Our time in Cambodia was two months ago, but I still think about it everyday.
Not Siem Reap, not the lessons I taught the pre-K class, not our visit to Angkor Wat. Those aren’t the things that stick out in my mind, even though those things were wonderful.
What I remember are the names, faces, and relationships with the people I got to spend life with everyday, and how my love grew for them each moment that I spent with them.
I’ve been racking my brain on how to explain in a blog what I experienced in Cambodia. The two options are:
1. Write a novel explaining every day, because every day was precious and I don’t want to leave anything out.
2. Sum it up as “I experienced first hand the Father’s unconditional love and the overwhelming joy that comes with pouring out His love onto others.”
The first option is clearly too long. The second option still doesn’t do it justice.
I will try to find a good middle ground. Below are pictures of our month and the beautiful faces I got to see everyday. I will try my best to speak to the gravity of what each person really means to me.
What our team saw when we first arrived at Eli School.
The team and our host family out to eat at their favorite Khmer restaurant. Our hosts were Fe and Noel; their two children- Joshua and Paul; their niece Melody; and Noel’s father Papang.
Fe (black and white stripped shirt) is an amazing mother, principal, role model, and woman after God’s heart. We were constantly wondering, “How does she do it all?!” With all the madness of day to day life at Eli, she always had peace, patience, and joy through it all. I respect her so much and I can’t believe we were blessed with such an amazing host. I loved being with this family. Paul (next to Fe) became like the little brother I never had. Melody (red sweater) is the sweetest and most real, down to earth 15 year old I have ever met.
The first weekend in Cambodia, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for Patten’s birthday and took Paul and Melody with us. They invited Melody on stage to sing, and it basically became her concert. She is SO talented! Paul also went up on stage and rapped/beat-boxed and blew the crowd away. We looked at each other and said, “Who are these people?!” It was so fun and really an honor to be apart of these kids lives for a month.
This is Am, the aid with me in the preschool class with JuJu, an adorable Brazilian 3 year old. Am helped me in so many ways that month. When I would say, “I just can’t,” she would have an infinite amount of patience for the kids melt downs. She loves those kids so well, day in and day out, and is someone they can depend on. On the last day of class, we sat together on the floor of the classroom while the kids ran wild and she let me sob into her shoulder. I am so thankful for her friendship.
OH my kiddos! In the front, like I said before, is JuJu. She was so quiet and sweet. One look with those big brown eyes and you would melt, I promise. She loved the color pink and everyone wanted to be friends with her. Behind her is Naomi and her twin brother Judah (I would always accidentally call him Jonah… he didn’t like that.) They only came on Tuesday and Thursday, but I wish they came everyday! They know their bible stories backwards and forwards, and loved showing me their completed work. They had so much energy, life and joy every day I saw them.
The others I will explain more below.
This is Vireak. And these are the two faces he made. He was usually late. He never had a uniform the whole time I was there. His shoes were always on the wrong foot. He didn’t know much of any English and didn’t speak Khmer to anyone but his brother. During circle time, he would stand and watch while the rest of the kids danced and sang. We tried to get him to dance, but he quickly gave us the stiff arm. He wouldn’t do any class work and wouldn’t acknowledge my existence. He brought so much laughter to the teachers, but mostly because we were wondering what he was thinking. For a while it seemed like he was just totally unaware. As I got to know him, though, it became clear that he knew exactly what was going on and what to do. He was very smart- he saw and caught on to everything.
One day, it was just him and JuJu in class. Am taught JuJu and I stayed with Vireak, determined for him to get some work done. That day something changed. He would do part of his work, tap on my hand, and say, “Teach-ahhh!!” wanting to show me what he had accomplished. He sang Khmer songs, let me read him a story, and even gave me a hug at the end of the day. I cried tears of joy at the end of that day, knowing I finally got to see a glimpse of his smart, wonderful, and silly personality. The next day was back to his old ways, but I will always remember that day. I am so glad my teammate took that last picture because it sums up my relationship with Vireak. I love him dearly.
This is where it gets hard. On the far left with the rose is Tokla. In the center picture, the boy in the white shirt is Reaksa (The little one he is with is Tokla’s cousin). And the far right picture accurately describes daily life with these two hooligans.
These two boys are sponsored boys from a nearby village that our hosts do ministry with. Tokla and Reaksa would wake up at 4 am and arrive at the school at 6 am for school at 8:30 because that was the only time their parents could get them there. Sometimes they would come to school hungry, dirty, sick, or exhausted, but they never failed to show up. They both loved to learn, loved to create, loved to play. Reaksa would fly through his work and wanted to help his classmates. Tokla loved to help Am and me clean up at snack time and put away the toys. Tokla gave me that rose on Valentines day. Reaksa asked me to read him a book during play time almost every day. I was even lucky enough to see them at the village outreach ministry. I got to see where they lived, met their families, and invest in them outside of school.
I spent so much time with these precious boys that month and they were the main reason why it was so hard to leave.
The thoughts, “What will they be like in 5 years? 10 years? As adults? I may never know…” continue to run through my head. It breaks my heart that I may never know. It’s one of the reasons why the race is so hard. I didn’t want my journey with them to end there, but it had to- it was time for me to go. I do think, though, that was the closest I have ever been to experiencing unconditional love for other people. I so desperately want the best for them. I want them to experience an abundant life with Christ, and that will forever be my prayer for them as they grow older.
Thank you to everyone at Eli School for empowering me, giving me confidence, allowing me to let my guard down, extending grace to me, and being a real life example of the Father’s love.
