So far in our first week of ministry we have had the chance
to meet many villagers, teach English classes, work alongside a group from
Singapore to paint a playground, and restore a villager’s hut. We have also
cleaned up a school, de-loused and de-wormed many children, and taught computer
classes to locals. In all of these opportunities God has blessed us in unique
ways.
unexpected ways for me:
Close your eyes for a minute and imagine, you are in rural Cambodia.
The temperature is about 85-90degrees F, the humidity is fairly high and you
feel a slight breeze every once in awhile which offers a much appreciated
respite from the glaring sun. Everywhere you turn you see endless green rice
patties and tall reverent palm trees.
You are bending down scrapping the rust
off of a bathroom door at the edge of a school playground. The primary school
stretches before you in a long one story slender building. You have just
finished painting the playground equipment many bright shades of red, blue,
lime green, and yellow. You are finishing scrapping off the layer of rust
before beginning to paint the stall door cherry bright red.
You finish scrapping away all of the rust and you begin painting the door a vibrant red, your Cambodian translator/”new best friend” also begins to help paint along side you. As he paints he begins
singing, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, we are one in the
Spirit, we are one in the Lord…” as you recognize the lyrics to the familiar
Christian tune you can’t help but join in. As you continue painting and
singing, two girls from the visiting Singapore University come to help scrape
the last bits of rust from the bottom of your door. Once the song ends, your Cambodian
friend begins singing once again, “Jesus, lover of my soul, Jesus I will never
let you go, you’ve taken me from the miry clay, you set my feet upon the rock…”
Before you know it you realize that the two girls from Singapore have joined in
and are singing right along with you and your singing partner.
Okay open your eyes, could you feel it? Could you feel the
absolute delight of the Savior as you sang these worship songs in the middle of
rural Cambodia, painting a bathroom door red, with new friends from different
parts of the world?! I could…it was incredible, definitely not anything I
could’ve ever planned or imagined I would be doing…but hey, that’s what The
World Race is all about right?!
Never doubt that God is at work even in the most menial of
tasks: painting a bathroom door
are from: Cambodia, Singapore, America
this week…look for the next blog to hear about the second one!
