First things first- I want to give a shoutout to my boy Koby Wulfjen, who just got married! Sorry I couldn’t be there buddy! And also my old friend Danielle Keiner, who just got engaged! Congratulations! You know the rule- no getting married until I get back!
Now for those of you who read my last blog, I talked about our mission in Bolivia, and some of my experiences there. It may have sounded like a great time, but the truth is it was tough. It definitely had it’s difficulties: I was sick twice, the only other bachelors on my squad had to be moved to a lower altitude, the food was…let’s go with interesting, and being from a small town it was difficult to be in such a huge city for a month. On top of that I had quite a bit going on at home. But the worst part by far was how I responded to my frustrations. I took it out on everyone else. My attitude was absolute crap. When I got to Cambodia I was sick again, and complaining about it, when my friend Amy finally looks at me and says- stop being a victim. That’s exactly what I needed to hear. I adjusted my attitude, and Cambodia immediately became one of my favorite stops on this Race. God has grown me so much here and I feel I am really starting to trust Him, and His plan for my life. I’m falling in love with the Holy Spirit more every day. I’m realizing that joy isn’t dictated by my circumstances, my successes, my mood, or what kind of day I am having, but as my friend RJ said, in wonder of the mysteries of the Lord.
Sure there’s still much growth to be had in areas like humility, missions, and discipline just to name a few, but my time in Cambodia has still been an incredible growing experience. It has been a chance to reflect, regroup, realize, and rest. Yesterday was Sunday- and we had nothing going on. I treated it as God intended, a day of rest, and boy did he reveal Himself! I am so excited for the next stop- THAILAND! Unfortunately, all food is spicy in Thailand, so be sure to say a prayer for me there (HAHA). But taste buds or no taste buds, I rest knowing I will return home a different man than when I began this journey.
With that said, here’s what we have been doing in Cambodia:
Our first week we would wake up and eat breakfast at the church where we are saying. I would have to do some stretches immediately after waking because evidently my air mattress is more detrimental to my spine than simply sleeping on the ground would be. Our meals at the church are delicious. I recently discovered that our pastors wife, who has been cooking for us, is actually Korean and we are not actually eating the local food, which is less appetizing . . . But I digress. We would evangelize in the mornings, return for lunch (delicious), and then teach English to the local village kids. We’d go over the alphabet, numbers, basic greetings, etc.
Then last week we began teaching English in two different schools in the small city of Sisophon, Cambodia. But both schools have three separate campuses, so we get moved around quite a bit. This proved stressful at times. But fortunately we got to run it out playing soccer with our mission host, this great guy named Dara and some of his buddies at the local recreation fields. We won our first game, but we’re pretty sure they were going easy- but whatever, a W is a W dad always said.
We have two more days here in our area, then we go to our Awakening conferences with several other squads in Siem Reap. Pray for safe travel for each squad and team, and that our transition over the Cambodian-Thai border would be without incident or injury. Peace and Blessings to all back home! Congrats again to my friends Koby and Danielle.
-Matt
