The last 4 days

I think I'm going to have more time than I thought :P Also, I think the internet isn't as slow as I originally thought also (or maybe I'm becoming more patient?). I'm still going to try to limit myself to short posts so I don't spend too much time on the computer, but since I haven't posted on any of the previous days, I'm going to allow myself 4 short posts in this one :D

Also, I realized I can't capture each day with one short post. Since I'm going to try to spread out my posts on different varieties of things (my thoughts, the students, my struggles), they might not be completely representative of the actual day :P But I hope it gives you a taste :)

Day 1: Arrival

Mesa (driver), Chetra, and Nora picked me up from the airport. It makes me so happy that they (Chetra and Nora) wanted to come pick me up :D It makes me think that really small things (I gave them a book last time I visited) make deep impressions on people.

Cambodia was less hot than I anticipated -- I'm guessing it's about the same as Taiwan. Last time I visited Cambodia in the winter, it was already as hot as Taiwan, so I expected summer would be worse. It still is really hot though! Cold showers, here I come!

Day 2: Redeeming (?) Work

I'm reading a book that Joey lent me titled: "The Rest of God". As some of you know, even though I have really enjoyed research in the past year, I have been getting more worried about grad school and burdened (from anticipating burdens! haha :P). One of the questions I've been wrestling with is, "What is the Christ-like response towards (the often tiring) work we have?" It doesn't seem right to only be excited for "ministry" and need to drag your feet through the responsibilities that will occupy much of our lives. God transformed my mind today with a new perspective; I won't elaborate for the sake of a short post, but here are two quotes as hints:

Isaiah 30:15-16

In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it.

You said, "No, we will flee on horses."

Therefore you will flee!

The Rest of God (pg. 18-19)

Before we understand God's rest, we must understand the Lord's work. The church has done little to help people here. Generally, we have a rickety theology of work. I can prove this in ten seconds. If I say the phrase "the Lord's work," what comes to mind? If you're like most people, your default image here is of a pastor or priest or missionary doing pastoral, priestly, missionary things. But this is a shallow and narrow understanding of the Lord's work. The Bible has a much deeper and richer perspective

Day 3: Healthy and Dark

There is an (olympic?) stadium in Phnom Penh where the Cambodian soccer team plays international games. During the night, TONS (tens of thousands?) of people swarm to the stadium. One of the main attractions is soccer, not in the actual soccer field, but bordering the stadium in the dirt, driveways, or mini-fields. The last 3 days, I went with the guys to play -- it's hard! Since we're playing on a small dirt field, I slide whenever I try to move, hahah. Somehow the Cambodian guys still manage to run all over the place! They are really good ball-handlers.

Anyways, if breaking a sweat is good for your health, I'm going to be set :D After soccer, my shirt is like... soaked and dripping... crazy (plus, I sweat here 24/7 :P). On Sunday, I also ran laps around the stadium; I think I'm going to be doing some more running with some of the guys in the next couple of days... this is so not me, haha. I also noticed that my head and arms are getting much darker; I wonder how I'll look after 2 more weeks, haha.

Day 4: WOOT! Hand-washed my clothes!

Chantha taught me how to hand-wash my clothes :D I took one a half hours to wash ... mm... 10-15 articles of clothing? I hope I get faster, haha.

Chantha is a really little guy who has a super happy laugh. He got baptized this year (April?) and I can tell he will be a mighty man of God! Today I saw him cleaning (sweeping, mopping, etc...) the building from floor 1 all the way to 4. I thought maybe it was his responsibility that day, but he told me that he just felt like it :) That is so great! I saw a chart of their "welfare committee" (taking care of the building?) and then noticed that Chantha is the president, hahah. They (all the students) are very organized and self-sufficient. I am very amazed -- they are really trained to be responsible (I dare say, much more than us Americans).