Cambodia: Day 9
Start at the beginning.
For some reason, I couldn't fall asleep last night. I kept tossing and turning. Even after I took some sleeping pills, I was still up for awhile. Needless to say, I was pretty tired during the day.KCEA
In the morning, we went to KCA to teach. We didn't really have anything prepared, so we just played games instead. First, we played a bunch of Khmer games. Then, out of the blue, Soekna wanted to arm wrestle. I had arm wrestled him before, and even though my arm is bigger than is, we were evenly matched. This leads me to believe that my arm wrestling technique is lacking.
After everyone's arm got tired, Jeff and I taught them how to thumb wrestle. Since we had so much more experience with it, it wasn't difficult for us to beat them.
Once the festivities were over, we got a nice group picture. Then I sat around with Simone and surprised her with the amount of Khmer that I knew. Most people didn't know that I was studying Khmer, so when I bust it out, they are pleasantly surprised.More Budgeting
Then it was off to Life for Living where I taught the staff about budgetting. This class was a lot easier because I didn't have to wait for Soekna to translate it. It seems like this kind of knowledge is really useful to them. We'll see if they actually keep up with the books.
The girls had been cooking for us pretty much all week. In order for us to return the favor, we took them out to one of the nicer restaurants in the area. I think it was a nice change for them.
One of the dishes they ordered consisted of fermented fish. It tasted alright, but I didn't want to eat too much. It was a good thing too, because not long after, I had to hit up the WC with some hershey squirts.
We ate lunch early, so there was still time before we had to be at the temple. We wanted to hide in the hotel because of the blistering heat.
I hadn't realized how tired I was until I got back to the hotel. When it came time to go to the temple, I had to make a hard decision. Take a quick nap and try and get some energy for teaching tonight or go learn Khmer with a pretty girl. In the end, my tiredness won out.Guitar Class
It wasn't long after that we went to teach guitar class. I don't know if it was the tiredness or what, but I had a really hard time teaching this class. I tried explaining the dotted note to them, but they just couldn't understand.
We eventually wised up and found Soekna to explain it to them. In retrospect, we probably should've just spent the time teaching Soekna and a few of the other students with better English. This would've made a lot more sense because they could, in turn, teach the other kids what they had learned.Worship
Since Soekna pretty much took over my class, I popped on the iPod to listen to some worship music. It's been a long while since I truly got to worship God and it felt so good.
Sure I go to service every week. I sing songs, I pray, I learn from the messages. But none of that really felt like I connected with God. And now, when it happened, it felt so good. It reminded me of my early days as a Christian, not concerned about anything other than loving God. It reminded me of my experience in Copan, Honduras last year, as I heard God call me to full time missions.
As I sat there silently singing, I couldn't help but feel the welling up inside me. These moments of perfect communion are rare and oh so precious. Even if I didn't accomplish anything on this trip. Even if nothing else came out of it, this singular moment would've made it all worth it.Grace School
Then it was to Grace School to help Dee with some computer stuff. The things that he was asking me were all cosmetic and seemed kind of silly. Still, I was more than happy to oblige.
The English class that I was teaching had asked me to sing for them. I didn't really know what to sing, so I chose the song that had touched me so back in Honduras and not that many hours ago: Only You, by David Crowder. I figured, if I'm going to sing, I'm going to sing about something that I truly cared about and meant something to me.
Tomorrow brings the weekend and the beginning of the end. Soon, I will be back in the states. These posts will be online and it'll be back to the daily grind. Hopefully this is not the end, but a step in to the greater things that God has in store for me.
posted by w3y at
8/18/2006 11:39:00 PM
