who's where, when?

We aren't all going to be all together all the time on this trip. We thought you might like to see, in a (large) nutshell, our schedule. We would love to see some friendly faces at the airport when we depart. It really does mean a lot to those traveling to have the support of friends as we get on the plane (with butterflies). And when we return, too (with weary bodies).

July 13, Wednesday Marti and Liz depart from the Rochester airport for Minneapolis to Tokyo to Bangkok to Phnom Penh. Their flight leaves Rochester at 9:50 am and arrives in Phnom Penh 8:50 Friday morning (Cambodia time).

July 14 Karen and Rick depart. The plan is Detroit to Seoul to Phnom Penh. But the exact plans are not written in stone, or on any tickets. They are flying standby most of the way, so extra prayers are needed for them to make good connections and be open to God's plan for any changes. He knows what they need. The flight for Detroit leaves RST at 6:23am.

July 16 & 17 M,L,K & R will get settled in our rooms in this large, capitol city. Recovering from the long flights and getting used to the 12 hour time difference will be our biggest challenges, not to mention the heat and humidity. Hopefully we will be able to attend one of the Cambodian Church services on Sunday morning.

July 18, Monday English Camp #1 starts in Phnom Penh. The four of us will join up with some folks from Toledo, Ohio and Canada to meet our University aged students. Each morning for the next five days, we will have classroom studying, to help them learn English better(they will already know some English.) Our afternoons will be spent sightseeing with the students in small groups, each of us getting to know two or three of them. We are hoping to see the royal palace, a museum or two, and do some shopping at the market. Pray that we would be able to connect with the students, and that they would sense the love of Christ through our words and actions.

Unknown date, I think it's Tuesday Ron will leave Rochester for Phnom Penh. He will join the four already there, and with a video camera capture the excitement of God working through our English Camp. (I think Ron knows what date he is leaving, but your blogmasters are in the dark on it.)

July 23, Saturday English Camp ends around noon. The rest of the day is spent being tourists in Phnom Penh and spending time with some of the missionaries there or .....

July 24, Sunday Attending church in Phnom Penh will be a highlight for us. After getting to know our students, we look forward to worshipping with them in their native language. After that, an afternoon of rest sounds pretty nice.

July 25, Monday The remainder of the team departs Rochester at 9:50 am, following the same flight path Marti and Liz took, except their final destination is Siem Reap. Those of us already in Cambodia hope to visit Place of Rescue 1 at this point. We're looking forward to holding some babies and hugging lots of kids, and maybe a granny or two.

July 26, Tuesday  As group #2 travels through Tokyo and Bangkok, group #1 starts their journey north and west to Siem Reap (4-6 hours by bus or boat.)

July 27, Wednesday Group #2 arrives in Siem Reap at 9:10am. Group #1 will be there to welcome them. Group #2 will crash and shower and rest after the long flights. Who knows what group #1 will be up to.

July 28, Thursday English Camp starts in Siem Reap. Marti and Liz will join group #2 now, in a more rural, camp-like setting, a smaller city where we will have our English camp. sleep, eat, and study English together with our students all day, every day. Our students will be younger here, probably elementary and high school ages, and many of them will have no knowledge at all of English. Again, pray that the kids sense our love for them, through Christ.

At this point Karen and Rick will depart from the group, visit Angkor Wat and travel 3 hours west to Poipet, to reconnect with missionaries Kent and Chrissy Copeland and two of the students from last year's English camp that Rick has been corresponding with. Rick helped Dr. Kent with some laboratory work last fall, and shared Thanksgiving dinner with the Copeland family and friends.

July 29, Friday Rick and Karen travel over land to Bangkok. They hope to catch a  flight from BKK to Hong Kong. A little excursion on a Junk (with red sails) is on their agenda while in Hong Kong.

July 31, Sunday Rick and Karen arrive back in Rochester. Or maybe Monday.  arrived back in MN on Wed morning. Missed a flight in Honolulu and had to stay overnight there. But had a chance to see the sunset on Waikiki Beach. The missionary lifestyle is hard sometimes.

August 3, Wednesday English Camp is over, we say goodbye to our students, and hopefully visit Place of Rescue 2, where many of us have sponsored children.

August 4, Thursday Part of the group will head for home, flying from Siem Reap to Bangkok to Tokyo to Minneapolis to Rochester. Five of us: Marti, Sandy, Maxine, Kim, and Abby will head to Poipet to spend a few days with the missionaries there. 

August 5, Friday The part of the team not going to Poipet will arrive at the Rochester International Airport at 3:00 or 5:00 pm.

August 9,Tuesday The Poipet team will return home via a route from Bangkok to Los Angeles to Minneapolis to Rochester, arriving at the Rochester International Airport at 7:45 pm.



to be continued, adjusted, and expanded upon, as needed...