I know I’ve taken so long to finally write this blog but I’ve had a hard time finding the right words. But here it is- this month my ministry is
*drumroll*
KITCHEN DUTY.
So what does this entail you ask? Well we live with 60 perpetually hungry missionaries this month and somebody needs to feed them. That would be team Καλεω!
As you can imagine this was not what we had expected coming into the race 2 weeks ago. And I personally struggled a lot with this ministry in the beginning days. I wrestled with jealousy watching the team who gets to teach English classes in our home and I wondered why God would bring me all the way to Cambodia so that I could work in a kitchen again. But boy did He know exactly what He was doing because I have learned so much in these 2 short weeks. Living a Kingdom life isn’t about holding orphans or caring for the sick, although it sometimes is, it’s also about forming everyday relationships in the market and learning to love and serve my squad well so that they can pour out to those around them.
On the average day my team meets in the kitchen at 5:30 to have breakfast ready for 6:30 followed by devotions. And while everyone else takes off to teach English, work in hospitals, or do manual labor we head to the market place to buy everything we need for lunch, dinner, and the next morning’s breakfast. On any given morning our grocery run consists of about 3 or 4 or even 5 stops usually to our vegetable lady at the market, across the market to see our fruit woman and visit with her sweet daughters, into the middle of the market for beans, a short walk for eggs, a trip to the western grocery store for things we can’t find in the market, or the occasional stop at Green Mango bakery for tortilla chips, peanut butter or my favorite banana bread in the world. While half of us are doing groceries the other half stay at home and clean he mountain of dishes that 60 people manage to make from breakfast. When the market group returns its often a scramble to start making the next meal and have it ready by 11:30 when everyone comes home from ministry for lunch. After lunch we have 30 minutes of devotions and after a busy morning we love our much slower paced afternoons. From 1 to about 4 we have time to finally stop and sit with Jesus, have team time, get WiFi to talk with family, play with kids, or take a much needed nap. I look forward to our nightly prep for dinner because it seems much slower paced than our rushed lunch prep. We have time to sit and talk as we cut vegetables or listen to music and just enjoy our little community. This month has definitely formed an unbreakable bond for team Καλεω and we have learned so much about how to communicate well and speak up when we need help with something. And as we go into our last week of cooking before debrief, I couldn’t be more thankful that Jesus humbled us and used us this month in the most unexpected way.
Peace,
alyssa clark
p.s. any ideas for future meals?
