The Visit of Tim’s Parents (November 5-14)

Dear Friends and Family,

During the first week of November, we had some very special guests here in Phnom Penh. Tim's parents braved the long and arduous plane ride here to Cambodia, and we had a great time during the ten days that we were able to spend with them.



The four of us went to many of the cultural and historical spots in Phnom Penh. Here you are seeing us at Chung Eik, the Killing Fields where they buried the victims of the torture school at Toul Sleng. It is always such a hard place to visit, but it was nice to be able to show my parents the history of the people and the country to which we have been called.


On one of the first nights of my parents' visit, we had all of the students and pastors over to our house for a fellowship and a time for them to be introduced to my parents. Here you are seeing Dad meeting and greeting some of our students, much to their delight.


This is us at Wat Phnom, the central temple here in Phnom Penh. We are climbing the steps to this ancient temple. It was a perfect day, great weather with a nice breeze. However, five minutes before this picture was taken, these same smiling faces did not look so cheerful. We had an encounter with one of the monkeys that resides at the temple when he suddenly charged Tiffany and stole one of our mangos that she was holding.


I am sure that this picture is one of the highlights of the trip for Dad. Here you are seeing him feeding Sambo, the elephant at the temple. Dad simply took a hand of bananas (a hand here meaning a bunch of 6-8 bananas), and gave them to the elephant. Sambo obligingly ate them in one quick "chomp", and that was it. Dad said afterwards that he had never had a chance to feed an elephant before, "that was pretty neat."


After touring Phnom Penh for several days, we traveled up to Siem Reap, the town that is near the ancient temples for which Cambodia is so famous . Here you are seeing Tiffany and I posing for a picture at the Cultural Village, enjoying a beautiful Khmer sunset.


Being able to spend time with my parents and sharing the Khmer culture that we have experienced and worked in for the past year was a special pleasure for us. It was like by answering their many questions, and leading them to experience new sights, sounds, tastes, and smells we were experiencing them all over again for the first time.


We had to include this picture of Mom as she took one of her many pictures of "something new" here in Cambodia.


Here you are seeing Dad and I taking a short break as we walked around the Cultural Village.
After the five hour drive to Siem Riep and then constantly moving from one area to another in the village, we were all pretty tired by the end of the day.



The next day, we all went to see the temples of Angkor. These temples were built around the turn of the millennium, when the Khmer Empire ruled all of South-East Asia. Here you are seeing Tim and his parents posing for a picture in the main temple of Angkor Wat.


In this picture, you see Tiffany posing for a picture in one of the internal windows at Angkor Wat. I have to say a huge "thank you" to Tiffany for taking so many of the pictures that you are seeing on this blog update. As I had fun talking to my parents, I would often forget to take pictures, so Tiffany took it upon herself to photo document my parents' visit. She is definitely a good wife.


We also had to include this picture. With the taking of countless numbers of pictures comes a certain amount of camera trouble. Here you are seeing Tim helping his mom with her camera as Dad does a good job as acting supervisor to the task.


The temples of Angkor is the largest temple complex in the entire world. Here you are seeing us at the temple of Ta Phrom, made famous by the huge trees that have grown in and among the ruins of the temple. These great trees are a mystery to see as it does not seem possible that such hulking trees could have just grown up in the middle of this temple complex.


A fun experience that we had as we traveled from temple to temple was finding a small troupe of monkeys who were waiting for the tourists to come and feed them some bananas. Here you are seeing Tiffany feeding a small guy who was perched atop a bicycle.


This great picture was taken at the temple of Angkor Thom. It was great to experience these temples and the history of Cambodia with my parents, and I am sure that it will be a memory that we will all long treasure.


When we arrived back in Phnom Penh, we decided to have a nice dinner at our house. We cooked a special dish, broiled lamb chops with thyme and served it with several side dishes and bruschetta as an appetizer. We are lucky to have access to certain ingredients that are difficult to find in the United States, and we had a great time sharing them with my parents.


Sitting down to a special meal together as we celebrated a very early Christmas together was great fun. It was nice to see Mom and Dad enjoying the food that we had prepared and it was a pleasure to eat, talk and enjoy a quiet evening together at home.


As I said before, we celebrated an early Christmas with my parents. We feel very lucky to have had this great opportunity to share a Christmas with family, even if it took place in the middle of November. Here you are seeing some of the spoils of the evening, lovingly sent by our family and friends back in the United States.


On our last evening in Phnom Penh before Mom and Dad went back to the United States, we took a walk around one of the parks at the center of the city. Here you are seeing Independence Monument, lit up for the night's activities. Special evenings like these are made exceptional by great scenery and the lively culture of downtown Phnom Penh.


Walking around together that evening was nearly perfect, despite the fact that we had to say goodbye the next day. We enjoyed the city, a great Italian restaurant, and an evening spent in memories of the trip and great conversation. We will eagerly await the next time that Mom and Dad can return so that we can make new memories together here in Cambodia.