October 31st: Carving pumpkins, multitiudes of candy, hot apple cider, haunted houses, costume parties, scary movies, family and friends…this is Halloween. In Cambodia, there is nothing significant about October 31st. Or, at least…there wasn’t until yesterday. 🙂
Yesterday was a Sunday. We started it with a 10am worship service at our school. Chelsea and Tara taught sunday school; Janell and I lead games. Tim played our worship music; Michael presented the message. The sermon was about love. God’s love. God’s love for us that enables us to love others-more specifically, our students.After the church service, we spent the day loving our students. We took them out for pizza (I realize how American this makes our team look…but THEY chose the restaraunt!). After lunch we rode our 
bicycles to the Palace Garden in the center of Siem Reap. We played games and walked around the park for a couple of hours. At four o’clock we went to church–this is an international service (in English!). The congregation consists of people from all over the place. Our announcements were given by a man from Ireland (?) and a woman from England (?). The music was preformed by women from the Philippines. Beside me sat a girl from Sweden, and another from Norway. Behind me sat a woman from China, and in front of me…a few locals from Siem Reap, Cambodia. PRAISE GOD!
Yesterday was a Sunday. We started it with a 10am worship service at our school. Chelsea and Tara taught sunday school; Janell and I lead games. Tim played our worship music; Michael presented the message. The sermon was about love. God’s love. God’s love for us that enables us to love others-more specifically, our students.After the church service, we spent the day loving our students. We took them out for pizza (I realize how American this makes our team look…but THEY chose the restaraunt!). After lunch we rode our bicycles to the Palace Garden in the center of Siem Reap. We played games and walked around the park for a couple of hours. At four o’clock we went to church–this is an international service (in English!). The congregation consists of people from all over the place. Our announcements were given by a man from Ireland (?) and a woman from England (?). The music was preformed by women from the Philippines. Beside me sat a girl from Sweden, and another from Norway. Behind me sat a woman from China, and in front of me…a few locals from Siem Reap, Cambodia. PRAISE GOD! Love knows no language barriers. (1 John 3.18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.) The barriers that you encounter while you’re half-way around the world aren’t barriers of language. They aren’t barriers of culture–not of dress codes or body language….of traditions or foods….but of giving and receiving love. If you can give and receive love in the midst of difference, you have lived well. 
Yesterday was amazing. Yesterday was full of God’s love. A barrier-shattering, universal, knows-no-bounds, binds-us-all-together kind of love. When we leave Cambodia, this love will continue to bind us to our students. Someday, we’ll dance with them around God’s throne. And that party will be far greater than any haunted house, costume party or multitude of candy this world has to offer.
1 John 4.19
We loved because He first loved us.
1 John 4.19 We loved because He first loved us.
Thank you, Father!
John 15.17
This is my command: love one another.
This is my command: love one another.
Yes, God. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. YES.
