Soccer therapy!

Ok so I haven’t written for a few days. There has just been so much to do.
We filmed extensively at NewSong center yesterday. What a joy to sit around with the girls and interact with them while the film crew did their taping. The girls were fascinated by the fact that my sons are Khmer and felt that they needed sisters – them! We had wonderful times chatting about snow, mountains, school and how hot I looked. I would mutilate the Khmer language to their amusement and they would work on their basic English it was such fun. When they wanted to joke at my expense without me understanding they would switch to Vietnamese. I was happy to feel vulnerable and have them be in the position of strength – they have known too much of the opposite. I also had a longer discussion with a wonderful young girl who had fairly good English. The topic… “Suffering and how God makes good come out of evil”. Let me tell you, it is quite something to have such a discussion with a girl who has been assaulted numerous times and tortured (literally). She knows suffering and will likely be recovering for the rest of her life from her trauma. Fortunately God gave me the words to speak to her and it ended up being a wonderful time of blessings. Despite her experiences she knows her Lord and trusts he will work good in her life. (Lots of us aren’t as mature as this little one - I find myself shamed by my lack of faith – again!)

Today we set off early to a soccer tournament in which our foster care program had a team playing. It was so wonderful to once again see the girls for whom I have prayed for years and to see them having fun. They take succor very seriously. We sat up in the stands cheering for our team along with the other screaming girls from foster care. It was rich indeed. Once again I marveled at the privilege of knowing these kids and the joy of spending time with them. They played three games. The first two games were well matched both with a score of 0-0. But the third game they got hammered 4-1 by the champion team from last year. But they were just thrilled to see us and were quite proud that “Canadian TV” had come to film them.

This was followed by a few admin meetings for me followed by my body getting rid of some food, that I would have been better off not eating, followed by a few hours recuperation time and then into my interview with the film crew. This went well except for getting kicked out of a park by police for filming without a permit. (Code for - give us money and we will go away!) Where were my General friends when I needed them?

This evening we had wonderful supper at Sotheary’s house (Ratanak project manager) followed by another casual meeting with the Australian component of Team 1 which had just flown in.

As I write the majority of Team 1 from Canada are in the air and are due to arrive tomorrow at noon.
With that I better go to bed, as tomorrow is an early start.
Thanks for all your prayers.
Brian.