Today, the 26th, will mark the first time on the Race that I am physically tired and worn out. This month I’m in Battambang, Cambodia, where it has been 100 degrees most days at 70% humidity. I have sweat buckets, 5-gallon buckets, this month, but it has all been worth it. I am working at a school/ house for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders who live outside of town but need to live in Battambang to do those classes.
For ministry days, we all wake up at 4:50 am for a 5:00 am workout. Then we spend our morning doing team times and other small stuff before doing a devotional with the kids at 11:00. Lunch is an hour later at noon. In the afternoon, we have the opportunity to do manual labor.
It’s also “Manisty Month,” so all the men on my squad are together. This just means that all 7 of us and a squad leader are doing ministry this month. It’s been an interesting month. It’s been cool learning from the married guys about marriage, and then also for us to all dive into what God says about being a man of God.
This month has definitely been good so far. I have had the opportunity to work at a cafe in town helping the owner, who also happens to be a YWAM missionary. She has had many jobs for us to do. Greg and I refinished an old wire spool so that her workers could have a nice place to eat. I also got to weld some lamps in place for the cafe so they don’t fall on customers. We are also helping put up shelves and fill holes in the kitchen.
At the place we are staying, I have used my mechanic skills to fix a truck/taxi thing this week. I have already worked on some bikes for them, and we still have a little bit of a list to do this week.
The Race is something completely different every month. This month we have lists of stuff to do, but really our real mission is to get to know the students and show them Christ. Last month for the guys on my team we really didn’t have a set mission, we just did what we could or felt lead to do. This month it’s a combination of asking God how to create relationships with these students and then when we have time to work, we work hard to make a difference that you can see.
This month hasn’t been easy at all so far, but it’s been one of my favorites (really I haven’t had any bad months personally). It has been different than any other month because I have been working hard and waking up early getting stuff done all day it seems. I mean really, the only way in my career to see progress is seeing a finished, driving, functioning piece of equipment. This month I get to see a finished work in the way of projects, but also I get to keep being a Light in the way of building relationships with these students.
