“We will be Phnom Penh!” That was the exciting news my team leader told us while we were still at debrief in Livingstone, Zambia. I was so excited to be in an actual city. Month 3 and month 4 we were told we would be in a city. Month 3 we were like an hour away and month 4 was only 5 minutes but nonetheless it would be a nice change.
A few days later we are dropped off in Phnom Penh at a very interesting bus stop. We had been told about a day prior that we would be staying an hour away from the bus stop at the school we would be working at. “No problem, this is a big enough city we will no doubt still be in the city,” I thought. My team and I got into the tuk tuks that came to pick us up and off we went. 2 hours later we arrive at our destination.
We were not in the city at all. We were in this very small town which didn’t really have a lot. We were introduced to our sleeping place. It was the school office. We set up 5 tents in one room and a hammock and then in a different room we set up another tent. We asked where the bathrooms were. We were taken to them. We would be using squatties, bucket showers and a trough for a sink. After about a couple days they did install a shower head so we could somewhat take a shower. You had to be very fast though or you would get attacked by all the bugs. To make matters even worse my hair was falling out in massive clumps die to the lack of protein and essential vitamins. This was not at all what I was expecting. To put the icing on the cake I was not happy about being with kids again for ministry as this was the 4th month out of 5 months on the race to be with kids. I was mad at God and I let Him know it.
God stripped me of all the comforts except for a building to sleep in. There were many tears that were shed as I yelled at God during my first week. I was mad because this wasn’t what I was expecting. I was wanting some comforts this month. I was mad because of the ministry that I was once again placed in. Then I was just mad because it was so hot that it wasn’t helping anything. However, in this month because God stripped me of everything it made me rely on Him more.
After the first week of sulking I finally started to turn my mood around. I started realizing God had placed me here for a reason and I started asking Him to show me why. He didn’t show me that first week I asked but in the next week He did.
My prayer at the beginning of my fin week in Cambodia was that God would allow me to share The Gospel with someone this week. My team started discussing the idea of doing a school wide assembly the last couple days of school. The plan was put into action. It became very clear to me that God was wanting me to share about Jesus.
The first couple days God was telling me to do this I didn’t tell Him no but I didn’t say yes. I said “God if you want me to be the one you will have to make it very clear to me.” He did. I could not get the assembly off my mind and I definitely couldn’t stop thinking about sharing the gospel either. I told my team on Wednesday that I was pretty sure that God was wanting me to be the one to share about His love. My team leader said, “I have been thinking that as well.” So into preparation I went or at least tried to.
Wednesday night I asked God what He wanted me to say. All He said was, “I will tell you when you need to know.” I wasn’t happy with that but there was no point in arguing. Thursday I was asking God again, this time He started giving me some direction. Friday morning came around the day I’m supposed to share and I still had very little direction from God. He continued to say “I will tell you what to say when you need to know.”
I got up in front of the students and words just started coming out of my mouth. If you ask me what I said I can honestly say I do not remember. As I was talking though I could see the wheels turning in the kids’ heads. I could tell they were interested. I wish I could say that we saw people come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior but I can’t. However, I know that seeds were planted in about 150 people that day.
God stripped me of my comforts, He chose for me to be placed at the school I was at all month for the purpose of sharing the gospel to 150 people. Some of these people had never heard the name of Jesus before. If I had to be stripped of all my comforts again I would gladly do it if it meant more people would hear about Jesus.
Financial update: I need to raise roughly $3,500 by January 1 in order to stay on The Race. If you would like to help support me financially just click on the tab at the top of this page that says Support Me.
