Life Lately: Our squad separated by gender for the month of February. Our guys went to Lesotho and the women were all together in eSwatini (Swaziland). My team, Rooted, was a co-ed team so Courtney and I were paired with the girls from the other co-ed team. Even though we were all together as women on the squad, we still did ministry, team time, and feedback in teams. There are 5 of us on the team and one of our squad leaders, Alyx, was paired with us. The 6 of us got along wonderfully and the month was full of so much growth and laughter. The reality in eSwatini broke my heart and I could literally feel the heaviness of the brokenness around us. With that being said, I couldn’t be more thankful for my team for being a safe place to process through things with. Despite it being a difficult month in some ways, I already look back at it with a smile across my face because of the deep conversations, memories made, and laughter shared as a team. I smile because of the time spent with our shepherd, Bongiwe, and all of our little kiddos at the carepoint. Our ministry was simple, but significant. It was loving those in front of us. Sometimes that meant helping kids with math homework, chasing them on the playground, or holding a preschooler for an afternoon nap. It was showing them the love of Christ in small moments and praying that it planted seeds. As the month came to a close I was grieving this short-lived time as a team. But…. SURPRISE!! We got to stay together! This time our teams are all in separate locations in the country.
My team of 5 arrived in Toch Village outside of Kampot, Cambodia on Friday evening. We will live here for the next 3 weeks! We are working with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) which is an international bible/discipleship school that often hosts World Race teams. One of our teams was with YWAM in Panama and another was with them in Zambia. Another one of our teams is also with YWAM this month, just in a different location. Our ministry is teaching English classes to kids pre-school through high school age. We will also do some home visits and preach on Sundays. Our main mode of transportation is riding bikes to and from class and home! How fun is that?! Each morning we’ll hop on our bikes, ride to the market for breakfast, and then head to English class. We’re really excited about that. I’ve prepared myself to sweat nonstop until I get home. It’s HOT and humid here. Upper 90s with 1,000% humidity. The air is actually wet. Especially coming out of the dry heat of Africa I’m like excuse me where is the oxygen part of the atmosphere?!
What is my first impression of Asia/Cambodia? My journal entry the night we got here explains it best:
3-02-19 • 12:20am
Oh my.. where do I begin… I’m currently laying in bed in the village in Cambodia at 12:20am. Tonight marked an end to 4 consecutive travel days. Tuesday-Friday! When we left the hostel in Siem Reap this afternoon after cultural orientation, we took tuk tuks with our big packs on board and met up with our host, Vuhty (pronounced Wooty), at the bus station because he was traveling home from a trip to the Philippines. We had an 8 hour bus ride to Phenom Penh, where his brother then picked us up in a van for a 3 hour drive to the village. We stopped for street food which was yummy. We arrived at our building which they call the “center.” It has an open air kitchen with concrete floor and a big dining room table. Our room is on the right hand side of the kitchen with double doors, tile floors, and 5 blue metal bunk beds with bug nets. The man who lives here across the common room showed us the bathroom. There’s 2 stalls with squatty potties which are the stalls where we take our bucket showers. And then there’s little stalls with toilets across from them. As he was showing us the bathroom a tarantula crawled down the wall. He killed it with a broom and we all watched in horror. He asked “why do foreigners scream at spiders?” Lol.
When we put our packs in the room we saw that there was a letter from a team from Sweden that was here last month. They wrote us a sweet note with a prayer, some of their favorite memories here, helpful tips for our English classes, a few village people to visit and encourage, good places to eat and get WiFi, and then tips for living here. In it they wrote that the bug nets aren’t as much for mosquitos as they are for keeping the mice and rats out of your bed. And if you leave bags out, they will find a way into your bag even if it has a zipper. Lord, be my strength.
After reading the note and seeing a rat run across the top of the wall, three of us pitched our tents and put the mattresses inside. Then we put all of our stuff on the empty bunks under the nets. So far this plan has worked, but we’re only 2 nights in so I’m bracing myself. They also mentioned that the water cuts out a lot so we should keep our bottles and the shower buckets full. This morning we woke up with no water so we were thankful for their advice. They said not to leave anything out on the table bc the chickens will jump up on the table and tear it up. These chickens will be the death of me. They have no concept of personal space and have beady eyes that stare at you. Yesterday I wanted to get some rice from the rice cooker on the counter, but there was a hen sitting in a cardboard box next to it and every time I came near, she hissed at me. Also a laughable moment for some of you I’m sure is that before the race, I thought roosters only crowed once a day, when the sun came up. At least that’s what I always saw in the movies and children’s books. In the Bible, Jesus tells Peter he’ll deny him 3 times before the rooster crows. There were a lot of hours between Jesus saying this and Peter denying him for the third time, right? The roosters here (and Honduras, Malawi, Zambia, and eSwatini) don’t leave hours of time between their crows. They crow all. the. time. I wear ear plugs when we sleep because of the noises the water purifier, roosters, rats, cats, and geckos make. Geckos make this weird clicky noise that makes me cringe. But thankfully in Kampot the geckos aren’t massive like they were in Siem Reap. It’s the little things, you know? (Literally) Oh and we have a dog. His name is Jackie Chan and he’s a cute old dog with missing teeth. He’s small to medium sized with pointy ears and a playful personality. I thought since he was playful maybe he’d know how to chase a tennis ball, but when I threw it, it rolled right passed him. I’ve met many dogs on the race, but none that know how to play (with the exception of those that belong to American missionaries). We have to keep our door locked at all times because Jackie Chan will bust through. He lives up to his name.
As I sat in church this morning, I was full of immeasurable gratitude. So far I really love Asia. Sure, many comforts from home are missing and this living situation is a little rough, but that sets the scene for some really great stories, right? The people here are very gentle and kind. I see a lot of God’s character in them. Even though most don’t know him, they reflect him in many ways. The 4 girls around me make me laugh till my stomach hurts. Yesterday we sat at the dining table for 3 hours talking about the race, culture shock, dependence on the Lord, and making the most of our time together. When we got ready for bed 3 of us laid on the tile floor of our room talking for another couple of hours. I taped my plane ticket into my journal and wrote down some memories. I fell asleep looking at pictures of our precious little Swazi kiddos, missing their laughter. This morning before the service started I stepped outside of the church to say good morning to Jackie Chan and he led me to some precious kiddos. I played catch with a little girl that knew no English and we laughed at Jackie Chan rolling in the grass. Mid-church service she came to my row and plopped herself down on my lap. In that moment I could feel the Lord telling me that love knows no language. I think I’m going to have to make some room in my heart for the kids here too.
Pictures from Swaziland: Our team with our shepherd, Bongiwe 
