I have tried to sit down more than once this past month to attempt to write a blog and let you guys all know what was going on with me over here in Cambodia. However, every time I tried I was never able to find the words to describe this place and do it justice, so I never wrote one. For this I apologize and will now try to do my best in giving you a little insight into this past month.
We have been living in a little village called Toch in southern Cambodia with a man named Vuthy (pronounced voo – tee) and his lovely family. We live without running water or electricity, save a few hours at night when the generator kicks on. We go to sleep with the sun and wake to the sound of roosters and dogs at the crack of dawn. We live surrounded by rice fields, mango, coconut and banana trees. We pedal on bicycles to the market in the morning and buy our breakfast of bread, bananas and occasionally Vietnamese coffee (if the budget allows). The simplicity and contentment found in this village is humbling and for the first time on this race I have actually felt as if this is how life should be lived. I will always miss my family and close friends but the other comforts I left behind just don’t seem as important anymore. Not when these people live day to day not knowing if they will have enough food to eat. Or when I think that sometimes they don’t even have the basic need for life, water. The comforts I left behind no longer seem important, I no longer feel entitled to any of them. I don’t deserved any of it.
Our days are filled with the laughter and voices of the children living in this village. This month we have been teaching English, telling Bible stories, going on home visits to the nearby families, teaching songs and dances to the youth, preaching, and just loving on the children. I have never felt so content or so alive in all my life. When I think of living overseas and doing missions work this is what I think of, this is what the Lord meant when he said to live among the poor and spread His love to the nations.
Vuthy started this ministry in 2009 when he received a vision from the Lord to leave Phnom Penh and return to the village where he was born. He started English classes and to built a safe haven for children to go, a place where they would feel the love of Christ, as most have no idea what love even is. Most children live with their grandparents because their parents, if they have any, have left to go to Phnom Penh or sometimes even Thailand to earn money as rice farming is not enough to support the family. So Vuthy is to these children, what they lack from their home life. He is their father, their friend, their teacher, their provider, and their support in more ways than one. I have watched Vuthy this month and his interactions with these children and youth and I have never seen Christ so exemplified in one person.
I know some of you may say that I tell you every month that I have loved it but in all seriousness this will forever be my month. More than once the thought of staying here and not finishing the race has crossed my mind but I know that is not the Lord’s will for my life at this time. I am heartbroken beyond words after having said goodbye to Vuthy, his family and the children this morning. But I know there is a season for everything so with that being said please pray that in the next months the Lord will only continue to surprise me.
So I hope this gives you guys a little insight into my past month. They say “A picture is worth a thousand words” so I hope you enjoy the following story. I know words will never be able to describe this place and my experiences so I hope a bit of my month will translate through these pictures. I guess you will have to just take me word for it.
Happy Easter
Until Next Time
Love Annalisa
