Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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267 mosquito bites.
42 gallons of sweat.
1.3 English speakers.
6 crazy World Racers.

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Add it up and what do you get? Toch Village, outside of Kampot, Cambodia. We’ve been here for one week now. This is definitely the most remote location so far on the trip. We have no electricity, no running water, no convenient store, and basically no contact with the outside world. I’m typing this blog without even being sure I’ll be able to post it. We’ll go on a search tomorrow for internet. (Update: Obviously we found it). This month has continued to teach me to appreciate and find joy in the simple things. Here’s a typical schedule of our days here in the village.

8:00 : Breakfast (usually fruit we bought from the market)
8:20 : Prayer
9:00 : House visits
11:30 : English lessons
12:30 :  Lunch (rice, beef or pork, egg, veggies)
3:00 : More house visits
5:30 : English lessons for older kids
6:30 : Dinner
8:00: Feedback

There are two events that give me something to look forward to each day. The first is the ice-cream man. He comes to our home every day around noon. Basically, it’s just a man that drives a motorcycle around with a cooler attached to it. Inside the cooler are tiny frozen treats. Some taste good, some taste bad. But they’re all cold, which is all that really matters at this point.

The second event occurs around 6:20 each afternoon. This is when the generator is turned on. That means the fans begin to spin. Oh, fans…how I love thee. Chelsea and I share a lovely fan above our bed. It’s my new best friend. Showers help to relieve the heat as well. We’re back to bucket showers, which I don’t mind too much. The thing is, we don’t shower to get clean. I’m pretty sure the water makes us dirtier than we were before. It’s brown and filled with various living organisms like tadpole larva and beetles. It cools you off though, so we manage.

As you saw from the schedule, our ministry here is centered around house visits and English lessons. We’ve met so many amazing people in the village. We’ve laughed with people, prayed with people, and introduced people to Jesus. English lessons are interesting. We go through a curriculum and focus on one or two lessons, then play games with the kids. Nick and I are also giving guitar lessons on the weekends.

 
This month has been/will be challenging, but I do know God is going to do amazing things. Please keep us in your prayers. The heat really can be overwhelming, especially since there’s no escaping it. It also seems like we’re falling apart again. I came down with strep the day we arrived in the capitol, and now I’m battling the same evil rash that attacked in Kenya. Not nearly as bad this time, though. Anthony has a parasite and went to the small clinic a couple of days ago. He pulled up on the back of our contact’s scooter with an IV attached to a bamboo stick. We really out in the boonies, huh? We got a good laugh out of it. Colby has something growing on his leg…the doctor told him it was herpes. We got a good laugh out of that as well.

We’re hanging in there, folks. Did I mention this is Month 10? Double digits. It’s strange to say. This is going to be over so soon. I’m trying to find the balance of counting down the days to seeing family and Momma Goldberg’s with soaking up every day left on the race. I know God still has so many things in store for us.

Stick with me and we’ll see it through to the end!