10 Things Cambodia Taught Me!

Wow. Where to even begin? I have now lived in Cambodia for three whole months of my life. Three! That is still mind blowing to me. 

In the time since I first set foot here, I feel like my life has completely been transformed in the most wonderful ways possible. God has been so good to me and graciously taught me so much. 

Here are some of the BIG things that God taught me in this chapter of my life.

Battambang { Month 1 }

God broke the lie off of me that I am an introvert and that I don’t like being around people. He taught me that while I may have more introverted tendencies some of the time, I am IN NO WAY defined by this label. I am actually wayyyy more of a people person that I thought. I had come to let a word define my actions and it restricted me. Before coming on the Race, I thought that I would struggle with living with our entire squad and that not having my own space would be extremely uncomfortable and weird. But, I actually LOVED living in such a close knit community. One of my favorite parts of Battambang was looking around the room each day as we sat at the table and on the mats on the floor, sharing meals together. It gave me such a cool image of how Heaven must be as we all sit around the table in community. 

God showed me the importance of reading the Bible and spending time with Him each day. For some reason, I had the idea in my head that reading the Bible was boring and not worth my time. Maybe this is you too. If it is, please hear this. God actually desires an INDIVIDUAL relationship with each of us. He created us unique in His image which means that we are different from any other human that He has created. Ever. Because we are each different, our relationship with our Father in Heaven will look different. One of the best ways to start building any relationship is by getting to know the other. I knew God based on what other people had told me, which was based on their own relationships with God. I didn’t actually know God for myself. I didn’t have a relationship with Him. He taught me that we are each responsible for building our own relationships with Him. He is always there and open to begin the process of building our relationship, but relationships are a two way street. We have to put work into it too. We can’t be lazy and expect God to show up in all of these magnificent ways if we aren’t willing to put any work in. That just isn’t fair, but it’s something that is so easy to do so He taught me to be mindful of this fact. He also taught me that any good relationship is built on spending quality time together each day. Battambang gave me the space to wake up each morning and sit on the roof, watching the sunrise, remaining in His presence. I now have a hunger to discover God for myself – in His word and through the Spirit, and to not let the way that other’s have a relationship with Him define my own. 

Siem Reap { Month 2 & 3 }

God taught me about forgiveness. He actually started this process while I was at training camp, but He taught me so much about this word as soon as I showed up to debrief in Siem Reap. God taught me that forgiveness is often a long process. I learned what it means to forgive others, to ask for forgiveness from the Lord and to ask for forgiveness from the people that I had wronged. He taught me the most about forgiving myself. It was by no means an easy process. It was actually an incredibly painful and vulnerable place that He had to take me. I didn’t really feel like digging up and confronting things of the past and I kind of journeyed to this place kicking and screaming. It required so much trust and strength from Him. Learning about forgiveness was seriously one of the hardest things that I have had to do. Such a simple word but no easy task. The Father is the King of forgiveness though, and I am grateful that I got to learn from the best teacher. It was actually in asking for forgiveness and in forgiving myself that I was able to step fully into the Race and where He is calling me to. I got to publicly proclaim that my life is to be lived for the Lord and that I belong to Him. When I was once dead in my sins (living a life deemed “good” to the world) God made me alive in Him when I stepped fully into what the Lord has for me. I got to be baptized because the Lord taught me how to forgive and be forgiven and let those sins be washed away. 

God gave me HIS joy. Never have I ever been filled with so much joy in every single moment. God gave me His joy in moments when it could have been really easy to choose just about any other feeling but joy. Cleaning the guesthouse was no glamorous job. It involved a lot of sweating, scrubbing, painting, bucketing, and more. Doing early reception shifts and staying up late or being woken up in the middle of the night when we were on security was not always fun. Sometimes I forgot to let God give me His joy. He showed me that having His joy not only means choosing it, but being open to it. I had to let Him fill me up to overflow it. I carry so much more joy now because of my good good Father. 

God reminded me of His goodness by being thankful – even in hard circumstances. In realizing how much pain and brokenness people suffer in this world, God reminded me of His goodness by being thankful in all situations (see my last blog for more!). I honestly started to question His goodness because I couldn’t understand why really hard things were happening to people around me. I’ve had to learn that often times, God doesn’t respond to the why question. We want to know why because we like to be in control and to have understanding over all situations. But we tend to fixate on they why instead of looking past it. The thing is, often times we aren’t supposed to have understanding because I honestly don’t think that I could handle it. Instead of seeking understanding for ourselves, God taught me to seek to have faith in Him and trust that He’s got it. No matter what the circumstances are. He revealed to me that He is ALWAYS present in every situation – shining His light – and that thankfulness is one means to searching for His goodness when it is hard to see where He is showing up.  

God reminded me of the goodness and kindness in people. In today’s society, we talk a lot about the bad that goes on in the world. Sometimes we talk about it so much that it is easy to forget that there are people who are striving to live and love like Jesus did. Quick little story on someone who taught me so much about the way that Jesus loved: Our team was at church one night. Most of the team was in the main building eating dinner. My teammate Amber and I were in a different building at a baptism class. When the class finished, we realized that the rest of the team had left (little miscommunication). We started to walk home, but all the ICF people told us that we shouldn’t walk home alone. They offered to give us rides home on their motos, but there is a strict WR rule against riding motos. So the solution was to walk. We ended up walking four miles home, which took us a little over an hour, with someone who we didn’t even know and who didn’t know us either. Piseth, who was a complete stranger to us, walked us all the way home late at night because He cared enough to make sure that we got home safely. Total act of sacrifice. Totally transformed the way I think about sacrificing my own plans for the sake of another. God used Him to remind me of the goodness in people, especially when they are people seeking after the Lord. I’m so grateful that he not only walked us home that night, but that talking to him for an hour taught me so many things that can not always be easily learned. 

God has rewritten friendship. I’ve learned that sometimes there seems to be stigmas around friendships with people way younger or way older than yourself. Especially in school, it is typically viewed as abnormal if you spend a lot of your time with people who are older/younger than you. God has torn this lie down, and taught me more about what friendship actually looks like and should be defined as. The definition of friend is ‘one attached to another by affection.’ No where does it say that friendship is to be defined by age, race, language, religion, gender or any other thing. God places people in our lives with a purpose. He intends for them to be more than just strangers. We are actually supposed to get to know them; and affection or friendship is most often a result of seeking to know someone.  

God taught me that He always gets the final say. In teaching me that He gets the final say, He also taught me a lot about the importance of taking everything to Him. My life feels so much more grounded and I am able to process things so much better when I not only let God into my life, but take things to Him first & lay them at His feet. Emotions, circumstances, fears, hopes. I have to lay it all at His feet because everything is in His perfect timing. 

God gave me His peace. Sometimes days are hard and uncertain. That’s just the nature of being on the Race, being abroad, sharing the gospel & just living life. God has given me such peace over the next six months of the Race and in what is to come in the future. He is teaching me about how He always remains constant (endures). In times of change and transition, I can hold tight to my good Father who takes care of me and loves me always. I hold no fear for the future or His plans for me. Jesus is the prince of peace. 

God taught me about His perfect timing & plan. God has shown me so much about His perfect plans and perfect timing in this last month. Reflecting on how I got to Cambodia in the first place has been a testament to His perfect plan and timing. Even in the way that He has given me a lot to think about for the future right before I go off the grid and will have a lot of time to sit with Him and process, His plan is perfect. He has broken me free of all things that used to chain me down. Where He calls me, I will follow. When He calls me, I will go. 

Cambodia has been more than my wildest dreams. I have such a deep love for this country and for its people. Even in a place that is 95% buddhist, you can evidently see God at work. My heart actually aches to leave this place because of the sweet friendships we have made. But, it is all in God’s hands. And I’m so thankful for that because He is big enough for it all. And He is GOOD. 

Look for His goodness today. It is all around you!

Sunday morning our squad will be en route to Ethiopia! We will be living all together for months 4, 5 & 6 of the Race in Harbu Chulule, working with HOPEthiopia. We aren’t sure what our ministry is going to look like for each team yet. I’ll give you updates when I can, but wifi will be scarce! You probably won’t hear all that much from me, but still feel free to email me, comment on this blog or other ones so I can see it all when I do get wifi! I would really also love prayers for a smooth transition into this next country, as the cultures are vastly different & also for the work that God has laid out for us in Ethiopia. Here we go! 

-Elena