"Teacher, teacher!" the students chant waving notebooks in the air, showing off pages of sloppy Khmer writing. What is ironic is that I help them write in Khmer although I do not know the language at all!
'New Life in Christ' Church runs a school called 'New Hope' which educates more than 150 students daily. These students are mostly unbelievers from the neighborhood, who get to attend school, because this one has made itself affordable to their families. 'New Hope' School began as a preschool in 2005, and then grew into an elementary school.
Every morning I help in the first grade class. I help the students to write in Khmer, supervise them during recess, and then teach English. Josh teaches a preschool class and a grade 2 and 3 combined class. In the evening at 5:30-6:30pm, we teach English to college-aged students. I teach the 'beginners class', which I taught for the first time without a translator! The students and I definitely had a lot of laughs as we tried to understand one another.
I feel so happy for the students as they advance in their education, resulting in an advance in their life's ambitions. In a nation that is called 'hopeless', it is beautiful to play our small part in this Christ-centered education.

I would love to learn the Khmer language. A missionary named Matthew who lives here with his Cambodian wife and two young daughters, gave Josh and I some flash cards. Just looking at the alphabet, I do not understand it at all. The numbers are a little more straight forward. Hopefully, as we build relationships with some of the locals, we will be able to learn some Khmer. At least it isn't a tonal language, contrary to what we thought.

We made it! After a long trip including an 18 hour plane ride, we arrived in Phom Penh at noon today (Friday) and were met at the airport by Sally Kove, who pastors the 'New Life in Christ Church' with her husband Keate. It felt so great to finally meet them after all the correspondence over email.
They took us to their big home, and we got situated in a room. There are accommodations for missionaries in their basement which includes kitchen facilities and bedrooms. They even have a cook who prepares dinner.
Josh and I spent the rest of the day, catching up on sleep and then we picked up a few groceries. We traveled to the grocery store by Tuk-tuk, which is like a driver on a motor bike with a carriage attached.
As we sped through down-town Phnom Penh, It was beginning to really hit me that I am now actually in a third-world country, where Josh and I will be missionaries. People on the street selling vegetables, begging, stray dogs roamings, and guys on motor bikes weaving in and out of crazy traffic, made up the scenary of down-town.
Tomorrow Josh and I will talk more with Keate about the opportunities at the 'New Life in Christ Church' and their 'New Hope School' which teaches English to over 150 students (mostly unbelievers from the neighborhood).
So far, although it is very humid, it feels very refreshing to be here. We pray that Jesus will continually sustain us and be the object of our affection and desire, as we serve Him here, in Cambodia.

Although our flight is tomorrow morning, it still doesn't seem real that I am actually going overseas to South East Asia, in the '10/40 window'. The most traveling that I have done so far is to a few cities in the USA. I have never been in a foreign country, confronted with a totally different culture. North America, so far as sheltered me from the face of poverty, that I am sure to see in Cambodia.
By marrying Josh Duffy, I not only chose him for a life partner, but I also chose this life. Every piece of Josh's heart belongs in the third world. His favourite places are hospitals, prisons, dumps and slums. God's calling to Him and his experience in Africa,were like a 'second salvation'. He is a man who goes forward when others wouldn't and would sacrifice even more still, to advance the kingdom. It is a great honour and adventure, to minister alongside the man who I admire so much. As we set forth into the '10/40 window', my heart for missions beats, rapidly with his.
Today, Josh's grandfather gave us a ride into Halifax, Nova Scotia where we are staying at the Quality Inn, until we leave for the airport in the morning.
I truly enjoyed being able to spend more time with Josh's family, who is now my family. They have certainly put forth a labour of love, fundraising for us every chance they could get.
I don't expect to find anywhere else in Canada that I would consider as beautiful as the maritimes. In Cambodia, I think I will be amongst a new beauty.
Even as I write this, I grow more ecstatic about the work set before us. Wewill need the grace, mercy, peace and joy of God, like never before. We will need to be dedicated, people of His presence, like never before. May the Lord sweetly minister His intimate love to you.

The humbler the work, the greater should be your love and efficiency. Be not afraid of the life of sacrifice. -Mother Teresa

 A border dispute about the ownership of the sacred Preah Vihear between Cambodia and Thailand, makes Josh and I hope that we aren't going to be flying into a war zone. Of course, we wont be allowed into Cambodia if they advance into war, so hopefully the discussions of reconciliation between the two countries will prevent a war.
So far Josh and I are still planning for our long-term stay in Cambodia (Oct 24-June 24), especially since we contacted the pastors of 'New Life in Christ Church' who expressed no concerns about us landing in Phnom Pehn, which wouldn't even be close to the area of the potential war.
During our remaining week on PEI, we have been crossing off items on our 'going-to-Cambodia to-do-list' which included the travel clinic and all those necessary last-minute things.
We also got to take some wedding photos. Aunt Alexandra and a friend of ours, Michelle Dawn each took pictures of Josh and I in our wedding attire. I figured I would save my wedding dress a little longer and we would take advantage of the island's beautiful fall setting.
Josh and I finished packing today and especially now that I got those wedding photo shoots out of my system, all I could think about is Cambodia!

To look at our wedding photos click ->HERE<-

In 2 weeks Josh and I will be taking off to Cambodia. With the help of our travel agent Tim who specializes in missions trip, we booked tickets which were $1000 cheaper than any other tickets we found online!
Our last couple of weeks on Prince Edward Island are sweet but busy as we meet with as many people as we can. I look forward to visiting Charmayne's daycare where we will prepare a little lesson for the kids.
I am excited and anxious to be overseas but at the same time I want to cherish the time we have left here, amongst the colourful trees and family.
In 2 weeks, our lives are going to be very different!

Yesterday Josh and I stood on the tip of Prince Edward Island in 'North Cape'. It was probably nothing special for Josh since he is an islander, but since I'm 'from away' it was a nice sight, especially in the fall.
As beautiful as I think PEI is and as much as I enjoy family here, I am eager to set my feet on the ground of Cambodia.
 We are continuing to set up fund raising. Josh's mom and Ian have been selling tickets on a draw for a portable DVD player and we may have some more fundraiser events taking place.
We are getting closer to taking off to Cambodia. In the meantime, we are meeting with people from our church 'Faith Works' and also with Noel (he began a ministry to the poor in PEI which is the Harvest House drop-in centre)who is pastoring 'Community Worship Centre'.
We're also going to be handing out tracts and possibly taking more people out to do street evangelism.
When it all comes down to it- we want to be good stewards of the time we have here on the island, and we don't want to be so eager to leave that we overlook the people here.
We pray for a stirring of hearts that will result in heartfelt, passionate service to Jesus.

 “Men are gold and women are cloths. Gold can be washed, but cloths are stained.”-Khmer proverb
The killings of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million people (out of a population of 7 million) during the years of 1975-1979. People of education including teachers, doctors, college students, and even those who wore glasses were either shot or died in a prison camp amongst the 'killing fields'.
In 1979, survivors returned to Phom Pehn (the capital) when the Vietnamese Communist party invaded Cambodia. In 1998 and 2003 Prime Minister Hun Sen was re-elected.
Cambodia is still in the process of trying to rebuild itself, which is a daunting task since all government and social structures were demolished by the Khmer Rouge.
65% of the adult population (35-40yrs old)are women who face the task of working more than 12 hours a day, mostly in factories.
Many women are widowed and struggle to make enough money to feed their children for even one day. Women with partners often face abuse and polygamy. Girls are forced to discontinue their education to join the work force. Girls as young as 5 years old are lured into brothels where they are forced into prostitution.Children are lured by what they think are legitimate job offers like waitressing, but then are forced into prostitution. Children are often held captive, beaten, and starved to force them into prostitution.
These are the desperate situations and the hearts of despair, where God implores us to go. Most of us in North America have no grid to put such a lifestyle of despair and labour on. It is so easy to read about the destroyed and hopeless lives and feel that they are very far away and have nothing to do with us. These people are very important to God and He longs for them each moment. They may feel forgotten, uncared for and thrown away, but they are His treasures. Wont we care for these precious people, and be truly rich?

'You cannot live low enough. That is where the freedom is; that is where the joy is.
-H.A. Baker