Hellooooooo from Cambodia! Let me tell you about our 5 weeks here!
After a looooong 4 travel days getting out of Vietnam (due to some visa issues we were denied exit via bus at two borders and ended up having to fly into Cambodia. We love a good World Race travel story haha!) we arrived at our ministry- Chubvary High school!
My team was located in a small town named Preah Net Preah, with one main road and one corner store. We lived on campus and taught high school English classes!
Our schedule varied a little bit day to day. But we usually had one class in the morning and one or two in the afternoon. We covered a range of English topics and lessons. We lived in the gym/barn building at the back of the school property with the gym teacher, his wife and 2 year old daughter, the biology teacher, and a couple of students. Outside of the gym building was an outdoor kitchen and table where the family would cook for us and where we would spend our free time getting to know them! We also became very close to two students named Sannchhay and Hlen. These two girls had the sweetest hearts and spent most free periods and evenings with us. What a blessing sweet friendships are!
While we were able to benefit the students by giving them conversational English practice, we knew we had something so much better to give them!! Chubvary High School is a public school. There were Buddha statutes and pictures throughout the campus and everyones wrists were decorated with the red bracelet that symbolized having recently visited a Buddhist temple.
As time went on the teachers started to give us free time in the class rooms to talk about whatever we wanted. What a perfect opportunity to share the gospel!!!
I had the opportunity to teach the beautiful simple gospel to all of our classes. Using some previous practice from church and some added inspiration from the holy spirit, I drew pictures on the white board and explained the story of Jesus. It usually looked a little something like this!
I think teaching about the gospel in this way was just as life changing for me as it was for them. A majority of the students we talked to on a daily basis had never even heard the name Jesus. To have the privilege to share that with them for the very first time was incredible. And to witness eyes physically widen in surprise and shock when I told them that Jesus’s body was gone on the third day has changed my perspective forever.
The story of Jesus has captured my heart, and oh how much I pray that it captured theirs!
We had opportunities the bring a guitar into classes and sing worship songs for the students. We taught them dances, played games, and they were able to ask us more about our own lives too. Our ministry here was a blast all of the time!
Another cool testimony from our time here is from the gym teacher Pana, his wife Kimsin, and their young daughter Cinica. They are the cutest family! Like all the other teachers they are Buddhist, but they loved to hear about our trip and asked lots of questions when we read our Bibles at the table.
Several times throughout our time here I was brought to tears by the thought of not knowing if I would ever see this family again in heaven. I could be as much of a light as I could while with them, but wasn’t confident in how permanent of an impact we would have after we left. I prayed and prayed for them. Before we left the school we were able to give them a Bible in their language, Khmer, and highlight some of our teams favorite verses.
After we left, we received a video from them of Pana reading their Bible to Cinica before bed. The usually rowdy small girl was perfectly still and listening. I was once again brought to tears by this beautiful family and the hope that one day I will spend eternity dancing with them in heaven.
There were definitely hard parts about Cambodia for me as well, but I think they’ve just stretched me to grow even more. I struggled with feeling isolated due to the pretty strong language barriers in the beginning, and with no places to go (plus 100 degree weather and we were not allowed to wear shorts or tank tops here) we didn’t leave the school grounds much. I had to learn what it really means to die to your flesh in a not so glamorous living/bathroom situation where bugs were plentiful. And growing as a person and within my team here was also a process of pruning, but I have learned so much about patience, kindness, and humility.
Cambodia has been a beautiful place and God moved in some pretty cool ways!
Now we get ready to head to Africa for the remaining three months of The World Race!! I am looking forward to being in both ESwatini and South Africa and all the ministry opportunities we will have there!
That’s all for now!
