The Malones visit Jan 3-6 09

The Malone Family, who are in Thailand as Missionaries with Pioneers, are friends from our Canberra days. In fact I fondly remember the first time we met them in 1991. We entered their church as newbies and after the service they invited us to play tennis with them.

Recently Phil, Jenny and Matt visited from Thailand, while Tim, who had been visiting them from Australia for Christmas, also came across. They stayed with us for three days and we visited historical sites with them. The photo above shows us on a boat together on the Mekong river at Phnom Penh, where we went past a small Vietnamese Floating Village.

It is quite remarkable that on one side of the Mekong is this small village and on the other the bustling and large city of Phnom Penh with a skyline of large scale construction, flashy hotels, cafe's and the Royal Palace.

It was such a blessing to share these few days with the Malones. Almost surreal to see people we know and love in an environment that we have never shared together before. You can find a link to the Malones own Blogsite on the bottom right of our site. They are very much an inspiration to us when we contemplate their growth in Christ and his working out his purposes through them. Please pray for their ministry in the slum area south of Bangkok.

Fiona

Our New House

We have reached a milestone. We have vacated the house which we were subletting for the first part of our term here and moved into a town house.


This is a photo of the front of the house, ground floor. The bike and trailer delivered some of the furniture which we bought as the place came unfurnished. A dining table, 8 dining chairs, two beds and two matresses were piled onto the trailer and roped down.

Below is our kitchen, there is one tile cupboard to the right of the tile bench, and a sink with cold water. It is interesting setting up a new house, buying all your needs from scratch. A gas stove top, gas bottle, fridge, plates, cutlery, water filter, serving implements... you name it. Not something we had been particularly prepared for budget wise, but necessary all the same. We spent the Christmas break bargaining and finding second hand sales and are almost set up.

Our new place is about 15 minutes walk further away from our old house. It is however a bit quieter and we have a hot water system in our bathroom. Needless to say I have enjoyed having warm showers each day! Especially when washing my hair.

I am looking forward to having open street access so that we can engage more readily with the locals rather than locked behind a courtyard. The lady across from us, will probably become familiar with us very quickly, as she sells pineapples, mangoes and guava outside her gate. A pineapple comes ready cut in 4 portions and cost about 30 - 50cents. Yum! The local boys seem keen to play with Nathan, since this street is not busy, like the previous one, he should make friends quickly.

Our town house is one in a row of four, we live on the left end and another Hope teacher (Miss Chris) lives on the right end, since townhouses are only about 5 metres wide, then between our two places is a whole 10m. This move will bring us oppportunities share times with Chris and get to know the Khmer who live with her.

We do not yet have a wahing machine, please pray for direction / blessing in aquiring one.

God Bless,

Fiona