Wow. I’m continually surprised at how quickly time flies by. It feels like just yesterday I was writing a blog about how I was just about to start month five of the race, and here I am, about to start month six already!
Well, today is our last day of ministry here. We had church this morning, and this evening, our contacts have asked if they could wash our feet. I’ve really loved our ministry here. Our contacts are amazing. Theevyn (pronounced Steven, without the “s”), is the church pastor, our translator this month, as well as an amazing painter, and very talented guitar player and singer. He also helps the guys with carving coconut keychains. They sell the keychains and paintings in a store by the killing fields. Dom is another one of our contacts. He has so much joy and loves to tell people about Jesus. Chris was our contact earlier this month when we went to Kompang Chom to help in the church and visit villages.
It’s crazy; I feel like we’ve been here for such a long time, but at the same time, it feels like we just got here. Cambodia has been one of my favorite months so far. I’ve loved living with another team and just having the constant community. I understand now why the book of Acts encourages community so much; it is so amazing to be constantly encouraged by my brothers and sisters. Along with my world race community, I have loved the community we are living in. The church is right in front of our house, so we are always around Theevyn and Dom. It’s just such a loving and warm atmosphere. We’ve made some great memories and had amazing conversations.
Some of my favorite memories from Cambodia took place in villages that we visited. I blogged a few weeks back about the trash village. Well, I was able to go back and visit that village. While I was there, I got to witness a dog give birth to puppies. When we got there, only two puppies were with here, and by the time I went back to check on her later, she had four additional puppies. Also in the village, I got to spend time with a family who had two daughters and one son. They were such a sweet, happy family. The little girl was probably 2 or 3, just running around naked and smiling.
We went to revisit another village a couple days ago. This village was right near the mountain where the kings are buried, so there are huge monuments erected there for them. In this village, we met a woman who invited us into her house. There, she told us about her daughter who was in the hospital after giving birth to her daughter. She asked us to pray for them, but also to pray for her village. She told us that five of her neighbors had HIV. We all prayed for her, and when we finished, she looked at us with a tear-streaked face. She had so much pain in her heart for her neighbors.
In Cambodia, I’ve seen beautiful people with beautiful hearts for God. It’s always strange coming to the end of the month knowing that we have to say goodbye. We will be heading to Siem Reap tomorrow to see Angkor Wat and spend some time as a team before heading on to our sixth country, Vietnam.
Vietnam is a closed country, which means that they don’t allow missionaries to come in. I’m not sure how good the internet is going to be, or if I’ll even be able to post to my blog. I want to thank you for your continual prayers. I really couldn’t be here doing this without them. God is moving in Cambodia, and I’m excited to see how He’s going to move in Vietnam!
