Livin the life in Cambodia! We’re in a small village in the Kompong Speu province. We’re actually close to the capital �”
Phnom Phen but it takes a while to get into town. We ride into town on vans, packed like sardines! Last night we had 26 people in an 11
passenger van… shame that there was more room on the roof top.
I’m finding Cambodia to be so interesting! The people, landscape, and history are
unique.
Here in the village we’ve been doing an array of things such
as…
TEACHING ENGLISH
Unfortunately, the Cambodian education system is a little
lacking, so the kids are eager to supplement their learning. We teach English every afternoon. I love teaching English! It works best when we make funny faces
at them as we explain how to pronounce English sounds.
RUNNING EVENING SESSIONS with kids where we sing songs,
share a testimony, share from the bible and teach a short English lesson. The other night we asked the kids how
many of them had Christian parents �” none of them do.
A friend we meet whose mom lives in the village told her
testimony the other night �” she has a powerful story. As a child she was made fun of for being a Christian and her
father would not allow her to go to church and told her Jesus is a god for the
Europeans. One night it was my
turn to share from the bible. I
wanted to make it simple for our translator who is working so hard and is a
blessing, so I decided to illustrate salvation based on scriptures from the
book of Romans (i.e. the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life). The adults and children had
many provoking questions! It’s pretty
cool to see kids and adults so interested in Jesus.
We’ve been doing little PROJECTS around the village like weeding
some vegetable beds, or building up a fishpond.
We’ve been doing HAIR CARE with kids. We get to shampoo their hair, wash it
with vinegar to kill the lice, and sometimes I get to braid and comb lots of
beautiful jet black hair. If we
have a translator we tell them about prevention and eradicating lice (can you
tell I feel strongly about getting rid of these pesky buggies…? Haha).
HOUSE VISITS to family members have been a highlight for
me. It’s definitely been a
cultural experience. We’ve been
able to visit Ra’s grandparents.
They are very hospitable people.
It was awesome to hang out with them and listen to Ra’s grandfather’s
stories and reflections on his experience during the Khmer Rouge. Before we left we prayed for them. Sarah and I prayed for Sum, Ra’s
grandma who is 80 years old. She
is in poor health, but as sweet as pie.
I had such a sweet time with her… despite the communication barrier, we
were to connect with one another and just hold each other’s hands.
We also visited our translators family and I’ve been adopted
as her daughter… perfect �” I’ve always wanted a Khmer mom. She opened up to us about her life as a
single mom and struggles she’s had.
She told us about Khmer holidays, which led into her telling us about
her dreams about evil spirits and her need to go and give sacrifices to them at
the temple. I asked her
how/if she is protected from these spirits… she said that they protect her when
she gives sacrifices to them. We
were able to pray for her and share with her about God’s love for her and
desire to protect her.
It’s been sweet to be apart of life in the village! I think that God will be doing a big thing
in the lives of the young Cambodians!
There’s a spark that needs to be spread here. I’m excited to see the redemption that God will bring to
this country.
