Off with the wind she goes…my lifestyle as seen by many of my close friends and family. This time though, the wind in my sails has not been my own. One of the members of my squad told me about a recent experience when he was kite boarding. He was in trouble. There was no possibility of him making it back to shore safely after the distance he had gone. The wind was going in the opposite direction he needed to go. Thankfully it switched direction just enough that he could give it a try, but it picked up speed so that it was beyond his skill set. He was alone and did not know what else to do, but try to make it back across from the island, so he went for it. He was done for if he crashed. The wind took hold of his kite, and he was getting dragged along. Somehow the kite didn’t crash, and as he hung on for dear life, all he could do was say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” After what seemed like an endless ride, he magically made it back to where he needed to be. Reflecting back on that experience, he thought about the position he had been in – holding on for dear life, all wild-eyed, uncertain of what would happen, almost losing hope, not able to do anything on his own strength. He realized that is where we should always be – in that tight spot, saying, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” over and over again. We should be leaning on Jesus in every moment, letting Him be our only hope because it is not by our hands that we get anywhere in this life. We should be comfortable in a position that we cannot fulfill by ourselves .We should be leaning back, holding on, being present with Him, and letting Him be the wind in our sails, as we repeatedly cry out for Him. As I go through this year, I’m learning to call on Him more and more every day. I hope that He will become the only wind in my sails.
I am living in a little village in Cambodia, teaching English to the kids and the teachers. I have also taught them hygiene, which they have none of. It is amazing all the ways we are blessed in the states that we don’t even realize. Every single kid has rotten teeth that they will have for the rest of their lives. If they don’t have lice, they probably will soon because that is the norm here. Before class had even begun on the first day of school, one kid got knocked in the head by a metal swing at the playground. He most likely received a concussion; the wound he had would need stitches in the states. We could only hold him as he cried, try to soothe him in a language that he cannot understand, use an antibacterial wipe, put pressure on his head to stop the bleeding, and patch him up with a Band-Aid. It is truly amazing the blessings and privileges we are surrounded with in America. I have also been helping to plant a church in the city. Pastor Jack finally received a license from the government after a year of work, so I have been able to take part in growing the church and spending time with young adults from the area. These first two weeks have been a lot – a lot of awesome, a lot of learning, a lot of struggle, and a lot of Jesus. I am going to tell you about the people who have touched me; people after God’s own heart.
Pastor Jack is our host. Samedi, his wife, is the woman behind so much that goes on here. She is the principal at the school, sings at the church, and always seems to be on the go, and yet, there is no status that she seems to give herself. In the states, it seems that people act with more authority when they are in positions like hers, but Samedi chooses to laugh with us, make fun of herself, learn English from us, take an English Bible study with us, and still lead in so many ways. She laughs at her mistakes and has a servant’s heart that is admirable. They have a daughter, Daria, and the way they love their child is inspiring. She is the main singer at the church in the city and sings her heart out. At 27 years old, she has been an accountant, a nurse, a wife, and a mother. Now she has helped plant a Christian school in a culture that is 95% Buddhist. The first year was extremely hard because the Christian name is not well respected here in Cambodia. After the first year, word got out that the kindergarteners matched learning levels of fourth graders at the public school and the school started to blossom. Almost all of the kids are Buddhist, but Samedi’s vision is to simply share the love of Christ with them and hope that it will bring them to know Christ in their hearts as their Savior. She has hope that the kids will bring Christ home to their families too. She treats them all with the love and kindness of a mother and gives them the individual attention they need. She pushes the students to grow as individuals, make good decisions, and lead a good life. She has become a leader to serve.
Somien is one of the teachers. He lives in the village and the school would not run as beautifully as it does without him there. He arrives at the school each morning around 6am and drives the school van around for 1-2 hours to pick up all the kids. Then he teaches all morning before driving the kids home for another two hours in the van. Mind you, this stick shift van has five rows of seats. When it arrives with Somien flying over the water-filled potholes to prevent the van from getting stuck, I can still hardly believe the sixty faces I see smiling and waving as they start to pile out of the van. It would not fly in America, but I guess that is one thing I love about Cambodia, the freedom of life. The kids run around unattended and get into the mischief of childhood, soaking themselves in the mud of the earth. There isn’t technology to fill their time and distract them, just the open fields and one another. Somien and his wife have six children; one is adopted. They also host foster kids when the need arises, until they find them better homes. He is the go to man for us girls at the school. He has spent hours helping us with this and that. He takes us to the local market twice a week to buy food, spending hours walking through with us and helping us find the places with the best bargains. Some days, when we get all our work done early enough, he shares the culture with us, taking us to houses of friends and teachers in the village. He drives us back to Phnom Penh some weekends, which is an hour drive for us, but a two hour drive for him. He also helps with whatever is needed, like fixing up holes in the walls and building mosquito nets out of bamboo for us because the little house we stay in has holes for airflow but attracts billions of bugs each night. Before working here, he worked at an orphanage and that is where he met his wife. He loves the kids. He’s a man after God’s own heart and has a joyous personality. All who know him are blessed by it.
“Freely you have received; freely give.” ~Matthew 10:8
Their language is Khmer (pronounced Kumai) and is confusing. There are sounds that I cannot make and their alphabet is made up of squiggles and letters that don’t exist in English. The names here are hard to understand, so when I learn them, I write them down in a way that when I read them, I will be pronouncing them correctly – even then, I get their names wrong half the time because they are difficult to understand. I thought one little girl’s name was Bumtid for a week until I asked Samedi. After she died laughing, she informed me that the little girl’s name was Comteer. Other times, I get them correct, just a few of the names I have finally got down are Chiong Ded, Guimha, Bonlock, Kum Choon, Teeda, Lawtinna, Neeta, Galica, and Goy. The kids love running up to me with big grins on their faces for a high five throughout the day. Every morning, the kids get a mini break. Half will go to the playground; half will go to the little snack shop next door to the school. The gals and I tend to mosey over to the little shop and meet up for a coffee and a snack, which costs $0.25/person. Omai and Opeer are the cute, old couple who run the place with one of their sons and their daughter. They are not Christian, but they are a family with a servant’s heart. They had moved to Thailand for a number of years due to the terrible genocide that happened in the 1970s. On their return, work was hard to come by in the village, so they would have to drive into the city for work. The school being built right next door was a blessing to them. They have blessed the school even more abundantly – the kids, the teachers, and us. They expanded their shop as Samedi told them what to add. We have loved trying out the flavors of Cambodia. Sugar in Cambodia is like salt in America. I have enjoyed trying their deep fried bananas and potatoes covered in sugar and all the random snacks the kids eat. Sugar in Cambodia is like salt in America. Now, they don’t have to go anywhere to find work – they maintain the grounds, taking care of the grass, locking the gate at night and in the afternoon after school, and unlocking it in the morning and again for English class in the afternoons. Samedi lives in the city, which is an hour drive from the village, so having them around to fulfill these tasks has been a lifesaver for her. They are poor and yet they give beyond. Many kids come for snack time, and being young, they don’t always understand how much everything costs, but Omai will give them the snacks even when they only have half the total. Some kids will not have money at all; he gives freely. When Samedi is here, they are always inviting her over to join them for meals; they have become family to her. They have been a blessing to each other, and I can’t help but love them for the beautiful, loving people that they are. We will often have the wrong Khmer bills and come up short. Omai will just wave us off, and we make sure to square up the next time we come. Samedi has to intentionally make sure to pay them for everything because they will gladly give it freely. They are always a joy in my day, greeting me with a smile and the question of how many coffees they can prepare for us. “Two coffee and two snack?” he says. We feel loved being known by them. The conversation at their little shop is filled with love and appreciation as we gaze out on the fields that dance in the wind. The joy and ease that fills all the teachers at the shop has given us opportunity to get to know them on a personal basis and helped us to see more and more into their hearts. Snack time is a time when I can see the love that is present in Omai’s family and the family that the teachers have become, working as one unit with a servant’s hearts for the greater glory of God. Give freely as you go down life’s road; you can’t take it with you when you go.
Pedro is a missionary from Brazil. He leads the English Bible study. His wisdom and his heart to act inspires me, and I am learning more about the Gospel and the way. Revelation without action is just information. Don’t let the truth just be information. Act on the Gospel and who Christ calls you to be. What use is the Word if we don’t follow through with what it says? It speaks so much of love, and the most important way to show God our love is to serve our brothers and sisters. After two weeks of being surrounded by people who serve, I cannot help but see what God is pointing me towards – living with a heart for others, to serve, to shine a little bit of light into their lives. Living out the Beatitudes and the Works of Mercy are what God calls us to. Haley and I decided to start doing a Bible study together and invited our team to join. She asked me what book we should start with and I flipped my Bible open to Ecclesiastes. We decided that was perfect. Later that afternoon, we were talking with Pedro and he mentioned something in Ecclesiastes and told us it was one of his favorite books of the Bible. It is narrated by King Solomon, the wisest man there ever was. It was a neat coincidence and we began reading and praying with it that night. Ironically, all the revelations I have had so far keep pointing me towards living to serve, choosing to see opportunities in what I am doing to leave a trail of blessings. God has told us through Ecclesiastes that understanding is an endless endeavor. Using only your mind as Solomon does leaves you wanting for experience, for love, for heart. What is most important to understand is to put into practice that which the Word tells us – and that is love, agape, to serve all of our brothers and sisters with a servant’s heart. It is in our actions of love that meaning is found, not just in the talking and thinking. I love chasing after the wind, but we are also called to spiritual maturity, to help others in their paths, to leave God in our wind, so that when others chase our wind, they will find the holy fragrance of Christ and they will be blessed with hope and meaning in their lives. God is calling me to love with a servant’s heart, leaving Christ for others to find in my actions. What wind and path do I want to leave for others to follow? Seeking wisdom, riches, love? No one else has been gifted with the same amount of wisdom as Solomon because wisdom alone is not fruitful for humanity, just like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil bore fruit that was not fruitful for humanity. In his old age, he found that the 300 wives and 700 concubines brought him no joy, that all the riches in the world were worthless, that owning lands galore was ultimately a meaningless feat. It is our actions that will be remembered. When we use only our minds and forget our hearts, we find life to be a meaningless undertaking in the end. A life of action, of active love, is more powerful than one in which you gain wisdom and see all the suffering that surrounds you, but don’t act on it. Pedro has pushed me in this and helped me to recognize all the beautiful people around me who choose to act on the Word and live out their faith by serving others.
I used to want to be remembered. I suppose that it makes me feel loved, important, or like I have made an impact. A couple of days ago, we cleaned the children. I have never felt more in touch with a servant’s heart than when we were joyfully cleaning their feet and blessing them with good hygiene. It would have been easy to squirm clipping dirt crusted toe nails and finger nails and discovering lice covered scalps, but I found that it was such a beautiful way to care for God’s children. It made me think of Jesus cleaning the disciple’s feet. I was so full of joy to give these children the tools to care for the temple of the Spirit within them and to have a better quality of life. Look around and think about the people in your life. Who has the heart of a servant? I challenge you to grow in becoming more like them. Follow the wind that they are leaving in their wake. I want to chase the wind of the Holy Spirit, of a greater glory and goodness. I want to leave a wind that will lead others to Christ, being an example for others by serving with a heart for Christ. Now I don’t want people to remember me. I want them to forget me and just remember Jesus.
Bisous,
Meagan
Thank you for your love and support. Please pray for my team to grow in the Spirit and let Him be the wind that holds us up. God Bless!
