The past three and a half weeks have truly been a whirlwind… and honestly I’ve been struggling to put exactly what I have been experiencing into words. From 4 days of training camp to 65 hours of travel and finally settling into my new home in Cambodia for the next month. CRAZY is an understatement.
Currently, I am writing to y’all (yes this is a thing now) in a small church in northern Cambodia underneath my mosquito net lying next to 12 of my newest (and sweaty) friends. Like clockwork every morning we are woken up around 4am by a rooster and soon after the laughter of 25 children getting ready for school. We have breakfast (rice) together, teach English together, have lunch (more rice) together, teach more English together, eat dinner (and more rice) together, and have worship together. Honestly the only thing we don’t do together is our “business” in our makeshift bathroom fully equipped with squatty potty and bucket shower. I often find my mind drifting to thinking about how in this short period of time it is possible that I have formed such close relationships with so many people. But, the more I think about it, it is exactly what happens when you truly “do life” with other people.
Something that I feel like I have been craving in my life is close community. Yes, I have amazing friends and family back home but close Christian community is something I have never deeply experienced. Truthfully, when I decided to go on the mission field this was something that I was fearful if I would fit into or not but wow was I proved wrong. Every day I am amazed by team’s strength, respect towards one another, and ability to push our relationships with God. They are able to lift my spirits when I’m down, put me in my place when I’m frustrated, and process with me the injustices that we see all around us. To say the least, we all seem to get each other.
Not only has my team been an example of what close community looks like but OH MY so have the children that we serve. Every morning I am woken to children helping each other get ready for school, doing each other’s hair, and making sure they all have full bellies. There are constant smiles and laughter that fill the air wherever they go. The grace and servant like hearts that they show to one another with next to no adult supervision is nothing short of incredible to me. How can it be that these children that have so little have so much joy? And how is it that these children come from such desperate circumstances have so much respect in their hearts? I’ve been trying to answer this question for 2 weeks now and they only thing that I can come up with is that they live in close Christian community with one another and know Jesus Christ as their father. This is something I believe we should all strive to imitate.
That’s all for now, stay tuned for more.
With love,
Madeline
