My teammates Gracie and Jaynna made a vlog of us cleaning the pool! Check it out!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KSS8bO-ROVY
FUNDRAISING UPDATE!: I’m $192 away from being fully funded! Would you consider helping me get there? WE ARE SO CLOSE!
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I’ve been in Siem Reap for just over 3 weeks now! I can hardly believe it! IT BLOWS MY MIND! Here’s a glimpse into what life has looked like here.
For the last few weeks, my team’s morning ministry has been deep cleaning the guest house where we stay. We had a lot of freedom on what we wanted this to look like. My teammate Gracie and I decided to tackle the task of scrubbing the mold from the bathroom wall and re-painting. My other teammates deep cleaned rooms, organized and repainted the smoothie bar, and fixed a fallen tree. After approximately a week of this, or focus shifted to the pool. The guest house was in their off-season, so the pool was partially drained and left alone. We found two crabs, a few lizards, and a centipede in there. It was pretty gross. We spent a couple days scrubbing, scraping, and emptying it. Now it is full and clean as ever! After some breakfast, a couple hours of cleaning, devotional time, lunch, and a couple more hours of cleaning, we took tuk-tuks out to Pub Street, the most touristy part of Siem Reap, and shared the gospel! During the first week of deep cleaning, we’d have a evangelism training after lunch instead of more deep cleaning. nap
*SIDE NOTE*
One summer several years ago, my friend’s family invited me to go on their annual waterslide trip with them. On this trip, my friend and one of her friends tricked me into going on a super scary ride with them. The way the rides are set up, there was a large staircase that led to multiple rides, so I thought we were going to a different ride, when they stopped me at the scary one. At the time, I was furious at her. She knew how scared I was of this ride, but she knew how much fun it was once you tried it. I told her, “I’m not terrified. I’m petrified!”
Evangelism had a similar effect on me. As soon as I found out that it would be part of our ministry, I dreaded it. But once we went out and did it, it became easier and easier. God was so faithful in it. Lots of good conversations came out of it. I love how within the first two months of the race, God was drawing me out of one of my biggest fears, so He can cultivate my trust in Him, specifically in that area for the rest of the race and into life back home.
Yesterday was the official first day of open season. Guests will start to fill the place we’ve had to ourselves for several weeks. It’s going to be strange, but it will be good. So now our deep cleaning and scheduled evangelism ministry has come to a close. My new ministry, along with my team mates Kae, Gracie, and Elena, is to teach the guesthouse staff English! Today, we sat in on their first lesson to see what it’d look like. We’ll be basing all our lessons off of the story of the prodigal son! The rest of the team’s main ministry is working at the receptionist’s desk alongside of the receptionists. On slow days, it can be very boring for the receptionists, so they get to be a friend to them and love them like Jesus loves them. We also get to interact with guests this way as well: showing them the love of Jesus and sincerely pursuing friendships with them during their stay. The four of us that are teaching English will also take receptionist shifts.
At some point in the night, we do team time, which switches each day between worship, feedback, story telling, journey markers, free-for-all, and debrief.
On our free time, we swim in the pool, take lots of naps, make trips to all our favorite food places, and have a blast! We have hard moments, but God is so good and faithful through it all. I love this life!
Exploring Pub Street during Debrief
On a tuk-tuk.
Gracie and I painting our freshly scrubbed wall.
Cleaning the pool.
Margee and Jaynna and their beautifully painted and organized smoothie bar!
Our Squad Leader Luis, Margee, and I with one of our favorite treats, roti!
