This month we are in Cambodia, an hour away from Phnom Pen, in a village that is on an island surrounded by a river. My team and I arrived at this village and were told that pastor Gideon would meet us and take us on a “ferry” to our ministry site. Picture this 7 world racers with our entire luggage walking down a dirt road to a ferry that is actually two boats connected by wood planks that go across both of them to give you something to stand on. I have road on many ferries on this race and none have looked like this.
After we get off the “ferry” we are told it’s a one kilometer walk to our ministry site. As we start walking in the heat on the dirt roads we realize it’s a little further than we thought. Moto’s start coming to pick us up two by two and giving us a ride to our ministry site.
ferry in the background
This is the first time seeing our home and knowing that we are in the middle of nowhere. All 7 of us set up tents in this small room of concrete. We have some windows with bars on them, a tin roof, and a door with bars that has about a 5 inch gap from the floor where we hope Templeton the rat doesn’t join us. We have chickens, turkeys, 3 hogs, and 4 baby pigs right behind our bathrooms. We have power from 6pm-9pm when the generator is on. 24/7 we are fighting mosquitoes and it looks like we have the chicken pox now, the only way to escape them is to hide in your tent which becomes a hot box throughout the day and just lie on your sleeping pad and swim in your sweat.
Our ministry this month is a youth center for the children on the island. There are ages from 3-20 year olds who come and play volleyball, soccer, and just hangout throughout the day and eat their meals there. The children are great they make the whole experience worth it. In the morning we have children’s bible time where about 20 kids ages 3-13 come into the church and we sing songs, and teach English and a bible story to them for an hour. From 2pm-5pm we either teach English again or do home visits to the families on the island. At 7pm we have our youth meetings with the older kids where we do praise and worship, play some games, and share testimonies.
We have only had 3 days of ministry so far and lots of down time, but this is what I asked for. I wanted an orphanage that I could love on children, and while all these kids have families they still need lots of love. The house/ ministry we are staying at is called House of Joy what a perfect name for something I have to choose everyday while I’m there. I’m excited to get to know these children better and build relationships with them.
We do not have internet access this month so blogs will come later, and not as frequent.
All pictures on this blog were taken by the beautiful Kacie Lynn
