Cambodia was by far one of my favorite months on the race. It’s actually the most “World Racey” month that I’ve had so far. We were truly “roughing it” and got to form some really amazing relationships with the people around us and in the neighborhood.
We lived in a tiny community about 25 minutes from the closest town, and met some of the most amazing people. Each morning, we would set out from the house at about 8 am with Ma to head to one of the houses of the people in the neighborhood. We often just went there to pray for them since we didn’t have much access to translation. This was by far one of my favorite things about the month though.
Our first day, we got in a Tuk Tuk and drove to man’s house whose who we called Mr. T. We were told before we walked in that he was very sick, and they kept just motioning that he had a really big belly. We honestly didn’t know exactly what to expect. As we walked in, we saw what almost resembled a man, laying in a hammock. His arm was hanging off the side, and was literally just skin and bones. As we got closer, we finally saw the belly. It was swollen beyond belief. I don’t exaggerate when I say that he looked like he was 13 months pregnant with twins. His face was sunken in and was just as skinny as his arms. His feet and ankles were extremely swollen with fluid, and there was just a sadness in his eyes. We tried for a while to figure out what what wrong with him, but were unable to with the language barrier. We knew that all we could do was pray, so that’s what we did.
We as Christians often just want to pray for healing right off the bat, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but we forget that sometimes we just need to pray for peace. It was the weirdest thing though, after praying for healing for a couple of minutes, I felt God telling me that I wasn’t supposed to anymore, that I was only to pray for peace for him, so I did. The Cambodian pastor that we were with, Pastor Sy, was able to share the gospel with him, and gave him his salvation bracelet. We all just prayed that this mans heart was open God’s love and His peace.
Later that day, we were lucky enough to be able to go back with our contact who spoke english, and we finally found out that Mr. T had liver failure. He had been sick for months, and with no way to get help. These people could barely afford their food for the week, there’s no way that they could ever afford to take him to the doctor.
We got the opportunity to go back again, but he had clearly gotten worse. Even though we didn’t believe it to be possible, his arms and face were even skinnier, and he now had sores all over his belly. We sat there and this time I prayed for nothing but peace. I knew that it was all that this man needed. We sang some worship songs, and just praised God for being good, which I know seems crazy in this situation, but we are called to praise Him always, and even though this was going on, He is still a good and loving God.
We got word from Pastor Sy a couple days later that Mr T had passed away, but I had an odd sense of peace about it, knowing that God was with him when he went, and that Mr T felt peace. I am so incredibly grateful for the fact that we got to meet him, that we got to see him several times, and just show Him the love of God before he died.
There’s another family in the neighborhood that I want to tell you about as well! We first met them just a couple days after getting there at the Sunday morning church service. Both of the parents are older, but they have two adorable little boys. The next day on our morning visit, we walked to their house to pray for them. When we got there, the youngest was in his mother’s arms, as we found out later because his legs haven’t developed properly and he was unable to walk. The other boy was playing with an old toy in the sand. We sat there with Ma and tried to find out as much about them as we could through the broken English that Ma spoke.
We found out that the family was starving. Literally starving. They didn’t have any food, and no way to feed their children. One thing that I love about my team is that without hesitation, we all knew that we had to at least get them food for now. We walked to one of the tiny neighborhood stores, and bought a 20kg bag of rice, which if you don’t know, is HUGE. We stopped at another little stand and got them some other fruits, vegetables and eggs that could get them some nutrients for now. We brought it to them and I don’t think I have ever received such thankful smiles in our lives. We prayed over their family and over the little boy that couldn’t walk as well, trusting that God would take care of them.
Now I’m not telling you this to bring glory to my team. I’m not telling you this story so that you’ll think that we’re all just amazing people and deserve praise. What we were doing is simple, loving like Jesus would. He gave us a simple commandment to feed the hungry, and that’s exactly what we were doing. The looks on their faces and being able to show them God’s love was worth way more than the personal money that I spent to buy them food. The older boy had such a huge smile and just such a light in his eyes.
The best part is that from then on when I went running in the mornings, the older boy, Peter, would run along side me the entire time! He became my running buddy for the month and I absolutely loved it! I got to look forward to seeing his smiling face every morning when I left the house. What was even cooler, is that about a week later on our way back from the run, I saw his little brother walking down the street!
[Peter] –Photo cred to Emma Gronseth
We got to see the family often after that, and even though we didn’t speak the same language at all, we formed a relationship with them and became friends. We really felt like we were part of the neighborhood, as we would just walk down the street and people that we knew would wave or say “Hello” as we passed by.
We got to form countless other relationships in our time in Cambodia, and each one of them was specifically designed for us by God. I loved each and every moment that we got to spend with those people, and they all caused my heart to grow a little bigger. The goodbyes were extremely hard, but I know that God has each and every one of those people in his hands and that I shouldn’t worry about a thing!
Update! I have 31 days to raise the remaining $1,998 for my trip! If you would all prayerfully considering donating it would mean the world. I can’t thank you all enough for following my journey and supporting me thus far. I’m almost to the finish line for fundraising though, I just need a little extra help getting there! I love and appreciate you all so much!
