Hey y’all!
It’s currently 3:15am as I write this blog and I’m enjoying the nice but incredibly bumpy ride to Chiang Mai, Thailand which is our last country in ASIA. I can’t believe how fast time passes by. We just got through with a short and very sweet period of rest in Siem Reap, Cambodia after an amazing month of hard but impactful work. This upcoming month is all-squad month and I can’t wait to see what all the Lord has in store for us as a squad and individually. I’m READY. But first, I’d love to share my reflection on my experience in Cambodia with all of you.
I was sooo excited for Cambodia upon arriving. The Lord had told me that it would be a special month and it really was. He blessed my team tremendously. We got to partner with Good Seed International School and our host’s name was SoKeng (like propane but SoKeng) who is the president/founder of the school. It has a daycare which we lived above all month, and the actual school itself was right down the street from it. I worked at the daycare in the mornings with 3 year olds because who doesn’t love 3 year olds? I love kids and my kids were little angels, besides eating their booger’s and then rubbing me with their hands. You can’t blame them, they’re just naturally icky. After lunch, I would go to the school and help with whatever they needed me to. Sometimes that looked like filling in and teaching, planning events, cleaning, painting, playing soccer with the kids during recess (my personal daily favorite), just whatever they needed me to do. We were able to basically do an extreme home makeover on the school and it was so cool to see the fruit of what God is doing there. That’s not always a given, you don’t always see the fruit of your work, but by the grace of God we were able to be blessed by that. The kids were so excited and loved how nice it looks after all of that hard work! Seeing their smiles and enthusiasm afterwards brought so much joy to my heart. We were also able to build really awesome relationships with not only the kids but the principal, the teachers, and our host. We slept on the floor all month and we didn’t live a glamorous life, it was simple which was exactly what I had prayed for coming into Cambodia. I was even able to fully embrace and enjoy the simplicity, and choosing not to partake in social media at the time really allowed me to be present with my team and the ministry before me. It was really nice being able to focus on the locals and just take each day as it came.
It seemed like we were in Cambodia for a total of 5 seconds. I was sad to leave. When it was time to leave, I pulled out my journal and read John 15, which I had previously written down during a debrief in Vietnam.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit–fruit that will last–and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” (NIV, verses 1-17)
I know it might sound a bit repetitive, but that’s because Jesus was putting so much emphasis on His words here. He wanted to make sure it stuck in our hearts and that we would live by these words. He shares some really good stuff with us here. He’s saying that we are continually being pruned in order for us to bear more fruit. Fruitful branches (fruitful believers) are pruned (which means to be cut back) to produce further growth. He is constantly refining us, cutting away the ugly parts that don’t glorify Him so that we might become more like Him. That’s His desire for us, is to be like Him and have a heart so dedicated to reflecting more and more of His character. However, the branches that don’t bear fruit are cut off the tree entirely because they are dead and useless and often infect the rest of the tree that is healthy. Then Jesus goes on to say that a branch cannot bear fruit without being attached to its vine. This means that we can’t produce fruit with our own strength. Only He can do that through us. We have to draw close to Him and cling to Him for the strength that we so desperately need in order to be able to produce fruit. We can’t do it without Him. He wants our hearts to be filled with joy, joy that is only found in Him. A joy that is constant regardless of our circumstances. And lastly (my favorite part), He chose us. He called us to go out and produce fruit, a fruit that will last and to extend the same love to others as He has so graciously extended to us.
This month in Cambodia, I have seen Him use me and so many others to produce lasting fruit, fruit that will remain. I have learned more about joy and choosing to say yes to the things that He puts before me. I knew that I could easily waste this month and try to “tolerate” the kids, but instead I chose to say yes to this really amazing opportunity to implant joy in their lives. I chose to play with them and spend time with them and do ridiculous things just to put a smile on their face. I chose to sit with them and love on them and let them run their sticky little fingers through my hair. Through all of this, I was able to experience so much joy. I could see and feel God cutting away the parts of me that don’t bear fruit but instead bring death. I was able to see and feel Him doing a really big work in me. I am watching Him prune me and am finally seeing myself become closer and closer to being the woman who He intends for me to. I can feel Him molding me into somebody different than who I was. I realized more of what He designed for my life to be rather than what I thought it was supposed to be. I learned what really matters and what doesn’t. I learned to think about things from an eternal perspective. I learned that Jesus really is all that I need. He is so much more than enough. For me, it’s so easy to lose sight of that sometimes. But He is it. He is the One. He is my constant. He is who I choose to cling to. He is the One who makes my joy complete and that’s exactly what He showed me this month in Cambodia.
P.S. It’s almost time for AFRICAAA! As I mentioned Thailand is our LAST country in Asia and then we hop on a plane for our last continent on the world race. Time is zooming and I don’t want it to, I want to soak in every remaining minute of the race because I know that I’ll be missing it before I even know it. With that being said, I am currently praying about what’s next after the world race. My desire is to spend the holidays with my family at home, and then possibly return to Costa Rica long term (God-willing). These are only my wants, no plans have been made yet but I do ask that you would please pray for me in my remaining time on the world race and also for all of the doors to open to be able to go back to Costa Rica if that’s where God would have me. I am SOOO grateful for all of you beautiful people and the support and encouragement that has been extended to me. My heart is so full and I love you all!
