Well, that brings us to Sunday. After waking up to a couple of pieces of glorious banana bread delivered for breakfast by the one and only Sharon, we hopped in a tuk tuk and headed off to the Siem Reap Church of Christ. We were greeted by friendly faces and lots of kids. The kiddos are from a children’s home that’s just a couple streets away. Though they weren’t so keen on sitting still, they got to go to a kids’ Bible class and get some energy out and when they came in for worship, they clambered up into our laps. The little guy that sat with me played with my hands and watch the whole time. As the service passed by in Khmer, I sat content surrounded by family and as each prayer came along, I’d fold his hands into mine. Simple reminders of love and joy are always welcome, especially when something so special becomes mundane. The awesomeness of being a part of worship in another language can drag on if you lose focus of what’s happening. I am learning the value of keeping a sense of wonder, rather than becoming complacent. God has created such beauty and it becomes so easy to walk right past it when we get caught up in the to-do lists and routine of life.
After church, we headed to the Blue Pumpkin to indulge in more American food for lunch. We ended up getting ice cream and hanging out there with Dan and Ravy for a couple hours. Once 3:00 rolled around we headed back to the church to encourage Marie Claire as she led a women’s Bible study. Afterwards, us interns were chatting with a couple of the girls there and one of them, a girl our age named Polly, was doing so great with her English and asked us about our families back home. I said there were four in my family, only one sister, small family huh? I figured typical Cambodian family, I’m sure she has more siblings. True, two sisters; but how many in her family? Three. No parents. She had brought her sisters, ages 13 and 7 to class. Not only is she taking care of them physically, but also making sure they get fed spiritually. It is so amazing to see the courage of these people. To see joy in lives that have endured much more hardship than I have.
After Bible study, we took a little nap back at the hotel before heading off for a surprise dinner and Apsara dance show. It was a seemingly endless buffet of mainly Khmer foods- so good! And then we enjoyed our last night in town as the performers told stories through their dances. Then our group headed back to the Night Market to pick up a couple last things and to walk off a little bit of our feast. My highlight was the fact that I managed to also enjoy a delicious banana and chocolate filled crepe. I’m glad they don’t have those near our house here in Phnom Penh because that could be bad! (Also: Khmers don’t quite do dessert like we do in America- it’s all puddings and jellies, hence the need for the crepe.) Well, we closed the Night Market down. As we decided it was probably time to hit the hay, the lights started turning off behind us, so we deemed that a success.
The next morning after enjoying brunch at an Anthro-inspired little cafe we headed for the bus. Now don’t expect to just hop on a bus here in Cambodia. After hopping off the shuttle bus they tried to usher us on to our ride home. Except the bus numbers didn’t match our ticket. And we were waiting on a man on a moto to chase us down because apparently the hotel just forgot to collect Sarah and Cassie’s payment. Whoops. But what’s Cambodia without a few struggles? Oh wait, that’s life anywhere. So after being reminded that these little bumps along the way make it memorable and help us grow, we settled down into our seats. Cue the Khmer heartbreak music videos.
Well, after more than our allotted six hours on the bus and a lot of rain we made it back home. This past week we got to visit the last three of the twelve villages that the SNACK program visits in rotations! It’s great seeing how many children are reaping the benefits of this program. Nothing particularly noteworthy happened during our time in the countryside, but I saw lots of help going around between siblings or grandmas as they helped the little ones with their cups of milk and bread. And ya know what? That is actually an awesome display of love. So rather than pass it by, feel free to smile. Because as Brennan put it in the Ragamuffin Gospel, “God intended for us to discover His loving presence in the world around us.” He created this world for us to delight in and to remind us of Him.
So here’s to the little things.
And being caught up on the blog haha.
With love,
Shanleigh
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