Sometimes I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. I am in month eight in Phnom Pehn and I am reflecting on last month in Chiang Mai, Cambodia. In Thailand my little team Beautiful Things was been split up amongst several different ministries, and all the boys on my squad have been in Laos having a month as just men. So with the boys gone it’s been a girl’s month!
I was with a new little team at a ministry called Wildflower Home. Wildflower Home houses 12 women who are fleeing from domestic violence, sex trafficking, severe poverty, or being expelled from their families due to out-of-wedlock pregnancies. This ministry helps the women heal from hardships and empowers them for the future by teaching them skills and crafts. Wildflower Home is a self-sustaining farm, how cool is that?! They grow many crops such as lemon grass, bananas, basil, chili, and other veggies, and they have a large mushroom house. They also have lots of pigs, chickens, and geese. The women work hard everyday, doing farming in the morning, cooking, and then crafting and learning English in the afternoons. Most of them have at least one child.
(a picture of Mint and Me)
The ministry started with a French nun in the early 1830’s. The ministry today is now run by a blind nun, Sister Arnovak. The blind sister and I had some good times. She was about as blunt as they come, but the women love her, and she cares deeply for them.
There was one woman especially I loved spending time with. Her name is Mint, like the plant or the color. I tried to explain to here one day her name was a green color in English. She looked at me like I was crazy. Then all she said was, “no blue.” She told me several times she doesn’t speak English, but I think she spoke a lot more than she let on. I liked having long chats with her asking her questions and she would show me different things on her phone. Early on I learned she was also a painter. She showed me some pictures of her paintings from University. They were these phenomenal and precise oil paintings of Thai food. They were so large each piece filled the gallery wall. Mint is downright hilarious, you’d never know she was healing from some pretty challenging circumstances.
I spent my month teaching English, sorting fabric, dreaming up new projects for the Wildflower Home, encouraging the women, playing with their adorable children, and helping them sweep the nearby Buddhist temple. The women help the local temple daily and in exchange the monks donate their extra food which they receive as sacrifices at the temple.
Its a very curious relationship between the Buddhists and the sisters, but it works. One of my favorite quotes from Sister Arnovak to us was she said we may be different religions, but we all love the same Jesus. I just love that. Thai people are kind and unassuming. Most of them do not speak a lot or any English, but they seem to always be looking for a way to connect.
Some of the biggest lesson’s God has been teaching me in these last few months is how important it is to simply connect with people. Love the person in front of you. Comment on your barista’s cool shirt. Talk to people at the grocery store. Take interest in people. Be present and reach out. These little interactions are your foot in the doorway to their life. I am learning not to miss out on the people God puts in front of me each day. Where I go and who I see isn’t an accident. I am learning every little interaction can have a big purpose.
PS: I have a video blog coming soon with more on my time with the Wildflower Home. Don’t miss it 🙂
