My squad landed in Cambodia about two weeks ago. Before we left the airport, we had to say some hard and emotional goodbyes to part of our family because two teams are living in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the other three teams are three hours away in Battambang, Cambodia. My team is in Battambang with our sister team and the mens team.
My team is going through a time of transition in dynamics because we all have pretty different schedules. We are split into groups of two and half of us go to Ezra Library Cafe in the mornings and then prepare dinner for the three teams, and the other half of my team spends their mornings at a trauma hospital and afternoons at the Cafe. Even though it is very different than the last six months, I have seen my team choose each other and choose into our team.
All three teams are living and serving through Ezra Ministries, which was started by the Theriaults, a family of five, who moved to Cambodia in 2015.
About 14% of the Cambodian population lives below the national poverty line. Along with that, for a variety of different reasons, whether intentionally or unintentionally, women end up working in the sex trade. There are so many different reasons and effects of so much of the population living borderline, or below the national poverty line, and the goal of Ezra Ministries is to combat that and to share the gospel while doing so. When the Theriaults moved here, they weren’t sure what their ministry was, but eventually saw an opportunity to advance the kingdom by providing education to those who otherwise could not afford it. Instead of just helping people temporarily whether it be through finances or physical things, Ezra Ministries exists to make a longterm change.
Thats when the Ezra Learning Center came about. Ezra trains Khmer teachers to help them advance their English teaching skills, and to provide jobs to the local people. Tuition to the learning center is free, in hopes to provide opportunities for children that would otherwise not be possible. Considering that there are so many jobs provided by tourism here, it is a major leg up to have English skills. Knowing English is a major push in the right direction, and will hopefully change the course of the childrens’ lives. Our mens team is helping out here for part of their ministry time.
The Ezra Library Cafe serves to financially support the learning center and to reach the community in a different way. Profits from the Cafe helps to pay the staff and to provide supplies and resources for the students and teachers. The Cafe is meant to be a place where English students can come and study or read. The library is meant to be a resource to anyone who wants to read English books. My team works at the cafe and we’re LOVING IT. We do anything from making coffee to dusting books depending on the day.
So, that is a synopsis of my main ministry while I’m here, but we do have a lot of free time and creative freedom to seek out places to serve here. I can see the eagerness in my team’s spirit and so I say in hopefulness that you can be expecting much more.
Thanks for reading and much love,
Lexi
