Hello hello friends and family! We are now living in Kampong Chhnang and it has been anything but boring. The girls were so welcoming since the beginning and there are some orphans too that bring a lot of joy into this place. My ten favorite moments thus far: 1. My first time riding in a tuk tuk. Those things are so cool. It is a motorcycle pulling a carriage type thing that we sit in. It is quite the party. 2.Going to the Joy Daycare in Phnom Penh. TransformAsia picks up kids from the dump and they bring them to the centre. First, they sing songs such as: This Is The Day The Lord Has Made. Seeing the kids sing that is so cute. Then they give them baths and wash the clothes that they came in and put them in uniforms. It is like a preschool, they teach them and they also feed them. A few of me and my team mates were with some of the little boys and we all got some bananas to eat. I had finished mine so I was holding my peel in my hand. One of the little boys gets up, comes up to me without saying a word, and grabs the peel out of my hand. He then proceeds to run down the hallway. It turns out, he went to put it in the garbage for me:). He was so cute. 3. Going to the Genocide Museum and Killing Fields. This probably sounds very odd that this would be one of my favorite things. It was very heart wrenching but I really feel like it was crucial for us to go there to truly understand this country and the history behind these people. I believe it helps give us an outlook on our ministry here. 4.Full out dancing in the pouring rain. It is very, very hot here so we were really hoping for some rain. When it started to pour, we went out and started dancing. I think at first we may have looked a bit crazy but then some of the kids came. And some of the girls started to come, even the ones we didn't really expect to come. It was soo much fun! I did end up getting a cold but it was definitely worth it. 5. Our music/worship class. We were all in a circle yelling out thanks to God. The girls started yelling praises out in Khmer. Even though we couldn't understand them, it was this really great moment. No matter what the differences between our cultures are, we worship the same God. We started dancing and clapping and people started to go into the middle of the circle to dance. Bqsa, who is one of the orphans here, is about 12. He had been on the opposite side of the room and he came over to stand by me. He then started to motion to me that he wanted to dance in the middle with me. So we did. It was a special moment for me. Seeing the girls dancing in the middle, worshiping God, you could see the joy on their faces. It was this amazing time where a lot of us felt alive. We felt a strong purpose in this. We felt like we were right where God wanted us to be. 6. When there was a GIGANTIC spider in our bathroom. I know what you are thinking, why in the world would I enjoy that? Because it is dead now. And looking back on it, it was so so funny. We have a video to prove it. 7.Teaching our first English class. The girls were so eager, they just make it fun for us to teach. They are so determined and happy that we are here to teach them. 8. The girls teaching me sewing. During the day, they have sewing classes and we sit in with them. They wanted me to sew so they began to show me how to do it. I took sewing in Junior High and I am honestly so so terrible at it, so I'm really not a fan. However, I do love it when they teach me. I love it because they laugh at me because I am terrible and it makes the whole situation quite funny. I think it's really good for them to teach me something since I teach them English. 9. Seeing Sam pray. Sam is one of the orphans here and he has Down Syndrome. He is 3 but he looks a lot younger than that. During one of our bible studies, he was sitting on my lap. At the end we were praying to close and he closed his eyes, put his hand together and started to pray in his own way. It was precious and I know God heard his prayer. 10. Yesterday, when I played with Anna. She is the daughter of one of the girls here and she is a GORGEOUS three year old. During English with the kids yesterday, I spent my time with her. I hadn't seen her smile so far and I was able to make her smile and laugh and I just really enjoyed my time with her. She is so adorable. Thank you all so much for your prayers. God is starting to move here already and we have only been here a week! Continue to pray for these girls, that they would believe in God's love for them and that our relationships with them will continue to grow.
Me and Che Oun 🙂
