Washing myself in Dirt

It's been 6 days in the small "Touch Village" pronounced: (Toe-ch) and I haven't washed my hair in 6 days.  I arrived thinking we were going to be on a YWAM base.  It would probably have a bunch of rooms, a kitchen we could use, bathrooms with western toilets and showers, internet; you know all the comfortable stuff.  When I woke up from my nap after driving 2 hours from the city we arrive to the middle of nowhere with huts and rice paddies.  I was surprised but actually really excited.  This is what I wanted after being in the city all last month.  The guys were placed on one side of the building and 12 ladies on the other side in one room full of bunk beds.

Dinner was fun and delicious.  We sat around together with both teams and the locals.  When I was praying for dinner I got really distracted by the surprising shouts of "A-men" and "Hallelujah" and I felt what I thought was a bug flying in my hair so I went to hit it until I found out it was one of the guys' hand!  Woops..now we know they put their hand above the person praying.  

Our first night there we found out our team would each be teaching 4 English classes a day (Tuesday through Saturday), to all ages ranging from about 5-21 years old beginning at 8AM until 6:30PM.  We are supposed to come up with our own cirriculum and we start the next day.  Right away I thought about how these are going to be loooong days, especially since I am no teacher.  After a long day of traveling and wanting to sleep , I remembered our room has spiders, ants, sometimes mice, and I am sure of millions of little critters in my bed. Not my favorite at all but that was ok, not to worried about that.  It's month 6 so I guess you just get used to it.  After I went to the bathroom and squatted on the "squatty potty" I went to wash my hands with the only water there is…brown water.  Then I went to smell the water and it just smells of dirt. 

I got really sad all of a sudden thinking about this being the water they all live with.  This is what we shower in, wash our hands in, wash our dishes in, wash our hair in, wash our clothes with.  Brown water.  I have seen brown water before but not like i've ever seen it be used the way I do here.  Nor have I ever used it myself.
Right now I feel really humbled to think that back home I never have to worry about whether i'll have enough water depending on if it rains or not.  The hardest thing for me is washing my body and hair.  (Yes, I am such a hairdresser)  When the floors dry out there is a clay like residue left all over the floor.  At this point I don't find any point in washing my hair because then I am just adding dirt to it.  I am going with most of our teams to the city, Phnom Penh, tomorrow morning and I am already planning on bringing my shampoo and conditioner to wash my hair in a sink wherever I find one: in a grocery store, restaurant, coffee shop…wherever.  Yes, we sweat everyday because it is one of the hottest months of the year, but don't worry I do shower, barely because I can still feel the dirt on my body.  It's alright, the sweat is gone now and I smell like the soap I use.  (This is me always try to see all situations on the bright side) 🙂

I am really easy going and not many things bother me but this is something that does.  I know that this month I have to pray for supernatual strength to get me through the day because of the heat going along with the long hours of teaching English when really I just want to sleep.  I am so happy to be where we are this month to live the simple life with the locals,to be apart of a ministry that needs laborers, love these sweet kids and remind them that they have a future, bike ride freely in the rice fields, to not be distracted daily by internet, and to live life with them.  But I know I can't do it on my own.  I can't rely on my own strength.