I can type a few pages about this month but I will save you some time and tell you what we did this month and how much I loved it.
The days leading up traveling to Cambodia, I got the ministry information for my team. It explained who we were working with and what we would be doing. I saw the word teaching and my heart immediately sank. I wanted a bush month or something that didn’t involve teaching. After praying and getting my heart right with it, I shared this information with my team and we prayed together.
We arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and stayed the night with the squad in a hotel. The place we were supposed to stay for the month fell through so this hotel would be our home for the whole month. We didn’t complain. I mean we had beds, AC, hot water, and a fridge…all in our budget! So it was time to meet our contacts at the school/church we were working with for the month. We got on a tuk tuk (their form of a taxi…a carriage looking think with two bench seats driven by a motorcycle) and drove to meet them. We met a girl who went on the World Race a few years ago. She worked with this ministry on her race and decided to come back to work for longer. She explained what we would be doing, play soccer in the mornings and teach two classes a night. Okay, that’s not too terrible. We split up with 3 teammates working with the level 3 class and 4 of us working with the level 4 class, level 4 is the highest class and they know more English.
The students were older, from 17- 28 years old. As we taught them everyday and played soccer with them, we plugged God in and invited them to youth events we had at the church. Sundays would come and we would have church, sing songs, preach and then have youth group at night where we would worship and then share a testimony with them.
Hanging out with the youth all the time, I started connecting a lot with a few of them. I loved talking to them and getting to know them and how they became Christians. We cooked for them and brought them pizza at the end of class. Halfway through the month I knew that it was going to be hard leaving these students. As their teacher for the month, I knew how to approach them and how they best learn. Seeing them get things in class and understanding stories we read to them was so awesome….I played a part in them learning English and learning more about God. In youth group, I would see them worship and their fire for God, it often brought tears to my eyes watching them praising the one true God.
The last week was the most memorable for me. Since it was December, we had a Christmas party at the end of the month. We ate together, watched the students do skits, and a few of us got to be a part of it with dancing and singing. After all the adults left is when the party really started. We broke out the music like the Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, the Wobble, and much more and we just had so much fun dancing and goofing off. We danced until our feet were hurting so bad and sweat was flying off us when we swung around. I didn’t want the night to end, I wanted to stay in Cambodia, I wanted to take this kids with me. We brought the night to a close, and they wanted to pray for us. We got together and the youth circled around us to pray. I held hands with one of the girls I got really close to. God put her on my heart at the beginning of the month to love her and to pour into her and I did my best, but at that moment I was questioning if I did enough. They started praying for us and I heard her praying in English thinking God for me and the others to be brought in their lives to show them the love of Jesus, to show them how to follow Him. When I heard that, tears started flowing down my face and onto my shirt. Many racers say they get to that one month that breaks your heart to leave, well I just got there.
Cambodia has imprinted my heart and it will never be forgotten. I love the country, I love the ministry and I absolutely love the youth we had the privilege to teach and hang out with everyday. This is the month that broke me.
