It is my second month of ATL (Ask the Lord). I figured what better way to explain how this has looked like than giving you a peak into a day here in Siem Reap, Cambodia (with pictures included at the end). During ATL every day looks different. This is just one of our days but a great example of what ATL can look like.
7:30 – The best way to start the day is with some good ole quiet time!
8:00 – Breakfast! (Scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of toast, a fruit)
8:30 – Team Prayer Meeting on the roof of the hostel. We used this time pray in preparation for the Lord. Everyone prayed individually and asked the Lord what He had planned for the day. (I love this so so much! The fact that God has a plan each day and is willing and wanting to share it with us is amazing)
9:30 – The team all met together to discuss what we each had heard from God.
- Marissa: saw a woman in a red shirt but not much direction about where or when we would see her.
- Samuel: doing God’s work never looks the same. Be open to do things differently.
- Denae: “Go help bring my people home”; she has a strong desire for helping women trapped in the sex industry
- Summer: prayed that God would reveal His plan to us as we prayed
- Me: Keep an open mind about who we have the opportunity to encounter and what we will be doing. Could look like anything: talking with tourists, working with the disabled, manual labor, prayer walks.
- Isaac: Had been feeling pulled to go and talk with one of the men at the small store we passed by every time we go into town.
10:00 – The whole team walked down to the corner store to talk with the man. While Isaac talked with the man, Wissner, Marissa met his wife who was wearing a red shirt! As they talked the rest of us stayed outside praying that the conversations would be fruitful.
After a couple of minutes Marissa joined us and Isaac came out with Wissner and a request. The family needed help and was wondering if we would were available and willing. Of course we were ready to do anything so we agreed to lend a hand.
10:30 – Next to the store there were 3 very large piles of dirt. Our task was to level out these dirt piles in order to lay a foundation that they would later lay tiles onto. They handed us shovels, hoes, and buckets and we got to work and had a blast! The men helped us as well and turned on some music, to our pleasant surprise it was country music! We all shoveled, danced, sang and shoveled some more. We also got to play with some of the children who were shy at first but once they warmed up to us they actually started helping as well!!
12:45 – We had just about finished leveling out the dirt when the family told us they had made us lunch!! They laid down a picnic blanket out and served us rice, pork ribs, cucumbers and watermelon.
(This was incredible because we only had $1 each in the budget for lunch…God’s always paying attention! We were able to give this dollar to Wissner as a thank you)
As we were leaving Wissner informed us that they were having 3 more truck loads of dirt being dropped off tomorrow and asked if we could come back. We all agreed we would be back earlier in the morning tomorrow to finish the job and beat the heat.
1:15 – We walked back to the hostel to shower and then grab a TukTuk into town.
1:30 – We found some nice air conditioning in town and had team time. We do this each day as a way to get to know each other outside of doing ministry together and have some fun.
2:00 – We went and prayed over a bar that is a part of the Red Light District in Siem Riep. Prayed for freedom, that Gods light would shine in such a darkness, that the women would have the courage and opportunity to leave this line of work, and so much more.
2:15 – We met up with Linda, who we had met earlier in the month, to go to her favorite coffee shop. We got to pour into her and she joined in as we prayed along our walk to the coffee shop.
3:30 – The team all grabbed TukTuk’s and headed back to the hostel.
5:30 – Dinner time! (Fried rice, a fried egg and cucumbers)
6:00 – Hang out and free time! This month is all squad month again so there is always something to do. I learned how to play a new card game: Shanghai : )
10:00 – BED TIME!!
I hope this gives you a little bit more of an idea of what life looks like over here in Cambodia. This month has been full of different ministry opportunities and I have loved everyone of them. This was one of the most recent ones. I am excited to share about a different part of my month that is near and dear to my heart in my next blog!
Love you all,
Martha Kuhn
PRAYER WARRIORS!
- Please continue praying for Radhika and that she would continue looking into what church is all about and find deep, rich community here in Siem Reap!!
