Well, I am actually on top of posting my top 11 highlights from Cambodia in Cambodia! Yahoo!!! Here they are!
1: Our hosts, Ango and Asui, were absolutely incredible to us. When over half our team was out due to illness they were completely understanding and told us that we should take as much time as we needed to rest. Having hosted World Race teams before, they encouraged us to make sure we took care of ourselves first and foremost. Asui prays with such conviction and Ango has one of the greatest laughs ever. Kaka, Ango’s sister, lived with us in the girls’ dorm and she was awesome as well.
2: The students were absolutely the best. We got to teach them English but it was even more fun to get the chance to just hang out with them. They are so sweet and welcomed us with open arms. One of my favorite words for the month was teacha…rather than teacher.
3: While this wasn’t necessarily something I loved, I was out of ministry for about a week and a half. This went around our entire team and consisted of having cold-like symptoms as well as strong fatigue. When one of the women got a noticeable rash followed by a diagnosis of typhoid it encouraged us to go get checked. After getting blood drawn and receiving the results of the Widal Test, we were said to have non-typhoidal salmonellosis. That diagnosis was confusing and eventually the conclusion was drawn that we got typhoid. Yay, World Race illness.
4: I got the opportunity to preach again this month. The Lord put it on my heat to talk about comparison, especially since the audience was university students. It went well!
5: We got the chance to experience a lot of the Cambodian culture by visiting S21 prison (which used to be a school and the setting felt in complete contradiction to the monstrosities that happened there) and the killing fields. It was so sad to learn of the killings that were so recent in their history. I felt fortunate to be working with students because the education system suffered greatly. The vast majority of the population is under 30 years of age and it is imperative that the education system gets re-built. Working with university students really helped us to feel like we were assisting in that effort. It was a heavy day to see those places, I will say.
6: My teammate, Jess, had the awesome idea of taking the students to a movie. Most of them come from poorer situations and have never had the opportunity to see a movie in the theater. It was so fun to watch them get really excited and to just do a fun activity with them.
7: Some of Team Boxcar took a weekend trip to Siem Reap which involved an overnight bus, tourist activities all day, followed by another overnight bus. Fortunately, we actually had bunks so we were able to be horizontal. One of the highlights of that trip was seeing Angkor Wat which is the largest religious site in the world. We got to see lots of amazing old structures and temples.
8: As I blogged about early on in the month, visiting the Red Light District was a challenging but worthwhile experience. It opened my eyes to some of the darker parts of the world and that may end up being the cause that sticks with me after the Race. If you are unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, check out my blog called “A Red Light Experience.”
9: One of the previous World Race teams that worked with our ministry, Beautiful Feet, started a project called “One Loaf” which one of the members brought from their church. The idea is to buy a loaf of bread, make as many sandwiches with it as possible and then hand them out to the homeless on the streets. It was so fun to see faces light up when they realized we were giving them food. By the way, the sandwiches consisted of bread, a fried egg, and condensed milk…unique to be sure.
10: One of the parts of our visit to Siem Reap that stuck out the most to me was going to watch the sunset. One of the temples has a roof that serves as an incredible location for viewing the sunset. The catch is that only 300 people are allowed to be on top at any one point. That created some tension and a long line that really wasn’t respected. While I found the rule-follower in me getting a little outraged, I quickly switched gears to see the situation for what it was: people clambering over each other to get a glimpse of God’s incredible creation. So cool and made me get over myself really quickly. We were not in the 300 to get on top of the temple but the sun humored us and went behind a cloud long before it set. Ha!
11: Finally, the friendliness of the people of Cambodia was far and away the strongest of any culture we’ve been in. During our walk to ministry, we would be greeted by a woman sitting at her store and countless children who wanted a high-five from each one of us. Even waiters, tuk tuk drivers, and the general population are incredibly friendly. It was wonderful.
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And with that, we are leaving Asia: the land of smiles, elephants, Thai pants, tuk tuks, bubble tea, no shoes inside, beauty, red light districts, fish pedicures, and so much more. I’m sorry this blog did not have as many pictures, the internet wasn’t cooperating and it was more important to me to get the blog posted! Asia has been good to us but now it is time for…AFRICA!!!!!! I have known this day would be coming and have been waiting since high school for it. I will not be with Team Boxcar as we have had team changes. Instead, I will be with Team Chasing Jubilee with Kaysea as our team leader, Courtney K, Bella, Meg, Alicia, Linda, and me. Our name came because we love that the year of jubilee in the Bible is a celebration and a time where people are set free of their debts. We are chasing it because there is still quite a bit of Race left and while we are celebrating this last season (three more months, what???) we will not be in full celebration of this journey until we get home. The internet situation in Africa tends to be a little spotty so I will be posting updates as often as I can. Let’s do this Africa!!!
