My favorite coffee shop plays the Backstreet Boys

     Does my favorite coffee shop here (Xotique) just happen to play the Backstreet Boys? Or is it my favorite because it plays the Backstreet Boys? I'm leaning towards the latter. 

     It's been a busy week in Cambodia. Bethany and I still have 2 research papers/reports to write for the organization we're working with, so this week's blog will have to be brief. Here's some of what we did this week: 

     Joyce Meyer's ministry has ordered 1,000 bracelets wraps from SHE Rescue Homes. The fabric part is made by reintegrated girls and their families and they get paid (very well, compared to Cambodian standards) to make each one. Because it's such a large order, this past week we worked every day to sew on the heart pendants and wrap each bracelet so they could be sent off in the mail today. Lots of work, and I realized my spiritual gift is not sewing...or patience. 

     It flooded. Lots of rain and other gross unmentionables in the streets, but we wandered out to explore. 

#wedidit

     Bethany and I were assigned to decorate the reading corner in the transition home, for girls who are going back to live with their families. They all love Disney princesses, so we chose Belle's library from Beauty and the Beast. Lots of hard work, but it was so much fun and I think it turned out pretty good! We even treated ourselves to a $15 one-hour massage after all the standing and painting. Definitely one of our favorite projects so far!

before we practiced the trust fall

just kidding

<------------I did this------------>

I helped decorate/decal the merchandise area in our office. We often have visitors from western countries who are interested in our non-profit and what we do. We sell stuff that the reintegrated girls have made. The guy on the scaffolding with me is the husband of the couple team who manage all us volunteers. As the only other person in the office not afraid of heights, it was a fun adrenalating (that's gonna be a word for now) job for me. Think sketchy Cambodian scaffolding. We actually had cushions on the floor at the bottom. #moreriskmorefun
   

Final product of the decal on the office wall - SHE's motto

     And without a doubt, best part of the week was on our day off. Bethany and I went to the National Museum just to be a little touristy :) We'd been there maybe ten minutes when 4 Buddhist monks starting talking with us as we stood looking at the Buddhist Scriptures. They wanted to take a photo with us because they don't usually get to see foreigners...and of course we thought it'd be super cool to get a picture with some monks too. We ended up talking to the monk who spoke the most English, Chamnanem, (don't ask me how to pronounce it) for over an hour while standing the the museum courtyard area in the picture below. We asked Chamnanem why he became a monk and what he thought the purpose of life on this earth was (that's right, Explore God, Austin!) We asked him if he had ever studied any other religions and got to share the story of Jesus with him and how He had completely changed our lives. He thought it was so funny to believe in a God who created us and wants a friendship with us. We explained that we are so broken and messed up and need grace that we could never earn. We talked about the teachings of Buddha and the teachings of Jesus and apologized for his experiences with Christians as they are known for coming over to Cambodia and try to fix everything by converting people to Christianity and wanting them to leave behind their Khmer culture and heritage. It was just another reminder for us that the West cannot fix everything; Jesus isn't freaking American, people. Well pretty soon it was closing time at the museum so Chamnanem and his friends invited us to go back to their Buddhist temple so we could continue to talk. 

me with the 4 monks (Chamnanem is to the right of me)

     "What a random opportunity," we thought as we walked through the streets with these Buddhist monks. But God definitely had a purpose for us being there that day! We toured the temple and sat through some slightly awkward and pretty intense incense burning, water flicking, and bowing before statues of Buddha. Lots of prayer to Jesus during that time :) Cambodian Buddhists have also just started their 15-day holiday of Pchum Ben (Ancestor's Day) where they try to appease their deceased ancestor's so they will be blessed and not cursed. It's very dark holiday full of rituals, chanting, and fear. Please pray for this country.
     Anyway, we exchanged emails and Facebooks with Chamnanem because he wants to practice his English any chance he gets. Please pray that this will be an opportunity for us to continue to talk about our faith openly with him. He said he has read some parts of the Bible in English, but he needs a Khmer Bible. We will try to get him one. Chamnanem's biggest hesitancy with believing in God is that he sees the Christian God as absent and indifferent to all the suffering in this world (also an Explore God question...doesn't matter where you are the in the world!). He has had several family members die in earthquakes so he struggles to see God as love. We got to share with Chamnanem that like a loving father, God hurts to see His children hurting. But He doesn't promise to make everything all better because we live in a fallen and broken world...a world that we messed up. It will not - cannot - be perfect on this side of eternity. But God does promise us that He will be faithful and that He will never leave us. And having that relationship with the Holiest of Holies make everything worth it. 
     
     I'm excited to see what the next 2 weeks and 1 day have in store for me before I leave. Please pray that God continues to use us in amazing random ways. Pray that we would keep and eye out and seize those opportunities! 

"Belle's Library" - feel free to hire us now, we need jobs