Hellloooooooo from CAMBODIA!!!
Wait, am I really in my last month? This is insane!
This month, my team and I are in the city of Battambang. It’s a small city located about 3.5 hours away from Siem Reap. Our whole squad met up in Bangkok for a couple of days to re-group and get refreshed and then got on yet another bus and headed to Cambodia. My team traveled here on a bus filled with about 30 women going to a Buddhist meditation retreat. The volume on that bus was high and the energy was all over the place. We later learned they were about to be silent for 10 days straight, so that made some sense. Haha! It was awesome! After being in Thailand where everyone is so quiet, it was quite the change to hear people being really loud. It was great though.
This month my team and I are teaching English 5 days a week. We are working with a ministry called New Hope School. They teach children between the ages of 5-14. The children usually go to a public school in the morning or afternoon and then switch and come to New Hope when they’re not at public school. So, we get up around 6am and teach from 7:30am to 10:30am. Then we get a break until 2, then teach again from 2 to 5pm. It’s a pretty full day. Surprisingly, teaching English is mentally exhausting. I won’t complain though because the kids are SO CUTE. They are so loving and so sweet and just love to give really good hugs and hold your hand. They fill up my love tank every single day, so I love it. My team and I live with our host. The other two gals and I sleep on a mattress in Chanthy’s (our host’s niece who so graciously gave up her room for us) bedroom and the guys sleep in a house out back that belongs to the Grandma and Grandpa. We are being fed the best food I’ve had on the Race and they have puppies that like to bite our toes. So basically, we’re living the life.
Coming into this month was hard. I got to Cambodia and found myself empty. You know when you’re a senior in high school and you get what they call “Senior-itis”? Well, I feel like we all kind of have/had that. I’m gonna be honest, we’ve been away from America for a long time and we’re tired. The first few days here, I honestly felt pretty miserable and just wanted to go home. Last week we came to a cafe and I just sat and listened to Jackson Browne because I missed my mom and dad. HAHA! For those of you who don’t know, I was brainwashed and forced to listen to classic rock for all of my childhood. My parents are avid classic rock fans and they listen to music probably more than anyone I know. So, now I love it. And actually choose to listen to it. So I sat in the cafe, sad, listening to “Running on Empty” (I’m ridiculous). But you know what, it got me through the day. Sometimes you gotta just do what you need to do and move on. And that’s just what I did.
I sat and prayed for a solid day that God would give me the strength the finish this race well. I felt bad because I wanted to give Cambodia my all just like I’d given every other country. I knew that these kids in Cambodia needed to see the love of Christ in me, it didn’t matter if it was my last month or if I was ready to go home. I decided that I wasn’t going to let the enemy and my feelings steal my joy. I decided to choose Jesus and choose joy and choose to let Him work in me this month. And by His grace, He has given me a renewed attitude and a renewed heart to serve His people here in Cambodia. I really am so happy to be here. I am so happy that the Lord has allowed me and provided for me to come on this amazing journey. It truly has been such an amazing thing.
So, there ya go party people. An update from yours truly from the beautiful land of Cambodia. It’s super hot here and there are tons of bugs. But the people are warm and kind and the food is AMAZING. Jesus is here and walking with us daily. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the month holds for us. We’ve got 2 more weeks left here in Battambang and then we will head to Siem Reap for 4 days of debrief and then head to the U S of A. What a crazy life to live. Jesus is so cool.
Peace and blessings.
