Be careful what you pray for!

It is hard to believe that tomorrow (Friday) will be the end of week 1. Where has the time gone? We are painting like crazy and thank goodness for the knee pads I bought from Home Depot. There has been plenty of cutting at the floor level.

As we started off our day, on the way to Svay Pak I was praying that I would have the opportunity to really interact with the children this afternoon during Kid's Club. Well be careful for what you pray for. God is always full of surprises and he answered my prayer in a way that I couldn't have imagined.

My morning started out with yellow paint. Yes, more yellow paint in one of the rear classrooms on the 4th floor and so I continued with that yellow paint until noon.

Prior to our lunch break some children came up into The Sanctuary to check us out. Many children in Svay Pak do not go to school and they just hang about for the day. It turns out that Kit and Grant remembered one boy from their time spent here in 2008.

After another wonderful Khmer meal at Rahab's House we went back to work and yes, more yellow paint. Well before I knew it I had some help. This one little boy, age 10, picked up a brush and as I was rolling yellow paint onto a wall he was painting beside me. We continued on for some time and then with too much paint on his brush and a little too much energy in his technique, I'm yelling "GRANT, I have paint in my eye!" Yes, the paint from his brush hit my right eye. Grant then yells, "KIT, Mary has paint in her eye!" First question Kit asks to Grant is, "Is it water soluble?" "Yes, Kit." So off I go with nurse Kit - our angel on our team. She grabs 2 litres of water and says, "We are going outside."

At the front of The Sanctuary, they had just poured concrete in the morning so I had to negotiate
my way across a narrow plank. As I started to pick up my pace with one eye shut, I ran into a piece of metal from the side of the building that I couldn't see. Ouch! Yes, there is a mark on my upper forehead but not an open wound.

Kit quickly pulls up a chair, I sit down and then she begins to pour and pour and pour. Remember how I was hoping to interact with children during the afternoon? Well children came out of nowhere to see what these 2 crazy foreigners were doing. One pouring water into the eye of the other. There was great curiosity, compassion and concern from our audience to the extent of an older gentleman yelling at Kit and telling her to take me to the clinic at Rahab's House. After about 20 minutes of the water treatment we headed down the road to Rahab's House. I'd liken it to two Pide Pipers with the exception that Kit and I are both carrying children in our arms as we go. I really don't know how that happened but I had the cutest little girl who didn't want to let go when I put her down.

Needless to say some of the afternoon was lost in terms of yellow paint but what we were able to give to the children on the street in terms of smiles, hugs and high fives was incredible. To be able to show these children that others care and have compassion is a privilege indeed.

So folks be careful what you pray for. God does answer our prayers and I never could of imagined what He had in store for me when we set out to Svay Pak this morning. Praise God.

Please take time to pray that the lives of these children will be transformed by yellow paint. Lots and lots of yellow paint - inside of The Sanctuary.

Blessings.

Mary

PS - for those at home, I'm fine! Oh and by the way, we did get to see the kids during Kid's Club this afternoon as well.