Coming to you live from our little bunk room in Chiang Mai, Thailand! We’ve only been here a few days, but I was wiped out pretty early on with some flu-like symptoms and haven’t been able to attend ministry. But the time will come soon :) I typically write blogs about where I see the Lord or what He’s teaching me, but the truth about my past month in Cambodia is that I’ll need a little more time/distance to see it all clearly. I didn’t want to leave my supporters hanging though, so here’s a little snippet of what Cambodia held:
The Adventures in Missions base in Siem Reap, Cambodia is run by two missionaries from Ohio named Shannon & Vikki Bobb. They started a nonprofit a few years back called New Day New Life, employing 3 wonderful Cambodian women to make the ministry function. The director, Sreymom, lived on base with us and served as a house mom. The other two, Sreypov and Peach, serve as teachers and translators. Siem Reap is full of ministries that reach people with the hope of Jesus, but most of the villages even an hour outside of the city are still very unreached. New Day New Life saw the need and began developing relationships with some of the villages in Angkor Chum (about 1.5hrs outside the city). The current functions of the ministry include weekly visits to each of the 4 villages: teaching English and Bible stories to the kids in the morning, and leading Bible studies for the curious moms and grandmas in the afternoons. This is where my team comes in:
Each weekday, we would hop in the van to visit a different village. Our ministry was mainly a space for ownership where we supported in any way possible: this was anything from sitting amidst the kids to keep them engaged, all the way to running the Bible lesson ourselves with the help of our translators. One of my racers just graduated college with a degree in exercise science, and she was able to help create a list of exercises for a man who was recently electrocuted and lost much of his mobility. Another one of my racers graduated with a degree in teaching, and she got to help the teachers come up with some ideas to better engage the kids (and eventually actually lead the activities herself). As a leader, my role in ministry is a bit different. My ministry has been leading by example in the way I engage during ministry days, but also things like…
They call me mom. It has truly been an honor to be trusted with this group and to walk alongside them as they are exposed to more of the world and therefore more of God. And honestly they have just been phenomenal– pursuing friendship with me and each other, seeking more of God, little to no complaints, healthy boundaries… I could go on. I often mind myself sitting in awe of all the Lord is doing in them, and it puts a smile on my face when I think back to how transformative my first World Race trip was for me too. They’re thinking critically about how to steward their American privileges. They are recognizing & obeying the Holy Spirit’s voice, most of them for the first time. They are living out and processing the benefits of Christian community, such as sacrificial love, hard conversations, and not leaving anyone behind. Thanks GOD that these are life tools they’ll bring back home, and use to transform whatever community they find themselves in next. And thanks God that I get to be a part of it!
Personally, Cambodia has been odd. I think I'm learning to compartmentalize, because I almost always find myself thinking about the squad and things I need to do. Grieving a friendship, applying to go back to college, deciding where to live– the whole thing has felt like an out-of-body experience. I often find myself bouncing between a desire to get to the finish line already, while also thinking about how much this experience is going to mean to me on the other side of that line. Been asking God a lot of hard questions and wrestling for answers. He's proven Himself to be pretty good through it all though, so at the end of the day I just feel lucky that I know where to look for hope. I'll be stateside one month from today– pray for me and my squad to finish well. Blessings
