I Got Kissed!

On the cheek. By one of my spa girls. There is a shoe-making business right across from the Daughters center, and it's close enough for all the shirt-less boys/men who work there to stare at the girls through the open doors. I noticed that See-na (that's her name phonetically) kept situating her zip-up hoodie to cover any possible cleavage. Later one of the other girls said to me, "the shoe boys want to love her." I wrapped my arms around See-na and said "no no NO!" and then I violently shook my fist at those boys! The girls all laughed really hard at me, and then See-na kissed me on the cheek. I wondered if anyone had ever tried to protect her before...

On Sunday I went to a Cambodian house church lead by an amzing pastor named David. (He was Cambodian too). Oh my goodness, it was the most inspiring, encouraging service! First of all, every time I go to a different country and I meet Christians there I am always amazed at the way the Holy Spirit unites the Church Body. He takes a Jamaican man, a Romanian woman, a Cambodian man, and a 20 year old American girl- all with different languages, backgrounds, cultures, worldviews, and beliefs- and gives them the same moral character. The same burning passions for the poor. The same goals in life. The same kind of love. This cannot be a coincidence. I've met too many people, from too many very different countries, who have the same soul to be fooled into thinking that there is no such thing as a living God. Thank God that we are all being taught by the same teacher, or else there's no way we could be similar enough to be called one Church. Anyway, David was one of these incredible people being led by the Lord, and he and a team from this church had just gotten back from the jungles of Cambodia. Their goal was "to find a Man of Peace" in indigenous tribes. These tribes were very spiritual people, and they were constantly living in fear and trying to appease the spirits around them in order to get them off their backs. (I learned all about this before in my Religions of the World class! I <3 you, Dr. Cindi Strong!!!) They often have to leave bottles of red water resembling blood on their door frames as offerings of sacrifice to the spirits. I know this all sounds ridiculous if you're coming from big American cities like we are, but these spirits are very real, and because they're not from God they are not good... Anyway, they found a Man of Peace in the first tribe they visited. At first I thought the Man of Peace was Jesus, but he is actually someone who's heart is ready to hear about and accept Christ. These tribes can be very violent, and they've never heard of Christ before, but the Man of Peace in the first tribe was actually one of the main leaders (which is awesome because these tribes are influenced and changed from the top down). He said that David's coming was a "divine appointment" and our God MUST be real. He had been seeking after something greater than those pesty spirits, and was very ready and excited to hear of a great God like ours. David's church prays to find men of peace, men who God has prepared in advance. The first tribe's man of peace was able to direct them to another tribe (these tribes aren't very easy to find in the dense jungles... most aren't even known). This other tribe had a man of peace too (the first tribe leader felt that this man would be willing to hear the Gospel too). Now both tribes have the New Testament in Khmer, and I'm pretty sure David and his team are planning to go out and see them soon again. David loved comparing their trips to Paul's journey's in Acts, and he tried to follow Paul's ways of spreading the Gospel. Anyway, this is only a tiny taste of David's passion to spread the Gospel all over Cambodia. He was just so full of Truth, and knew the heart of God because he knew the Scriptures so well. He encouraged his church that God would fulfill is promise by blessing them with a lot, but only so that they could be a blessing to others. He was just so spot-on, and I have great faith in what he is doing for God's Kingdom. It was super exciting to see first hand. It also made me wonder what I was doing in my own country... Why aren't I as passionate about my American brethren? Having a passion to show God's love to people overseas is not an excuse to not show God's love to unreached people at home... Anyway, I was inspired.

Other good things:
1. I rode on the Tuk Tuk that I bought through supporters! It's so sturdy, and it is the biggest one I've ridden on! It's like 20% bigger which means it can seat more people comfortably! WOO! They are going to paint it Daughters of Cambodia pink, and when they don't need it use it as a taxi to gain a little revenue for Daughters. I'll take a picture!
2. There is a team from Canadia who is here and they have just been such a blessing to me. They feed me, let me go with them to places like the Killing Fields, AND one of them has my correct camera charger. (I brought the wrong one). So now I can take pictures while I'm here! WOO!
3. I taught the lady boys note values and rhythm today!!! That's so huge! They now know what a quarter note, half note, whole note, and eighth note is! And they played a C scale! (This is all important because I'm supposed to be teaching them the basics before a leader of a Christian band comes to make them a worship team.)
4. I haven't had ANY bad dreams! (For those who don't know, I have extremely vivid dreams and I was really worried about having nightmares while I was here.) Thank you SO much to whoever is praying for that!

PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. On really hot days I get heat rashes on my the cracks of my arms opposite of my elbows. Aaaaaand my butt cheeks. It's real ichy...
2. Mornings are really difficult for me. I wake up and I'm not really motivated, and this is when I'm most home-sick.

THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU ALL!