On Monday we arrived here at our ministry site at Khmer Village Stay in the district of Baray in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Essentially we are staying in a large tree house under mosquito nets..on the floor. Lets just say this month is going to be quite a challenge and very different from last month. Please pray I survive my first month in a rural area, this is going to be a tough one! Initially I was ecstatic at the thought of abandonment and giving up whatever God wanted me to, I wanted to find comfort in the uncomfortable. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that discomfort for Christ would result in quite so many bug bits. In retrospect all that is a little easier said then done. I think I’m making it pretty alright though.
Home sweet home in Cambodia!
I have to keep reminding myself that Jesus has been through everything we’ve been through plus some (that includes bugs in beds right?) and that if God’s called me to be here-bugs and all-that I can and will handle it. By the way I’m serious about the bugs, lets not forget about the huge beetles, cockroaches and the one million gnats that hang out with us these days. As I typed that I watch a beetle crawl by me out of the corner of my eye..just saying. Also we have some team house pets this month; we have a lizard the size of a cat, a spider that is larger then my hand, at least one bat that we know of, what we think is a frog or toad of some sort and then a few rat rats/mouse like creatures…and those are the ones we are aware of so far.
This is my “room”. After the first few nights with bugs I pitched my tent, I figured a little extra
bug protection couldn’t hurt, right?! Plus rats and bats can’t unzip tents, atleast not that I know of! 🙂
We’ve been here for only several days and I’ve had about a million “welcome to the World Race ” moments. I don’t think it was until we were first dropped off here; in the scorching heat, on the side of a Cambodian high way in the middle of nowhere that it actually hit me that I am in fact on the World Race and in Cambodia.
Like I said this is going to be a tough month. I have a feeling though that it will twice as amazing as it will be hard so every bug bite or abnormally large spider scare I have to endure will be totally and completely worth it! This month is going to be a heart, mind and eye opener on the expectation front, in just the few days we’ve been here I’ve already found myself having to set many expectations aside, I’m curious to see how God is going to use that to grow all of us during our time here.
P.S. This is our “squatty potty” aka the toilet and our shower. And see that bucket,
that’s how you flush the “toilet”..yup, welcome to the World Race 🙂
