We’ve officially skipped the weather of winter, spring, and now the States-side season of summer matches the southeast Asian heat I’ve been living in for four months. FOUR. already.
Doing some calculations, that means I have one month left on the Race. ONE. month.
I feel every emotion from relieved to sad when I think about this journey ending.
All I know is, it’s not over yet.
This month of June, my team the RTB wolf pack has been living with a beautiful Christian family on the “island” of Areyksat, Cambodia, a 20-minute ferry ride across the river from the capital city of Phnom Penh. A day in this village consists of transportation on an open-air tuk-tuk, sightings of cows, horses, chickens, and dogs on the side of the road, stopping to buy tea in a bag from the neighbor’s drink stand, and motor bikes swerving their way through the dirt streets.
The open-air transportation means on our nightly drive to our English-teaching ministry, we drive through the smoke of trash burning on the side of the road and end up with bugs in our hair. However, we also get the joy of singing spontaneous songs in the rain as it pours. (Hello rainy season!)
I wake up everymorning around 5:30am to the quiet bustle of the 7 and 12-year-old boys putting away their straw sleeping mats, the mother holding her Bible and hymnal, waving the other hand in the air in praise as she sings and prays, and the family preparing to go out to the fields to harvest and plant their lemongrass before the sun becomes unbearably hot.
We split up for a variety of morning ministries: join one adult daughter, Toni, in her preschool classroom at the church. work in the lemongrass fields. stay back and help another daughter Sreypich cook our lunch. go to the outskirts of the village to pray and pass out tracts and candy. join son Pastor Chanla’s wife Sineang to help at their family’s shop.
In the evening, some go back to the shop, and most of us depart to three specified English classes. For a great description of what I mean by “class,” check out this blog from my teammate KellyAnne.
Most nights I teach at a church member’s house with my teammate Cassidy. Can I just say, we make a great team, and our class of roughly 9 girls FILLS my heart to the brim. These smart and goofy girls have steadily grown on us this month. Now they squeal with delight when we draw a “hangman” game on the white board at the end of class, and departure is a swarm of high-fives and hugs.
On Sundays, we attend New Light Church and participate in worship, share a “special song,” (aka an English song) and one teammate shares a sermon.
In between, we visit Phnom Penh on Saturdays, lay on our sleeping pads in the sweaty heat of the day, visit with the family, and play with the handful of kids that always seems to be around the house.
The Race is a marathon. It’s a furnace of the fire that leads to sanctification, and sometimes the refining feels relentless. The Lord is not done with me yet, even in this final stretch of the Race.
I look to the steadfastness of the Lord to finish strong.
I look to Him when I’m suffering from a 101-degree fever on my deflated, mystery-hole-somewhere sleeping pad for 3 days, or my body breaks out in mysterious hives. I look to Him when I don’t feel like being around people, but the family is doing karaoke in their living room they happen to be letting me call my bedroom for the month, and as I give it a chance it turns into hilarious fun. I look to Him when everyone’s tired, hot, and hungry, and we need to have another team meeting to plan the next week’s schedule. I look to Him when my hair is blowing behind me on my motor bike ride back from ministry. I look to Him when I have a swarm of Cambodian preschoolers at my feet smiling and waving. I look to Him sitting in a hammock, asking for the comfort of His presence in a foreign country.
In reality, friends, His steadfast love is the steadiness that keeps me going strong to the end.
“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
– Psalm 86:15
IMPORTANT: in one week, we leave for Vietnam! Vietnam is a closed country. This means we need to exercise caution in our religious posts online. Therefore, for the month of July I will be putting a password lock on my blog. The password will be:
Serbia
The password lock will be removed upon my finishing the Race and leaving Vietnam!
In Vietnam we will be serving at an English school working with more kids. The Lord knows my heart for youngins, I’m so excited!
In His Hands,
Anna
