Follow The Leader

Ever have those moments that make you stand back, look at the situation around you and have your heart smile? I had a few of those today.

It was day 1 of the Harvesters mission trip and first on our to-do list was cleaning up the community in a village not far from Phnom Penh. We went up and down the roads, picking up trash and cutting down the tall grass on the roadside. Almost immediately, my heart was reminded that this was something that I had an idea to do a few years ago when I was in Cambodia the first time, but it never happened. And to be honest, there was something inside of me that felt it would be like trying to fill a cup with a hole in bottom. Littering is so normal here. I am seen as strange sometimes when I hold my trash until I can get to a trash can. So this was an idea that I just kinda stuck a pin in and moved on. But when we were out there today, I saw that it is possible to work on patching the hole in that cup and all the while continue to fill it.

My favorite thing was that my little team of four quickly grew by 8 or 9 more people. They were kids from the village that began following us and once they saw what we were doing, they helped! They saw our example and started to follow. I was so touched by this and again felt my heart smile, thinking that maybe these kids will pick up trash again in the future...or maybe not litter in the first place. I don't know the realistic likelihood of that, but I have hope.

These are two of the precious kids walking with us. I am a sucker for the brown skin and cute little smiles!

As we walked down the road, we realized none of us Harvesters knew where we were going and thought we would have turn around and walk all the way back up the way we came. But the children very adamantly assured us that we would loop us back around to where we started. All we could see in front of us was a field so I was a little nervous we were going to have balance on the thin walk ways in a rice paddy. Finally, though, we took a turn onto a path that did indeed take us back to the beginning.
Insert yet another heart smile.

It was on this road that we met Sueng, a very lovely and friendly woman that immediately wanted to talk to us, to know what we were doing and asked if I would take a picture of her baby. I happily obliged. Before we left, the students were able to share with her how much God loves her and she allowed us to pray for her. We are going back to the same village tomorrow and I am hoping that we can find her again in the field. I would love to our conversation and answer any questions she may have.

I will post more pictures and stories from day 2 of the missions trip soon.