When
we moved into our apartment
4 days ago, I’ll admit that I had a little bit of a guilty
conscience about it. This place is BEAUTIFUL, and provides us with total
comfort. Fully furnished
2 bedrooms, 2
½ bathrooms, full kitchen, huge living room, air conditioning, in-room internet,
maid service, and a beautiful view from the 6th floor rooftop. We
randomly came across a flyer for this place our 3rd day in Phnom Penh and the guys
decided to check it out. Three WR teams moved in and they gave us an AMAZING
deal for the month…within $.50/night of our budget.
The
“missionary” in me was struggling…are we allowed to do this? Shouldn’t we be
roughing it or something? Is it ok for us to live comfortably? But over the
last 4 days I’ve realized something…this is the first time since Guatemala that
we’ve lived with just the 6 of us…not with local contacts or other teams. It’s nice having other teams in the same building, but we still have our own space. And
we’ve had some of the best team bonding team bonding that we’ve had all year…mostly
around the kitchen table over meals or during evening “tea time”…thanks so much to
everyone who has sent us chai tea! 🙂
I
know that in my family, the kitchen table is pretty much the center of the
home. Whenever I come home to visit my parents for holidays or even just for
the weekend we always manage to end up in the kitchen. I love sitting on the
counter talking to my mom while she cooks dinner or helping my dad make
brownies or cinnamon rolls for late night movies. Or sitting around the kitchen
table whether during meals, for game time, midnight snacks, etc…it’s just the
place where we all come together and share life. It’s something I’ve really
missed this year, and in the last week I’ve been able to experience that again.
I love it!
We
cook meals together, eat together, then just sit around and talk. Conversations
range from what God’s doing in our lives and our ministry to the challenges of
driving on the other side of the road and grocery shopping. We tell stories
from our day and laugh together. We’ve shared our struggles, our questions, and
our triumphs. We’ve prayed for each other and cried together. I feel like for
the first time in 6 months we’re being family for each other and it is so
encouraging.
So
while our apartment may appear to be a bit indulgent, I feel like we’ve been
given a huge blessing, and God has provided an environment for us to grow as a
team this month. I truly don’t think we would have this opportunity if we were
living anywhere else. It also looks like we’ll be able to use our apartment for
part of our ministry this month as a place for training and fellowship.
I’ve
learned a lot this year about being content in all circumstances. This month
looks to be a month of “plenty”, next month may be a month of “want.” You just
never know. I’m very grateful for the gift we’ve been given, and I’m very
excited to use our home to glorify God and bless others as we’ve been blessed.
Much
Love!
