The first week of Cambodia was the best week ever! I was trying to figure out what I was doing differently and then I realized that I was actually doing. I was taking initiative and doing the stuff I have said I have always wanted to do. Instead of just thinking, “I want to do this sometime this month” or “I want to go love the people in this village” I actually went and did it.
With our ministry, we spend a lot of time in class but we also have a lot of down time. The first couple of days we were doing home visits as well as teaching classes, but we had the afternoons off. The first thing I said I wanted to do was go for a run on the back roads of the village. Andrea, Annie, and I went and it was beautiful. The weather was beautiful, the fields were beautiful, the people were beautiful, everything was beautiful. God has created a beautiful world for us to enjoy. He didn’t have to create variety in the world, but he did it for our enjoyment.
The next day I went on a two and a half hour bike ride with Ashley. It was the longest, most enjoyable bike ride of my life. We rode to the closest town to go to the ATM. Everyone we saw said hello to us and all of the children treated us like we were celebrities. They would scream greetings to us and we would say hello back and you would have thought that we had just given them $1,000,000. We even met a girl who rode the entire way home with us AND took us to a bike repair shop when my bike got a flat tire. God wants us to recognize each other. We are programmed for living in community and a lot of the time we somehow get the idea in our heads that spending time with others can be exhausting, challenging, or awkward. However, what it really boils down to is that people just want to be noticed. We just want to be seen and heard. Everyone I’ve met through ministry on this race is content with just being with me, half of the time we don’t even speak the same language, but we enjoy each other’s company.
Our bike experts. I didn't even realize I had a flat tire until it was pointed out to me. 🙂
The day after that during our home visits we got to help the entire community prepare for a funeral, which is a week-long event in Cambodian culture. I helped make what I can only describe as coconut leaf burritos stuffed with rice. It was so fun working with the women and having them laugh at me because something that came so easily to them was new and challenging for me. It made me respect them so much. These women work so hard for their community because they love the people they live with. Even though the majority of this village is Buddhist, God still works through them. God’s love shines through these peoples’ actions in how they serve each other and how they give of their time, their skills, and their resources.
Julie, Kelsi, and I didn't have extensive training for this job, but we did what we could.
Successful banana leaf burrito. Check.
My awesome banana leaf burrito trainers. These women are experts. No joke. They made five burritos in the time it took me to make one.
All of this being said, choosing to go out and do these things made me realize that I had been missing out and not just on the race, but in life in general. There have been so many times that I’ve put doing something “I’ve always wanted to do” on the backburner out of fear or out of laziness. How can God move in my life if I won’t even honor him by actually doing something that he can work through? Who am I going to share God’s love with if I stay secluded in my room on Facebook and watching movies? God wants us to have times where we rest and relax but what are we really resting from if we never take the initiative to do something?
I really want to encourage you to do something active today. You don’t have to leave your home for a year to have an adventure. Talk to someone you haven’t talked to in a while or someone you’ve never even met. Just love on people!
