Oh my gosh, can I just tell everyone how happy I am to be staying where my team and I are staying?! We are living with 30 girls and a few house moms in what is basically a big tree-house. My new staple diet includes rice, vegetables, freshly-killed quail, and bananas – every meal, every day. 🙂 It’s hotter than Satan’s armpits during the day and one of my teammates has over sixty mosquito bites! …but that's not the best part.
The Cambodian people are some of the most meek, beautiful people I have ever met! The girls we live with are so sweet and so beautiful. They do everything for us that they can, from washing our dishes to getting us chairs to insisting that we get the bathroom/shower first. They love Jesus so genuinely; when we ask about their story, they usually tell us that they’re parents have passed away or their family doesn’t believe in God, but they say over and over, “I thank God that I can live here and I pray that my family will know Jesus soon.” Tears usually accompany their stories. I met one man who came to the house for a few minutes and he told me that his parents split up and that breaks his heart; he asked me to please keep praying that his family would come to know Jesus. He used to be a Buddhist; when I asked him how he came to know God, he said, “I compared Buddha to Jesus. Buddha can’t speak to me, Buddha can’t help my family, Buddha can’t provide for me or teach me or love me; Jesus is alive and Jesus does all this for me and I love Jesus very much.” Also, he talked about how much he loves American people; he appreciates our love for the Cambodian people and reminded me that he and I are brother and sister. He began to cry at one point and I was blown away by his humility and how genuine these people are. Please join me in praying for his family.
In other news, I have finally memorized Psalms 139:13-18. I shared it with one of the girls yesterday and she had me read it to her in Vietnamese (may I just mention that I have a terrible Vietnamese accent?) and she loved it! I can’t get enough of how genuinely these girls love Jesus; they are the epitome of “we love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
We painted pictures with the girls; I painted that gate! 😉
I can’t wait to share more stories with everyone! We are waiting to hear if we are allowed to post names and pictures of the girls. Please keep praying for more prayer opportunities with the girls and for my team and I to be filled up on God, all the time! You all are the greatest. Much love from Cambodia! 🙂
