So I know that a lot of you know where that I am in Cambodia but don’t know what I am doing on a daily basis. I thought I would give you a snapshot of what a normal day looks like here at Teen Challenge Women’s home. I have found that there isn’t really such thing as a normal day here but this will give you an idea.
We wake up to the sunrise in our cozy little mosquito nets…
We go for a run through the beautiful country side, dodging dogs that don't seem to like white people and cow patties…
7 am breakfast time and guess what it is…drumroll please…ITS RICE! We have rice 3 meals a day, good thing I am a fan:)
We have devotion three times a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. The spirit is always moving during those times, and we got some visual evidence of it the last week. One of the women was crying at every devotion, she was starting to feel convicted for her sin, and she is has started realizing her need for a Savior. We come Broken to the throne of Grace.
During one of the afternoon devotions, Erin was sharing about Jesus and what He has done for us, and Rainee (the directors wife) was translating. She broke down and had to get her husband to translate the rest of the time. Later she explained: "Earlier that day I had been sitting in the office so ready to give up, it is so hard sometimes to do ministry for these women, and during devotion I had a vision of Jesus, He was right in front of me, and I broke down". It's like he was saying, Rainee, this is what I have done for you, now keep loving these women as I have loved you, I never have or will give up on you, so don't give up on my lost daughters.
Believer and non believer alike…We COME broken…
Recess!!! When we first got here there were only 3 children in the preschool. While we were here we passed out flyers announcing that it was going to be $5 per child to attend. The next morning family after family came to our gate signing their children up, there is now 24 kids coming!!!
I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my biiiiiiiiike! We have gotten a chance to have a lot of fun with the village children, and we joined the evening village soccer match alot of our nights here, some of my favorite times have been playing soccer at sunset, I always have to stop and look around, sometimes pinching myself to make sure this is real life. The kids here have stolen my heart.
The women are learning how to sow, do hair and nails, and make bags with beads. We have come away most afternoons with all kinds of interesting hairdoes, all having to do with braids of different shapes and sizes, unfortunately Sarah caught a case of the lice from all our salon fun:) Who knew you could treat lice by spraying OFF on your scalp!
In the mornings and afternoons we have also gotten to cut the grass, which consists of us hoeing the grass until all of it is gone. We work in the garden too, they have planted flowers that they are going to eventually sell. Koy's vision is to be self sustainable through farming and the work of the women, he eventually wants to start a coffee shop/ restaurant and hotel that the women can work at when they get out.
Night devotion. We sit in a circle and sing and pray. It is always a joyful time, and the women usually make us dance with them. Then we all give them hugs and head to our mosquito nets. These have been some of my favorite memories, I loved seeing how the women would know that their hugs were coming and get so excited:)
You can see one of the sweet braids that they gave me on the far right…
On Sundays we all pack into a van and go to church. I will always remember the way they sang together, music seemed to get them through a lot in life, I know that their songs move the heart of God. I was looking around in the church service on Sunday morning and noticed that our section where we were sitting was a mess. The chairs were scattered everywhere, one of the women was laying out on two of the chairs because she was so sick, the kids were running around fighting and taking their clothes off, and I looked around at the other sections and the seats were all in line, people were quite and sitting and looked like they had it all together, but then the Lord spoke to me. It's like he was reminding me, 'this is how I call my people to my house, broken, I know you don't have it all together, and this is how I want you to come to me, a mess, and I will fix you'…sweetly broken, holy surrender…
The day that we passed out flyers in the village, we also announced a childrens program that we were going to have on Sunday afternoon. about 60 kids showed up. We played games, shared the parable of the prodigal son in a puppet show, sang and danced and ate! It is amazing that the whole village is going to be changed because Koy obeyed the Lord and started this center here. Not only is the grace of God going to change the people on the inside but the light is going to shine all around these gates. Koy wants to eventually plant a church here and the way he is starting to bring the people in is through the children:)
"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it"
-Mark 10:15
Here is Koy (on the far left) and some of the women, in front of the shop that they just opened up, another step to be self sustainable and for the women to earn money on their own! This is the last day that I was there and had to say all of my goodbyes. I told the women they were beautiful and strong and wiped the tears from their eyes, I pray that they will continue to come broken to the Lord and they will see the RICHES of His Love that are incomparable with anything in this world.
Gods presence is resting on Teen Challenge and is waiting for His prodigal daughters to return home. The women and children have stolen my heart more and more with each passing day and will remain in my heart and prayers…
I hope this gives you a good idea of what we have been doing this past month. Unfortunately team Red Thread has lost a member and is now down to 4 heading into the Philippines. Val got pneumonia and has decided to go home to get better. But we are staying strong and excited for our last month serving with Kids International Ministries!
