MORNING DEVOTION
I get the opportunity to start my day at 7:00am, which is sleeping in compared to Costa Rica so thanks God! We don’t start ministry until 8:30am so I take some time to hang out with the lord and drink my coffee on the roof! I am fasting breakfast for this first month so coffee is all I get! I want to start eating healthier and God is the healthiest form of food there is. He is filling me up more than food ever could, so as I transition into Cambodia he will be put first!
MINISTRY # ONE
Once 8:30 hits, me and my team, plus two of the guys start our prayer walk around the community until 10:00am. One of our base leaders, Amanda, told us that she wanted this time of prayer walking to look like making relationship with the community, not being fearful to start conversation, as well as going and doing what the Lord ultimately asks. The Lord put a specific park on my heart to pray for every morning so I usually start there. I have said hi to lots of people but the language barrier is a real thing. God works through that though because there is a man we met named Danny who speaking some English and loves to have conversation! We wave to every kid we see and their faces just change immediately. I love prayer walks because we are fighting for people who don’t even know what prayer is. We are planting seed for the Lord to water and it’s powerful!
BREAK
Next is our time of rest which lasts until 1:00pm. We don’t really need a break because by this point in the day all we have done is walk around. BUT it sure is a blessing because our team just has more time to bond. During break we are able to nap, play with the puppies outside our house, go to the pond, have time with the Lord, or play card games. Around 12:00pm we usually go to a street vender and grab lunch, noodles in beef soup to be exact! We get three dollars for breakfast and lunch everyday. My lunch is usually $1.48 and because I’m fasting I have left over money for snacks throughout the day. The proportions here are SMALL so we get hungry quick! I love lunch because it is such a great opportunity to keep growing relationship with people. Sofia is our first friend from a vender, she loves serving us and she speaks English too! God is so cool because even though there is so many cultural differences, he shines through all of them!
MINISTRY # TWO
Once our tummies are full we head to our school called ACE. Fun fact, we are allowed to talk about Jesus, we have the kids pray, quote scriptures, and sing praises! This school teaches PreK 1 (3-4 year olds), PreK 2 (4-6 year olds), Kindergarten (8-12 year olds), Primary 1 (10-13 year olds), Primary 2 (13-15 year olds), ESL (English as a second language), and day care for little babies. These classes aren’t based off specific ages like the states, its mostly about what your learning abilities are. For example I have a 6 year old in my Kindergarten class but I also have some 12 year olds, it all just depends on the level they are learning at.
So, how did I get put with Kindergarteners you might ask, well let me tell you. We were given a sign up sheet with two slots per classroom. A couple days before we got the sign up sheet our squad leader, Jenny, asked me if I would be okay with helping a teacher teach kindergarten by myself instead of having another squamate with me. My first thought was that’s scary being by myself with someone who doesn’t speak English. I shut that thought down quickly because I felt like the Lord was telling me that I am more than capable and he was putting me in uncomfortable situations to grow me. I said yes, knowing God would be with me in every moment so there’s no way I could fail. Come to find out once the day came to actually start my first class, God heard my yes because the teacher I was paired with speaks English, her name is Niki, and Nathaneal ended up being with me! All God wants is for us to be obedient!
Anyways back to the story! Once the sign up sheet was given to everyone I realized I really wanted to be with the Pre K 1 or Daycare! I approached Jenny and asked her why Kindergarten? She told me she was asked to pick out someone who was a leader, who could give good creative input but who could also draw the creativeness out of others and the Lord put my name on her heart. HOW COOL?!
We have two classes, a break in between, and an assembly class at the end of the day. Our first class of the day in Bible class which Kindergarten, PreK 1 and Prek 2 are combined. Our second class of the day is English class which Niki teaches, but me and Nathaneal help in any way we can. Each day in English we work on one letter of the alphabet, the pronunciation of that letter, and one word that starts with that letter. After class everyone in the whole school goes downstairs for assembly they sing some songs, quote some scriptures, then they go home.
There is one girl who is 12 and she is my best friend already, she gives me big hugs and copies everything I do. I’ve gotten to walk her home twice, she locks arms with me and she just laughs and smiles. Then there is one boy who is also 12 and he thinks he is the coolest baddest person in the world. I always walk up to him and dance super crazy in front of him and he just laughs but he actually starts dancing with me. Then I have a little boy who is 9 and he is the most precious, his name is Sovannarith. I don’t really know how to pronounce any of these kids names yet but I will get there eventually. He is very quiet but enjoys being around me, I will be in the back of the class and he will just look back at me and smile. Ive gotten to walk my favorite girl home twice, she locks arms with me as I squat down and she just laughs and smiles. All I can say is the first day I walked into class and the Lords presence was so strong I actually started tearing up. These kids are Gods children and they glow even if they don’t know it.
MINISTRY # THREE
All of my squamates make our way back home if needed but usually we just head straight playing with the kids. This ministry is our community ministry and its from 4:30 – 6:00pm. We go out to the parks and streets to play with the kids, some who we have never seen but others who go to ACE. We play soccer, volleyball, football, we go to the park, play tag, jumprope, then sometimes I just sit with kids who are quiet. This is my favorite part of the day because I can just take my shoes off and we all just run around, there are no rules, just the rawest form of sharing Gods love you will ever see. We hang with parents, college students, and kids. By the time we head back inside for dinner my feet are practically black. The weather is always breezy and cool because the sun goes away and the wind is perfectly blowing. I never get tired of running around with these kids because they are truly so special and loving. God loves this place I can feel it.
DINNER
Once its pitch black outside we all head inside, everyone takes their showers as one team cooks dinner for everyone, we pray, then feast! Every night we either have rice stir fry, noodle stir fry, or spaghetti. Dinner is fun because after a long day we are able to just sit around a table and I can be thankful once more time for this new group of friends I get to call family. After dinner is picked up and the kitchen is clean team time starts. Team time looks like lots of different things, bonding, feedback, movies, laughing, anything as long as we do it together. This past week it looked like sitting down and writing our team goals and individual goals for this time in Cambodia. We are all still getting in the groove of moving in and figuring out what our schedules look like so things aren’t as steady as we would like, BUT we are getting there. Then after we have our pillow talk, our lights are out at 9:00pm and everyone is asleep by 10:00pm. This is what life looks like Tuesday through Friday. Saturday is our college ministry, Sunday is adventure day, and Monday is our sabbath! I can’t wait to share more stories of what God does throughout different ministry days! GOD IS SO GOOD
