Our team just got back to our hostel in Siem Reap from our week of ministry in the village of Po Peyl (33 km outside of Siem Reap). The days in the village were fantastic. I can’t wait to go back. Everyday we have the same schedule so I’ll just explain a day in the life of Month 1 in Cambodia for team Boldly Present.
Wake up at 5:30am (thanks to the roosters, we need to eat them for lunch).
Quiet time from 5:30-6:30am.
Chores start at 6:30am (sweeping, cleaning the squatty potties, fetching water, preparing breakfast)
Breakfast is at 7:30am
At 9:30-10:30am our team is responsible for leading a Bible study for new believers in the village (we are focusing on “how to share the Gospel”)
Around 11:00am we prepare for lunch (wash and cut veggies, table set-up, etc)
We eat lunch around noon
At 1:30pm our team divides and conquers to teach English to children. 3 stay in Po Peyl and 2 groups of 2 go to nearby villages to teach English as well. The class lasts an hour, but the games afterwards can last up to 2 hours. It’s a blast!
A couple teammates read with a volunteer (who works with our ministry contacts) at 3pm so that she can improve her English skills.
At 4:30pm we prepare for dinner. Cutting veggies is therapeutic.
I teach English one on one with an awesome, faithful, and inspiring young man at 5:30-6:30pm.
We eat dinner at 6:30pm.
Then it’s team time after that. This can last up to 2 hours! But I always leave super encouraged and I think every other teammate does too. We give each other feedback, debrief on how the day went, pray, and tell each other stories.
Bed at 9pm.
We do have free time during the week, so when I am not busy swatting fire ants off of my tent I am helping build a chicken coup, cut down and move trees, lay concrete, play volleyball, and let kids climb all over me.
On the weekends we are in Siem Reap. On Saturday mornings (right after the hour drive from the village) our team is responsible for sharing God’s word and a testimony at a local house fellowship that Roger and Deb have started. It is small and intimate. It’s really neat to worship God within other cultures as well as fellowship with them.
Fun facts:
– I tried Balut (18 day old duck embryo).
– It can rain so hard in a short period of time that un-pegged tents can float away.
– Gasoline costs 4600-5000 Cambodian Riel (1 USD = 4000 Riel) per litre – that’s almost BC prices!
– Although Cambodia is extremely wet (it’s basically a swamp), to my surprise, there are very few mosquitoes. Amen!
– We eat rice with every meal. When we told them we eat rice about once a week in North America our ministry contacts were utterly SHOCKED. Like, their jaw dropped.
– We were able to celebrate our contacts’ 5th wedding anniversary and Deb’s (one of our contacts) birthday on the same day. We went to the local lake.
Please pray for the Spirit to keep working in the hearts of the children and parents (especially the parents) that Roger and Deb (our ministry contact) are ministering to. Pray that our team comes up with even bigger and better ideas to effectively serve and support Roger and Deb’s ministry at the Life & Light Centre.
God’s love and power are evident in the village!
