The days here are slow, quiet, steady, and full of light. Khmer culture is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, yet it feels so much like home.
Our first week or so here has been nothing short of a blessing. My team and I are living in a village in middle-of-nowhere Cambodia. We live in tents, our bathroom is a hole in the ground, we take showers with a bucket of water and a cup, and there aren’t really words to describe how hot it is. But every piece of it, the easy and the hard, have been molded and handcrafted by the Lord.
I was reading through Philemon the other day, and in it, Paul talks about how his heart has been refreshed by the love of others, and how joy and comfort have come from that love, and this feeling Paul is talking about is exactly what my team and I have been experiencing living here in the village!
Our ministry consists of going from house to house in the mornings and telling people about Jesus, and then teaching English to kids in the afternoon! With each family we see while doing evangelism, we get to know them and their beliefs, and then we read a bible story to them and apply it to their lives. Getting to read the Word aloud to them has been so special because most of the parents are survivors of the Khmer Rouge in the 70’s, so they never got the chance to get an education, meaning that they don’t have the ability to read a bible even if they have access to one. This past morning, we sat with a sweet old lady and read Psalm 139 over her, reminding her that she is fearfully and wonderfully made. We told her that God thinks she is beautiful, and that His hand is always leading her. It’s so sweet to know that such a simple truth as that can encourage her to keep pressing on and pursuing Jesus in a culture where Buddhism has such a deep foothold.
One of my favorite parts of evangelism in the mornings is that when we get to each home, our group splits up and half of us go talk to whoever lives there, while the other half sits outside and prays for the family, the property, and the conversation going on. As we go out to be the hands and feet of Jesus, it’s so cool knowing and believing that sitting in silence in direct contact with the Creator has just as much power to change lives as actually sitting down and talking to someone does. Prayer holds so much power, and it’s something I’m learning to rely on as I rely on the Lord as my strength in this season, and for him to use me as his vessel.
So far, Cambodia’s been really hot and sweaty, but also really still and sweet. The slow culture allows me to stop and really soak in what the Lord is trying to teach me, and the servant-hearted people show me each and every day what it looks like to live like Christ.
This is Cambodia. and this is living.
(P.S. I’ll probably just start calling it the Bodes in blogs because it sounds cooler that way, right?)
