My original vision for my Q&A blog was to do a video, but after I made the video it ended up being 32 mins long! It was too much unfortunately. So I decided to just post a blog that includes all of your questions you had for me written out for you to read.
Mariza Trancoso Q: Do you miss me?
A: Of course I miss you! I miss our late night drives with the music turned up, I miss our sushi dates, I miss watching friends for hours at a time, and so much more. I love you, sister!
Elisabeth Porter (My cousin) Q: What has impacted you the deepest so far? How has it changed your life?
A: Great question. I think what has impacted me the most this far was Vietnam. We worked in so many areas with children. We worked in an Orphanage, and we worked in a school where we worked with the poorest of the poor, and the wealthiest children in Vietnam. All separately, but it was crazy to see the differences in them all. It has given me such a passion for adoption. In Vietnam, many mothers will literally leave their babies at the hospital and abandon them there. So they go through life without documents and a birth certificate. Because of that, that means that they are unadoptable, and they are unable to attend secondary school. By the time they turn 18, they have no education, and have to figure out how to do life all on their own. It’s so heartbreaking to me. Jesus tells us to take care of the orphans and widows, and my heart desires so much to take that and run with it. I definitely want to adopt in Vietnam, and I also want to make sure that I am constantly praying for all of these kids and a future for them, in situations that look so hopeless. It’s been insanely eye-opening.
Peggy (My aunt) Q: Is there a country, or someone in the country you liked or miss more?
A: I miss my friend Bipin in Nepal definitely. But my favorite country so far has been Vietnam. I miss the kids so much it makes my heart hurt sometimes.
Robin Henard (My cousin) Q: Have you gotten homesick yet?
A: In my first video, I answered no. However, on Easter this month and even the day after, I was struggling a lot. I was missing home and my family very much. I miss them always. But that was the first time that I was like, “dang, I want to be home”. Cambodia has been a very uncomfortable country. It is insanely hot. We have no A/C, and our ministry is so busy we work 6:30am until 8:30pm most days. It’s been hard. So it makes sense that this month would make me feel that way. However, I have no doubt that this is where I’m supposed to be. I definitely am grateful living this life.
Penny (My cousin): Have you had any adversity in your travels?
A: I think the adversity that has been the hardest is just being viewed differently because we are white. Being charged more, and also in church settings sometimes in the Hindu culture they would view us as healers because we’re white. Even some of the Christians believed that. Really, the adversity I have faced the most is due to the color of my skin. Which I have never experienced before.
Wyatt, Harmony, Madison, Madisyn, Austin, Kyla (Kiddos from my church) Q: Does it ever snow where you are?
A: NO! It is SO hot where I am right now. The coldest country that I was in Nepal. But it got fairly warm during the day. The mornings and nights required a jacket and pants, but it wasn’t cold enough for snow!
Q: What do you eat for breakfast?
A: It varies every day, and every country. In India we had fruit and oatmeal every morning. In Nepal we made oatmeal and had apples or bananas. A couple times we had pancakes! Vietnam we normally had a fruit smoothie for breakfast. This month we have granola bars!
Q: How big is the spider you are going to eat? (For those of you that don’t know, I did a fundraiser that required me to raise $1500 in 2 weeks, and if I was able to raise that money, I would eat a Tarantula in Cambodia and film it. I’m TERRIFIED. I hate siders. The kids are very excited about this.)
A: I don’t know! Hopefully not TOO big!
Q: Will you eat it all?
A: I am going to try to eat it all. But i’m afraid to eat the body! It looks so gross! For sure the legs. But I’m going to try to be a champ and eat it all!
Q: What do you do every day?
A: In Cambodia it’s different things every day. We go to the school some days and do things with the kids. Two people from our team are in the school every day. The rest of us are doing odd jobs for our hosts back at our place. We’re currently building and painting them a bed out of palettes. Then after work for the day we go to the villages and do worship on the street corner! It’s fun! Then we go do team building or teach guitar or English at the school to the staff at night time. Busy busy!
Q: Do you ever get a free day?
A: Yes! We normally have one off day a week. But due to a Cambodian holiday we just had FOUR days off. So we went to the beach, and that was nice relaxation and processing time.
Q: Have you learned any new languages?
A: I learned a little bit of Telegu which is the language they spoke in India. A LITTLE BIT, I won’t lie. I didn’t learn anything really in Nepali other than “There is victory in the Lord”, but I couldn’t tell you how to spell it. Nepali people speak great English for the most part. I didn’t learn anything in Vietnam. It is literally the most complicated language I have ever heard ever. Haha. In Cambodia we are actually working with Vietnamese refuges. So we’re mostly around Vietnamese people. Still haven’t learned any words! I hate that my brain doesn’t comprehend language well!
Q: Are you having fun?
A: I’m having a BLAST!
Q: Have you made any new friends?
A: I have a good friend Bipin in Nepal, and I have LOTS of kiddo friends all around the world now!
Shirley Kilberg (My preschool teacher, and friend from church) Q: What are your biggest joys and hardships?
A: Shirley! I miss you! I have been praying for you. I hope you’re well.
My biggest joys are these kids that we’ve been around. In particular the children we worked with in Vietnam. It was so crazy how connected I felt with those kids and the joy they brought to me. My heart just loves all of the kids that the Lord places in my path and it is such a blessing. 100% the kids. I feel so much love through them.
Another joy has been being able to connect with Jesus on a whole different level. Diving deeper into intimacy has been such an incredible journey.
Hardships would be seeing the hopelessness. Some of these kids are so poor and so broken, that it makes you truly feel hopeless. It’s devastating to watch them walk in that. But the Lord loves children. He wants to give them a bright future. And I have to just continue to pray that the Lord will give them a bright path and future. I know He will take care of them. They don’t deserve what the devil wants to give them. We also just have to give that up to the Lord and stop feeling like we want to be in control of those situations because it’s easy to want to. But we just have to think positive and have faith.
Kyla (Little girl in our church) Q: Did you eat the spider yet?
A: Haha. No. You will know when I do. I’ll post a video don’t you worry. We have squad debrief at the end of this month, and we’ll be in a bigger city in Cambodia so I’m sure I’ll find one there. I’ll do it as soon as I can! (Gotta get it overwith!)
Bonnie Decker (Member of our church) Q: I read your blog, and would like to know what interaction you have with the people of the different countries. Are these people Christians, or are you introducing them to Jesus?
A: It looks different everywhere we go. In India, there were some Christians, but mostly Hindus that we were trying to introduce to Jesus. That was a more difficult time. In Nepal, we were around Christians for the most part the whole time. We did a lot of prayer walks in Nepal. In Vietnam we were unable to let anyone know that we were Christians. So the kids we worked with were not able to know we were because of the persecution and the fact that it’s a closed and communist country. But there were American interns at our church and we were able to have church every Sunday and interact with them daily, so that was great. Here, many of the people we are working with are Christians. All the teachers in the school are Christian but the surrounding people are not.
Kevin Crow (My friend on R Squad that launched with my squad in January! He’s rad) Q: Why are we not in the same country?!?
A: At the time you asked this question, I was in Vietnam and you were in Madagascar which I was SUPER jealous of. (Kevin’s route was the route I almost chose when applying for the Race) I believe right now you are in Malaysia! I think it’s Manistry month for you if I saw on Facebook correctly. But I miss you Kevin and apparently we are going to be in Thailand for an overlap at the same time! I better see you! Alyssa and I miss you!!
Other questions from people at my church:
Q: Did you bring your own pillow?
A: Oh yes! I brought a thermarest camping pillow XL, so its about the same size as my normal pillow, but it packs down nice and small!
Q: Can you correspond later with anyone you meet? Children?
A: I can keep in contact with my hosts for sure. And I keep in touch with my friend Bipin in Nepal. However, I can’t keep in direct contact with the kids. But I can definitely check up on them with my hosts and see how they are!
Q: Are you able to buy anything at any time? For example, could you go buy a pen if you needed one?
A: There are always little markets and marts that we’re able to find that really have everything we need. It’s quite convenient. I didn’t think it would honestly be that easy.
Q: How often can you take a shower? A real shower?
A: We’ve been pretty spoiled the past couple months. I have been able to take a shower every month very easily. The hardest month was probably in Nepal. It was mostly bucket showers, and it was cold outside so you didn’t want to shower because the water was cold. But every other month has been great. In Vietnam we had hot water all month. Here in Cambodia it’s cold water, but I wouldn’t want to take a shower with hot water here because it’s so hot outside. The cold water feels amazing.
I hope this answer some of your questions you have! If you have any more please feel free to shoot me an email or message me on Facebook!
I love you guys so much!
Expect another blog here soon! I will write about a wrap up of Vietnam, and then talk about what this month has looked like!
I love you guys!
Love and Peace,
Keeley
