Yesterday will be a Valentine’s day I will not soon forget.
It started as a regular ministry day. I woke up later than my 6:20 am alarm because I am so tired here in Cambodia. I ate the same breakfast as every other day with one Valentines treat from myself (a chocolate donut!) I read a chapter from Songs of Solomon with a teammate, which is another story in itself.
Then my team met our host Pastor Sam and our other tuk tuk driver. With three people in each tuk tuk, we rode through the city, highway and red dirt roads to our village.
The village is made up of several houses with small food shops or restaurants inside them. There is one church building which has a tin roof and half cement walls with a chain linked fence as windows. There is a school building nearby and another school close enough for older kids to bike to.
When we arrive children are playing outside the church. They come in the church which doubles as a classroom. We work with them to learn the English alphabet. They write and repeat the letters and words.
After class we wash their hair. We had brought shampoo and tea tree oil to try to get rid of lice. I must admit that the idea intimidated me and made me uncomfortable. First I usually try to avoid anything involving lice…I never volunteer to check people’s heads even though on this trip it is a common thing. But somehow that’s where I found myself. I was checking heads and not finding anything and thinking I was not doing my job.
Then one beautiful girl sat in my chair. I started looking and immediately realized I did know what I was looking for. This vibrant girl had so many eggs that it was overwhelming.
But my teammate said one less egg means one less bug in her hair. So with their help we removed as many as we could. I realized it wasn’t about results it was about serving and showing love with our actions.
After lunch we had a bible study with women. We talked with them through our pastor/translator. We shared truth and asked them questions. Then an amazing thing happened. They asked for us to wash their hair. (My team is incredible!) Almost without another word we all set up our SONshine Salon as we dubbed it. We washed all the mothers hair, combed and braided them. We massaged their hands.
With a language barrier, I’m not sure what the women were thinking. But I choose to believe that God will use our actions to reveal His love to them.
That’s why it’s a Valentine’s day to remember. Jesus reminded me that love is an action not just a feeling. I may not have the romantic feelings for someone but I do have an everlasting love. An everlasting love that does.
