These first couple of days in Cambodia have been filled with so much! Our days feel like forever (but, they feel like forever in a great way :)). I honestly feel like I should be in the second month already!
Let me first talk about some of what has happened so far:
-I stayed in my first hostel the first night in this country
-I ate at my first Cambodian restaurant (Lok luk beef)
-I met an Austrailian man in Phnom Penh
-I saw the royal palace of Cambodia (the king was in China)
-I took my first Tuk-Tuk ride… and we’ve been riding them every day since… let me tell you, they don’t bide well with my height
-I’ve learned Khmer (cugh-my) words: Chumreapsu(choom-reap-zoo)- Hello, Chumreaplea(choom-reap-lee-a)- Goodbye, Auh Kun(ahhh-coon)- Thank you
-I’ve eaten rice for two meals a day
-I taught “Read Your Bible Pray Every Day” to Cambodian children that hardly know what I’m saying, but are champs anyway
-I’ve taken my first bucket shower; and they are actually very refreshing in this hot country
-I’ve used a toilet that does not flush- we have to pour a pan of water into the commode to raise the pressure so the water will go down the drain
-I ate cow lung
-I heard a version of “Let it Go” sung in Khmer
-I’ve eaten ice in Cambodia
-I’ve hit my head two times (super ungracefully) in native dwellings (Cambodia was not made for my height category :))
-I played soccer with stacked teams (Americans vs. Cambodians)
-I danced with a bunch of Cambodian strangers in a park
-I had five Cambodian children sit on my lap at one time
-I rode a Tuk-Tuk carrying 18 people… and to top that off, that Tuk-Tuk participated in a street race against a tractor- we won :))
-I touched a bull
-I stood in a circle of Cambodian people and we all prayed…
… and that is what I would like to share a bit about.
I stood in a circle of Cambodians and we prayed.
ALL of us.
We ALL prayed out loud.
It was BEAUTIFUL!
All the voices raising together talking to our God. The jumble of 12 Khmer prayers and 1 English prayer. Beautiful praise to God.
It got me thinking.
There are people all over the world. People all over the world worship God. We all pray to Him.
HE HEARS US ALL.
All the countries. All across the globe. The culture and language don’t matter. He transcends those human boundaries. He is worshipped everywhere.
Aaaannnnd think about this.
The Pastor and team (the youth- 16-24 year olds) here have been PRAYING for us. Before we got here, while we are here and I’m sure that they will keep praying for us.
Here I was preparing to go on The World Race, praying for my team, my squad, the people we were going to meet. It didn’t occur to me that the ministry contact was praying for us already too.
Wow. Just wow.
The love for Jesus that is shown by the people that we are surrounded by is awesome. It shines from them. It is unending. It is real. It is so pure. It is so raw. It is so genuine.
I love it.
One of the manifestations of their love is by their kindness. They are always watching out for us- Martha cut her foot while we were playing soccer (just a little) and after she went upstairs for a bandaid, some of the youth went upstairs and asked her- with really worried looks- if she was okay.- they are always asking if we are okay, or if we are hot, or if we are cold or hungry. They are always watching us to see what our preferences are. They noticed at one meal that our team forgot to bring our water bottles, so they brought out bottles of water for us. When we went to a little restaurant for breakfast before church on Sunday, we ate noodles there. But there were these fried dough things that I guess are to that restaurant like chips and salsa are to Mexican restaurants- just a free filler- they were really good. We commented how much we liked them, we got more at the restaurant and this morning, two days later, some of the boys had bought them from the market for our breakfast!
Our God is so big! I think that in my mind I had limited Him in my only thinking about Him being the God of America. God is the King of all nations. HE TRANSCENDS CULTURES!
<3 Ash
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Thank you all so much for everything!!
