My team this month is about 45min outside 
of Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, in a small town called Takeo. We’ve been
assigned to work and live at Takeo Children’s Center (TCC), which is not a
children’s home as I originally thought. Besides my group the only other
people living at the center is our contact, Seth, his wife and the two youngest
of their three kids (the oldest is away at school). They are staying here
temporarily until they get funds to build a home on a piece of land they own
near by.
TCC our first week was not very busy because of
the Khmer New Year, Cambodia’s biggest holiday of the year when Cambodians
celebrated all Birthdays and Anniversaries. Outside of the center, we’ve
been doing home visits to bible studies or “cell groups” in the
community. 
I’ve felt incredibly inspired by and honored to meet Believers in
remote places studying God’s Word. Our first day of home visits was the
April 18, the 4 year anniversary of my Dad’s passing. We went to a
women’s bible study in a small village where no other foreigners had been.
We sat in a circle on a tarp laid on the ground singing and praying.
The first Cambodian woman, to give her testimony tearfully shared she was
a widow with three children. Sok Ram (pictured here) attested to God’s healing power in her life
and I of course started to cry along with her. With the help of a
translator I shared what a special day it was for me. I encouraged her to
stay strong through persecution from extended family, and to rely on the
wonderful women around her for support. I told her to trust God will honor her
suffering and sacrifice in His name, and He will bring many blessings to her
children and future generations. Meeting her and hearing her story was
truly a divine appointment on a day where I was not able to connect with and
comfort my Mom as she likely was tearfully remembering the loss of her husband,
my father.
conducting Children’s Clubs at TCC and other centers/homes in the area, where
we play games, do dramas, and crafts for sometimes up to 100 kids. We’ve
also been helping a missionary named Ted and his wife Janeth teach English
courses at TCC. As a whole the ministry offers variety keeping us busy in
the mornings and evenings, but also making time for rest during the HOT
afternoons.
We are blessed to have food prepared for us by Seth’s wife,Sam-ole, who is an AMAZING cook!!! This month will be extremely short,
with only 2.5 weeks here. We are likely going to leave around the 5th and hope
to spend a day at the beach celebrating Nick’s Birthday. Then it will
be back to Phnom Penh for one night before we fly to Malaysia on May 9th.
Then I’ll be home exactly one month later!!!!
of this race expecting (even though they told us not to have expectations) that
I would fall in love with a country or a people group. While I have
enjoyed EVERY ministry assignment up to this point I do not feel God has broken
my heart to the point of calling me back to one of the places I’ve served.
I realized while I was expecting to feel connected to a country, I never
actually prayed for this directly. So this month that is exactly what I
started doing – praying He would break my heart for Cambodia. And if not,
then I will pray the same for Malaysia and if not then for my home in the US.
So as the race comes close to being finished (only 49 more days!!),
please pray for wisdom and discernment on where God will take me next.
