(Please read all the way to the end.)
I’d like to give all of you a glimpse into what my past week has looked like here in Cambodia. We started off the week getting settled into our new base in Phnom Penh and trying to adjust to the 12 hour time change from Costa Rica. On top of that, we have had to quickly adjust to the culture here, which is worlds apart from Costa Rica and definitely worlds apart from America. So you could say the start to our week wasn’t the best because we jumped straight into ministry without much time to adjust to it all.
Let me tell you, when I signed up and joined World Race I would have never guessed that I’d be ministering to people by means of being a 1st grade English/Bible teacher. Yeah that’s right, I’m teaching 1st grade English grammar to a bunch of Cambodian kids. God sure has a funny way of doing things because as you can probably tell, grammar isn’t one of my spiritual gifts. Anyway, that is what ministry for me now looks like. On to the rest of my week….
(Warning, this gets a little gross)
After a few long weekdays of ministry, Saturday rolled around. Saturday is also a ministry day because we get to join some of the Christian college students and go out into some not-so-nearby villages. Well anyhow, last Saturday we got into the village we were visiting that day, and for some unknown reason, I start to not feel so good. Being my stubborn self, I decided to ignore it at first. Well I continued to get worse because my stomach was in a lot of pain, and I was sweating with very bad chills. On top of all that, I felt the need to poop and throw up at the same time. As you can probably guess, both of those things later happened. Somehow I got back to the bathroom at the local village church, which wasn’t really a bathroom but more like a few cinder blocks thrown together over a half broken toilet. Let me tell you, it’s quite the experience when you’re craping your pants and throwing up in one very small/not fully put together toilet all at the same time. It’s really some character building stuff. Word of advice, if you’re ever in the middle of absolutely nowhere and your stomach starts hurting more than hunger pains, don’t ignore it or else you will end up like I did.
So you might be asking yourself why is it that I’m telling you all of this? Because I mean it’s pretty gross, right? Well I’m telling you this because being on the mission field and doing the World Race isn’t as glamorous as some might think it is. Truth is, it can get rather hard and can get extremely spiritually heavy, but what is absolutely incredible about all of that, is that through all of those things, God has been there the whole time. Through every single terrible experience, great experience and everything in between, God Almighty is the Sustainer. He is the greatest and only source of strength that I need. That is what is actually beautiful about getting so sick and feeling completely beaten down on all sides, all while half-way around the world, because all I have to do is look to God and ask Him for what I need and he graciously and freely gives it.
So yeah, that’s what has been going on with me. Cambodia is a special place, and I truly believe that God has great things in store for us and the Cambodians during our time here. With that being said, the enemy also knows just how impactful our time here can be and just how much we are capable of sharing God’s word, the news about Christ the Savior. So the spiritual warfare we are experiencing here is very real and very present. Please pray for me and for my squad because God has great things in store in Cambodia, and the enemy will be sure to throw everything he has at us and he’s already begun. But we have Christ living in us and the Father has equipped us with all we need to take him on and continue sharing the goodness of God and the news about his wonderful Son who died in our place. I’m thankful to say I’m feeling better and can’t wait to jump into all that God has for us here. Look forward to sharing more stories with you soon – hopefully some that aren’t so gross.
