing and humble, He will continue to lead us

To view our photos of Siem Reap, click -->HERE<--

    Here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, there is no snow blowing in the air, but there is a lot of dust. Trees are not adorned with tiny colourful lights, Santa Claus does not have his own kingdom in the mall, and Christmas songs are sang only in church. In Canada, whether it was on purpose or not, you were aware of how many days were left until Christmas. In a Buddhist nation, Christmas exists only for the Christians. The many unbelievers here know that Christmas is something that is celebrated in the west, so some stores do sell Christmas decorations, but it is not acknowledged as a real holiday in Cambodia. Schools are open, businesses are open;it is just another day.
    Christmas is my favourite holiday. I think it is a cozy time of the year where family time is much desired. I think that fresh cookies smell like Christmas and fresh snow looks like Christmas. If you are with my family on this holiday, Christmas might also look like my Dad washing the turkey in the sink and making it sing in a high, shrilly voice, all in the name of 'tradition'.
    I think this is the first Christmas that I haven't heard that girl sing in a voice that is so nasally "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas..." I have not seen one picture of Santa, although the girls in my Bible study were asking me about 'who Santa is' and 'why would North America celebrate about him'. I explained but it did not make sense to them, because it does not make sense anyway. As much as I have enjoyed Christmas in North America, I don't feel disappointed about being eased from the pressures of it.
         The meaning of Christmas is precious: our saviour coming to this wicked world, born humbly in a barn as an innocent baby. I think we should enjoy this revelation of Jesus everyday. Without Jesus, our lives would be full of regret and pain. Without Jesus, we would not be a child of God, able to know His heart and His love. Without Jesus, we become our own gods and yet we serve other gods, hoping that in the end the good that we do will be a longer list than the wrong that we've done. Jesus has put our name on His list, and all He has done is good. And then comes the meaning of Easter, Our old sinful selves died with Jesus on the cross and our new clean selves rose with Jesus from the grave. The meaning of these holidays are so powerful, and I think everyday as followers of Christ, need to live like we really and truly believe in these meanings.
    During the Saturday youth program, New Life in Christ Church celebrated Christmas by showing a scene from 'Passion of the Christ', traditional Khmer dancing, hip-hop, and Christmas songs. There were also testimonies from two of the youth, and Sally Kove preached. Following the service, all of the youth were given bags of iodized salt, muffins and some kind of white drink. The night continued with a dance which included songs like 'one way Jesus' and 'waves of mercy'. The next morning in the Sunday church service, there was a short drama about Jesus being born, along with more Khmer dancing and testimonies.
    In the New Hope school there are miniature Christmas trees in every room and a big, lit up tree in the sanctuary. People are wishing each other a 'Suslay Noel' or a 'Happy merry Christmas'! The church and school staff are having a holiday on Thursday and Friday, so the New Hope School including the evening English classes will be closed.
    Our friends Matt and Nary have invited Josh and I to their house on Christmas eve, where we will spend the night and then of course, be there on Christmas day to celebrate with their family. I look forward to being amused by Matt and Nary's young daughters Miriam and Rachel, and also to lending a hand in the kitchen.
    Early Friday morning, Josh and I are getting on a bus and will travel 5 hours to Siem Reap. We are taking a 3 day vacation in Siem Reap, where we will tour the famous Angkor Wat, which is perhaps the biggest religious structure standing today. We have recently been even more busy than normal, because we were creating handbooks for short-term,mid-term and long-term missionaries as well as applications and references for the church website. We have enjoyed this work and we have completed it in joy, but a little vacation will be very sweet.