Monday

Sunday, Father's Day, the team went to church and immediately got in the van and drove 5 hours to Battambang. This is the site of our first orphanage and houses 50 beautiful kids. I spent Father's Day with those "children". It is an awesome experience to sit still and have four or five kids climbing on your lap and hanging onto you. Watching their smiles and faces is truly refreshing. I used the time with some of the older ones to help me with my Khmer language learning.

Today, we returned to the orphanage to continue our immunization program. Only one or two tears shed among the kids. Not having a nurse this trip, I enlisted two team members and had them help draw up the serum into syringes.

Since there are two "veterans" on the team and two teams rotating through, being one of the vets, I was elected to lead the team to Siem Reap, the site of Angkor Wat, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. We will van to Siem Reap, visit the temple complex, overnight there and return to Phnom Penh on Thursday.

In "parallel" with our team is a team of 50 youth from Columbus (Ohio) on a short-term mission trip here in Battambang. As a physician who has travelled half way around the world to "serve", I have more opportunity to doctor the folks from Columbus than Cambodians. Who says God has no sense of humor?

I am getting lots of new ideas for service and teams for the future! I'd like to persuade some of you to join us!

Thanks for your continuing support. I depend on your partnership.