Today I was thinking about all of the awesome stuff I have gotten to do in the last two months. I was sitting in a tuk tuk and I literally out loud said, “Oh my gosh….We are in Cambodia!!” I repeated that probably three times. Everyone was like “uhhh yah madison, we know..” And I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was in Cambodia. Thats just so crazy. Anyway I have gotten to do the coolest things the past two months. I have pet tigers, rode elephants, bamboo rafted, jumped off waterfalls, ate the weirdest foods, rented a moped, taught english, made friends with prostitutes in Thailand, prayed a ton, and so much more! And let me tell you something, I don’t regret a single thing. You’re probably thinking, “Well yah I would hope not,” but just hear me out! I refuse to regret anything on this trip. I keep telling myself that I will never regret that time I taught english to kids in Cambodia, I will never regret that time I prayed for the random village lady, I will never regret that time I rode on the roof of a jeepney in The Philippines. For the rest of the trip I want to be the first to raise my hand to do everything. I want to jump on the opportunity to teach english, to pray for someone, to eat the weird food, to share the gospel, to do all this crazy awesome stuff! Because I guarantee I wont ever regret it. And at the end of this year I will be able to say that I have done all this unbelievable stuff.
God has called me on this journey. And by listening to His call I have not only agreed to leave everything I know and live out of my back pack for 11 months, I have agreed to be uncomfortable, hot, sweaty, crazy, to grow and be challenged, make friends with random strangers, worship, love, and much more. I was challenged by a squad mate last month in Thailand to be the most optimistic person on my team this month in Cambodia. She said, “When your team is not liking the food, be the first to talk about how you get to eat that day and how blessed you are. When your team doesn’t like the fact that you have to take a bucket showers be the first to make the best of it.” I have taken her advice since the second she gave it to me and we may only be 3 days into the month but it has made the most extreme difference on my attitude and my race.
This month we are sleeping in our tents, in a church, in Cambodia. We have bucket showers, and no air conditioning. It is very hot here and there isn’t a second that we have stopped sweating. We crashed our tuk tuk, I lost a shirt, sleeping is hard, I eat so many carbs its crazy and its very hot here. BUT, we are so insanely blessed to have a roof over our heads, to be able to rinse off in the water at the end of the day, to be unharmed from the accident, im so blessed to have so many shirts and the money to buy more if I need them, I can rest in God, and I will get to play a lot of soccer this month to work off all those carbs. Its going to be so amazing and I could not be more thrilled to say, “I AM IN CAMBODIA!” and I will never regret it.
“All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
