We are not on a farm, but we are definitely not in the city. Yesterday we took a tuk tuk (a small vehicle that holds 4 people that is pulled by a motorcycle) form our hotel to the women’s home. We drove, and drove, and drove. As we went, it started to get more and more rural. Eventually we turned down a dirt road and I grinned from ear to ear. We passed by cows and fields and Cambodia is flat. Praise the Lord it isn’t a month of malls and skyscrapers. We are actually living in a compound with 10 women and 3 children, plus some staff. They have a sewing school and a make-up/hairstyling school for the women to learn skills to be successful after they leave teen challenge. Most of the women have been sexually or physically abused and many had drug addiction problems when they arrived.
We have three meals a day. Bible study morning and evening and prayer prior to going to sleep. It is a peaceful place and we can see the stars and hear the crickets at night. If I don’t look too closely at the crops, rice instead of wheat or corn, I could be in SD. Well, maybe not, but it is the closest I have felt to being in SD in 9 months.
It might be a bit hotter than SD as highs are in the 90’s and the humidity sits around 90%. The mosquitoes are ridiculous so we are sleeping under mosquito nets on the floor again this month and I am thankful for my malaria meds. This will make 1 night in a bed and 3 nights on the floor. I won’t know what to do with myself with a bed when I get back to the U.S. I guess we all gave up beds for lent and we didn’t even know it. We will be here for the next 4 weeks teaching English, leading Bible studies, a little manual labor, and generally just encouraging the women.
It’s going to be a fun month. Oh yeah, it is Cambodian New Year on Friday so that means we arrived with basically 4 days to rest. God definitely knew our needs as we came in from Malaysia exhausted and will have some time to rest and recuperate before getting to work on Monday. God definitely knew our needs far more than we did.
