Hi friends! We arrived in Cambodia last Tuesday. Our host is a man named Dara, and he has a helper named Sena who looks after us when he’s working in other cities. So far we have had two official ministry days. We are working with Samaritan’s Purse to go into schools and teach handwashing, play games with the kids, teach a little English, and present the Gospel. What I’ve been realizing is that the handwashing and the English teaching, while important in and of themselves, are also tools to get us into contact with the kids so we can share Jesus’ love with them. That’s our main aim.
We’ve also had the opportunity to do some “unofficial” ministry since arriving here. When we were at the school on Friday, there was a motorcycle accident right in front of the school. Since Shannon has some EMT training, she was able to assist. The young man in the accident was only 18 years old. One of our Samaritan’s Purse contacts who was there was able to find a friend to sponsor the young man so that he could go to the hospital. Because he received proper care, he should be ok.
Then, on Friday night, I was walking home from our favorite slushie place when I saw a strange sight -two white people, a girl and a guy, wearing giant hiking packs, standing on the side of the road trying to hitch a ride. This is not at all a touristy area, so I stopped, stared, and waved . The girl waved back. I thought I should go talk to them, but was concerned about getting home in time for dinner (will I never learn?) I walked a bit farther to the noodle restaurant to meet Shannon so we could walk home together, and as I stood there telling her about the people I’d just seen, they walked into the restaurant! They turned out to be a super awesome couple who have traveled all over the world. Right now they are working on circumnavigating the globe! They hitch rides in cars and ships to get around. We hit it off so well that we decided to meet for coffee and a Bible study the next morning! It was awesome to get to trade stories and encourage one another to enjoy playing in God’s playground! I’ve got to say, it made me feel like a bit of a pansy to hear about how they get around compared to how we get around!
In other news: The food here is amazing! I’m surprised to say it, but Cambodian food has been my favorite on the Race so far. We have it really easy this month because Sena prepares our meals. Meals consist of sticky rice, soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and veggies and different kinds of meat prepared in different ways. We’ve had pork, chicken, beef, and…frog. Yes, lunch one day was deep-fried frog! It was pretty good, actually…I guess most things taste good when they’re deep-fried! The weather has been quite hot during the day, but it’s usually cool in the mornings and at night. Everyone on the team is mostly healthy, except for some coughing, which is a great blessing after the colds and stomach issues we had in Nepal.
Please continue to pray for us to be a blessing to the people here and for God to continue to present us with “divine appointments!”
The younger kids at the school look on as the older ones show us one of their dances.
