Hello from Cambodia! So so much has happened in the past month, ex: I moved from Lesotho to Swaziland for a week, where BOTH my parents were able to come visit, and do ministry with me and the squad. Immediately following that I got pretty sick and we moved back to South Africa for a conference called the Awakening, where we were able to meet up with 2 other squads and encourage each other as well as share in ministry and worship. (At least I think thats what happened because I was in bed the whole time :)). After that we flew a lot of hours to Singapore, which I highly recommend visiting even if you don’t leave the airport because its amazing; then a few more hours to Siem Reap, Cambodia where I have been staying for the past 2 weeks! Next week my new team and I will be moving to Battambang, Cambodia to finish off our last 2 months of ministry working with street kids and teaching english (while living in tents)! We are all super stoked for the future, but for now we are spending our days doing street evangelism in the city, working on projects around the base, or teaching English to the staff!
Typically, evangelism in the city never looks the same twice. You could end up talking/praying with people in markets or streets, listening to the life story of a tourist, playing with kids that are normally overlooked, or anything in-between. On Thursday Cali, Brielle, and I went out with absolutely no plan. We prayed that God would show us what to do, give us words to say, and be able to love people with his love. 5 minutes into our stroll down town, we ran into 3 boys from Japan holding posters and trash bags and they looked like they were throughly enjoying themselves. I honestly had no clue what was going on so we smiled and kept walking our way. As we’re leaving, one of them ran up to Cali and I and said, “We need to join the movement to keep Cambodia clean,” while the other one shouted from behind, “help us pick up happiness!” After a few confused head nods we had officially joined the movement and were handed 3 garbage bags of our own.
These guys were so bold and literally went up to every person they saw grinning from ear to ear, like they had just been handed the world biggest secret and wanted to share it with the world. As expected, no one else really joined the movement. We had a few tourists dip in, and dip out after a few minutes, but nothing more than that. About an hour in, one of them stopped us and said, “This is a happiness movement, we must sing a happy song!” And that began the start of a perpetual “O Happy Day”, and “If You’re Happy and You Know It” performance. I don’t know what happened to us in that moment, but picking up nasty wet garbage in one of the dirtiest cities, while singing silly children songs about being happy, suddenly became one of the most joyful times I’ve had in a while.
That afternoon we came back to hang out with them again, and ended up getting a free performance from Japans claim to fame, a harmonica legend. We also went to lunch with another member of their group, who had been going through the streets giving out free hugs all day. As I began sharing with my new friend about who we are and why we were in Cambodia, I found out that their group was not associated with any religion, they just wanted to serve others outside of their own country. In that moment we were able to share a little of what we believe in, and a seed was planted. He was able to hear the good news, and I know God will continue to pursue his heart even though I may never see them again.
As we sat their listening to these guys who are so filled with joy and happiness over a cleaning movement I began to wonder what the world would look like if we had that much drive and passion to share the love of Jesus. What if we went up to everyone without fear of rejection because we are grounded in our true identity in the Father. If we truly believe we have the key to eternal life, and a life with purpose, could we get as excited to share it as a couple of tourists picking up trash on the streets were? I am so glad I had the chance to meet some new friends and “join the movement” even if it may have looked pretty foolish to everyone else.
I pray that God will give us all the strength to share the good news we have with boldness and passion beyond any campaign or movement of this world. Today I am thankful for picking up trash, making a fool of ourselves, and more laughter than I thought possible!
