Last month in Thailand, we were in the heart of a tourist city with busy streets, hot showers, western toilets, beds, nice tile floors, refrigerators and all the other comforts. As I watched out the window of the bus from Phnom Penh to Kampong Speu, I realized this month in Cambodia will look so different from last. Rice fields as far as the eye can see, houses built up on stilts and dirt roads. We arrived at our home from the month in a small village. Back to bucket showers, squatty potties, and sleeping pads. We all set up our tent in our furniture less home to keep the critters out. And when I say critters I mean geckos, foot long lizards (skinks), rats, and bugs of every sort. The bathroom is a about a 50 meter walk from our house in the “coffee shop” we eat our meals which sits next to the place we teach our English classes.
When we found out our ministry for the month I was disappointed. Working in the garden in extreme heat and teaching English…not too excited about either of those. The first few days it took everything in me to get through the day. I’m burnt out from it being month 10 on the race, bending over in the garden and sleepless nights on a horrible sleeping pad on cement floors has left my body aching, I’m constantly sweating, my feet are always covered in mud (it’s monsoon season her), and the repetitive “this is a square, say square” is enough to drive me insane. But then, as instant as flipping a light switch, something changed.
I knew I was no longer capable of doing any of this on my own strength. One day, dripping sweat while planting seeds I said “ok God, this is all you! I will not make it on my own and I don’t want to just ‘push through’ these last 2 months of the race. You have to step in, you have to give me strength, you have to help!” And that’s exactly what He did!
I have completely fallen in love with the kids we teach therefore making the teaching so enjoyable! Turns out I really don’t mind pulling weeds and planting seeds. I think it’s hilarious that 2 newborn baby rats have fallen from the rafters of our ceiling, one nearly landing on me. We have named the huge skink Sam and I love watching the geckos catch the bugs on the wall at night. I do feel bad Robin’s tent now has a huge hole from one of the rats trying to get to her peanut butter but it’s so funny to tell the story of the 2 rats falling from the ceiling causing us all to scream and run in all directions. Our contact Ra and his wife Noon treat us so well and have shown us so much love. God asked me to give up spending money this month (blog post to come) yet I’ve seen Him bless me over and over and over again. Cambodia is a beautiful country and the people are some of the most gorgeous people I’ve seen anywhere in the world.
Truth be told, I went from dreading this month to falling in love with it. I can’t believe we have only less than 2 weeks left here. Time is flying by and I’m trying my hardest to enjoy every moment here without counting the days until I am home again. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!
<3 I love and miss you all! <3
