My random life in Cambodia

At the moringa orchard that got burnt a few months ago

At times it seems like nothing is happening that is worth posting, and then I look back at the past 3 months and wonder how can I possibly write about all the things that have taken place!

My full-time ministry now is helping the Moringa for Health staff with the business, though I help with other CAMA and church related ministries when I can. Increasing our supply of products has proven complicated as the trees don't produce many leaves due to lack of rain. But God has provided leaves and seeds when our shelves were almost empty. The demand is increasing, which is a great problem to have, so we will hire additional staff to help with production, especially as we approach rainy season (June-October). We hired a young woman after the New Year for a part-time position and I am training her to do basic accounting and to help with production when we need.

It's a bit of a catch 22 wanting to hire people who need a job and will benefit from training, but also who have no experience or job training. Lying and stealing is normal in Cambodia and if you don't get caught, it's not wrong. Makes me want to pull my hair out or pack my bags and go home. But then, I wonder, what it would be like to be raised in this culture, and what it would mean to me if someone patiently taught me biblical principles for life and for business, truths that would improve my livelihood and draw me closer to the heart of God?

God has really impressed on my heart recently that His utmost desire for my life is that I follow him, whether I am in Cambodia or America. My obedience is far more important than what my job or marital status is, or what country I live in. Knowing this has freed me to see that it's not so much whether God wants me in Cambodia or not, but that He wants me to follow him. I also realized that life in America is not easier than life in Cambodia and things I struggle with here I will also struggle with there (loneliness). I am not in Cambodia because I love it so much or because I don't like America or because of guilt. God called me here and for some reason I am still here and until He clearly calls me somewhere else, I will stay. On the days when I want to pull out my hair, I sometimes pray God will burden me to go somewhere else, but so far, it's here. =)

I went with the AIDS homecare volunteers to Sek Sok Resort for an outing. It's a river where people can go swimming, and there's also random statues that you can take pictures with (like peacocks and bears). We had a devotional and sang and several people shared their testimonies. We ate lunch and then some people got in the water. I went swimming for a bit and tried not to think about how brown and gross the water was. After about 10 minutes, I felt a sharp pain in my toe as something chomped down on it. I told my teammate that something bit me and I very ungracefully swam to get out so she could look at it (she's a nurse). All the people around said I cut my toe on a rock, but there was a chunk of my toe missing and it didn't feel like a rock. Anyway, we got it cleaned up and then I decided I was done swimming. I sat with Aide Rose and she played guitar and we sang worship songs together. Later, my teammate said she had also felt something bite her but it didn't leave a mark, so I am pretty sure whatever bit me was attracted to my white skin!



People often ask me how my language is going, if I am fluent. Well, it seems the more I learn, the less I know and the more words I learn, the more words I forget. I am never quite sure how to answer Cambodians when they ask me how long I studied Khmer because I will always be learning the Khmer language, no matter how long I live here. Cambodians like percentages, so I would say I understand 60-70%, though that varies with the subject. People are always amazed when they learn that I can speak Khmer, but people that have known me several years know better and they correct me and teach me. I know other foreigners that have been here for significantly less time than I have and they are much more fluent than I am. Please pray I have the motivation to keep learning as it's easy to plateau and survive on what I know already.

A 17 year old girl and her Mom and her cousin moved into the house behind mine (above my landlord's house) and she is studying English. What a convenience that I am a native English speaker! =) Sometimes she and her cousin come to speak English with me, though often they come when I am in the shower or already in my pjs and they yell,"Sister, hello! Sister!"

Saturday afternoon it rained and stormed for several hours and the electricity went out after one of the lightning strikes. That means I don't have power or water, but thankfully, I had already showered. My ceiling started leaking in random places all over my house and it drenched all the papers on my table. I couldn't see very well with the candlelight, so I put buckets where I could and then decided all I could do was sit and watch the storm out my front door.

And that is my random life in Cambodia.