Welcome to Cambodia!
We’re officially in our first month! My team has set up in the Phnom Penh, the capital city.
The 12 hour difference makes contact with my friends and family difficult, but still possible!
We live in what I would call a Cambodian version of an apartment complex. It has four floors, each with one or two apartments. It also has an adjoining set of two or three apartments on one side of the building. The stairs are smooth and dusty which makes for a slippery combination. They are barely wider than my shoulders and definitely not designed for a 6’3 American to use. We live in a room on the second floor. It has one central room with a small kitchen, which is a sink and stove behind a 4ft wall in the corner of an empty room. This room connects three bedrooms together, each with its own shower and toilet. One of the rooms has working A/C and the rest are occupied by our gear and a fan.
As any earthly standard goes, I’d say we’re very well taken care of. These are luxuries we won’t always be able to rely on. So far this is a much more comfortable month than I had expected to have on The Race.
Our ministry contact is Rogil (pronounced Rojul) and Janice Apostol. They are a Philippino couple that started a church here in Phnom Penh called Cornerstone church. They help teach English to students and children while also spreading the gospel. Rogil’s eventual intention is to use Cambodia as a launching point to reach the Indo-China area for Christ. He is quite ambitious and God is absolutely on his side!
They are very kind and welcoming people! Janice cooks the most amazing meals for us and Rogil is fun to be around. They have a very apparent love for Jesus and their faith in what He’s going to do is unshakable. They operate on very little but God is faithful to provide them with each need that arises in their life including paying for Rogil to learn Khmer, the native Cambodian language.
my teams specific ministry has three parts to it:
1. Andrew, Lisa and myself teach English to high-school and university students out of Cornerstone, they’re all very intelligent and fun to teach. They ask us many questions about America and laugh a lot! I usually feel pretty hilarious after teaching…
2. Sam, Simone, Katy and Alysse teach English to underprivileged children in a neighborhood about 4 blocks away from our apartment. They use songs, dances and flash cards to keep the extremely energetic kids’ focus! i encourage you to read their blogs to get their perspective!
3. Cornerstone has a ministry in the Cambodian village of Kampong Chhnang (Kampongchinan). It is about an hour and a half outside of Phnom Penh and a very simple place. We’ll be teaching English and running a camp for three days out of this month. That also includes camping in the village with the people. We’re not exactly sure what that looks like but we’re excited for it! I’ll definitely be writing a blog about it once we return!
Thank you again for reading! If you supported me in any way know you’re on this trip with me. Love you guys
-Justin
P.s. I’ll try to keep the blogs coming but I ask for grace while I’m adjusting to this new lifestyle in foreign countries! Keep following a long and PLEASE ask questions if you’d like! I might even write a blog about them :).
