two dollars

tuk-tuk ride

Two dollars. What would you do with two dollars? In America two dollars can't buy me much- a diet coke, a pack of gum, maybe some hair ties. In Cambodia, the average person survives on $2 a day. It is a different world from my closet full of clothes for every season and my comfy bed (which i do miss very much!) Walking down the street here, my eyes see things that my American mind isn't sure how to process sometimes. a blind man whistling a sad song as he aimlessly shuffles along.. young girls at dinner beside me with an old white man.. teenage boys paving roads instead of spending their days in school.. families forced to live in boats because they have no rights to own land.. children selling things on the streets to make money. I could go on and on at the injustice that screams from these streets. There is so much need in front of me.

And then Caitlyn and I go to meeting after meeting, where we hear things like- most Cambodians take their children out of school at 12 years old because they believe it's time for them to work. Or- the church makes up 2% of the population here, and many of those believers are not committed or uneducated. We hear that the people of this nation are selling their children for money- that they don't know how to parent well.. that 40% of the entire country is under the age of 18.

MY. HEAD. SPINS.

Where do you even start in all of that? The big picture of it all, it is enough to break a heart and make you want to run away. But then I remember some of my favorite moments of the past two weeks, in a nation full of the most kind and gentle people I've ever known: the lady at the street market smiling as she touched my skin to feel its softness. Our tuk-tuk drivers wanting to care for us everywhere we go. People pouring their hearts out to us as they share about the work they are doing here. Walking through an elementary school in the poorest of places and hearing children sing about Jesus. Getting kissed on the cheek by our tuk-tuk driver after he drove us through a crazy monsoon. People praying over us and telling us not to give up on our dream, even though it will be hard.
Those moments make me realize that God is alive here- He's alive period- and He is a gift worth giving to people even if I'm overwhelmed or if I'm content, even if they sit in poverty or in riches, even in the heat or in the rain, in both my selfishness and in their brokenness apart from Christ.
Life with Jesus is WORTH SHARING.
I want the truth of that to be written on my heart for all of my days.

we will miss you Cambodia! :(

Tomorrow morning, Caitlyn and I will head back to Vietnam for the 2nd part of our trip. Her fiance, Teddy, will join us for a few days and we're super excited to have him along! It's bittersweet to think that my time in Cambodia is already over. I leave with this prayer on my heart:

Isaiah 62

"Because I love Zion I will not keep still.

Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem I cannot remain silent.

I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn

and her salvation blazes like a torch...

and you will be given a new name by the Lord's own mouth.

The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see- 

a splendid crown in the hand of God.

Never again will you be called 

"The Forsaken City" or "The Desolate Land"

Your name will be.. "The City of God's Delight" 

for the Lord delights in you."