Okay so where to start....
We left Kona a couple Sundays ago and after a full day of traveling we arrived in Phnom Penh. We ended up staying at a hotel instead of the YWAM base for the first couple days and it was a nice surprise. We got to enjoy the luxuries of air conditioning, warm showers, and a nice queen size bed. We explored Phnom Penh for a couple of days and got to know the history of Cambodia. Our tours that we took were pretty heavy because Cambodia suffered from a genocide in the 1970's and we went to a few of the killing fields. It was good to go to them so we could understand the culture a little better and really pay respect to the older people of the land because they went through this tragedy.
After a couple days in Phnom Penh we went off on a bus to Battambang. We arrived there and went to the YWAM base to settle in. All of our team members were pleasantly surprised by the base. I think we all went in with really low expectations of Cambodia; that we would be living really badly, and that the food wouldn't be that good. It was nice that we went in with low expectations because we all have been counting our blessings. The base is really cute and nice. There's two bases, the first one is where a lot of the staff live and our cafeteria is in that area. They also have a pond with a classroom in the middle, a basketball hoop, and a volleyball court. The second base is where we stay. It is four stories high! The first story is the kitchen and living room, the second story is where we stay (10 girls to one room!), the third story is where our leaders stay and it has a really cool open roof, and the fourth story is where we hang all of our laundry (it is the very top rooftop!).
A couple days after we got to the base and got all settled in we went to go purchase our bikes. They are so cute, and all of us might be a little obsessed with them. They are these cute vintage bikes that were only $35. We each got bells and baskets on them and we have a lot of fun ringing our bells. The traffic here is crazy. There's pretty much no street rules. Everyone does whatever they want. People are riding on the wrong side of the street, not stopping at stop signs, passing cars, and the list goes on. Pray for us that we stay safe on our bikes! I think a lot of us have gotten used to the crazy streets, but it's so funny. It would not fly in the U.S. to be driving the way they do here. I think the most people I've seen on a motto (motorcycle) is five people. Of those five people it's probably a mom, dad, two kids, and most likely a baby sitting on the drivers lap. We've had fun riding around on the mottos and the tuk tuk's (which are little carriage cars, like taxi's). The food here is so cheap and sooooooooo good. You never spend more than $2 on a meal and it will normally fill you up. A normal Cambodian meal consists of rice, vegetables, and some type of meat. The meat can include anything from chicken to frog to dog. You name it, they have it in a dish available to buy.
The Khmer (Ka-my) language looks really beautiful. I think if I were to ever get a tattoo (most likely) I would get something in this writing. It sounds really neat too, it's been a little difficult to learn because the only other language I've ever tried to learn is spanish. At first all my Khmer words had a tad bit of a spanish accident to them, but I'm getting better. I know how to say "what is your name"---on chu mo aye. In the Khmer language it looks a lot more beautiful than how we try to spell it in english.
So, when arriving to Battambang I got pretty overwhelmed because there's just so much to do here. I really had to spend a lot of time talking with God because I can't spread myself too thin. There's so many ministries that I want to get involved in but in order to make relationships I need to invest in only a couple. Fortunately, our team as a whole is involved with many ministries and we are pretty spread out throughout the city. Ever since I watched the "Sex and Money" documentary (look it up online if you have never heard of it), I felt really called to sex trafficking. I came to Cambodia wanting to do justice in that area. When we found out that we probably could not get into that ministry while we are here I got a little disappointed and asked God why He would put it so heavily on my heart if I were not to do it. He definitely answered my prayers the next day. I found out that a girls soccer ministry that I'm going to be involved in three days a week takes girls that have been trafficked or have been in prostitution and teaches them how to play soccer and teaches them english. It was such an answer to prayers! I went this past Friday to their first practice and fell in love with the organization. It is called S.A.L.T. (Sport and Leadership Training). There are about 40 girls out there daily playing soccer and they are all so sweet. A lot of them came up and introduced themselves to me speaking the little english that they knew. Then after that they will hold hands with you, hang on you, and hug you at any given time. I love it and I can't believe it is so easy to form a friendship with them. Then after practice we go to the international school and teach them english. It's such an awesome organization.
The other two days of the week I'm going to be helping out at an orphanage. I went last Thursday and fell in love with it. The kids there are so beautiful, nice, and loving. They love that we come to spend time with them. After playing a few silly games with them we prayed for them and played some games outside. They love to play volleyball and soccer, so I'll probably be playing a lot with them during those two mornings a week that I'm there. Currently in Cambodia, Americans are not allowed to adopt Cambodian children. Supposedly early next year that won't be a law anymore. I'm really praying that the government will grant that freedom for others to adopt from other countries. Cambodia has a lot of orphans and I know many want to adopt but currently are not able to. I'm excited to build relationship with these kids at the orphanage and fix up the place a bit. We will be having bible time there too. The ages at the orphanage range from about 7 years old to 21 year old and there are about 20 kids there. One of the kids (bellow) had fun wearing my glasses.
So that's how this week has looked so far! Saturdays are our days off as a team and we have been enjoying them by going cafe hoping and discovering new places in Battambang. Tomorrow we are going to church at the RAPHA house, which is a house that protects woman who have been trafficked into sex slavery. I can't wait to go. And on Monday we start working at the Youth Center every afternoon. My teammate Kat and I will be teaching a conversation class with 8 students and my friend Grace and I will be teaching photography! We have translators for both classes, it should be a lot of fun. I've never taught before, but I know God will equip me. I'm excited to build relationships with my students as well. They are a bit older (in their teens) and a lot of them are buddhist (only 2% of people are Christian in this country). We have a "Christ-based" class once a week that we teach, and we've been brainstorming about ideas for that class. Can't wait to start this new ministry on Monday. It will be going for 8 weeks.
Some silly things that have happened to us....
-There was a wedding that blared music for 3 days straight.
-We can't ride our bikes more than a block without getting a "dirt" spray tan. (It always seems to trick us cause we actually think we got tan and then soon realize that it's just dirt).
-We have about 12 fans going in our room at night.
-Bartering... that's always fun.
-The traffic, I just laugh every time I go out on the street.
That's it for now! I'm going to really try to blog more often than I did in Kona. Thank you all for your prayers.
A street in Phnom Penh
A boy at the orphanage who had fun wearing my new glasses
The beautiful Khmer language.
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