My first week in Cambodia has looked like teaching english, nonstop dance parties, volleyball in the pouring rain, finding endless amounts of bugs in our room, and seeing true joy in the kids at the orphanage here.
There is a song that I’ve had in my head this entire week. It goes, “I’ve got that joy joy joy joy down in my soul, oh down in my soul.” I have never experienced such tangible, overwhelming joy. Everyday I get to see the warmest smiles and feel the best hugs. I came here to let people know about Jesus, but these kids have been teaching me what it is like to love like Jesus more than anyone else has.
To give you a little insight on what I mean I’ll tell you some things about these kids:
SreyMao just turned 16 and she one of the most gracious leaders that I have ever seen. She has more compassion than I have ever experienced in a single moment.
Yabez is 12 and speaks better english than most adults here. When we asked him what he wants to be when he grows up he said he wants to be a translator for Jesus.
Kao and Kun are brothers and they love to run up to me and shout my name because they are so excited that they learned it.
SreyChen is 14 and says that it makes her really angry that her friends at school don’t love Jesus and they don’t want to know him.
Spending time with these kids has stripped me down to feeling just like a child. It takes me back to not having as many worries, to living life day to day, and to truly being present in the moment. All of this has made me realize that for the rest of my life I want to live like child, a child of God. Remember when someone stole a toy from you when you were little and you got really angry and started crying and you thought it was the end of the world. All of my current stressors in life are just as meaningless as they were back then. I don’t need to concern myself with so many things that won’t have any value in the future. It’s about leaning on our Father to provide for us, because his provisions are greater than anything we can obtain ourselves.
