Who would have thought Asia was the safest place to be??? Not me, but I sure am thankful to be here! We arrived almost two weeks ago and it truly has been two of my favorite weeks on the Race. I will give you an introduction to life and ministry here, update you a little bit with where we stand with the Corona Virus, and feel free to ask questions or leave comments!
As you may know, we spent the last three months living all-squad. It was seriously the greatest blessing and I am so thankful for the time we got to spend together. In our last three months, we have split up again and it is just my team and the mens team. We are living in Siem Reap, working alongside and living in a church called Victory, while the other three girls teams are living in a village about an hour and a half outside the city.
There are twelve of us here, and we are split into three groups of four. In each each group, two men and two women are paired up, each doing something a little bit different. To let you into what our lives have looked like due to the virus, as you can imagine, many things have had to change. Initiallly, we were rotating each month- two teams teaching at the local university in the mornings and doing community service in the afternoons with middle school students, while the other team was in the village. BUT, schools are all closed, so that changes things a bit.
In saying that, the two teams who were supposed to be teaching have been doing community service from 6-8 am since it is cooler, we clean each morning at the base, and then they do worship and Ask the Lord. During worship, everyone asks the Lord what He wants them to do each day, and they do it. Some days it has looked like taking your tux-tux driver to lunch, other days He gave people some questions to work through and they did that individually and then talked about it in community.
For the last week, I have been in the village. Truly, it has been a few of my best days in a while. My last blog was concerning my mental health, and being so busy has helped tremendously. My teammate and I actually joined the local gym! So, our days have looked a bit like this: Wake up and go to the gym, eat breakfast and do quiet time, clean the base, drive 45 minutes to the village, clean the church there, do house visits and a bible study with the community, have lunch, and then teach English from 2-4! We come home, have some form of team time, cook and clean up dinner, and then finnnallllyyy, shower! Our days here are long, hot, and exhausting, but I am so thankful! I have gotten to meet and teach angles like the one in the photo below, really just confirming my love and desire to go to school for Elementary Education!
So, now to the update that you are probably wondering about :::: The Coronavirus. Obviously our assigned ministry has been effected due to schools being closed, etc., but we have definitely made do. We have continued to remember that life is ministry and we do not have to wait to be assigned to ministry, we just live in a kingdom mindset each day! Last night, we received an email that explained a little bit more of where my squad stands in safety. They explained it like this:: There are three tiers. Tier one is the most serious, getting the squad out immediately, and then two and three follow. We are currently at a tier two, so we are not being pulled right now, but they are keeping a close eye on us. There have been a few squads to be pulled already from Africa specifically, so please pray for them through this transition. I will let you know as I know more, but I want you to know that I am not worried at all- God is so faithful and we are in His hands.
Please just continue to join us in prayer as we continue to live life as normally as possible, while as radically as we can for the Father too. I want you to know that we are praying for you too! I love you each so much and am expectant and excited for the next few months, but I am also so excited to see all of you! ALL my love!
