Just a few days away!

Hi, it's Rick again, with another update on preparations for our Cambodia trip. We’re one week away from our trip, and getting very excited (and overwhelmed).

Becky discovered a Cambodian family in Folsom, and has been working with them to translate many of our visual teaching aids. The translation team in Cambodia is working hard to translate the words to our songs, but we couldn’t find a sound track without English words, so Manuel Luz at Oak Hills Church generously offered an evening to help Becky record instrumental tracks to all of our bible school songs. John and Rick spent an afternoon downloading children’s songs from iTunes, so we can reinforce our English lessons with songs. Between Twister and the Hokie Pokie, every child is sure to remember ‘Right Hand’ and ‘Left Foot.’

We can’t read the characters written on our posters, but we’ve been slowly picking up a little of the Cambodian language (Khmer) through Youtube videos and other internet sites. Hello is Suei S’dai, and the word for Yes is different when spoken by males (baht) and females (jah). We’re hoping that we’ll figure out how to ask for the bathroom before we leave…

Here are the challenges ahead of us this week:
• Finalizing daily lesson plans (delayed by the death of Becky’s grandmother last week)
• Getting our luggage down to 15 Kilograms each (about 33 pounds)
• Toughening Rick’s feet enough to wear sandals for 6 weeks straight (including a badly jammed toe)
• Surviving the teen’s high school finals, and completing the last days of school
• Figuring out how to safely travel with thousands of dollar in cash (they don’t take credit cards or traveler’s checks)
• Carving out the time to be spiritually prepared, despite all of the details demanding our attention

We’ll be driving to San Francisco the evening of June 3rd, and flying out early in the morning June 4th. We’ll have a couple of days to get oriented, be jet lagged, and shop for teaching supplies, crafts, and snacks to accommodate up to 500 total children. We’ve reached our fundraising goals, and now have the funding to purchase everything we need in Cambodia; thanks again to those of you who contributed toward supplies.

That’s about all we have for you now. We’ll send a detailed itinerary soon, then start sending you updates from Cambodia!

Love,

Rick, Becky, Elizabeth, John and Daniel Kraemer
Karli Haugen