We made it to Cambodia! We are finally in our first country. Travel day was stressful and exhausting but so much fun! We first flew for 10 hours into the Istanbul airport, had an hour long layover, then flew from there 10 more hours to the Bangkok airport. We stayed in the airport for for like half a day then finally flew for 2 hours to the Phnom Penh airport. Exhausted from almost two full days of travel, we slept in a hostel in Phnom Penh, and in the morning, drove for 5 hours to Siem Reap where we stayed for the rest of our time in Cambodia.
After a week of exploring the beautiful city of Siem Reap, we started our ministry at a school called PCL, teaching Khmer kids how to speak English. We met the amazing staff and each member of our team was assigned to a teacher as the teacher’s assistant. My teacher’s name was Lika Peng and she was awesome. Each of their staff had a heart for God and for the children. We would be at the school from 8:00 am till 6:00 pm. I had three classes that I helped in. Since each class was only one hour long, there was quite a lot of free time. In my spare time, I would help out wherever they would need or read either my Bible or a book called “He Came to Set the Captives Free” by Rebecca Brown, that was extremely powerful and eye-opening on the spiritual realm and the schemes of the enemy. During my class periods, I would play games with my students, have conversations with them in English, or help them with spelling or pronunciation. The kids were so kind and curious. They wanted nothing more than to learn as much as they could. It definitely gave me a new appreciation for my American education and how much more accessible education is as a whole in the states. These students would go to 8 hours of public schooling and then one hour of English school and would never complain. I miss my students very much. Even though I was their teacher, they taught me so much more than I could ever teach them.
One of my favorite days in Cambodia was adventure day. We got to visit the beautiful, world-famous temples of Angkor Wat. The temples are over 500 years old and are still so beautiful and majestic.
One of my favorite things to do in Cambodia was playing soccer with some of the teachers from PCL. They invited us to play with them every Monday and Friday night. Only two of my teammates and I wanted to play so all three of us would catch a ride with them and play soccer for a few hours and it was always such a blast. We were invited to play in a league match with them but we didn’t have jerseys so they ordered jerseys for us with our names on the back; it was very special and cool.
Another one of my favorites was one of the weeks we were there, the water festival was happening which is when the river reverses flow and the rainy season ends. During this week there are festivities everywhere and schools are closed. So, since we worked at a school, it was closed and we went to ministry with one of the girl’s teams (YADA) to the villages. This was a really special week. Working alongside the girls and teaching the kids who weren’t fortunate enough to attend school. It was an amazing opportunity to show the love of Christ to these children. One of the kids I particularly became friends with. One of the sweetest little boys I’ve ever met. His name is Newt and he has downs-syndrome. I got to hangout with him for the day and it was a truly amazing experience. He is such a joyful kid despite all the things he has gone through in his life, and being able to be a friend to him was one of the most beautiful things I’ve had the privilege of being apart of.
Cambodia is beautiful. The people, the country, the architecture, everything. One word I would use to describe Cambodia is perseverance. If you don’t know, around 50 years ago, there was a mass genocide in Cambodia called the Khmer Rouge. Anyone over the age of 60 in Cambodia is automatically shown the highest amount of respect just because of what they lived through. Between 1.5 and 3 million Cambodians were murdered in this tragic event. Despite this, the Cambodian people are some of the most joyful and kind I’ve ever met. You’re always met with a smile and a bow no matter what part of the country you’re in. The Lord really humbled and convicted me in Cambodia. I learned to appreciate the beauty of life in spite of the horrors and evil of sin, and to be content at all times. I will dearly miss Cambodia and am just so grateful to have the privilege of experiencing this remarkable country. Thank you, Cambodia.
