Meanwhile,
a challenge is brewing…
It's been a while, folks, I apologize. I don't know whether or not it's been because I've been enjoying Malaysia so much or what, but I haven't prioritized blogging as I should have; so in an effort to remain accountable I pledge to write once a day to you all. Now you'll get to hear a whole lot about Cambodia, the wonderful country we're now abiding in.
I write to you from mine and Carrie's hostel bed, from mine and her's and Madison's and Ciera's hostel room; I have the pleasure of enjoying V8 and biscuits while in the midst of our air conditioned environment: a rarity and a joy. M-Squad arrived after a single travel day! Thanks be to Jeff and Sarah for coordinating our smooth transport from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Siem Reap, Cambodia to Phnom Penh. We took a bus at 6:30am to the local airport which then took us across the Gulf of Thailand.
The airport system was hilarious; firstly, no one seemed to care that a few people on our team had 75lb packs: no oversize fees! Then we went through the first round of airport security that lead down to the terminals- keep your shoes on and your laptops in your backpacks, they instructed; oh, and no, you don't need to empty your pockets either. “Esta bien.” Jordan and I chugged our entire Nalgenes unnecessarily just before going through this check point; turns out they wouldn't have cared until we got to the second check point that we waited for an hour and a half before proceeding through. At least we were hydrated, right? Then at the second check point we had to take our laptops out of our bags and chug any liquids that we wanted to ingest, but our shoes never had to come off and my guitar was never questioned (woo woo!).
Prior to take off, we fill out our departure cards and our customs forms as per usual and proceed to the plane as our rows are called. Now, let me tell you about this plane we took: our seats had usb charging ports and built in tvs that offered your choice of movie, ebook, video game or music selections with little remotes that looked like Wiimotes. On our less than two hours flight, the stewardesses brought about our free meals- your choice of chicken and rice or fish and rice in curry sauce with vegetables, sweet bread, water and a separate drink of your choice; not to mention Raneal, our server, was super nice. Say what? We then board our final bus that would take us from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh where we'll be doing ministry this month with children, college students and potentially prison members (so pumped!!)!
Being in Cambodia has brought a few things to mind, one thing being this: the fact that it's already June. I mean, JUNE, guys! What the heck- where did nearly half the Race go? Where did nearly half my year go? My goodness, this whole thing is.. just incredible. Never did I think that my life would look like this; running from country to country doing all different types of work and forming the most memorable relationships from people in all different walks of life was definitely not on my list of expectations for my existence. My dreams at home were relatively small; however, now I can look at this huge dream as normalcy: intricate, emotive, challenging, passionate and deliberate and transforming every day that I let it be so.
I cannot wait to indulge in Cambodia and let every day be saturated. I may be on a strict budget of three dollars a day, but that has no barring on the usage of the hours I have here. It's about these beautiful people. It's about being intentional. It's about bringing Jesus in the simple way that you choose to live. It's about relationships, memory building and time well spent. All emotion, mistakes and expectations aside, it's about love; thus, it's about life to the fullest, and I will do just that, seizing every moment.
With that in mind, month six until eternity: begin!
