It’s been a minute!
and quite honestly, it’s because it is hard for me to find the balance between processing all the change, being present in the midst of it, and also keeping y’all in the loop about the latest.
SO, my leader challenged me to go through my journal and share an aspect of my journey since being here to let you in on both the good stuff and the hard stuff.
The first few weeks of teaching at a Buddhist Private school were super challenging. When I had envisioned teaching English in Cambodia, I pictured myself in a village serving the underprivileged who couldn’t afford an education, not serving the students who essentially had it all. Not to mention, I felt completely unqualified! With absolutely no experience teaching, I was expected to come up with lesson plans on the spot. I had plenty of doubts as to why my team was there and legitimately started wondering if $16,000 could have gone further in the hands of someone else.
Then, I started talking to my teacher and found out that she was verbally and physically abused growing up. I met one of my students who had a broken wrist but whose parents refused to take her to the hospital. I watched a struggling student and learned that it was because her parents were divorced and she would miss school for weeks at a time due to custody disagreements. I saw how much my students lit up with a simple high five, “good job!” or hug.
That’s when the Lord flipped a switch. These kids don’t “have it all” if they go home to parents who won’t give them a hug or tell them they’re loved. There was a serious lack of empowerment and emotional neglect in my classroom alone and I finally realized that was exactly why we needed to be there. Maybe they wouldn’t have the ABC’s nailed, but if they went home feeling more valued and worthy than when they came, we would be doing our job.
“Showing people Christ” looks different in every ministry, and last month it looked like simply loving the students and staff well, creating a safe place, and being intentional.
By the end of the month, I came to love that school. Saying goodbye to the teacher in my classroom was harder than I ever would have anticipated and I STILL miss my little ones calling me “cha” every morning. But, I am confident that there will be someone coming after me to continue planting seeds and being the light and that gives me SO much peace!
On another note:
Our squad of 53 has officially been split up for a week and will be for the remainder of Cambodia. We are in four total locations around the country! My team moved from the second largest city in Cambodia to a village of 2800 on the coast. Here we will be teaching (God really has a sense of humor) and doing manual labor for the next two months!
Some evidence of the major change in scenery:
