My Life…
We have a 4 a.m. wake up call from the Buddhist monks who
are living in the temple right next to where we are staying. We normally here 3
taps on a microphone then a “Hello Hello” which then leads to hours of
chanting, drum beating, singing, or Cambodian music.
nice cold, some days warm, mud footbath as we walk to the Center. Due to it
being rainy season our tuk tuk driver can not make his way all the way to the
center so he stops and we pile out and make our walk through the mud and if we
are lucky it has rained a lot and it is muddy water, making it easier to walk
through with out slipping.
half in Khmer. Each girl on the team takes turns leading the girls in a bible study.
Most of the girls have heard about who Jesus is but now they want them to go
deeper and learn what it looks like to have an intimate relationship with their
creator.
After morning devotionals is music lesson time. Emily on our
team is an amazing piano and guitar player with an amazing singing voice. She
is teaching the girls and children at the center to play the piano and guitar.
We only have one keyboard so she has been creative and made paper piano’s to
practice on and then they have private lessons to learn on the actual piano.
They love it!
Next are English classes, this is open to the girls at the
center and people around the city. We walked around the city handing out flyers
to any one and everyone we saw inviting them to learn English, of course the
flyer said “Free lessons with a real foreigner” J. We have two classes
in the morning a beginners and an intermediate. We have one hour of actual
lessons and then a half hour of incorporating a devotional about the Lord that
also allows them to practice their English. We then have two more classes in
the afternoon as well.
girls that live at the center. We have gotten very close to a lot of them.
There is Peir Rom, who is 13 and was left on the streets to fend for him self
for food and shelter. Gangs where constantly wanting him to drink and do drugs
and where beating him up. He soon found the center and they have taken him in
and they feed him and shelter him. Setan, is 13 also, his parents are a live
but cannot take care of him and his two sisters so he has been living at the
center along with his two sisters. These boys are full of so much joy and love
they greet us at the gate with huge smiles on their face and hugs. Then there
is Mong and Lee, oh where to even begin, they are the most hyper boys you will
ever meet but we have just fallen in love with them. Mong is 8 and his parents
no longer want to take care of him so he is living in the home right outside
the center gate with his grandmother. Lee is 9 and his family lives in the
house outside of the gate as well. They spend all their time at the center. I
have taught them how to make the “I love you” sign where there hands and to say
“I love you so much” so now they say it every time I see them, and it just
melts my heart. There are many girls at the center who we spend time with, the
language barrier has been a bit tricky so most of our time is spent taking
pictures of each other. Many of the girls at the center have been rescued from
prostitution or no longer have parents to take care of them. They all have just
captured every part of our hearts.
Elle with some of the girls at the Center
On Thursday and Friday afternoons they take us into town and
we collect children that are living on the streets and bring them back to the
center to bath them, feed them, clothe them, and spend time with them. We have
not started this part of ministry yet but the other day a group of girls got to
go meet some of the kids and their hearts where just broken. You will walk down
the streets and people have made make shift homes right on the side walk, or
you will be approached by children-some only infants-begging you for money. The
reality is real here it is not hidden in corners it is right in front of your
face. I have just fallen in love with these people and the city of Battombong
in every way possible. God has been doing huge things in this city already and
we have only been here for 2 weeks, I just cannot see what else the Lord has in
store for us.
