Wow, it’s been almost a month since I moved to Battambang and time here has this crazy way of seeming so slow when it’s going by so quickly once I look at it in hindsight. So many things I’ve learning and yet there are still things to learn. So many things the Lord wants me to walk in that hasn’t even crossed my mind yet. Crazy cool.
I wrote this blog last weekend because God made his presence known to me in the sweetest way and I think it’s a good reminder of how we always want things to go according to how we’ve planned, and sometimes God (humbly) tears them down to replace them with something better and more fulfilling.
But first, here are some (funny) updates!!
—My tent has already flooded from rain twice
—My sleeping pad got a mysterious hole in it that NOBODY can find; I now sleep in a pool-floaty
—Almost everyone on my team has been sick at some point (I haven’t so far)
—Most of the leadership for my squad have either lost or broken their phones
—I’m already planning on dropping half of the stuff I took for these 9 months
—I’ve never felt the kind of joy I feel here before
Dang, life as a missionary has been a wild ride. I consider myself extremely blessed that the Lord has provided me with exceptionally gracious and loving family, friends, and teammates who are making my race joyous and rich with things to learn and ways to be an instrument for love.
This weekend my team and I wanted to spoil ourselves by spending our time together, so we planned out a great, big schedule of things to do! It looked something like this, and we actually completed everything on the list + more (because the Lord took it upon himself to intervene a bit!!)
—Wake up and go to the coffee shop
—Tuk-tuk to the thrift shop: we each chose a name out of a hat and bought an outfit for that person and it had to be under $5 (VERY easy to accomplish, I bought Alyssa two outfits for $2.25)
—Go and see a movie
—Head back to the AIM base for lunch
—End the evening by going to the Battambang circus
Getting to mark a check by each thing on our list felt so sweet, especially because each activity was accompanied by fellowship and sisterhood and goodness, but my FAVORITE part of this big epic Saturday was the time spent at the AIM base while we were waiting to leave for the circus. I was beginning to get frustrated that our tuk-tuk driver was late picking us up while the Lord had full control of the situation and had a better way for how we could spend our time.
There was a big church party happening down the street and there were somewhere between 15-20 children who found their way in front of our doors. Eyes that showed us they wanted us to play with them, faces that wanted to be turned into giddy laughs, arms that wanted to be squeezed.
And we did just that.
Running, playing, piggyback rides, tag, all of it consumed what originally felt like stolen time to me. But that time was never mine to begin with.
Isn’t it funny how obedience to God gets to look like one big day at recess sometimes? Strictly fun and nothing else. But man, heaven was touching earth every time I heard one of those kiddos laugh or giggle or try and say something in English to me.
Being with the sweet kiddos was greater than anything we planned. Not so easy to talk to them, but God-given things like love and joy are almost languages in themselves. Who needs Khmer to try and explain to a Cambodian child that they’re literal capsules of the Father’s love when you can just show them that? Whether that’s letting a million kids dog pile on you because they all want to be held or letting them win at tag for the fifteenth time.
Lessons like these are lessons I like. They make each day seem a little brighter. It’s a dream I’m living here.
A dream that my team was there with me to experience it. Love them and the sweet weekend we spent together.
I’m praying for some sort of divine intervention in the lives of everyone who’s reading this.
Praying for you to have the eyes to see it. That it isn’t just another generic part of life, but something that’s specifically from the Father. Cause He’s relational and likes walking alongside us through life.
Even in the simple stuff.
