Lighthearted
Simple
Soft
Carefree
Trusting
Kind
These are the words that perfectly describe the Cambodian people of Pum Taong Lich. My time here has been full of joy and as I sit on the church stoop writing these words, my heart feels perfectly at peace.
After over 30 hours on various planes and 20+ hours in a bus, we arrived in Cambodia on January 6th. We were greeted at the airport with open arms by our host, Mr. Dara, and ushered to the small village of Pum Taong Lich in an eight-passenger van. Living in the village of Pum Taong Lich feels like living in another world. It’s a world where children play sports in a large field morning till night and all they own to entertain themselves is a deflated soccer ball and a few old bikes. It’s a simple world where very few individuals have TV’s, and no one has a computer. It’s a world where reading is a luxury and people spend most of their days farming potatoes and snacking on bananas and mangos from the surrounding trees. It’s a world most Americans will never know.
I’ve found this village utterly refreshing. People here do not think about what they’re wearing or what their houses look like (most houses are put together with plywood and tarps). There are no thoughts about what they’re going to do on Friday night or if they have the right dress for the party. Basically, the people of Pum Taong Lich live in an opposite world of what I left behind in America, and I want more of what they have.
My team and I are staying at the local church and sleeping in our tents. We’re unable to sleep on the bare floor because we’re sharing the space with a bunch of creepy crawly creatures and a few giant mice. Luckily, our tents keep most of these creatures out during the night and the temperature has been mild so it’s a pretty good place lay our heads. Our days here consist of visiting the local people in the morning and teaching English to the village children in the afternoon.
We also eat three delicious meals a day, homemade by the pastor’s wife with authentic Cambodian ingredients and spices.
I love Cambodian people, I love children and I really love Asian food; my days here are pretty much a dream. We’ve already started to build strong relationships with many of the neighbors and the children that visit us at the church daily, and as each hour passes I find myself feeling more at home.
I’m anxiously waiting to see how The Lord is going to use my team here in Cambodia and am also excited to see how living among the people of Pum Taong Lich is going to manifest in my own life. Will I leave here with new eyes? Will I continue to long for the refined life I left behind in America? Will I still need all the comforts I used to hold close but are now so far? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I do know I will be forever changed by these people and this place.
<3 Stay turned for more updates on Cambodia in the next few weeks! All my love to my friends and family back home and all over the world.
“The same good news that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.” Colossians 1:6.
