Hello there!
I’ve got a ministry update for you this week! It has been an interesting month already, with transitioning to a new continent and a new time zone. EmPower Rangers(my team) is partnering with LightBridge International at their facility in Cambodia. LightBridge International has orphanages in Thailand, supports an organization called Landmine Design, and is based in Colorado, USA.
LightBridge International cares about the people here in Cambodia. They have started a local school in Minefield, worked on water initiatives, and began a hygiene program to teach locals about proper handwashing techniques to prevent sickness.
Through their organization Landmine Design, they are able to offer jobs to locals and help them become self-sufficient. What they ultimately care about is the local people’s relationship with Jesus. Landmine Design teaches the local women to roll beads from pieces of paper. From there they are able to create beautiful jewelry from those beads, providing the women jobs here in Cambodia (instead of them having to walk two hours across the Thailand border to work in rice fields for 10 hours a day). The organization’s heart behind it, though, is what captures my heart. I’ve seen missionaries teach them how to roll paper into beads, and immediately after, give a devotional to the women. Hearing their testimonies about how God is working in their lives is truly encouraging.
A couple of the things my team does during a typical ministry week:
-Teach ESL classes at our Team Center everyday
-Teach Kindergarten including Bible Study, English, Craft/Games
-Teach English class at Minefield School
-Clean/organize crafts closet
-Wash heads and comb out lice
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One of my favorite things we have done so far is to clean out lice from several of the children’s hair. A couple of the missionaries will do this a couple of times a month, and this week, four of us from my team were able to participate.
At first I thought, “are you kidding, we are helping clean out lice?! Won’t I get lice?”
As a couple of us were talking about lice things and such, a local missionary said, “when I get lice, it’s a blessing…it’s a small problem for me to have.”
Dumbfounded.
For her to see it in that light made me think of the whole process differently.
We are here to humble ourselves and serve others. Die to self.
Amirite?! Can I get an AMEN!
So when the time finally came and they asked, “who wants to start?”
I knew I wanted to be all up in it, washing some children’s heads.
The children seemed to know the process well. One child laid on a bench. I grabbed a bowl of water and started to rinse her hair. Now to add the lice shampoo. A little lather. Okay wrap her hair up in a shower cap. She needs to wait ten minutes. Not too bad!
Alright, the next child. And the next. This isn’t too bad at all! I got my routine down. I accidentally soak some kids with lots of water down their backs, but they don’t seem too angry with me lol
About 20-30 children later and we are rinsing all the lice shampoo out of their hair.
Okay, now it’s time for the comb through. Sooo many nits. They won’t all come out.
My heart breaks.
Well now I just want to come back everyday and get all the nits out of their hair!
Another missionary had said, “this is only temporary relief from the itch they get. We won’t be able to get all of it out unless we sit here for hours on a child.”
This is something the local children live with, and it seems to be their norm.
I can’t express the feelings I have for the missionaries here who do this regularly. They want to offer some sort of relief to the children in whatever way they can. A true servant’s heart that deeply inspired me.
My new outlook. Well, honestly I still don’t want lice. BUT, if I do get it, I’m hoping to see it as a blessing. Humble thyself Jess. Nothing matters more than showing some love to these children.
