What’s it like in Cambodia?

I have had the opportunity to live in the beautiful country of Cambodia for the last two weeks, and it’s been so rewarding. Here are a few things that have stuck out to me.

1. There is greenery everywhere you see. There is such a diversity in vegetation that you honestly feel you are in multiple countries at a time. For example, they have these beautiful coconut producing trees. The palm branches on them are few, but do they stretch the sky in length. The bark on them rough, strong, and almost jagged. They’re “regular” trees that I would see at home with skinny trunks and lots of branches and leaves. The flowers are few, but they are gorgeous. I am honestly not educated enough to articulate correctly the diversity in vegetation, but its beautiful.
2. I find Cambodian food so interesting. The average meal consists of rice, vegetables, and some kind of meat. That in its self is pretty normal, but the flavor is so unique. Its a combination of both sour and sweet. I have had what seems like hundreds of combinations of rice, vegetables, and meat in the states but never like the food here. For example, last night we had rice, fried potatoes (basically french fries), and this caramelized pork. It was so good! Pork here tastes very different then in the states, and honestly tastes way better. For lunch yesterday, we had rice, and stuffed tomatoes. Inside the tomatoes was this really peppery hot sausage, and that was good as well. I will have some more cool stories in the next couple weeks concerning food, so I am excited for that.
3. The spiritual nature of Cambodia is nothing like I have experienced in the United States. Statistically, 97% of the Cambodian population practice Buddhism, 2% are Christians, and 1% everything else. When we drive through town you just see so many temples, statues, burned offering spots, and symbols of the Buddhist faith. You see them in homes, restaurants, schools, and even on the side of the road. You see kids with these red yarn bracelets and necklaces. These are called Buddhist luck and protection bracelets. There is a lot of spiritual warfare with these bracelets. There is a need for the gospel here, and the ministry we have been working with has been transforming lives and future generations.

What kind of ministry have we been doing?

A normal day of ministry begins at around 6:30-7:00. We get up and have some time with the Lord. At around 7:30, we have breakfast. This usually consists of bread, waffles, dragon fruit, and some bananas. At 8:00, classes begin. From 8:00-9:45, we help teach young Cambodian kids English, and play with them during breaks. It usually runs long, so at about 10:30 we will have some team time as a squad. This is where we have been giving our testimony to each other, giving feedback, and having some fun as a team.

At noon, we will head a couple of houses down for some lunch. We will eat for an hour, and then have an hour break from 1-2. Then from 2:00-3:45, we will teach English again and play with the kids during breaks. With the kids we play a lot of Freeze tag (They call it, “Run, slow”), and a game that combines hide and seek and tag (They call it, “1, 2, 3”). After that we have about 30-45 minutes to rest, and then we head to Soccer/Football. They have a Soccer ministry that meets from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm. They do drills for about 30-45 minutes, and we play full games afterwards till the end. After that, we head to dinner.

The Ministry hosts have a few worship nights, Bible studies, and prayer nights throughout the week, so we would go to those after dinner.

What has impacted me the most?

The word that comes to mind is how genuine the people are here. We were at one the hosts worship nights, and he was laying out the vision for the ministry. They want to reach every person in the village. They are investing in the children so that there can be generational changers for their families. They feel led to built two more school classrooms, and it’ll cost between 20-25 thousand dollars. They want to see fifty salvation’s before 2030, and have 80 people come to there worship nights to worship together.

This is awesome stuff, but the reason why it hit me was the humility they had. When I heard that they wanted to fund raise for these classrooms my mind went to two places. I knew we needed to ask God, but it also went to ideas on what we could do to raise awareness to their ministry to bring in money. He pulls out his Bible, and opens to Proverbs 3:5-6.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.”

He says. “This is not my ministry. This is not your ministry. This is our ministry. Our Father provides. So lets go to him, and ask him.”

I realized in that moment that I wasn’t wrong trying to think of ways to provide for the classrooms, but I also was wrong. Sometimes we have to stop trying so hard, and just rest in the Lords presence. Allow him to provide. Allow him to give ideas. Allow him to show his goodness.

The ministry financially lives month by month through fundraising and support raising. The hosts/ministry have full confidence that the Lord will provide every month, and with that confidence they know he will provide the money for the classrooms.

What can you be praying for?

I could use prayer for health, and that sickness would not come my way. Prayer for the children who are learning English that they would learn, but for spiritual protection from the enemy. Prayer for the ministry hosts for encouragement and perseverance. Prayer for continued unity as a team as we transition to Thailand in the coming weeks. Lastly, that I personally would be able to live in the moment. It’s hard sometimes not to just think about the next thing. I want to be here, right now, in this moment.

Thank you for the support!