Ministry this month hasn’t been simply 8 hours a day. Cambodia is full of opportunities. Every time I go to the market, or get in a tuk tuk, or step outside my room at overflow – there’s opportunity.
This month has been beautiful. Our official ministry is with Victory Church. We have been with Pastor Sam most days, teaching English to kids in the village and finding random pockets of time to pray with women or have Bible study. On the weekends we stay in Siem Reap and clean the church then facepaint in the park to invite people to the church to build relationship. Sunday services are a time of wonderful worship and I shared my testimony in the Khmer service last week.
I feel the Holy Spirit here in a way I haven’t felt in a long time. I don’t know if it’s because I reached my breaking point the first day I woke up in Cambodia, or if it’s because He’s so excited to meet the people here, or if the “Yes” in my spirit has become more genuine, but regardless, He’s shown up a lot.
We’ve shared testimonies, Bible stories, scriptures and revelations. We’ve washed lice-infested hair. We’ve walked various lengths of the village to pray for the people. We sat in a house that was just built and dedicated it to the Lord even as a shrine with offerings rested in the corner. We’ve played soccer with kids. We’ve climbed palm trees and tried palm juice and the local iced tea. We’ve cooked lunch over a fire. We’ve learned grammar rules in English that we never realized before (the perks of being a native English speaker is you can just hear when something is wrong, but you can’t always explain it…). We’ve let kids color our nails (and then arms) with crayon because colored pencils didn’t work and markers dry out too fast here. We’ve had mini bible studies with the women of the village in their home. We’ve spent hours in a Tuk Tuk on bumpy dirt roads. We’ve laughed and loved harder than I ever have before.
I don’t know if I’ve talked about hard goodbyes before. But it’s something I’ve decided to fight for. Because easy goodbyes mean I didn’t invest my heart. The hard ones mean I pursued them like God pursues me.
This month will be a hard goodbye. I have 5 days of ministry left and my heart is already shattering.
But as I said, Cambodia has had more opportunities than those I mentioned above.
I’ve befriended my Starbucks barista Fish (not his real name but they all have simple name tags and he loves to watch fish swim). I’ve laughed with a nurse who thought I’d be taller than I am (side note I did get salmonellosis typhoid, but I’m recovering well). I’ve smiled at kids on motorbikes and on the streets from the tuk tuk. I’ve supported the adults who are working to make a living despite the world’s label of “disabled.”
The last one is what sparked this blog. On my rest day, sitting in a Starbucks (yes it’s for comfort but also WiFi and Fish), a man sat next to me. He can’t hear and doesn’t speak, but he creates. He had a multitude of the finger rings that attach to the backs of phones. All of them featured lucky cats except one. One wasn’t as movable or flexible as the rest. It was dingy, silver and black. A stark contrast to the sea of white, clean and colorful cats. It simply had a scratched panda head and the word LOVE. I knew it was meant for me.
Cambodia is the land of lucky cats. Those who believe in luck, praying to Vishnu, Buddha, ancestors, karma, luck. But I believe in a God of love, comfort, gentleness. And though I’ve been tired a lot lately (and wish I could sleep as much as a panda does…) Love wins.
