I’ve been living and working in Kampong Cham, Cambodia, for the last two weeks. After all of the moving from hostel to hostel we did last month, arriving at the Youth Development Center here felt instantly like coming home. I’m sleeping in the same bed all month, I have shelves for my belongings, and there’s a schedule hanging on the wall telling me what each day will look like.
Life is good in Cambodia.
I loved the open nature of our month in Laos, but there’s a certain relaxation factor in place this month that has been so restful for me. Our time here started with a welcome party thrown by our contacts and our new students. We’re working with YWAM again – and very excited for that after the great experience we had in Thailand – and a large part of our ministry is teaching their English students. We also go into different villages in the mornings Monday-Friday to minister to the children and pray over the communities. We will be going into the prison to worship, preach, and pray with the prisoners there. The people we have been working with here are so awesome. Our hosts, Maricel and Marianne, take fabulous care of us – including preparing incredible, home-cooked Filipino food for us every day. Living here has been such a pleasant experience for us, I’ve enjoyed being able to feel right at home from the beginning. Of course, 6 months of the World Race have taught me that I might as well make myself at home early on, since I won’t be staying there long!
One unexpected blessing this month has been access to bikes. We ride bikes just about everywhere – to the grocery, to some of the villages we minister in, to the neighborhoods where we ride around praying. Traveling by bike instead of car/tuk-tuk is great for a couple of reasons. Obviously, it’s a lot more fun. But more than that, it has given us a chance to really feel like we’re a part of the community. We have plenty of neighborhood kids who yell hello and give us hi-fives when we ride by, so that’s been really great. It terrifies me a little bit trying to navigate darkness, monsoon storms, motorcycle and car traffic, roundabouts, and the general chaos of Asia traffic while on a bicycle, but my confidence is growing. Sometimes I think I’d feel better about just closing my eyes and praying when crossing intersections! You have to watch out for the horse-drawn carts as well, but I’m getting used to it.
My teammate Zach and I are teaching an Advanced English class for an hour a day, 5 days a week. We plan the lessons and assignments each day. What has been both surprising and really great about this class is that all of our students are adults. The last two months we’ve been teaching mostly kids/adolescents with fairly beginning level English. It’s a little different preparing lessons for a class of adult university students who are already quite proficient in English.
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and the Hokey Pokey aren’t going to cut it this time.
When I realized that, I knew this was the class for me. I have a hard time bringing the silliness that works so well in classes for children, but a class where I can actually hold conversations about culture, faith, and dreams? I can handle that! I was really nervous for our first class, and I’m still a little nervous every day, but by the end of class I’m always energized and encouraged. I really enjoy teaching a more advanced class and having real discussions with the students.
I’m definitely still learning – on the first day, one of my students asked, “Teacher, how can you help me understand you better?” I didn’t really have an answer for that, except to promise I would speak slower. I’ve always been really good at spelling, but of course every spelling mistake I make comes out when I’m writing on the whiteboard in front of the class. I’m also pretty sure I’m saying half of their names wrong, but I’m trying!
Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the week or so of classes I’ve had with these students. I like hearing about their dreams and plans, and sharing with them what brought me to Cambodia. We are free to share our faith in class and have been very open with the students about what we believe and why we’re here. In a class full of Buddhists (including a monk), this has been awesome. As they become more comfortable they ask us more questions, and we’ve even started putting someone on the Hot Seat for questions every day to get to know about each other and our customs even more. I never expected teaching to be part of my life, so learning to enjoy it and be comfortable with it – even teaching the class by myself one day when Zach was traveling – has been fun.
Our days are full but totally worthwhile here in Cambodia. Our time here is almost halfway done (how does that happen so fast?) so we’re trying to dig in and make the most of it!
Please continue praying for funding for my teammate Jan Carlo Del Valle – click the link on the left of this page if you’d like to read his blogs. He has been given an extension but still needs over $1,000 to come in by the end of this month in order to stay in the field.
