No Tuk Tuk No Message No Money

Welcome to Cambodia!!

Wow, what an experience it has been, and it’s only been two weeks. You would think two weeks isn’t that long or that there isn’t much time to really do anything, but let me tell you, it has been crazy. It all started with the first night when we had 34 people and only 4 bedrooms. That night we stacked my team of 7 into one bedroom with two beds and have yet to move out, however it has been a joy to live with my teammates. There really is nothing that will bond you together faster than living in a room with 6 other people. The first week we were here we spent resting, seeking the Lord, exploring the city, finding all the good coffee shops and markets, learning the ways of the tuk tuk drivers, and so much more. Right now our team is staying at the base house here in Siem Reap, along with another girls team and a boys team from my squad. Because I was sick most of training camp, I never really got to grow the relationships I wanted to, but being in one place has helped in that aspect tremendously. I can now call so many of my squad mates my friends and I’ve gotten to share life with them in ways I never would have imagined and it has been such a joy. We went on adventures to the street markets, of course bought some Thai pants, and sat in the chilled AC and wifi of the coffee shops. We somehow always end up at the same coffee shop everyday for hours on end, so now we are friends with all of the workers there. Despite this, the first week was really hard on me mentally. I never thought adjusting to life over seas alone would be as hard as it is. I think I’ve had the mentality that ‘I’ve already done this so I’m going to be fine and I don’t have to worry about anything because I’ve lived this life before’. However, I was so wrong. Doing all of this, being back in Asia has been such a blessing, but it also brings so much heartache to not have my family and my sisters by my side through all of it. In a way it feels like i’m reliving my childhood alone. This has been really hard, especially because no one here really understands how I feel and why I feel it, it’s felt very isolating. But joy comes in the mourning; I have been able to grow the want to read my bible everyday and to practice praying without ceasing and welcoming God into every aspect of my life, not just the good parts.  Anyway that is my take away from the first week.

Now for the second week, and let me tell you this week was hard. Okay, let me back up. The ministry assigned to our team is to work with a church here and help them basically with anything they need, however upon our arrival we learned they were all in the Philippines, so we did not make it to the church. Instead, we were sent to work in a village with a fabric factory and a fish farm ministry, specifically the fish farm. I love fish so I was so excited and couldn’t wait to jump in, but when I tell you it was a shock, it was a shock. How it worked was there were 4 jobs, one per day we would be there, each job was completely different. There was feeding the fish at the fish farm ponds, digging a ravine and emptying the mud out of the areas needed, digging a drain for the soccer fields, and working with the welder in whatever was needed. When we arrived the first thing said was “They are all women?!” so that was fun. We later learned all the jobs given were jobs for men that they just threw us in, but we did a boss job at all of them. The first day was very physically demanding and being the hot sun didn’t help, but we did it with smiling faces and lots of rests. My favorite saying from the week was “You take rest now, I will work” said in the poor english these men knew. Each day a different pair got to lead all of the workers (about 15 men) in a devotional. Though it was originally intimidating, it was such a blessing to teach and hear the stories of how God is working in each of their lives. Most of the men didn’t know who God was before working there, but came to know him and follow him through the daily devotionals and the presence of God that surrounds the whole place. It was eye opening to see how God can take my struggles and my disbelief and bring me closer to him through his people and the testimonies of his love. As the week went on, everyday was easier to go and to love on the workers, the people of the village, and the children that gravitated to us as we worked. It was such a blessing.

Tomorrow, we will hopefully move into the church we will be working with the rest of the month we are here and begin ministry with them next week. It will be sad to leave our friends at the base and the home we have made it, but don’t worry, it’s only a 7 minute tuk tuk ride away. Look out for another blog post, probably on Sunday lol. Also I’m thinking I will add a photo album to my blog platform (if I can figure out how) and upload pictures there so everyone can see it. Also a little plug for my instagrams, I have two accounts. My main account is @Faith.e.strange where I will post updates every once and awhile, my other is my behind the scenes of the race account @sweetlifeof.fatih where I post the most random pictures and thoughts from my time here. Feel free to follow and see all that I’m up to!!