that I would leave Cambodia so broken. While there I worked with an amazing
ministry and was poured into and blessed by our contacts. The Lord taught me so
much about patience while I was there. At many of the places where we ate, they
only had one cook, so we would order our food and get it at separate times. The times when I was hungriest I would, of course, be
the last to get my food; one time they flat out forgot my order and when it came the food
was so spicy, I could hardly enjoy it.
Which leads to the next
lesson – grace. I had to learn how to extend grace. When a small Cambodian cafe
is bombarded by 6 or 7 English speaking girls orders are likely to be
forgotten. Or when living with 5 other girls, day in and day out, patience is
something that is going to be tried (like planning to leave at 8:15 and not
leaving until 8:30, or waiting for the bathroom…) and grace is extended.
Reality is that maybe one day I am the one holding everyone back and will want
grace extended to me. The consequences of not extending grace?: bitterness,
resentment and anger. It’s hard to build community with those emotions floating
around. You can’t love others when you are holding onto anger, it doesn’t do
anyone any good. So extend grace. Love, the Lord taught me so much about His
love and how to show it to others.
The last day we had ministry,
we threw a party for the girls- to show them that they are valuable and they
are loved. However, they had so many surprises instead for us! When we first
got to the center, our contacts brought out the butcher paper that had the
songs that we had wrote out – a previous team had donated hand chimes and the girls played
do-re-mi. It was such a blessing to see how my hard work was being used. The girls sang for us and we sang with them.
We decorated brownies and gave each girl a rose with Isaiah 43:4 tied to the
rose. The girls then gave us a card thanking us for the time we spent with them
and telling us that they loved us. To
see four beautiful girls run up to me and hug me and tell me that they loved me
and hand me a card was so moving. The
last thing we did was pray. Our contacts told the girls that we were leaving,
and asked them how we could be praying for them. At first the staff answered,
asking prayer for peace between the Thai and Cambodian border and asking for
favor in communication between the directors/staff/and the girls. One of the
girls then spoke up and asked that we would pray against violence and sexual
exploitation. One of the girls who had been really distant, and hadn’t been participating
in the days activities spoke up and said that she would be praying for us and
our safety as we traveled!
“This Love” would not leave my head as we left the center:
