Blog 2 UPDATE!

Suer-sday! Hello, from Siem Reap, Cambodia!

It’s been a sweet but hard adjustment within a beautiful country and a culture that feels so different from my own, which is understandable. The letters of the alphabet bare no resemblance to English, I sweat endlessly in the humidity being so close to the equator, and I’ve laughed as I’ve had to explain what freckles are to the people that I meet when they touch my arm and point out how different we look. There were days that I questioned what our team was doing here and how I could contribute to a ministry where I had almost no ability to communicate and kids cried when they first saw us. I didn’t want to give up but I had to sit with the Lord and ask what He wanted in this time because He has bigger plans. Ministry didn’t look like what it did at my college ministry in discipleship with people who spoke the same language and had the same goals as I had, but I know it has no less value if all I am doing is just sitting helping kids learn the alphabet and loving them the way Jesus does. One thing I wrote down during a talk at training camp was that we are worth far more to God as who we are than what we can produce. The Lord’s heart is so for the people here in Cambodia, and He will accomplish what He is going to do whether we say yes or no, but He invites us and wants us to be a part of that. Everyday I think that is giving up a little bit more of our own life and what we want and saying yes to what God is asking of us. Maybe that’s saying yes to that small group, or stepping up in a leadership position, or finally asking that co worker if they believe if God is real, or serving your family better. But most importantly, it’s just sitting with the Lord in His presence, getting to know Him and you will see that even when we are faithless, He is faithful. Out of trusting and knowing the Lord is when we get to go out and produce fruit that will last, in our lives and the world, local and global.

Some things I’ve grown to love in Cambodia is waking up on a Saturday morning to walk down and get the best fried banana for breakfast and an iced coffee and realize even if I’m far from the ones I love and what I love, there’s no better place to be than in the Lord’s will for your life. Something I’m only beginning to learn in giving up only two and a half months of my life, but hearing it and witnessing it better from the full time missionaries who have left everything and been in Cambodia for years. This world is beautiful, Cambodia is beautiful, and the one who created it is beautiful. So the next time you get to take a step back and get in a deep breath, just take a moment to sit in the Lord’s presence and see the work He is doing in and around you, and maybe what He is calling you into.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬