My team visited two villages while in Cambodia. We stayed in Arng village for 10 days. Our sleeping quarters consisted of the church concrete floor, mosquito nets, fans (yes, we did have electricity, Praise God, because it got really hot), and mats. Our showers were bucket and Squatty Potty was an all too familiar friend. Everyday we ate at pastor’s house for our meals, cooked by his sister. Rice was served with every meal, however, the Cambodian fixins’ made it worth the eat. Each day was planned out with home visits, cell groups, English classes. Sometimes we did a children’s church during the week, other times we sat with a Cambodian friend and gave him/her a private lesson on guitar, piano, or drums. For the most part, the church’s tuktuk (a trike wagon) drove us to our destinations, but where the tuktuk couldn’t go, we walked, sometimes a very long distance. At the home visits, we shared testimonies and prayed for the sick. At the cell groups, the Pastor shared a message from the Bible, we sang one or two songs in Khami, one of us would share a testimony, then we would eat a snack. The very first time we had snack, we thought the Pastor said “time for snake”. And he was smiling when he said it, so we thought he liked to eat snake. Most of my teammates were a little apprehensive about eating the “snake” until someone in my team said “he means snack, not snake”. The “snake” ended up being fried bananas. How’s that for a funny story! 🙂 After our 10 day assignment, we returned to Phnom Penh to rest a couple of days before we left for an 8-day assignment in Kom Pong Speur province. Lyndie, a lady from the Carribbean and also our contact in Kom Pong Speur, was on her 8th month of service there. She came to Cambodia to start an Agriculture program in the village where we stayed and planned to stay 2yrs to achieve her dream. Meanwhile, she is acquaiting herself with the language and the village people and is helping the lady pastor with daily children’s school. My team stayed at the Educational Center where Lyndie and all the staff lived and worked. We had no electricity (except for two lights in the Center that were powered by a car battery). Our sleeping quarters consisted of bed mattresses, mosquito nets, and a cool evening breeze (thank you Lord for the breeze because it was hot, even in the evenings). Bucket baths and squatty potties were the norm, all water supplied by a well just walking distance from the Education Center. Every morning the team would have morning devotionals together while eating our favorite Post Toasties. Then the girls would help out with children school while the guys would do manual labor (eg., fixing a bamboo fence and picking up trash) around the Center. Guitar classes were from 2-4pm, two days out of the week, and home visits were from 2-4pm the other days when guitar classes weren’t taught. In the afternoons, our guys would play volleyball with the youth until dinner was served. Wednesday night we had a cultural experience, eating a delicious Khami dinner with banana pudding dessert made from coconut milk, tapioca balls, and slices of banana. The pudding was served with sugar-coated rice cookies and peanut brittle. After dinner we learned traditional Cambodian dances, being taught by the youth group. They showed us the hand and feet motions: the hands swayed up and down as though gracefully painting; the feet moved to a forward step step tap, backward step step tap movement. It was line dancing the Cambodia way, everybody moving uniformally in a circle. Although this month was the hottest month I had experienced on the Race, God used this month to grow me in perseverance. And although I miss you all very much, God is giving me the grace, the strength, and the focus daily to finish this Race strong. Thank you for your prayers and support. I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon. I love you all!
