Definitely glad that I’m not a planner…last month our team was told we would be working in 2 different centers with orphans…as of today (2/8), our team arrived in the village we will be staying in for the month, it’s called Kongtaneang, Cambodia. We will be teaching English once again Monday through Friday, however the difference this month is that the children we are working with are too poor to attend school and so the pastor at the local church teaches a small group in the village for free (to the ones who don’t already attend school), the ones who are able to attend school pay a small fee. The conditions here are a little tougher than Thailand, to say the least (not that Thailand was that tough-condition wise-we had regular toilets, showers that were cold, but still showers, awesome food, and a warm family to stay with-also no humidity:o), here there is no running water, no internet, and electricity from only 7-10 at night and very high humidity with no fans or anything at night. The water here that we are able to use for bathing (bucket showers) is not very sanitary either…so pray for our team as a whole to remain healthy and patient :o). Cambodia is also a very dark place-spiritually, the 2% in the title of this blog represents the amount of Christians that live here, I am grateful that I am now a part of it. Another thing that blows my mind is we are the first Americans to visit this village and thus the first “white people” these people have seen, the kids just stare at us and smile…I wonder if this is what celebrities feel like all the time??? At our debrief at the beginning of this month we were told a bit of the history of Cambodia and how heart breaking it is…more than 30 years of war and killing…many times-innocent people. Once again I had in my mind that we would be working with orphans (something I REALLY want to do!), but once again God had a different plan in mind and His ways are not ours, but His ways are always the BEST for us. As you can see below, we will be using “squatty potties”, something I am finally getting the hang of (these are used throughout most of Asia), they also don’t use toilet paper, but some bathrooms have these little sprayers to use instead…whew!
The conditions around us are very poor, but the children are fantastic…one of the many things God has been doing on this race is confronting my fears, things that intimidate me or things I never thought I was capable of doing…one of them was working with high school students in general…so what do I do the first day??? The teacher asks me to teach a class and I’m like ok, I do it by myself as my team was not feelin’ it the first day (minus Kim teaching the younger)-we were tired from travel, and who do I get put with except a class FULL of high schoolers…the devil tried his best to make me feel intimidated through a couple of the students, but I said a simple prayer in my head, and that was that, and I am honestly falling in love with them already. It’s really easy to fall into the “feel sorry for me” trap here, but I came on this race to die to myself and the things that I have previously found comfort in and this month is going to help me with that for sure, I also feel that this is going to be one of the BEST months for me and our team in general, I don’t know why, but I have this feeling. I am so very honored to be the first Americans these people have met, honored that God would trust me enough to fill that position, honored that I get to teach them my language, and that they really want to learn it…I met a 19 year old boy named Kunthea who taught HIMSELF English, he is a farmer and is able to attend regular school from 7-5! But also comes to one of our classes after from 5:30-6:30! He speaks SO well, we asked how he learned and he says “I just talk to myself in my room”, he is SO humble and he doesn’t even realize how well he speaks! We asked him if he wanted to attend university and he said he hasn’t thought about it because he knows he doesn’t have the money…so pray that God will provide a way for this amazing boy to have that opportunity, I will post a pic of him soon, I am tired already from all the changes, but my beautiful Savior Who lives IN me spurs me on to the perfecting work He is doing inside and outside of me, to prepare me to meet His Glorious self and present me as flawless to my Maker…other people are THE most important things in life and so very important to Him, I get to tell people about His Name, and some have never even heard it in the places my team and I go…thank You Jesus, thank You for being Truth, and thank You for being the ONLY thing capable of capturing someone’s heart and making it completely NEW. You are SO beautiful my Love. If only you all could SEE the way His Spirit affects people…I will do my best to tell you :o)
The conditions around us are very poor, but the children are fantastic…one of the many things God has been doing on this race is confronting my fears, things that intimidate me or things I never thought I was capable of doing…one of them was working with high school students in general…so what do I do the first day??? The teacher asks me to teach a class and I’m like ok, I do it by myself as my team was not feelin’ it the first day (minus Kim teaching the younger)-we were tired from travel, and who do I get put with except a class FULL of high schoolers…the devil tried his best to make me feel intimidated through a couple of the students, but I said a simple prayer in my head, and that was that, and I am honestly falling in love with them already. It’s really easy to fall into the “feel sorry for me” trap here, but I came on this race to die to myself and the things that I have previously found comfort in and this month is going to help me with that for sure, I also feel that this is going to be one of the BEST months for me and our team in general, I don’t know why, but I have this feeling. I am so very honored to be the first Americans these people have met, honored that God would trust me enough to fill that position, honored that I get to teach them my language, and that they really want to learn it…I met a 19 year old boy named Kunthea who taught HIMSELF English, he is a farmer and is able to attend regular school from 7-5! But also comes to one of our classes after from 5:30-6:30! He speaks SO well, we asked how he learned and he says “I just talk to myself in my room”, he is SO humble and he doesn’t even realize how well he speaks! We asked him if he wanted to attend university and he said he hasn’t thought about it because he knows he doesn’t have the money…so pray that God will provide a way for this amazing boy to have that opportunity, I will post a pic of him soon, I am tired already from all the changes, but my beautiful Savior Who lives IN me spurs me on to the perfecting work He is doing inside and outside of me, to prepare me to meet His Glorious self and present me as flawless to my Maker…other people are THE most important things in life and so very important to Him, I get to tell people about His Name, and some have never even heard it in the places my team and I go…thank You Jesus, thank You for being Truth, and thank You for being the ONLY thing capable of capturing someone’s heart and making it completely NEW. You are SO beautiful my Love. If only you all could SEE the way His Spirit affects people…I will do my best to tell you :o)
Me and Genae at the Khmer Bridge built during the Ankor Wat period in the 9th century!
Beautiful!
Under the bridge…I was posing :o)
Ben at the tarantula village in Skuon…he ate the entire spider…
I ate only a bite of the leg…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_spider
Ben’s half eaten tarantula…they also had live ones in buckets you could hold…
Yummy! Haha! We didn’t spend too much time here!
Massage train! :o) Jessie, Alison, me, and Chelsea…we were all together learning the history of Cambodia before leaving for our ministry sites :o)
This is Kristen, she is on the human trafficking route on the race and took us to this AWESOME mexican restaurant before we left to our sites :o)
After dinner at a river-Kim, Katy, me, and new friend (also on human trafficking route) Katie :o)
Our new home for the month (church), we set up our tents for privacy/mosquito prevention :o)
Ok, yes, this is my bathroom/”shower” for the month :o)
A demo of how to use the “squatty potty”-haha (it’s not funny though)
Demo of how to do the “bucket shower”…
Our backyard…
Also in our backyard :o)
Cows in our backyard too!
Front of the church, we have to keep the gates locked at all times :o)
A mother and her adorable baby who live behind the church :o)
One of our contacts who lives behind the church-Silas, and students who cannot afford school and are taught for free-Sovann and Sarath, they already have a place in my heart :o). This is a river within walking distance of our ministry site.
On our way back to the house, lots of farm land for miles…
It’s common to see children doing farm work, like this little girl :o)
A dog after my own heart…eating coconut :o)
This pictue is dedicated to you Mom…the infamous ball, she loved it! It’s been a hit in 2 countries now!
Some girls who came by afterschool :o)
I will post more pics soon, Cambodia is a lot different than Thailand, 50% of the population is 30 years or younger, the pastor we are working with is 25 and our contact above is 28, so the atmosphere isn’t as family feeling as Thailand was for our team, but we are adapting :o) Love you all and thanks for keeping up with me and my team!!!
