Wow, it’s been WAY too long since I’ve had the opportunity
to blog! For everyone who keeps up with the trip, I apologize. My IPod was
destroyed back in Thailand and I was borrowing the netbook of another team member.
The only problem was that with every key stroke, the netbook would add r’s
repeatedly. So instead of a sentence saying “we are now in Cambodia,” it would
say “wrrer rarre norrrwr rin rCarrmbrodrirra.” Needless to say, I got really
irritated with it and ended up just not typing. I did a LOT of Skyping instead
of typing, blogging and emailing.
So, I AM alive! And I was sent an amazing present from home
for Christmas…my laptop, my replacement IPod, hot chips, candy canes and
Christmas cards! So from here on out, I have access to a working laptop, music
up the wazoo and the ability to blog anytime I have internet. So, be prepared
for more!
Christmas…
Besides my incredible package from home, I had one of the
most incredible Christmas’s of my life!
A couple days prior to Christmas, our team made our own
paper stockings. We spent hours cutting out paper snowflakes and decorating 2
Christmas trees that the church offered to let us use. Amy drew an amazing fire
place on our white board and we hung our stockings from the “mantle.” It truly
looked as Christmassy as it could in a Buddhist country that doesn’t celebrate
Christmas.
We were blessed to live in what we called a “palace” amidst
one of the poorest neighborhoods I’ve ever seen for the month of December. We
had an immense living area complete with a full kitchen, chandeliers and Wi-Fi.
So, we decided early on to host Christmas at our place and invite the squad for
Christmas lunch.
As some of you know, I LOVE to host social gatherings! I
love to get in the kitchen, cook up some amazing food, prepare the décor and
see people truly enjoy themselves. We started the day off with
made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls, which were in themselves, a complete miracle.
It’s difficult to cook and bake in a country that doesn’t sell many ingredients
including pecans and vanilla. It’s also quite hard to bake in a gas oven when
you can never be sure of the actual temperature in the oven. But, I dove into
the task, willing to deliver the best Cambodian cinnamon rolls…and I succeeded!
I succeeded making some of the most incredible cinnamon
rolls…and in setting the entire oven on fire! It’s a good thing they don’t have
smoke detectors in Cambodia…I’m sure the natives would have been sick of
hearing that annoying “BEEP BEEP BEEP.”
Between our team and the other 2 teams who were able to make
it for Christmas lunch, we were able to prepare fresh salad, veggies, and
salsa, mashed potatoes, pumpkin casserole, seasoned chicken, puppy chow,
cookies and apple pie.
Santa showed up, took a seat by the Christmas tree and
allowed us to take several pictures before lunch. We all gathered, over 25 of
us, prayed for our meal and thanked God for all of the incredible blessings He’d
lavished on us. In the middle of a country filled with so much pain and poverty,
we were able to spend next to nothing and bring Christmas to Cambodia. As crazy
as it sounds, in those few hours that we were together, it became abundantly
clear just how much of a family this squad has become to one another. We
laughed, cried, and took family pictures just like any other family in the US.
I missed home and family, but more than anything, it became
clear to me how much God has blessed me. I’ve been given the opportunity to
share life with 38 other people…to be iron against all the other 38 pieces of
iron…to get irritated with…to communicate with…to embrace…to laugh with…to make
new inside jokes with…to seek God with…to minister with…to share life with…to
walk through freedom with.
I love my Illinois family and my Georgia family…but I love
THE Q!
And I love that I got to spend a Cambodian Christmas with
some of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Once again, God delivered. Things could have been 1,000x
worse. We could have been in the bush of Africa without Christmas trees, paper
snowflakes or feasts…but we all had each other. It’s not the things you can see
that create Christmas. It’s the people you spend it with. It’s the love that
you share with so many other people and the passion that you all share for
Jesus! It’s being grateful for the ultimate Sacrifice and experiencing the most
simple things in life with those who are just as grateful.
