Month 1 in a nutshell

 

2 music classes, and 5 English classes daily was pretty much our schedule. We attended a few church services throughout the month as well. That was slightly difficult to engage because there was a lack of translation to understand what was being taught. But even i my team and I didn’t ever really know what was going on, the one thing we noticed was their passion and fire for God. Every sermon given, you could just see the love of the Lord on their faces and hear it in their language, it was quite beautiful. One of the coolest parts about this ministry for me was seeing kids who are sponsored by people. You always see those commercials talking about sponsoring children in other countries and wonder what it’s like. And seeing that, seeing these kids who have actual sponsors and are wanting to help change a life was truly amazing. To go to a private school and learn English is $1 and most families can’t afford it. Could you imagine going to Ucla or USC for only $1???!!!! Yeah.. me either! But for most kids who are coming from villages, it will a very slim chance, but not guaranteed. So to see that there are people out there who choose to hear these kids stories and sponsor them and see the fruit of that is something I don’t think I can shake my brain from because of the beauty that was attached. $1 really does make a difference and for some they depend on it to learn another language in order to succeed in their culture. Living with the kids day in and day out at the children’s home was interesting because we got to literally see how these kids live, how they eat, what they eat, how they wash their clothes, all of their daily routines, you name it we saw it. Geese. Yep.. I got chased by geese this month. It was quite the experience, but good news I can still run fast! Meal times often included inviting more creatures to join us.. and I don’t mean to eat with us. At some point this last month, team river dancers decided to take a new approach to how we would get protein and that was by eating ants. Not on purposes of course. But for some reason the ants loved to manage their way into the rice and make it home. We had two options.. not eat the rice(which could have been a nice break) or just cook ’em and consider it more like the “pepper and seasoning” of our very bland white rice. On the race… you don’t let meals slide.. we are the ant flavored rice. 

 

Our team had a hard month right out of the bat. It was hard for many different reasons, but if there’s one thing I was reminded of , it was that growth is for sure coming out of our team. Siting at debrief this week, my eyes have really been open to all that we went through as a team and me as an individual. It’s easy to say “the race wasn’t what I expected” but it’s so true. I don’t think I really know what I expected coming into this, but whatever it was God shattered all my expectations and is unfolding so much in my life, it’s pretty awesome. I’m learning a lot about myself, and a lot about the gifts and strengths God has given me. So currently I’m just trying to figure out how to not be stubborn, and accept it and walk all of it out to the fullest. 

 

Highlights of this month: 

•going to the city to the genocide museum. It helped me tap into the Cambodian culture more and have better understanding of the people.

•preaching at a youth service 

•teaching the high school English class

 

To everyone who prayed for my teammate and friend who was sick in our last week, thank you so much for all of the prayers! She is on track with recovery and is doing well!

 

I have raised $11,237 of $16,561. There is a deadline at the end of this month, November 30th to be at $13,000. If you feel led to give please click the donate button above! Thank you all for bringing me this far.

 

Prayers

My team and I will set out at 2:30 am tomorrow morning to start our travel day to Chiang Mai Thailand! Prayers for safe travels and smooth transitions into the country over the border. 

 

Love y’all – Brooke