Well here I am in Cambodia. Half way around the world, away from family, friends, and the comfort of my home. But I’m loving it. Yeah it may be hot, humid, rainy and my legs may look like I have leprosy because of all the mosquitos bites and a rat may or may not have ran across my neck and down my legs one night while I was sleeping, but other than all that I am loving Cambodia!
And honestly I really am enjoying it. It is so different from America but it seems almost normal as well. Everywhere we go, people are always shouting out “Hello!” I think it may be one of the only English words most of them know. But it’s great; we all love how friendly everyone is.
I am living with my team in a small house connected to the church we are working with and it may be tight at times but we have learned to make it work. We have a toilet and shower hose so showers are possible every night which I am grateful for.
As for ministry, each day looks different. Our host, Pastor Thyvenn has such a heart for spreading the kingdom of God. He loves going out to the villages and teaching the people there about Jesus. He loves building relationships and always has a smile on his face.
We arrived on Friday, the 12th and got settled in. On Saturday we headed out to one of the villages that Thyvenn ministers to. Scott led a little Bible study for the adults and then a couple of us told the kids a story and sang songs and played games with them. These kids are precious. They all have the biggest smiles on their faces when you come and you can’t help but feel their joy.
On Sunday we headed out to another village. We had to take a boat to get to this one. The boat ride was so peaceful and the Cambodian countryside is beautiful. This village had so many children and so many women who seemed eager to know more about Jesus. Seeing these little children pray was one of the most precious things I have ever seen. You could just see Jesus’ love in these children. We were also able to pray for the women and children who were sick and we don’t know if God healed them or not but I believe that He performed some wonderful miracles and I don’t think their eagerness to know more about God will go unnoticed.
The rest of the week has consisted of teaching English to the members of the church and building relationships with the kids in the neighborhood as well as with the young men who attend the church and help Pastor Thyvenn. We have also been able to play mud soccer a couple of times which the kids love.
It’s the beginning of the rainy season here in Cambodia and we experienced a downpour yesterday. We were all standing around waiting to go play soccer when the sky just opened up and dumped buckets on us. So instead of just staying inside we decided to let loose and just enjoy the rain. The kids loved it; they found buckets and were throwing water on all of us. There was so much laughter and joy. It was definitely a time when God showed up and let us see his love and joy once again.
So that basically sums up what has been happening here in Cambodia. Next week is going to look much different than this week because we are going to go camp at a rice farm for a few days. I don’t know all the details but I’m just going to go with it and we will see what happens.
Please continue to keep my squad and team in your prayers. Also please pray for Pastor Thyvenn and his church. It isn’t easy running a ministry in Cambodia because they don’t have constant supporters like ministries in the states do. They live on a day to day basis so life isn’t always easy. Thyvenn is an amazing painter and that is his main source of income; in case you didn’t know, painting is a hard profession and it is hard to make a living off of that. So pray that people would buy his paintings and that God would continue to provide for him and the church in mysterious and mighty ways.
Thank you again for all your support and prayers!
Love you all!
Andrea
P.S. I was trying to do pictures but it’s not that great of internet so just check out facebook for photos!
