After leaving Topeka the morning of September 5th, I spent four days in Atlanta preparing to launch with my squad, the other four World Race squads, and two Gap Year squads. I was able to learn more about my position as my team’s treasurer, have hands-on training, work with my team in several scenarios we may encounter this year, and have words of wisdom shared with us.
We left early, early Tuesday morning for our first flight to Dallas. That flight was quick and full of quality bonding with one of my squadmates. After that, we had a quick layover, then headed onto our second flight to LA. My group arrived in LA mid-afternoon, had dinner (one of my last salads for a while, I’m sure!), and hung out in the airport until our third flight to China, which wasn’t until midnight. The flight to China was about 14 hours long. And it was long. I made the rookie mistake of not drinking enough water and woke up about halfway through feeling nauseous. Trust me, being on a giant two-story plane with zero space and feeling like you want to vomit isn’t the best of times. But my friends around me were so wonderful- asking for extra drinks from the stewardess, giving me powdered power drinks for the electrolytes, etc. By the time the plane landed, I felt much better. We had around another layover for a few more hours in China, I slept on the floor of the airport (and it was GLORIOUS), and then we boarded our FOURTH plane to Cambodia!
We arrived in Phnom Penh mid-afternoon, and my team’s ministry host picked us up from the airport. He had booked some rooms in a hostel for us, and we were treated to a wonderful stay in a place with rooms that locked, beds, and AIR CONDITIONING! I wasn’t feeling all that great yet again, so having that safe and cool place to stay was very comforting.
The next day (Friday), our host picked us up and we began our taxi journey to Sisophoan, Cambodia. We made a few stops at organizations and churches we would be working with, and 70.5 hours after leaving our hotel in Atlanta, we arrived at our first World Race home!
We are staying in a church this week; tents set up in the middle of the open room. We have been blessed immensely so far. We have a bunch of ceiling fans creating a nice breeze, and although it’s humid, it’s never been too hot. Our host, Dara, is the head honcho of an organization here in town. He oversees other churches and organizations, trying to create one unified body of Christ to minister to people in the villages around the area.
The church we are staying at is also the home of the pastor, his family, and other youths from the area. We have gotten to know the youths pretty well over the last few days. They take us for rides on motorbikes, take us to do ministry in the tuk tuk, we sit around under the big tree to sing songs, and pray and worship God together. These young men and the rest of the family are some of the most joyful people I’ve met. They go well out of their way to make us feel welcome and taken care of. God has really blessed us with this first ministry site- right when we were all feeling really unsure of where God had us, overwhelmed with the cultural differences and language barriers, and feeling incredibly homesick, He provided a loving and welcoming community all the way in Cambodia.
We will leave this site later today to go to another church in town. We don’t know what we will be doing at that church, but we didn’t have any idea what we would be doing this past week and it’s turned out great! We’ve learned to go with the flow, not expect any type of plan for the week. Or day. Or even morning. We just have to wait and see what God has in store every single day!
So far, I’ve taken 4 bucket showers with an average of 20 giant spiders and 2 lizards staring at me, eaten rice at almost every meal, eaten dragon fruit, drank fresh coconut water ten minutes after it was cut down from the tree, ridden in a tuk tuk several times, ridden on the back of motor bikes down busy roads and dirt roads through the countryside, learned how to say hello, goodbye, cow, dog, how to count to ten, and a few other words in Khmer. I have washed my clothes by hand, attended my first church service in Cambodia, done my first Insanity workout with my team, and played duck, duck, goose with a bunch of kids. I’ve seen gorgeous sunrises and sunsets over the palm trees with rolling thunderclouds in the distance. God has blessed me.
Thank you to all of my supporters for allowing me to be in this place, to learn more about God’s provision, to listen to stories and hug His children, young and old. Thank you for your constant prayers- I can’t do this alone. Although it is so wonderful and joyful, it isn’t always easy, and I know that it will become harder as the days go by.
Please continue to pray for me, my team, and my squad- for our hearts to be open to growth, for our bodies to remain healthy and strong, for our spirit to not grow weary. Pray for our squad leaders who are doing life with us, who are helping us learn and grow. Pray for the staff at Adventures who work long hours behind the scenes to support us and keep us safe. Please pray for my family and friends, as this is a life change for them as well.
Thank you!!
xo, Caitlin
ps. I tried to upload pictures, but it the internet connection was taking forever and we’re leaving soon, so I’ll try to post a bunch soon!!
