I am currently in the Kingdom of Cambodia, in the city of Kampong Cham. My time here is already drawing to a close, so I thought I would give you a glimpse of my time here. The humidity was more intense here than both India and Nepal. Hammocks hang everywhere. Houses sit on tall stilts. There are banana, coconut, and mango trees all around. I wake up every morning to the sound of noisy roosters. A mosquito net protects me as I sleep. I am a short walk away from the Mekong River and the Chinese Night Market.
Each morning we drive 10-15 minutes to a slum and are joyfully welcomed by naked little children running alongside our tuk-tuk. We bathe them with the water we pump from a well. Roughly 30 children from newborns to age 13 fill a small rented room in the slum. We teach them songs, simple english, play games, tell jesus stories, and give them bread for their bellies. My heart aches for these children. Though I know so little about them, I can see their story all over their skin. They hang on me constantly, begging for love and attention. So I hold them in my arms and notice the scars, the cigarette burns, the lice in their hair, the rashes. I imagine what they face each day and I constantly intercede on their behalf.
In the evenings I worked alongside a Khmer teacher at a private school and I would help teach English to a class of 20 children ages 7-15. Honestly, this was something that I was quite nervous to do. Never have I truly enjoyed or done all that well in school so going back didn’t sound that desirable to me in any way. Later God changed my heart. I learned about the genocide that took place here not that long ago. It completely broke my heart. My host told me the story, but then I later stayed up late at night researching the tragedy. For those of you that don’t know, I would really encourage you to read about it here (http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_cambodia1.html). After realizing that all educated people were murdered in this land and understanding that now this country is suffering from a lack of educated leaders (doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc), I had more of a passion in my heart to teach what I know. To know the history and then see the eagerness and excitement of these children, so ready to learn, makes a world of difference in my heart. Even to see one child’s face light up at the end of the week because he felt confident in what he had learned, made my heart so happy. What a privilege to get to teach these children who are the future of this country.
This week specifically has been pretty focused on helping our host family move to their new location. We are staying at YDC (Youth Development Center) which is an English School. They are moving to a bigger house, hoping and praying for 150 students when they start the course next week. We have been hard at work, painting and cleaning, trying to prepare the house for next week.
I only have a couple more days here and then I will be getting ready to travel by bus to Thailand. Thailand looks different than any other country so far. I will not have a ministry host there.. meaning no set schedule, no specific ministry, no place to stay, and very much so spirit lead. My team will be on the move on Phuket Island, in attempts to find new ministries that we will be able to connect with the world race so that there will be more opportunities for future ministry. If anyone knows of any ministries in Thailand that my team could check out, let me know!
I love how much I have been able to communicate with all of you via Facebook and email, but I feel in my heart that it is very necessary for me to disconnect at the end of September and on through October. I will check my messages every once in a while, but for the most part I think it’s very important that I full heartedly dive into this next country without the distraction of internet. I need to take advantage of this time away instead of still allowing my focus to be at home in the states.
I love all of you. Thank you so much for your prayers. Also thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me to finally be fully funded. I obviously couldn’t have done it without you. Please continue to keep me in your prayers, especially through this next month where quite literally anything could happen. The unknown is such a beautiful place to be. Much, much love.
