A former teammate asked me this week, “How are you doing? I heard your team had a tough month”
It made me stop and think.
Yeah…
I guess it was a tough month.
I was put on a brand new team as we left Malaysia and I had to say goodbye to friends who had become more like family.
My new team was placed in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere…the only way we could use the internet to contact people at home was to take a 2 hour bus ride into Phnom Penh.
The heat was overwhelming…Almost 100 degrees everyday. The only time I wasn’t sweating was when I was taking a taking a shower. Unfortunately the water didn't make you feel very clean…it was the colour of milky tea.
The work days were incredibly long and incredibly exhausting. We taught English 4 times a day from 8:00am – 6:30pm.
BUT.
I loved it.
I love my new teammates and being in the middle of nowhere was a welcome change to last month. Biking down dusty dirt roads between rice paddies with the mountains in the background is my new love language. I’m not going to lie, I am looking forward to clear water coming out of the tap. But it’s funny how things that initially seem to be completely out of your comfort zone soon become your new normal.
Our last English class of the day!…
Our contact this month was an incredibly inspiring man named Vuthy who had a powerful testimony. Four years ago he was a tuk tuk (motorcycle taxi) driver who drove a YWAM team from their residence to the orphanage they worked at everyday. He didn’t speak much English, but he was incredibly curious to understand why a group of white people in their twenties were spending their time playing and loving dirty Cambodian orphans. The answer he got was “Jesus Christ”.
His next question was “Who is this Jesus?”…
Vuthy got the answer to that question and four years later my World Race team is sitting in the shade outside of his home. He is a strong Christian who has recklessly followed God’s call to open a free English school the children who live in his village. The village is predominantly Buddhist but Vuthy is determined that his school will be a place where children will not only learn English, but learn about a God who loves them very much. After every lesson, we teach a Bible story and sing songs. Vuthy speaks almost perfect English now and has big dreams of opening an orphanage on the property and eventually a Christian university. It doesn’t seem to phase him that he might not have the money, education or support needed to fulfill his dreams. “Nothing is impossible for my God” he told us.
I think what inspired me most about his story was how it started. What single person has seen the love of Christ through my World Race team and will go on to have a story like Vuthy?
I want to live a life where the answer to the question “Why are you doing that?” will always be “Jesus Christ”.
