We drove up to a village about two hours outside of Phnom
Penh, Cambodia. This village was made up of residents who had literally been
forced out of their homes in Phnom Penh. Without warning bulldozers showed up
at their apartment complex and just tore it down. They were left with nothing
but a new plot of land 2 hours away from the home they had known for over 30
years. They were given nothing but a few pieces of tarp.
I followed Brett, the leader of the Rock Foundation that
works to build homes for these dislocated villagers, around a plot of land that
they were trying to flatten out. Most of my team went to play with some
children that were still living in tarps. That just didn’t feel right to me, so
I followed him down a dirt path to see more of the village.
We ran into more children the more we walked.
Before I knew it, two small children had grabbed my hand.
A couple of young girls were being dropped off from school;
they looked at me and ran up to hug me.
I was so surprised that these children were surrounding me.
Following me.
There was one girl who was extremely quiet and never smiled.
I felt such joy as I felt her take my hand.
We walked back to the plot of land being prepared for new
homes, and I just carried on a conversation with the children in English. They
had no idea what I was saying, but it didn’t really matter.
I even got to show off some of my environmental knowledge
and show the children a sensitive plant. How when you touch it, its leaves
close up. We just walked around the field for about 20 minutes or more, holding
hands not understanding a word we were saying to each other.
As it neared time for us to leave, one little boy did not
want to let go of my hand. I tried to tell him in several languages that I was
leaving, but he still held my hand tight.
As we drove away, I was so elated that God was changing my
heart. That God was changing me. That I had just loved on 5 young children that
didn’t speak a word of English.
—
Saturday we went to a remote primary school about 1.5 hours
from our home.
We planned on playing games with the children, but because
the class was so large we split them in half.
Half of the room went outside to play duck duck goose. I
watched as everyone filed out to the schoolyard. I was about to follow when I
realized that I was the only one over the age of 10 left in the classroom, and
all of the remaining children were staring at me.
I never imagined I would be left alone in a classroom with
20 young Cambodian children all looking to me for entertainment.
So, naturally, I began speaking to them in an English accent
about how I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them.
I got up to look around the classroom, and while thinking,
put my hands on my hips. I looked at the kids and noticed that they were all
now standing with their hands on their hips. I made a confused face, and so did
they.
I realized that we would now be playing a game similar to
Simon says. I began doing random movements, clapping my hands, stomping the
ground, and they all followed.
I started bringing some of them to the front of the room to
lead. They all just put their hands on their hips, turned around, clapped, and
ran off the stage laughing.
I couldn’t believe that I was in the-middle-of-nowhere,
Cambodia, playing Simon says with 20 Cambodian children who spoke no English,
and I was the only adult in the room.
It’s INSANE!
—
My views coming into the Race were probably different than
most people.
I knew before I launched in September that this was going to
be a year about me.
Maybe that sounds selfish, but I knew that this was going to
be a year more about God changing me than me changing the world.
I had no idea what that meant or what that would look like.
Relational ministry is where I have always struggled.
I’ve never been a people person, per se.
Many times when I mentioned the idea of me doing missions, I
was met with comments about how that would require me actually liking people.
I always thought they were right.
I never understood that these were lies that people were
speaking over me, lies that I believed.
God lives in
me. I am a new creation in Him. I am only good; everything else is a lie.
Everything else is not who I am.
During team time this week I said my peak was that even
though I struggle with relational ministry, I had some awesome moments with
kids this week.
My teammate, Tyler, was quick to tell me that I do not
struggle with relational ministry. That is a lie that I have been told. God’s
love is in me. I can do relational
ministry.
And I have. And I am so freaking excited about the work that
God has done in me in just 4 months.
And through all of this, I’m realizing something I already
knew.
I have a heart for those who are left out, forgotten about,
overlooked. Maybe they aren’t the cutest child, maybe they aren’t the most
outgoing and fun to play with, maybe they aren’t the center of attention.
Those are the children I want to spend time with. Those are
the children I want to learn how to love.
I was that child. The
quiet one who wasn’t in the middle of all of the action. The shy one who waited
for someone to notice me, to play with me, to love me.
And I’m starting to realize that that is one of the reason’s
why I’m here.
God is teaching me to love others, and is using me to love
on those who are overlooked. And I couldn’t be more honored.
I’m so excited to see how else God uses me this year. Not
only in relational ministry, but in every way I will grow.
