This month has been so awesome. I know I say that almost every month, but its always true!! This month was my new teams first month with just our team living and doing ministry together. We were working with Cambodia Slum Ministries teaching english to children and teens in the slums. We pretty much worked where we lived and our living set up was super legit. Its funny how your expectations change on the race. I mean.. we had real toilets, real (not warm) showers, which was awesome because it is so dang hot in Cambodia. We had so much room to spread out in our house to have alone time and lots of space for team time. We had amazing hosts. Beourn and Moo had worked with YWAM for about 5 years and have started this ministry from the ground up. The have such huge hearts and took such good care of us. We couldn’t tell them enough how truly thankful we were to have them as our hosts for the month.
So for ministry, we would welcome the precious little preschoolers in the morning from 8-9 in our “family room.” There they watched tv for about a half hour until they all had arrived. This month our team was able to bless them with new videos to watch in the mornings. We got them Veggie Tales, Sesame Street and Dora and they all loved them so much. After all of them arrived we would help them go up to the third floor of our house where the classroom was. We sat on the floor next to one or two of the little chicken nuggets while they learned their Khmer alphabet and numbers and then we took turns teaching them the English alphabet and numbers. Also half way through the month I got to pull out some of my daycare songs and games to do with them. They especially loved doggy doggy who’s got your bone.
After about 2 hours they would get picked up and then we would have a break until 4 pm. During that break we had the freedom to pretty much do anything. Usually I would break it up and do different things like workout, shower, quiet time/devotions, nap and coffee run. It was the perfect amount of time to get all of that done. At 4-5 we had our first class of older kids English class. (Yes you’re probably reading this thinking..she teaches English? Her English is terrible! I know I know but it’s true I did! It’s a good thing it was basic English) Then we had another class from 5-6 with an older group and again from 6-7 with the oldest kids. We took turns teaching the classes and our host told us that we could teach anything we wanted and to make it fun for them. So we did and my team did a great job creating a fun yet educational experience.
This month we were working with a lot of kids which was awesome. Right up my alley actually. I really loved our ministry this month. As for names, well Cambodian names are pretty tricky.. But I was able to connect with a few of the kids and they have left a mark on my heart for sure. Creating such a great relationship with the kids made it really hard to say goodbye this month. Especially with the little ones that didn’t really understand that we were leaving and probably not coming back. But that’s where we have to trust that we were there for that amount of time for a reason and that they’re in Gods hands when we leave. Also on Sunday’s we helped teach kids church, shared our testimonies and took turns preaching. Living in the slums of Phnom Penh was kind of a cool experience. We have experienced so many different slum areas in the past few months, but we learned that our living situation doesn’t really matter. What matters is the people and relationships we build with these beautiful people all around us. Whether it’s our iced coffee dealer or the girl that has a fruit stand in the market that cuts open an apple for us to try every time we go to visit her. We had the awesome privilidge of sharing Gods love by just being shining for him everywhere we went in that community. On our off days we had the chance to be tourists for a day or so which was really cool! ..but it made us appreciate the race and being able to actually do life with our hosts and the people around us for a whole month. Being a tourist is exhausting and expensive. Don’t get me wrong! It’s super fun but I can only handle it for a day or so every once in a while. I’m thankful that we get the chance to see these beautiful places we’re visiting.
This month the Lord was (and still is) showing me how much he loves me. (refer to my valentine blog) I have really enjoyed Cambodia and the people here are so awesome. The Lord has really blessed us with awesome hosts this month. I can’t believe month 6 has come and gone. Time is flying and I’m still loving every moment of this crazy adventure:)
Thankyou for your continued prayer and encouragement. Month 7 here we come!
Until next time!
xo Court
