This month I am in Siem Reap, Cambodia! But there is a twist… I have a new team and new team name. I am no longer with my Mountain Mover family but have a new family called Borderlands. I know I will greatly miss my Mountain Movers but God has turned another chapter in our lives and we have to step out of that comfortable spot back into the uncomfortable.
(This is my new team Borderlands. Starting from the left corner going to the back then up to the right corner is: Kyle, Landon, myself, Natalie, Allie, Melissa and Chris)
Borderlands are teaching English, Computer, Exercise and Bible classes at a school just outside Siem Reap. We work from Monday to Friday from 7am to 5pm teaching.Grades 1 all the way to grade 9 are who we teach. There are about 20 to 25 classes a day, so each of us takes 4 classes each to teach. About 150 students attend the school. Then at 7:30pm to 8pm we lead devotions for the staff and the children who live at the school. The school has some children whom they have taken in, as either they are orphans or their parents just can’t afford to take care of them. There are about 20 students who live at the school. On Sundays we will sing a song to the church (which we will do every Sunday it’s pretty much expected of us) along with speaking the word after (which is also expected). In the afternoons we teach sunday school for the children who live at the school.
(We are teaching the children a Bible story on how Jesus heals a paralytic)
(We then got them to act out the story)
(Some of the children get board of the lessons and decide to take naps…)
(These are 6 of 20 grade 2’s that I taught English to)
(Recess time)
The school is being helped financially. But now they only have one more month left of finances then will not have anymore money until they get more financial help. Since they are running low with finances they have cut back some teachers. Which is why we are teaching the classes. Before we started helping at the school the students would go to class with no teacher and would do whatever they could find to do to occupy themselves until the next class. Which means they would learn nothing…
These children warm your heart. They are so precious and are in love with Jesus. They give so much and expect nothing in return. They raise their hands as they pray and pray with such sincerity. Although we are teaching these children I also feel I am learning so much from them. When I got here I got a bracelet given to me. The little girl put it on my arm and gave me a big hug. Two days past and a little boy came up to me and gave me a cross that said, “God loves you” on it. These gifts are so simple but yet mean so much as you know they give even though they have so little.
(The purple and yellow bracelet is the gifts I got. It’s made out of elastics!)
The race is about loving the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind and loving your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22: 37). That is why I am here to learn how to love, trust and build a further relationship with Jesus but also love on those I come in contact with. Even when times are hard and I feel like I am struggling I want to embrace those moments and tough it out. I want to become comfortable with the uncomfortable. With my old team I was in a spot where I knew them pretty well and we all could express the way we were feeling. We were too comfortable. With team changes it makes me have to open up and become vulnerable all over again. It adds more of a challenge. Not going to lie, it sucks feeling like you have to start from the beginning all over again but at the same time if our team stayed the same I would of stayed in a comfortable little bubble. The beginning of this month is challenging and I am facing things already that are making me really uncomfortable. But you know what, when you do what’s right and it’s hurting it means that you are growing! If you are doing something and it’s easy then you have already grown in that area so you need to try something else.
My encouragement to you is become comfortable with the uncomfortable because that is were the growth comes from. 🙂
Be blessed,
Heidi
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