hi friends! I’ve been wanting to share with you all what my ministry looks like here, but keep putting it off. so here is a little look into life in the ‘Bode.
Cambodia and I got off to a really rough start, but I have been finding a lot more joy here. life is much different than anything I’ve ever been used to. different language. different food. different culture. Tuesdays-Fridays my squad teaches at a school just two blocks away from where we live called Ace American Academy. The school is ran by a few alumni-racers so it’s been sweet walking through this season getting to talk about their time on the field and gain some perspective. From 7:30 to 11:30, I help teach prek-1, that’s about 10-12 4 year olds. All the kids in my class remind me of the kids in my life back home. They resemble each other so much, from the chunky cheeks, to the enormous smiles. Its kind of a sweet thing walking into class every morning thinking of my kids back home. The class is mainly taught by the Khmer teacher and we are there as an extra pair of hands and eyes for anything needed. My kids are learning English as well as the Khmer alphabet and numbers. We tell the kids Bible stories on Wednesdays and Fridays as we watch their eyes in amazement as they listen. We actually just passed out Bibles to all of the kids in the school last week and they were in Khmer, their own language! This is really exciting because we know the majority of these kids go home to their families who are Buddhists. We know the kids will pull these Bibles out and more than likely they won’t be the only ones reading them.
We are also in the process of repainting the whole school right now. We’re finishing up a mural in our Bible class.
about to start a mural on this wall here.
Our apartment is right in front of ITCS, a Theological Institution for Khmer students. We often do ministry alongside the students there as well. Saturdays are spent either at the village or painting. When we go to the village, we’ll hop in the chicken truck with the ITCS students and head out for the day. When we get there, most of us will be dropped off at the school inside the village while a few of us will stay in the truck and drive around the village picking up the kids to bring them to the school. Once all the kids have arrived, we’ll play games and sing songs, then the kids split up into classes and we’ll teach for an hour or so. Typically we teach English, like fruits, vegetables, weather, etc.. Afterwards, we’ll give the kids snacks, play some soccer or volleyball, then drive the kids back home.
The other group that stays back in the community will paint, sometimes in the mornings we’ll paint the ITCS building. Recently we’ve just been painting over the cracked, old walls with a fresher, white paint. After lunch, we’ll go to Ace to paint the schools walls. Wether that’s painting walls white or working on the murals. Around 6, everyone gets home and eats supper around the table together.
stir fry always.
Sundays and Mondays are our off days, then Sundays are sabbath. I try to not leave the house on this day and spend all the time resting and doing what brings me life. typically I journal, read and paint a little. Most Sundays, my team and I will buy AC for the day. it get’s SO hot here especially when there’s only one fan in the whole room so it’s a nice treat for us to just lay in the air while doing nothing. (If you’d like to support our AC off-days you can venmo me just $10 for 1 day. venmo= brittdean (;
Mondays are adventure days, haven’t done anything too crazy yet. Often we tuk tuk to the Russian Market in downtown. They’ve got everything, from fabrics to jewelry to fried tarantulas.
Our community is just the sweetest, everyone knows everyone. We walk the same corners, go to the same shops, see the same workers who keep a sticky note of our names behind the counter so they’ll remember us. It’s a sweet, simple life here in the community of Chom Chou. Weddings have been happening all the time in our neighborhood, tents set up down the whole street. It’s a party always, the celebration never ends. Karaoke blasts at every hour of the night, a sound that gets overbearing, but a sound I know i’ll miss once I’m gone. Our students live in the houses surrounding us so everyday we walk home we’ll see our kids run out of their houses yelling, “teacha teacha hello teacha give me high five teacha” they make us feel like a Disney channel star.
Cambodia has been hard, but full of many lessons. I’ve built better relationships with women in coffee shops who speak little to no English than I do with the majority of those who speak English back home. The Lord works in mysterious ways and He is definitely doing big things here in Cambodia. We have just four weeks left in this country before we fly out to Africa, so thank you endlessly for all the love and support! See you all so soon!
much love,
Britt
