Ode To A Great Day

I have never been a big fan of saying goodbye. My heart is just not built very well for it, but it seems to be a regular part of my life, so I am working on how well I do when the time comes. I am all about sending someone off with style, so this most recent goodbye was right up my alley. My friend, Maija, is leaving Cambodia today (thankfully though it is only for a few months).

In honor of her departure, we spent this past Saturday together with some amazing friends and chalked the afternoon and evening full of super fun stuff...and a couple of them completely new to me! Walking at the Riverside and stopping for smoothies at one of the restaurants...love the view! [sidenote for any Amazing Race fans...this is the restaurant that the racers had to come get a clue from when the show was here in Phnom Penh a couple seasons ago]

There are these amazing photo booths that do the instant pictures. Granted, I have done these in America, but they are always the same thing...4 little square pictures that all pretty much look the same. Not the story here...

You get to pick your backgrounds, have images of pop stars that can be in the pictures with you, mock magazine covers, etc. And as you take the picture, you can retake it as many times as you like in order to get just the right pose. We laughed SOOO hard and had so much fun doing this! Here is the screen of all 9 pictures we got. It's small, but you get the idea!

Here are two of my favorites:


Afterwards, we went to a Thai restaurant...best one in Phnom Penh in my humble opinion...and then headed to Dream Land. "What's Dream Land?" you ask. Don't worry, I asked the same thing. It's like a mini-theme park/permanent fair here in town. I got a kick out of the staff shirts, though, because they said "Dream Land," but was written in the famous Disney font and had a picture of Mickey Mouse. Disney it was not, but we had a lot of fun walking around and people watching for a while. We decided not to ride any of the rides since we had just come from dinner and were all a little nervous about getting sick on full stomachs.

We did, however, take our chances with the 4D dinosaur movie. Again, laughter was plentiful. There were seat belts on the chairs and rightfully so...they kinda tossed you around and made you feel like you were moving through the dinosaurs.

So. Much. Fun. This definitely goes down as a great day!

Beauty From Ashes

As the new Harvesters class began this week, I am working on getting back into the swing of preparing and teaching. I realized yesterday how much I have missed it. We have 12 new students, all ready to learn and develop and be discipled.

The lesson yesterday was on the cross and repentance. The heart behind it is not guilt, but to allow each one of us to have a revelation on how much God loves us and how He is jealous for us. He wants to guard and protect our relationships with Him. At the end of the class time, we gave an opportunity for them to respond to what the Holy Spirit had been speaking to their hearts, to repent and lay down anything that might be hindering their relationship with God. They wrote those things down and then burned them.


It says in Isaiah 61 that God will give them a crown of beauty for ashes. I believe that each one of these students is going to see beauty that comes from the ashes...freedom and restoration to their hearts.

The Spinning Carousel

If the saying is true...that a picture really is worth a thousand words...then this one speaks volumes to me...

This "carousel" (which does not actually spin) is by far one of my favorite places in the world. I have spent countless hours here, playing games, talking, laughing, planning, praying...sharing life. So many wonderful memories. I have recently had some pretty amazing times here, for which I am grateful. And of course, it gets me to thinking...

No one who knows me even a little would be surprised by this self-declaration..I think about things A LOT! I would say that this can be a very good thing...it can also get me a little frazzled. I just hit the six-month mark of living here in Cambodia and in the last few weeks, I have unfortunately been leaning towards the frazzled side, busy and thinking a lot. Please don't get me wrong, I am doing ok. I love it here. I love that this is my life. I love how God has poured out His heart for this nation into my heart and given me opportunity to impact the world with His love. My being "frazzled" has actually been the source of a very good reminder and lesson from God. I had written to a dear friend of mine, asking her to pray for me and welcoming any words of encouragement for that time. When she wrote back, she simply but profoundly told me this:

REST.

As soon as I read that, it was like there was a spotlight on that word. Why do I forget to do that? Why do I feel the need to be busy and plan and figure things out and constantly keep my heart and mind moving? Why don't I just sit and rest? Why is being still so hard and thus becomes the last resort once I feel overwhelmed and near collapse? It should be my "default." It should be the place where my heart remains...at rest with Him.

I immediately thought of the story in the Bible about the disciples in the boat when the storm came and Jesus slept. The accounts says that the storm came upon them with no warning. These guys were experienced fishermen and wouldn't have gotten out on the water to begin with if it'd looked like a major storm was close. It was Jesus who suggested they get in the boat...they were following Him in obedience. And when the storm came, they were fretting over how they were going to live and questioning how Jesus could sleep through it all when they were in danger, even going so far as to wonder if He didn't care about them. But He slept away, knowing they weren't really in danger. He was resting because He needed rest...and He knew the Father was in control. Granted, my life isn't being threatened, but I feel like there are times I have been exercising about as much faith as the disciples here, which wasn't much at all, and for which they were rebuked.

Me being a person who plans, when situations come up, I am able to stay calm, but in that, I go into troubleshooting mode...figuring out what decisions need to be made in order to get things back on course, how to make the plan work or try to make a new plan very quickly. I always feel the need to have some sort of plan to point to and say "This is where I am going. This is who I am."

I feel like I have two choices...Option 1: Tapping Jesus on the shoulder and saying, "Umm, Jesus, if You haven't noticed, there's a storm going on here. If you wouldn't mind, could You justify my fear and doubt by waking up and joining me in my panic, or prove Yourself by stopping the wind altogether." This is not the best option.

Option 2: Curl up on the bottom of the boat and cuddle up next to Jesus. Know that He is leading me and trust in Him. This is the option my heart longs for.

There are so many things I am learning right now. This story is far from new. The principle of rest isn't new. But God has been speaking revelation to me about it. As I said earlier, I love my life and I love that God called me to live for Him in Cambodia. I am not homesick. There are things I miss about America, but I am not homesick...because really, Cambodia is home, too. Some things are easier in America than here only because I can look at things through the same cultural perspectives. I really do see this as a growing and maturing opportunity and I am always up for an adventure. And this isn't something that is specific to me and my life as a missionary in another country. It is truth of God that spans over time and location. So in everything...

I choose rest. I choose the peace of Jesus. I choose Him.

Outreach to Takeo Province

Attempt #1 at posting a video...failed.
Attempt #2...failed as well.
Attempt #3...stop trying to post the silly video, seeing as how this is just not working.

I am willing to admit defeat and am now going to just post a few of the photos from the mission trip. This does prove to be a bit more difficult since I took somewhere in the ball park of 800 pictures that weekend. These are a few of my favorites:

We painted the church building where we were staying. I loved this project because not only is it service, but we found out that the pastor had been praying for years for the means to paint the building. God used us as an answer to those prayers...


We had a small team from World Race Missions join us for the trip and we had a lot of fun building relationships with them for the month they spent at our church.

This one makes me laugh purely because of Leng's face, the guy to the far left.

It is inevitable that there will be small paint fights when you put rollers and brushes into their hands (ok, I wasn't exactly innocent either, but this picture does portray that I am being "attacked")

One of the finished walls.

After we finished painting, we went out to a neighboring village and let a children's program with games, songs, dramas and a Bible lesson.

We recruited a few of the kids to play in the drama/Bible story with us and are making them into lions for the Daniel story.

This is a drama that the students wrote to portray sin and Jesus' sacrifice.

The team...