From Jamos:
There are many things that can be said about Cambodia and month ten of the World Race has only began to open my eyes to the realities of this beautiful country. The effects of a country that was ravaged by Khmer Rouge Regime, who is known for killing 2 million people in the country during their rein which equated to about a third of the countries population at the time. This has directly affected where the country is currently, but it IS a country of BEAUTIFUL people.
My team arrived to a remote village, where there is no running water or electricity. It has always amazed me when I have met people from other cultures that have so little in the world’s standards, but yet their happiness pours from their wide smiles. Arriving to this small remote village, our differing skin color instantly gives us attention and as we walk down the street multiple times a day we are greeted with hundreds of voices screaming, “Hello.”
My team was tasked with teaching English classes, with varying degrees of proficiency. We rotate through 3 classes taught 3 times a day during the week. We have also been building relationships with the community through daily trips to the river (to cool off), house visits, attending church, engagement parties, weddings, and so much more.
I will tell you that this month has been a hard one, but one that my whole team has desired so I am glad that were able to have it. This month is exactly how we all envisioned the World Race to look like.
With all that said, I will give my wife an opportunity to fill in the gaps…
From Emily:
Yes, as Jamos said, we are in the middle of a small village in the country of Cambodia. This is the most remote I have been during my entire time on the World Race. Even our “bush” experience in Africa- had running water. One of the hardest parts of the month is the heat and the mosquitos. One of the best parts of the month is the face our entire team is living in the 1 room church building- so we get to experience a LOT of team growth and fun, random moments. We are living either under mosquito nets or our tents at night and because of security reasons, we cannot leave any doors open for a cross breeze (if one managed to occur) at night. This does make sleeping difficult, but we are getting by.
I did not know much about Cambodia before my arrival to this country and I have been so blessed by the kindness of the Cambodian people. Like Jamos said, they do not have much, but they are willing to give us anything we need, whenever we need it. It is amazing. And, their smiles seriously are gorgeous! There are so many naked kids running around, in ½ a day we counted over 75 naked kids/babies!
Our ministry is teaching English, house visits (holding babies time!), loving the local kids and showing them Jesus.
The hot factor has also allowed me to do something I would never do- which is swim in a river where they bathe the cows and horses of the village. The first time I swam in the river, I would not get my head wet for fear of some sort of disease that the CDC would report. But, after the 1st full day at our ministry site and being SO HOT (I have never in my life been as hot as I am in Cambodia) the river is the only reprieve from heat we get ALL DAY. So, I have put my fears/worries of a disease on hold and enjoy myself in the dirty river of Cambodia because my body has gone into survival mode!
All of that to say, we are doing well! In other news, we only need $200 more dollars and we will be TOTALLY funded and all expenses paid (insurance, shots, travel home from our entry point). If you are wanting to donate, just click on the link to the left.
