Soooo,
In case you hadn’t noticed, we made it to Cambodia! Well, approximately two weeks ago we made it, but we are just settling into the schedule. Such is the way of the race- two weeks to settle in, two weeks to be in routine, and then uprooting, moving, and starting over again.
What can you do, huh? 😉
This month my team and I get the privilege of living and working alongside two other teams. There are twenty-one of us in total- eighteen girls and three guys (feel free to feel bad for them, haha). The guys get their own room, as does the married couple with us, so the rest of us sleep in one big room on our pads, and it is a blast. It’s been like having a sleepover with extended family.
Our ministry days are Sunday-Thursday, our adventure day is Friday, and our rest day is Saturday.
On Sundays, we attend church as a large group, and then visit a University to have discussions with some students about the difference between American and Cambodian culture. The point is to prepare them for debates and to practice their English.
Monday-Thursday-
Before Sunrise: I wake up and I spend quiet time with the Lord. I prepare my heart for the day, and seek Him, asking how I can love better, and laying before Him all the things that press on my heart. It’s been freeing to offer my worries to Him, and watch Him replace them with His peace.
6:30am- I have breakfast and devotions with the other teams who are living with us. It’s early, so sometimes full sentence aren’t formed coherently, and sometimes we miss our mouths while we try to eat or drink, but there is grace in the Kingdom of God.
7:00am- My team and I are on breakfast duty, which means we clean all the dishes. We have mini worship sessions every morning with our Bluetooth stereo, and we dance around and sing at the top of lungs while we scrape eggs into the trash, wash the stickiness off plates, and sweep the dining room.
7:45am- This month I’m teaching with the ministry who is hosting us and I’m in my classroom right after breakfast. Our ministry teaches English for free to kids are willing to learn, with the intent of giving kids an opportunity to have a better chance in life. It’s an incredible opportunity for each child who seeks education here, because many of them live in desperate poverty. The Khmer Rouge has affected the culture as a whole generation of educated individuals were wiped out not quite fifty years ago. Many of the Cambodian kiddos don’t have parents themselves, or have parents who are uneducated.
I make my own lesson plans, so I am hoping they are learning something… hahahahaha. If anything, we are having fun.
8am- The madness begins! Just kidding… I have six students, all girls. The oldest might be ten. Four out of six of them are Korean children whose families came to be missionaries. It has been fun to get to know them individually and try to teach to the level that they are at. Every morning we give thanks to God, and I share Bible stories with them when I feel led. The other day I had them all get up and pretend to greet each other in English. They were perplexed at my instructions at first, partially because they speak little English, but also because I’m not always clear and concise. We’ve been learning about clothing lately, and I’m a little ashamed to admit that it felt awkward to teach them the word “underwear”. Needless to say, they certainly got a kick out of the book “Aliens Love Underpants”.
The good news? They are always cute, even when I’m struggling haha.
9am- In my second class is one little girl who is IN LOVE with English. She doesn’t even like to play games, because she loves English so much. I’m thankful God gave her to me to teach because she is probably one of the only kids who would be willing to follow my crazy English-grammar bunny trails (did you know English was hard to explain?). The other day, I taught her about how Jesus called the little children to himself, even when His disciples thought He should send them away. Her eyes lit up as I told her she could go to Jesus anytime and He would love to hear her thoughts and be her friend. I’m honored that God has entrusted me a part in watering that precious little seed.
10am-12pm- I have down time until lunch, so I will usually nap, or read Love Does by Bob Goff (great book that’s changing my perspective on how to love well), or pray, or chat with some world race buddies, or watch some Boy Meets World, or plan my lessons for the next morning.
12-12:30pm- Lunch with the crew. At this point we are all a little more awake, so we share about our ministries. Most of us teach in the morning, and some are painting murals or working in coffee shops, so it is fun to hear about rebellious classrooms, or how swimming lessons went, or if the giraffes neck is too long in the painting or not hahaha #thisistheworldrace
12:30-2pm- More down time, see above.
2-4:30pm- Bikes are our primary mode of transportation this month, so at two, four other girls and I head the trauma hospital for our afternoon ministry. We work with this wonderful woman named Anne McCormick who started an activities program in the trauma hospital. When she came here a couple of years ago she realized a lot of the patients are bored in the wards, so she started this program. We take games around to patients and play with them for however long they want. We cannot tell them about Jesus unless they ask, but we get to be like Jesus to them every day. Someday they’ll wonder why we flew half way around the world to play games with them, but until then, we’ll just keep praying for them in our heads. Anne also makes and sells Christmas cards on recycled paper, so the other half of our time is spent decorating and (for me) correcting the artistic mistakes I have made. I’m learning, always learning.
4:30-5:15pm- I ride home from the hospital and take a couple of joy laps around the neighborhood with my biker gang (they’re a bunch of kiddos who have English in the afternoon at the ministry house that I live). We laugh and follow each other, and ding our bells and race each other, and overall just have a blast.
5:15-7pm- More down time. It has been nice to catch a breath this month because last month we were constantly on the move from 5am in the morning to 10pm at night. Having this much time has allowed me to process all the things I haven’t had the space to yet, and then to just be alive with the Lord, and honestly to feel normal and not so robotic all the time. It’s been peaceful, and restful, and I have been so thankful for it.
7pm- Dinner is always delicious, always filling, and usually joyful.
8pm- It is required that we have team time every day while we are on the race, so each of our teams separate to find a place to pour into one another on an individual team basis. Team time looks different every night, from bringing our prayers and dreams to the Lord, to having a fake sleepover and playing MASH as a throwback to middle school, to taking communion with bread and strawberry Fanta because the Lord is above our limited resources. It’s been fun to see what each of my teammates do with their team times, and I have loved participating in that.
9:30pm- On rare occasions, I might be found sitting outside on our balcony, stargazing and having a deep talk, but I’m usually in bed by this time since we wake up so early.
The Lord is moving, in my heart if not anywhere else. He’s been teaching me that I really can hear His voice, and He loves to talk to me. I’ve been learning how to sit quietly and listen to Him, and how to better love my teammates and the people that God surrounds me with every day.
Cambodia is a joy, full of friendly adults and children who scream “hello!” every time we ride by on our bikes. I’m excited to serve here for one more week, and to continue seeing what the Lord is doing through our obedience.
