What do you eat?
Our team cooks 3 meals a day and then we eat out on the weekend. We eat a lot of fresh vegetables with rice or noodles and chicken. We also learned this week that we’ve been accidentally buying duck eggs at the market instead of chicken eggs, they taste the same though!
How big is your pack?
My pack is 70 Liters and weighed about 48 lbs leaving the states. I’ve picked up a lot of clothes and things along the way though so it’ll be interesting to see what I get rid of before we leave for Africa.
Are there any items that you wish you wouldn’t have brought with you?
I haven’t used my tent yet so its hard to justify having it, but I’m holding onto it incase we end up in the bush of Africa. I also haven’t used nearly any baby wipes which I was worried about not bringing a lot of.
What is Cambodia like?
This is a loaded question! The culture is vastly different from anywhere in America. This country suffered from the last mass genocide of this century and is still in the recovering stages, after nearly an entire generation being killed. They are very focused on the here and now, accomplishing an individual task, not necessarily planning for what is next to come. Because of their history they are accustom to lots of different people groups coming in, bringing lots of cultures into a big melting pot. Many people that live here are tied to other Asian cultures.
What’s the best food you have eaten?
One of my favorite things that I have eaten was Mango Sticky Rice, which we had in Thailand. But my favorite snack to get in Cambodia is either Roti or Banana Chips from the market.
Where do you buy food?
We buy the majority of our food from the market, and get some other ingredients from the 2 western grocery stores that we have in town.
What is the main religion?
The main religion is technically buddhism but there is a lot of mixed religion within the buddhist culture.
Are there a lot of churches?
Being from the bible belt in America, there definitely aren’t churches on every street corner. But there are about 8 christian churches that I’ve heard about since being here. There are lots of Pagodas which are the Buddhist temples where the monks live.
What is the main way that your ministry host connects with the community?
Teaching English is the main way that our ministry host has created connections and made their mark on the community in Battambang.
What are the roads and transportation like?
Traffic is crazy. They drive on the right side of the road but there isn’t really any method to the madness. For example, if you are turning left, you get on the left side of the road and turn into the right lane, then merge back to the right. It’s been an adventure managing the traffic on our bikes. We typically ride our bikes everywhere, but if we are going far we take a tuk tuk, which is similar to a taxi.
What’s the coolest way that you’ve seen the gospel transcends culture?
One way that I have seen the gospel transcend cultural barriers is the way that God is worshipped. We worship the same God here as we do at home, and his character never changes even when our circumstances or our physical location does.
What was the most beneficial thing you learned in training?
To take time to rest. Not only rest on a physical level, but i’s so important to find daily rhythms that bring you spiritual and emotional rest. If we don’t take time and allow the Lord to pour into us, it will be impossible for us to expect his love to overflow out of us.
What words do you know in Khmer?
Khmer is the language here in Cambodia. I know how to say a lot of little conversational things such as hello, goodbye, yes, no, I can count to 10, say thank you and I’m sorry. Say “My name is…” and ask people their name. I am still learning a lot more!
