As much as I loved our ministry site and contacts in Cambodia, it definitely had some very hard aspects. An obvious hard point was being so far from and so out of touch with our family and friends at home during the Christmas season. I also really missed the Christmas feel and spirit in the air that is so apparent in the US.
Along with spending Christmas in Cambodia, I was also struggling through some personal, spiritual issues. God is conitually revealing things to me, and I think everyone on this trip, things that can be refined in myself. I got kind of overwhelmed when I was realizing how much refining I needed 🙂 I was also struggling with not really hearing from Him, so everything kind of added up to be a lot to handle. But God is faithful, so while its still a little crazy, I think I am getting better at trusting in that faithfulness and waiting on Him.
That all happened in the first week or so of my time in the village so I was thinking this Christmas was going to turn out to be not one of my faves…but God is faithful 🙂 I told you in my last blog that we had the opportunity to hold a bunch of Christmas services. Those turned out to be such a fun time for our team and helped us bring our Christmas here. And for me, it really brought me back into the Christmas spirit. Everytime we did a program, we dressed up in all the red and green we had and sang fun Christmas songs and got to teach the kids some of the songs too. It was always funny trying to explain to the people who this Santa Claus was that was in our songs…we kept thinking that they probably thought we were crazy 🙂 We also acted out the Christmas story everytime, which is always fun.
Christmas program
We realized pretty soon that Cambodia was a place much like where Jesus was born. Bethlehem was most likely a dusty, farming village, that probably wasn’t even that cold. So although it was really hard for all of us to be gone in a place so different than home, it was really cool experiencing that new place that was a lot more like where Jesus was born. It was also great to be able to explain to the people the similarity/connection they had with Jesus’ birthplace. So often, people in these countries think Christianity is a white man’s religion, so that was an awesome bridge-gapper.
While this was probably the most different Christmas I will ever experience, it was so amazing! Again, God is faithful and I am so thankful for this journey He put me on. Its not an easy one, and definitely more of a personal life-changer than us doing any kind of life-changing in the places we go, but its beautiful. I didin’t realize how much I needed to be pulled out of my comfort zone, to grow in the Lord. I have 7 more months….who knows what other kind of crazy stuff is going to happen! I’m excited though…bring on the mess 🙂
If anyone is still feeling pretty down about not seeing me/giving me a Christmas present this year, don’t worry! I am still not fully funded so you can support me by clicking on the link to the left! Hope you guys all had the merriest of Christmases, love you all!
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