Didn’t realize how long it’s been since I’ve posted a blog until I just started writing this. Oops. Anyways, I am currently in Cambodia. For those of you who don’t know where that is, it’s a small country on the far side of Asia. Don’t feel bad if you had no idea where Cambodia was because I literally thought it was in Africa until the third month of the race. I got roasted for that one. It’s long overdue but but I should tell you a little about what I’m doing here.
Ministry looks a lot different here than it has anywhere else we’ve been. In the mornings me and 3 of my teammates work at a trauma hospital. This looks like playing board games with patients, painting the nails of caregivers, or building a castle of blocks with a little boy waiting to be admitted. The staff at the hospital is not responsible for things such as taking the patients to the bathroom, giving them showers, etc… so they must have a caregiver/ family member with them their entire stay to do these things for them. The caregivers are not given beds and are forced to sleep on stone benches outside. These dedicated people are our target. The moms and sisters of these patients are some of the kindest, most generous women who just want to laugh. And I’m all here for that. I went into this ministry with the expectation of it being awkward because I thought, “These women don’t want to play games or talk to foreigners who can’t communicate” when it turns out to be just the opposite. Yes, the communication part takes a long time but is so worth it. They love to just sit with us whether we actually have a conversation or not. They offer us the little bit of food they have with them. They take videos of us playing Jenga and watch them over and over. A lot of joy is found at the most unexpected place.
Througout the rest of the day my team works 2 hour shifts at a coffe shop established by our host family. My shift doesn’t start until 3:30 so I have about 4 hours in the afternoon to do, well, whatever I want. Sometimes this is getting $2 dumplings and reading a book and sometimes it’s creating Pinterest boards the entire time. Some days are more productive than others. I love what we do here but honestly it’s been so hard to feel useful. Because this a Hindu and Buddhist nation, talking about God has to be on the down low. I get into this rut of feeling like I’m doing nothing to advance the kingdom and begin to question my purpose for even being brought here. The first few weeks I felt like I was getting nothing out of my time here and finally decided I’m just going to have to make some things happen for myself. When else am I going to have an entire season of my life dedicated to working on my relationship with Christ and bettering myself? Never, that’s when.
So, yeah, Cambodia looks way different than I originally expected, but I have begun to come up with things that I personally want to work on and grow in and that will be my goal for the remainder of my time here.
About our house:
-I sleep on the floor in a room shared with 18 other girls
-it is hotter inside than it is outside
-we have about 8 fans distributed between us
-we take turns with the boys sleeping on the roof every other night to feel the cool breeze and escape the 100 degree temperature and cockroaches
-we live in an apartment complex with few neighbors and lots of kids who ride bikes and say any English words they know to us (even the bad ones)
-the sunsets are amazing
Thanks for taking time to listen to my thoughts, hug your air conditioner extra hard tonight.
