Me and Erica with our class from YDC.
On the World Race it is easy to lose track of time, to not know what day of the week it is or even what time zone we are in anymore. The past week has been a whirlwind. Last Tuesday was our last day of classes at the Youth Development Center in Kampong Cham, Cambodia. Our students and hosts surprised us with a going away party. It was so heartwarming to hear all of our students thank us, in English!, to receive small gifts and letters from them, and to learn, okay attempt to learn, traditional Khmer and Filipino dances with them. It was a great reminder to me that even when you don't feel like you've done much, you have no idea the impact you may have on someone's life.
Team Arise with one of our students.
That night our wonderful hosts Cecil and Maricel served us crepes with fruit and Nutella and ice cream. Nothing beats dessert for dinner! Wednesday morning we said goodbye to them and hopped on a bus to Phnom Penh. We had about a day and a half off to spend there. We visited the killing fields and genocide museum, went on a hunt for Mexican food, saw a movie, and were reunited with our entire squad. I loved getting to have lunch with the other team leaders and the whole squad worshipping together again on the rooftop of a hotel.
Saying goodbye to our beautiful hosts Maricel, Kim Sreoun and Cecil.
Friday we flew to Malaysia for month six. The flight itself was less than two hours, but it ended up being close to 13 hours before we got to our sketchy hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Travel days mean lugging our heavy packs from a tuk tuk to the airport to a bus to a train and then walking what seems like miles with it on, and sometimes eating oreo blizzards for breakfast.
We were unable to get bus tickets to our ministry site until Saturday night, so Saturday we got to explore Kuala Lumpur a little bit. It is a gorgeous, very modern city! The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, until surpassed by Taipei 101.
Saturday night we took an overnight bus to Kuala Krai, about 7 hours north. We arrived around 4:30 in the morning, but were pleasantly surprised with our housing accommodations this month. We have air-conditioning, hot showers and each have our own bed! We're living above a Chinese Christian Church and we'll have the opportunity to preach and lead worship there every week.
A few of us had to be up and ready to go teach at 9:30 the next morning. Isn't it funny how sometimes even when we really don't want to do something, that's when the Lord will bless us the most? We had a small group of Indian children that we taught English and math to, then played games with them. They were so friendly and eager to learn. We'll be teaching them twice a week while we're here. None of their families are Christians so this is one of many outreach programs Pastor Yesu has started.
This month we will be doing a lot of preaching, some manual labor, teaching, distributing nutritional milk powder, and making home visits. It sounds like it's going to be quite a crazy month! Our contact is quite the character. Stay tuned.
