A lot of my time in Cambodia has been defined by holidays. We spent our first 5 days in the country in Siem Reap relaxing because it was the Khmer New Year and our ministry contacts didn’t want us yet. After a hectic month in Thailand, it was nice to relax with the squad and catch up on life. We also got to explore Angkor Wat, which is one of the wonders of the world. It was pretty legit.
Once at ministry, much of what we did had fewer people because, like Americans, Cambodians like to make the most of their vacation time and don’t want to get back into the normal swing of life. Ministry for the month included small groups, Children’s clubs, and English class. Nearly every day we would visit a different village and share the Word with some of the few Christians in Cambodia. A heartbreaking statistic is that Cambodia is 97% Buddhist and .5% Christian. However, seeing the lives and the faith of the Christians in the surrounding villages would lead me to believe there are more Christians than that.
A lot of times during small groups, there would be a bunch of kids hanging around so a few of us would go and keep them entertained. And by entertained, I mean use random objects to make them have fun. We would do limbo with sticks, play elbow tag, or have jump over a jump rope. The littlest things brought them so much joy.
One of my favorite parts of the month was every afternoon when some of the neighborhood kids would come over for English class. We would sit in small groups and go through the alphabet with them, or if they knew that already, we would ask each other basic questions. The three boys I worked with were David, Sokky, and Chanty.
It was nice to have a chiller ministry month after traveling nonstop in Thailand. In fact, the entire month felt a bit like a holiday. In between ministries, we would relax in our rooms or eat delicious meals prepared by one of our contacts. There wasn’t much else to do because we lived in the middle of dry rice paddies. It did give us each plenty of time to begin processing what the race meant for us and what it’s going to look like starting our next season of life back in the States. But more on that in future blogs.
To finish off the month, my team spent 3 days in Sihanoukville in a beachside hostel. We relaxed on the beach, ate lots of seafood, and took a 3-island snorkeling snorkeling tour. Not a bad way to finsh a month off. Overall, Cambodia was quite a fun month.
In the meantime, enjoy a little Cambodia by the numbers!
Number of small groups we went to: 15
Number of water parks we went to: 1
Number of times we visited Phnom Penh: 2
Number of times we sang “Jesus love is bubbling over”: 10
Number of rides in our Tuk Tuk: 18
Number of meals prepared by a fantastic cook: 30
Number of times the power went out: 8
Number of mentos eaten: 6 tubes
Average temperature: 95 degrees
Number of naked children I saw roaming the streets: too many to count
