This month our team is focusing on on finding and sharing about unsung heroes in Cambodia. This post is part of an 11-blog series about our efforts.
Today's post by: Kari Mitchell
One of the challenges of moving countries every 3 weeks on a trip like this is the need to be like a chameleon: the moment you hit a new environment it is important to adapt to that specific environment and "blend in." It is very important that we, in the brief time that we're here, ONLY help and never hinder the Gospel and the mission we've been sent to do by the way that we behave. As much as earthly possible, anyway, realizing that mistakes can and will be made. Sometimes Often, this means that we willfully limit our own freedoms for the sake of others.
Earlier this month Ben and I had the opportunity to take a night away from the team to celebrate our anniversary. The plan was to go to our tiny, 10-room hotel and stay there for about 24 hours. They have a pool, a bar, air conditioning, and a restaurant… At this point in time, there isn't much more that we could want. For 24 hours, we were officially "off" of ministry and not very likely to run into anyone but a handful of foreign guests like ourselves and a few hotel workers used to foreign guests like ourselves.
When we went to the pool, then later at dinner, I really wanted a cocktail. Something fruity and frozen, buy-one-get-one-free, $4.00-deliciousness-in-a-glass. It is our anniversary, after all. But although we were officially "off" and I knew the statistical probability of running into someone who would ever recognize us or be impacted by our actions to be all but nil, I couldn't shake the feeling that we shouldn't drink. In Cambodia, like much of this part of the world, Christians do not drink.
We enjoyed our quiet dinner and mundane conversation quite a bit even without alcohol. Some time after Ben finished his meal, our server walked up to our table.
"Are you (something-I-didn't-quite-catch)?" he asked.
Ben looked at me to see if I had understood, which I didn't, but assumed that he wanted to know if Ben was finished with his plate. I nodded to the man and gestured that he could take the plate, yes.
"No, are you Christians?" he asked.
Do what? Did he really just ask us that? What even gave him that impression? Because we chose to spend $3 on a couple of cans of soda instead of $4 on a couple of cocktails?
After responding in the affirmative, our server –Jessie– lit up and began telling us all about himself, how he came to Phnom Penh, and about Water of Life, the ministry he lives with. He was glowing as he told us about what Jesus Christ had done for him and meant to him. It was one of the neatest experiences of the race so far.
Sometimes choosing obedience seems like a small thing. Nothing really bad probably would have happened if we had ordered drinks, and we knew it. But God had something better in store if we would choose it, even when we thought we were "not doing ministry."
