Welcome to Cambodia!
I have spent my last 2 weeks living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and boy has it been such a sweet, sweet time. My first 3 months spent on the mission field has flown by, which could be a good or bad thing. Good that it is flying by meaning I haven’t been miserable missing home (sorry mom & dad), and bad in that I don’t want this year of my life to ever come to an end.
Phnom Penh. Cambodia. I love everything about this place.
I love the tuk tuk rides around the city in the hopes that the driver gets us lost just so that we can stay on a little bit longer.
The exhilarating motto rides around the city with the college students we are living with, listening to music and singing at the top of my lungs, getting others to join along as they pass on by. 
I love the big, beautiful architecture of the temples all over the city, wondering just how much time and little detail was put into each square inch.
We are living in the middle of the city this month, directly above the church we are serving alongside this month. We live on the very top floor, the 5th floor, which has allowed my gluts to get a very good workout even on my off days. Our living accommodations are quite glamorous, from a world race perspective. I get to cook this month (if you know me well, you know just how happy this makes me), we have toilets, fans, and a bedroom that allows all 6 of my teammates to be in one room together. If someone saw our room right now I think that they would question how we fit EVERYTHING into our packs. I’m not even quite sure how it is done, exactly other than the fact that I pray every time I pack up my belongings at the end of each month. So I am pretty sure it is all of the Lord’s doing.
When we received what we would be doing this month for ministry, I was quite terrified to be completely honest. I had to do WHAT? Teach high school children English?? But I’ve never taught a class of anything before ever, ESPECIALLY to high school aged students. This was beyond intimidating to me. I’ve always told myself that I could never teach, and I give so much credit to those who choose to do it every single day. Here’s how exactly I got myself into teaching high school English: my team was having a group discussion about who was going to teach what ages, with it being K-1, primary, secondary, and 2 high school classes. I decided to sit back and have the other’s voice what ages they wanted and I would be given whatever was left. Whenever I do this, I feel that the Lord gives me the one I want least. But I knew that it was the one He wanted me to do, to challenge me and do the uncomfortable. So I unwillingly obeyed and it turned out to be the biggest blessing. These children are so incredibly sweet and so willing to learn English. The complete opposite of what I thought I was getting myself into. It’s funny how He does that, it will almost always have a positive reward at the end of it if you just take the first initial step into obedience with Him. I’m really trying to work on that this year, and He has been so faithful in the steps I have been taking thus far.
As said earlier, we get to cook our own meals this month! It was funny to see my teammate’s different reactions when hearing this. I could tell at that moment that not everyone was quite as thrilled about this as I was. My teammate Jess’s eyes lit up when also receiving the wonderful news of cooking ourselves, and so we volunteered to take the first week of meals under our belts. We were like two kids in a candy store buying groceries, purchasing enough garlic for our one week that most would go through in a month. It was such a joy to cook with Jess for the week, I love that she shares the same passion for cooking that I do.
With living on the same floor as the college students, we have had the privilege of learning to cook some of their meals. My dear friend Sengny, one of the college students that I have grown close to since living here, offered to cook a meal with me and it was SO MUCH FUN! I went to the market with her and bought fresh veggies and chicken (literally so fresh, feet were still intact) and got enough food to feed 8 people for less than $5 altogether.
Aside from teaching English to the students, we hand out flyers to children to attend the English classes they offer for free at the church, have bible studies with the college students at night, and attend church visits. A majority of our ministry is doing everyday life with these college students. They have been such a joy to spend time with over the last few weeks, welcoming us in so willingly to their home and making us feel loved. We have gone to the beach with them, taken motto rides to play soccer and volleyball together, and offered to drive us on their mottos out to the silk island in which we spend our day swimming in the river. When we aren’t sleeping or somewhere off doing ministry, we are spending time with at least one of them. They have been such a blessing to us and I am most definitely going to have a hard time saying goodbye to these people & sweet, sweet Cambodia.
