This month we are teaching at Teen Challenge. We teach a Bible class for about 45 minutes every morning, we teach English for about an hour and a half every afternoon, then we teach music for an hour, and we alternate sport and art every other day. So basically we are teaching for about 5 hours a day and we divide that up amongst us all…to where we each teach about 2 hours a day tops. My main class that I get to teach and enjoy teaching is volleyball. I’m really surprised! Basketball in the Philippines, volleyball in Cambodia…fingers crossed for hurdles in Malaysia. We play on an outdoor court that is about half rocks/half grass. The poles that are holding the net up are a little flimsy but they serve their purpose. The first day we played, we basically just scrimmaged. Most of them have some volleyball skill, but they are all on different levels. They definitely play ‘street ball’ and don’t follow any kind of rotation rules. That’s kind of what I expected the month to look like for sports class. Once again, my expectations were wrong. The second time I went to teach, we played around for the first 20 minutes. Then one of the guys asked one of his friends that speaks pretty good English if I could teach them how to play. There’s definitely a language barrier. Try to speak volleyball lingo, such as a hitting approach, to people who barely know English. Oddly enough that word doesn’t translate very well. We went through the basics of rotation, passing, setting and hitting. They all really like to hit. Guess that’s universal! I also tried to teach them the importance of communication. It’s hard to play volleyball without talking to each other, and when you don’t speak the same language it gets really hard. I encouraged them to call the ball. I think they felt goofy doing that, which is also pretty universal. I know that all of us on my team are struggling a little bit this month already because of the language. In the Philippines, there were lots of English speakers. And even if there hadn’t been, we had an American missionary contact that would have been helpful. Not the case here in Cambodia. Even those who do speak English, we have a really hard time understanding. We are learning to read faces and body language though. After teaching the boys volleyball, we can at least communicate that we are friends and that we like to play volleyball together. We are learning the importance of smiles, and high fives to communicate that they are doing good. We all know that actions speak louder than words. We are learning that on a whole new level. This month, there has been a lack of communication in all kinds of ways. Not only with the people we encounter here, but with our family and friends back home, communication is limited. I am thankful that it is opening up lines of communication with God, and with my team. Love is what we want to communicate. Love from God and love from us. Love to God, love to the kids at teen challenge, love to our host family, love to the community, love to our families and friends back home, love to each other. I am thankful that God is teaching me not only the importance of communication, but new ways to do it and I pray that he continue to do so.
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35
