For the last 10 days we’ve been working
in Arng Village, about one-and-a-half hours from Phnom Penh. Most of our time
was spent visiting villagers and sharing testimonies and praying for
them. Priscilla taught English classes every evening with the rest of
us helping to lead conversation groups. We had a children’s program a
couple of times where we played games, did skits, worshiped, and just
had fun. One day we did a women’s meeting where we did worship,
skits, and Priscilla gave a message about loving children in
different ways. It was fun.
A few of the young boys from the
village rode with us to visit the villagers most days. One of them
even said he skipped school to play with the white people! Volleyball
is big here in the rainy season when the football (soccer) fields are
too wet to play on and so Austin joined in a game every afternoon
with our pastor. Sam also played a couple times, but girls don’t
play, so they were surprised to learn that Monica and I knew how to
play when we played a game on our first day there.
The weather in Cambodia is so hot and
humid that we sweat even when we’re not doing anything. I think one
day we were told that it was 42 degrees celsius.
The mosquitoes were really bad in the village so some evenings
were particularly miserable when we felt like we were getting eaten
alive. The bites, along with the heat rash on most of my body, had me
feeling the itchiest I have in a really long time. Some nights I was
near tears as I felt like there was no way I was going to make it
through this week because my feet were itching so bad that I couldn’t
sleep, but God is faithful and as I prayed for grace and strength He
granted it to me and I survived! The second day we were there I also
got a headache and fever, but God is great and He enabled me to
participate in all the activities we had scheduled for that day
anyway.
The pastor we worked with was amazing,
and his family was so welcoming to us. Our translator, Bibi, is
pretty awesome and he will be going with us to our next village as
well. He’s 20 years old and has only been learning English for a
couple years at most but he does really well. Most of the names here
are hard to pronounce, much less spell, so forgive me for not naming
our new friends in my blog. 
The Cambodian people are very hospitable
and just love to have us with them and participating in their lives.
We learned how to make sticky rice with jackfruit and some sort of
coconut gelatin stuff with jackfruit in that, too. We made friends
with the couple who sell sugarcane juice, and a bunch of the village
kids would just hang out at the church in hopes that we were there
and would play with them. It was a great 10 days and I am looking
forward to the next few days that we’ll be spending in another
village.
Thank you for your continued prayers as
this mission nears its end. We only have 6 weeks left and I want to
make the most of it!
