Hey friends and family! Just got back from the jungle of Cambodia. I don’t even know where to begin. We have racked up so many stories while spending three weeks ministering here. Some good, some bizarre. But I know that God did some amazing things while were there and Cambodia will always hold a huge part of my heart.
While living in Cambodia, it seemed like the month would never end. If the heat didn’t get to you, the constantly ‘hello, what is your name’ from the children and adults peering in our window would. But the wonderful thing about living with some of the most amazing Christian women God created is that we always seemed to find the positive in every situation. We quickly nicknamed Cambodia the land of question marks: ‘is this dog a pet or our next meal?’ ‘is this water for flushing our toilets, or for our bucket baths?’ ‘is Sipero an in-case-of-emergency pill, or a daily vitamin?’ ‘are these villagers peeping toms, or a ministry opportunity?’
I wasn’t really happy with the idea of teaching English for the second month in a row, but I quickly fell in love with the children of this village. Going over the alphabet and singing ‘this old man’ has never been so much fun. Every day I would welcome in eager students with high fives and tons of smiles. I couldn’t get enough of their laughter when they got embarrassed or the look on their faces then the finally learned to pronounce ‘th’. I didn’t stand a chance of ‘keeping face’ on the last day when each student hugged me good-bye with tears in their eyes.
But my favorite Ministry was getting to play volleyball everyday with the neighbors. They would come to the window during our four hours of free time every day and finally, after a week of just laying on the tiles of our church trying to cool off, I gave in and went outside. I mean, I was already sweating, why not play with the peeping toms and give my teammates a little break from the constant stares. What made me so happy was the fact that these children really knew how to play! I could hit the ball as hard as I could and they would ask me to hit it back every time ‘spike! spike!’
One of the last days that I was there I wanted to get the boys a new ball, so we drove to the market and picked one up. I brought it out to them, a little nervous, thinking they might think I was so strange for getting them a new ball. The little boy met me at the end of the drive way, noticed the new ball, and started jumping up and down, squealing and clapping his hands. I can’t remember being so full of joy in my life. Him and his friend tore open the plastic that was covering it, then looked at me with a huge smile. ‘how much?’ they asked. I had to explain that it was a free gift. they kind of hesitated when the immediately got it dirty with the first bounce on the ground, but then lit up when I yell ‘lets play ball!!’ I would be completely satisfied if the only reason for me coming to Cambodia was to give those little boys, who don’t have enough money to go to school, a new volleyball. I am so blessed that I was able to be a part of that ministry.
We also had the opportunity to dress in authentic Cambodian wedding dresses! What I thought would be a simple wrap dress and a little make up, turned into an all day even of make up, hair, and a bunch of Cambodian teenagers dressing us in 300 dollar real wedding costumes. We were flaunted around the yard while the entire village watched us dance. I can now say that I have really experienced Cambodia. The jungle life isn’t all that bad. :]
We also got to witness the church baptizing Christians in the village. Bus after bus of Christians started showing up at the church around 8 for worship. Then we all walked down to the river and sang amazing grace while about 25 new believers got dunked under by their pastor.
God has His hand on this ministry here and has given the Pastor some amazing dreams to starts schools, build churches and to keep the Christian community alive. I can’t wait to see how God works through him and his family and hope to one day return to see the progress :] My words don’t give this month’s experiences justice. I’ll try to write more blogs once I process everything. God is good. Cambodia is amazing. I can’t wait to see what God has for me in month three!!
Love from Cambodia <3
