Cambodia has been one of my favorite months. This month we were apart of S.O.U.L Cambodia. S.O.U.L means Seeds Of Unconditional Love.
We arrived in Cambodia the beginning of April and it was the Khmer New Year!! WHooa!! KHMER NEW YEAR!! The first couple of days with our ministry host we went to different villages and orphanages to celebrate the new year with the children.
One way the Khmer people celebrate is with baby powder. That was a unique experience for me. Sweat and baby powder doesn’t go together. Unfortunately, the baby powder (medicated) burned my skin. Sigh … that was not a good feeling. After that experience with the baby powder, my entire team ran from it every time the children came out to play with it. We dance so much with the children. There were cool dances the children taught us. So that was our kick off for the first couple days in Cambodia. The Khmer people celebrate the new year four days straight.
The second week we stayed at a pastor house. The pastor and his wife has four biological children. They also have twenty adopted children (age 5 -17) that were at high-risk in being sold in human trafficking.
In the afternoon, we taught the children English and played football. One of the challenges on the Race is the language barrier. Sometimes I am unable to communicate effectively like I want too. There are times I communicate with charades or Pictionary and there are times when I communicate with a big smile and hug, Building relationships has been one things God has continuously showing me. Something simple as learning a couple of phrases in their language can go a long way.
We lived in their church and slept on out sleeping pads. It was hot in Cambodia. There were at least eight fans blowing in the night. April is the hottest month for Cambodia. I never thought I would appreciate AC when we go to a gas station.
I took a shower daily. I know you are like – “Linsey, you should take a shower everyday”. However, you will be surprise on the World Race. There are days when showers are not accessible. But with this Cambodia heat, I made sure I took a shower every day.
In the mornings, the pastor took us to different villages to do door-to-door evangelism. At each house, there were mini Buddhist temples. Evangelism was one of my favorite things to do this month because it was good to hear their religious view but also, they were open to hear the Gospel message as well. It was a challenged to simplify the Gospel removing all the churchy jargons and to explain it in terms they can understand. For some people, they were content with what they believed and there were others that were open for prayer and receiving Christ in heart.
One of my favorite houses was an elderly lady. When we arrived at her house she got back from the hospital. She was having stomach and vision problem. We asked if we could pray for her because Jesus is a healer. After praying, she said “She believes Jesus can heal her”. My team shared with her the Gospel and then she gave her life to Christ. The next day we went back to her house to follow-up with her. We had an opportunity to hear her story of growing up during the Cambodia genocide during 1975-1979. Her siblings were forcedly separated during that time working in the fields involuntary with limited freedom and food. Most of her siblings were killed during that the genicode. After the end of the genocide, she was able to reconnect with her younger sister.
There are lot of different and interest foods.
Overall, this month was a great month with my team. This was our last month together as Joyful Fortitude. I truly learned from each of them and it will be sad to start a new team in Thailand!
