Summary of the First week

     Good morning amazing people!

     I want to try something different with this blog thing. Before I left on this trip I was challenged by my masterful Mother to take 2 pictures a day since I am not really a picture taker. This sparked an idea to go along with that. What if I make 2 blogs a week, one full of stories and one full of pictures and beautiful words. This also gives me deadlines so I actually write blogs. So the plan is to have Truthful Tuesdays where I will tell stories and struggles, and Cinematic Saturdays where I will have word pictures and digital pictures. Now, if you remember, I am in a foreign country where Wifi is not a given so they may not go up on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but I’m going to pretend that’s when they will happen.

     Today we start working in earnest with our manual labor week. We will pick up trash, move a swing set, clean certain rooms, etc. In the 3 1/2 that we will be here, we’ll also teach English classes for the kids. They do have English classes at their schools but they are not written by native English speakers. So we are teaching pronunciation and communication, not from a book. The lesson for this week is directions like how to get here or how to do this. Did you ever play the game of if an alien arrived on earth and didn’t know anything how would you teach it to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? That’s basically what we are doing.

     I’ve been struggling a bit in the relational part of the ministry. Purposely talking to people to try to get to know them when some of them don’t want to talk to you because you can’t communicate well is taxing on my introverted self. The first of days I did “hide” because of that. Now trusting in God’s plan is the name of the game. It means getting out the comfort zone. Out of the room. Into God’ people.

     My team has a variety of skills, from a teacher, dancer, crafter, video editor, etc. Some of them have the same skill and thinking process so it all just flows. Some it takes a little more work but get the job done. All of them go with the flow a lot better than me but I’m getting a lot better (I think). None of them has Wifi or makeup as their lifeblood which is a blessing to have.
During a couple of off-hours, we went to the Spider Village. It’s a market that specializes in cooked insects. I thought it was awesome. We all tried a sort of fried spider together. Everyone else was grossed out by the idea but I, surprisingly, enjoyed it. I had to eat the extra spiders they didn’t eat so I ended up eating 3-4 whole spiders. There were also a lot of children there trying to sell us pineapples, grapefruit, and bananas for a dollar. “Sistar, just one dollar ah?” was the echoing cry throughout our visit. I needed to harden my heart a little because of the multitudes. They did bring live spiders with them which were a source of great entertainment since of the girls on my team don’t do spiders.
     During our off day (Monday) we went to Phnom Penh which is the capital of Cambodia. Our first stop was S-21 where a lot of the torture during the Khmer Rouge genocide happened. It helped our team to realize just how real this time was. Since it happened in the 70s, most everyone 40 and older remembers what happened and are still affected every day.
     We also got pizza at “the Pizza company”, sounds like something you would find in Loonie toons, I know. Daughters of Cambodia was next on our list which is a cafe/shop for women taken out of the sex trade to learn workplace skills to stay out of the sex trade. Highly recommended if you are ever in Cambodia. The last stop was the Russian market where bargaining is the way to go. I managed to get tiger balm to help with my headaches before it closed and we ended our “fun” day. Now it is back to work with the kids here.

     My Bible time is consisting of “New Morning Mercies” by Paul David Tripp. It’s really taking me back to the basics of where God is in my life. For example, he is the controller of everything and he does not need a human plan to have his plan work. My “plans” are not the end all be all. My expectations mean nothing. I admit I am not used to going with the flow which is how this country and ministry runs. I have a lot to learn in that department. But God is still good, and all the time, God is STILL good, no matter what I do.

     Wifi is iffy at the moment so I don’t know when I will be able to post again, but please keep me in your prayers as I do with you. If you wish to support me, please be patient because the YWAM donating link is being redone at the moment. If you have any questions at all, email me at [email protected] and I will answer as soon as I have wifi again.
     Have an awesome day full of God and his joy,

     Katie Friese