Leaving Cambodia

training camp photo 😉 probably like day 5 HAH

Quick rundown:

Been in Cambodia for a month now
Had to leave my favorite kiddos on Tuesday
Had my last rice field swim 🙁
I’m on a mini debrief processing Cambodia and all its goodness (still in Siem Reap)
We take a train to Thailand on Monday !!!
I just got a piercing YUH and pretty much my whole group has tattoos now

Said goodbye a lot this week and last. Had to say goodbye to our cooks, my favorite aunties! They shared their traditional Khmer curry recipe with me, which could provide some tears bc it’s THAT good! Had to say goodbye to my beautiful, gracious hosts. The sweetest couple and 3 women that I will forever hold dear in my heart. Said multiple goodbyes to the kids in the villages. These were more difficult than i thought they would be. I didn’t think these kids would have made such an impact in my life. They were a constant joy to be around, they were sacrificial, oh so generous, and carried so much peace with them. I remember holding one of the girls I connected with a lot face as her arms were wrapped around my legs thinking that this was the last time I was gonna see her and it actually breaking my heart. You truly leave a little bit of yourself everywhere you go and I pray that those kids got to feel how I experience Jesus’ gentle love. I also had to say goodbye to a family that we had been visiting that showed me the definition of sacrifice and generosity. This was also harder than I expected. It’s emotional and I understand why people don’t want to leave while on the mission field. Building relationships with people go a long way. That’s how you build trust and a foundation so you can show them a kind God that only wants to know you and love on you.
I wanted to back track to two weeks ago in my blog where I shared about this sacrificial and generous culture and give you a story of one of my first weeks here. My team and I were headed back from this sweet families home^^ and this is the family where we have to walk through flooded rice fields to get to. It is probably my favorite thing ever! I shall share pictures 😉 so! As we’re walking back to our van to leave, the mom in the family is walking us out a bit and my friend Sarah slips in the mud. This sweet woman comes, picks her up, walks her over to the water and gets herself in this water that our host is telling us we should not be getting into because it’s not the safest at the bottom and this beautiful, gracious woman begins cleaning her up. Splashing water on her feet and cleaning off her legs and butt. I caught myself taking a few steps back and standing in awe of her sacrifices, in awe of her generosity. This woman also offers us the food we bring her every time. She stands and walks like Jesus, but is just beginning to understand who Jesus is. Sooo imagine if this woman understood how Jesus walked. Wow.

Peace and love,

-my <3