HELLO supporters and subscribers! I miss you all dearly and I am very excited to finally be updating you with a new blog post!
So on September 8th I started my travels to Atlanta to get ready to Launch on the race, which was such a fun last couple days in the United States filled with real beds, American food, and lots of fellowship with my team and squad-mates.
On September 11th at 6am we began our journey of 4 days of travel. Starting with a 5 hour plane ride to California with a 16 hour layover, then a 14 hour flight to China with a 6 hour layover, then a 4 hour flight to Phenom Phen Cambodia with a night stay in a hostel and an 8 hour bus ride in the morning to Battambang!
…it was exhausting!! I do not like flying and I was also feeling very sick at the time so it has taken me some time to adjust and be here with my physical body.
Fast forward a little; we started our ministry (the team I’m apart of and another team) on Sunday teaching our first Sunday school class at New Hope School (follow them on Facebook for pictures and updates) and it was so amazing! The school we are working with is doing such great things for The Lord and I am so ready to be apart of it the two months we are here!
Now;
let me give you some background on Cambodia and specifically Battambang.
So here in Cambodia they are celebrating one of their biggest holidays of the year this week. And basically what it is, is that it is said during a these couple days, the gates of hell open up and all their ancestors come out and go to their place of death. So everyone has to go back to their hometowns and go to the place of death of their loved ones and leave food and sacrifices for the dead to enjoy while they are here. And it is said that if you don’t go back home and perform sermonizes and such, your ancestors with curse you. Well Buddhism, if you did not know, focuses a lot on superstitions and the idea of being cursed or haunted is something they take very seriously.
This is obviously not of The Lord at all, and a lot of times my squad has been woken up from chanting in different languages by monks and music at 4:30 in the morning-not gonna lie very scary. But no judgment because this is their culture.
Along with that Battambang has a lot of darkness around and in the city and culture. The town we are staying in is very safe and pretty westernized but the village we are in can be very dangerous. It is well known for brothels, drugs, sex trafficking, kidnapping, and possession of people.
This is very scary because a lot of my squad has never been exposed to things like that, me included, but we have also seen a lot of good in just the week-ish we have been here.
Personal update;
I had been feeling very sick on travel days and that was hard, but since I have been here I have been feeling less sick physically and more sick mentally. I have felt very spiritually attacked here and there is just a darkness and heaviness that I feel in my heart and soul. I am someone who carries empathy very heavily, and I don’t say that lightly. My body physically hurts for people when I see struggle, so being here is very hard at times. I also feel things on a spiritual level in a big way, so the fact that there is a lot of evil here is really getting to me.
With that being said I would really appreciate just a cover of prayer myself and my team and squad. We are all staying together in the same complex and there are Buddhist temple basically surrounding us, so I can guarantee I’m not the only one feeling this way.
I am staying in the word and in prayer daily and keeping my eyes focused on The Lord constantly but Satan has a strong hold on this place and can weave his way into my spiritual life so please just help pray against that. I am apart of making a change here, especially at the school we are working at so God HAS to be the center without fail or I am just a girl trying to do The Lords work without Him.
So, thank you all for taking the time to read and hear my heart. I am sorry it has taken me so long to get my thoughts and feelings into a blog, but I am trying to be as real and transparent with my supporters since you are all the reason I’m here and I wanted to get what I put out here just right.
And please know that I am being supported here well by my team, squad, and our leadership, but I did want to update you all on where I’m at and where you all could play apart in that.
Anyway, Much Love to you all and thank you again for reading, supporting, donating, and praying. You all are so amazing and I have so much love in my heart for each of you!
Blessings
