Dear Cambodia, You have tried and tested me. I would be lying, greatly and deeply, if I told you I wasn’t ready to leave (between the chanting monks on the loud speakers, the children staring at me through the window when I wake up, the freakin’ hot hot hot heat, and the gawking men, this month has been very physically challenging for me) but you have taught me some things this month, and I have grown closer to my Papa because of it.
Dear Readers, Cambodia has been quite the crazy month, and the thought of explaining it completely is honestly quite daunting to me but here is my attempt to sum it up for you…..
We spent the month living at a church in a tiny village which I actually still don’t know the name of (The WR makes you okay with not knowing where you actually are and really not caring ). We spent our days teaching english to the native children and doing house visits. And man, there is a brokenness about Cambodia that is impossible to miss. The effects of the khmer rouge are evident EVERYWHERE…..in people faces, in living conditions, in the education system, in the lack of simple knowledge. The KR has jacked this country up. We visited two places that exemplify this well. The first would be the brick factories. Scattered every which way are brick factories that give out loans and use them to take advantage of, and enslave families who don’t know any better because they simply can’t read the contract. Once trapped in these situations, most families will live and work at these factories the rest of their lives. The second would be the ‘Jesus Village’ (as our pastor called it). Its simply a small, church owned property, with around 8 small bamboo houses on stilts. This village is home to some of the poorest of the poor in the district who have no where else to live. For $2.50 a day the men work long hard days in the rice fields, accompanied by their children who cannot go to school because their assistance is needed. This is their life…day in and day out. Despite the overwhelming injustice we have come in contact with here, God is moving in the midst…. and that is fact. He is moving through the lives of individuals who count Christ absolutely worth it even when persecuted by family, friends, and society because of their faith. He is moving through the efforts of our contact as he works his butt off to feed and care for the poor and sick, to teach the children english, to shepherd his church, to visit the enslaved, and to reach His village with the extravagant Love that has touched his life. There is much to be done here, and it has only begun. The immense need I have seen this month and this year can sometimes seem overwhelming. However, what I have learned is that its really not as much about the need as it is about YOU and ME listening to where the Spirit would lead us to be involved in those things. The Spirit knows whats up, He’s got it all mapped out….listen for His voice and then, gosh darn it, MOVE.
