Phnom Penh to Battambang

It is hard to believe that we've been in Cambodia nearly a week already, and this is our first blog post! We hit the ground running, and haven't slowed down yet.  I will try to do better about keeping the blog updated 😉This post will be a story in pictures:

We arrived in Phnom Penh Thursday after midnight, and were so happy and surprised that Vandy and Sokry came along with Chhay to pick us up! 

Vandy, Abbi, and Sokry

Simon and Chhay

Chhay, Tony, and Joe

Michelle, Simon, and Abbi

After breakfast on Friday, we took the day to explore Phnom Penh.

We toured the Killing Fields.... a few tears were shed after learning about the horrors the Khmer people suffered during this horrible time in their history.  We also visited the Toul Sleng Prison ... another terrible visual reminder of what happened under Pol Pot. 

This room has glass cabinets on all four sides floor to ceiling stacked with skulls found in the mass graves. This one made me cry. 

We got up on Saturday morning, had breakfast, and prepared for our 5 hour van ride to Battambang. 

Our wonderful and kind van driver is Saroun, Vandy's husband. He never stopped smiling! 

We arrived in Battambang, checked into the hotel, grabbed a quick lunch, then went to Vandy's house to spend time with over 100 of her daycare kids! Her ministry to the neighborhood children is amazing ... she and her niece, Sokry, serve tirelessly. It was a joy to spend the day with them ... singing, playing, serving the children ice cream, and staying into the evening talking and laughing with them. 

Thank you all SO much for praying for us! Our first couple days in Cambodia have been such a blessing! It's hard to express in writing what it feels like  when everyone here smiles and says they are glad that we came.... this is how life-long friendships are built up and strengthened. We are thankful to be here!