It has arrived...

...fall, that is. I'm still wondering why spring and summer are no longer around. Spending the year in limbo, with no set schedule and each day looking very much like the ones before and after it, has left me with a floating sense of time. But, with fall just beginning, I am still hopeful that I'll be in Cambodia before it wraps up. On that topic, things continue to get closer. My one-time funds have been officially in for a couple of weeks now--good progress! And as the one-time funds continue to grow and overflow, they help build up my monthly funds as well, which are now at 90% of what I need. So close! Support raising is now a manner of trying to find just a few more committed people.

In the meantime, I plan to enjoy some apple cider (we've even found an orchard where we can press our own!) and switch from mowing the lawn to raking up leaves. Maybe I'll even do something involving a pumpkin--the good old orange American kind, because once I'm in Asia the common pumpkins are smaller and a bluish-white color (although luckily still tasty :) ). The other highlight of fall in country Colorado is the opportunity to drive by local farms that cater to harvest-themed entertainement: corn mazes, pumpkin patches, tractor trains, and so on. One of these farms has the added excitement of a giant inflatable "creature"--reportedly, for those so inclined, you can walk through the creature from mouth to tail and even enjoy the gurgling sounds of digestion during that part of your journey. Any takers?

Grab the Popcorn

I've been in the mood lately to watch movies--which I suppose means I should go rent something. But--just in case you also wouldn't mind watching a movie or two, here's a few video clips from Cambodia :)

Here's a clip during a church service at the KFC Church in Anlong Veng. Anlong Veng, you may recall, is the town I'll be spending most of my time in in northern Cambodia. And while the church is called KFC--sorry, no fried chicken involved: KFC stands for Kampuchea For Christ (Kampuchea is the name of Cambodia in Khmer, the Cambodian language). I had the chance to attend this church service while I was in Anlong Veng in April for the staff training session. Currently, less than .5% of Cambodia's population is Christian, so churches are not highly common. However, I believe that there are several KFC churches throughout the country, one of which is the one that happens to be in Anlong Veng. The service was conducted in Khmer, including the songs. In the early 1900's, the Christian and Missionary Alliance had a missionary presence in Cambodia, and one of those missionaries used a number of traditional songs and tunes as the basis for a Cambodian hymn book. That hymn book is still in common use among the country's Christian gatherings.

FH's work in Cambodia is centered in Anlong Veng, which has a population of about 10,000 in a province that has numerous small villages. The villages surrounding Anlong Veng are where FH is involved in deveopment work. This clip shows some village homes on either side of a road, where I happen to be "filming" from the back of a moving motorcycle. You'll see the back of the driver of the moto, John Tuggy--country director for FHCambodia.