and on the 17th day they rested

At right is our graduating class in Battambang. They were so very exicted to receive their certificates and were proudly displaying them.

Well we are back in Phnom Penh from teaching in Battambang, the second largest city in Cambodia. It is about 290 kilometers from here and it took right at four hours to drive. Dodging bicycles, motorbikes, cattle, and water buffalo make for an exciting journey.

Our last day in Battambang was adventurous. We went to get in the van to travel to the church for our last day of teaching and it wouldn't start. It seemed like it was out of gas, and yet it was sitting in the hotel parking lot. Below is the rest of the story as recounted by Kyle Spencer...

We are fortunate to even have gotten to the church today though. When we
went out to the van and tried to start it but wouldn't turn over! The
gauge said it had just under a 1/4 of a tank, so we called Nivath to see if
the gauge was broken or something. Come to find out, when it gets down to
a 1/4 it's really out. Being a diesel made it very difficult to start
after putting fuel in it because we tried starting it so many times on
empty. It took 2 1/2 hours to get fixed, so we were getting pretty anxious
that we'd even get to go to the church and have the last session and
graduation for the pastors. Although it was hard to see the blessings
through the situation, there were many that we realized once we got on the
road. We could've very easily been in transit out in the middle of nowhere
and run out of fuel, so we were thankful to be at the hotel when it
happened. And what was even more amazing was that about 12 guys came
immediately and helped fix the problem and bleed the fuel lines. We
realized that in America, nobody actually just drops what they are doing to
help some complete strangers get back on the road and running.

The van "repair" bill came to a whopping $5. We tried to offer more money, but the men working would not accept it. Amazing display of God's mercy.

Kyle left for home today, and hopefully his flights will be on time. Jeff, Caleb and I went to Jars of Clay coffee house for lunch, and then have basically done nothing but take naps, read, and watch some TV. We had a burger for dinner and now are catching up on email and blogs.

We leave Monday morning early for Svay Reing - and will have our last institute there. For more entries and pictures you can visit Kyle's blog at www.xanga.com/notcountingthecost

I'll post more tomorrow - some reflections and thoughts about the trip.

Caleb is much better - thanks for your prayers...

Thanks for taking this journey with us!!!!

David