1 week in Cambodia!

Today is my Sabbath day, so I thought it would be the perfect day to write a little update for y’all! After I posted my last blog, I flew to Paris, France and had an 8 hour layover there, then made the 13 hour flight to Singapore. Our flight to Singapore got delayed an hour and a half, which left us a little over an hour to get off our plane, getour luggage, find our next terminal, re-check our bags, go through security and board our plane. It was crazy. We finally got our bags checked and started going through security at 7 pm. Keep in mind our flight is scheduled to TAKE OFF at 7:20. I just kept praying we would make it in time! When it was my turn to scan my passport, it wouldn’t let me through. I thought there was a mistake so I scanned it again, and the same thing happened. All of a sudden I got separated from my group and taken to immigration services where they questioned me. I was absolutely terrified as they were taking my photo and scanning my fingerprints. After what seemed like an eternity (but in reality was only 15 minutes) they let me go. I rushed out the door and joined my squad leader, Clarah, who stayed behind so that I would not be alone. We ran to get through security and by the grace of God, there was no line. We got through security at 7:21. I thought for sure we would be staying the night in the Singapore airport. We started sprinting through the airport to find our gate, and praise the Lord, He made a way. We ranup to the gate as they were closing the door and we were the last ones on the plane. I think our entire group was praying that we would make it on the plane, and the Lord answered our prayers! We made it to Cambodia shortly after that!

Despite the crazy travel day, my first week in Cambodia has been so wonderful 🙂 We are staying at a school in a little village. There are around 70 kids, and they are just the cutest, silliest, loving kids ever. We get to teach them English during the day, we do songs and dances after class, we play games with them during their breaks, and in the evenings we play soccer with them. And let me tell you they take soccer so seriously, we practice during the week, we run laps, stretch, do drills and scrimmage, and these itty-bitty kids absolutely destroy us Americans! Today the boys will be playing a real game against another village team and Tuesday us girls are playing a game on the beach! It is so hot in Cambodia guys. It’s hot in Oklahoma, but here there is no AC to escape to, I sweat all through the night, when I wake up, when I go outside, and even while I shower. Speaking of showers, I’m always having to keep an eye out for lizards, scorpions and geckos when I’m in the bathroom. If you’re not careful they might jump right in the toilet. I had a littletoad join me as I brushed my teeth yesterday! Despite all these seemingly inconvenient circumstances, I can’t help but love it here! It’s all so worth it to me. I’d take a lizard crawling on me while I sleep every night, if it meant I get to show these kids the love of Jesus each day. While I love all of the students, I do have a favorite. I’ll call him Johnny. I met Johnny during our song and dance time. He loves to dance crazily like I do, and he always remembers my name. Though at first he would mix it up and call me sie-ca instead of Cassie. Johnny is really good at soccer. Thursday during soccer, he started limping in the middle of the game, so I called him over and sat down on the side with him. He doesn’t speak good English so he showed me where it was hurting. I told him I was going to pray for it to be better. So he grabbed his hands and closed his eyes really tight and we prayed that God would heal his knee. When he opened his eyes he smiled and said it felt better and then he stood up and began to walk normal again. He looked at me and said “thank you teacher Cassie” and ran out to play soccer like normal. 

Throughout this week, we’ve worshipped together, prayed together, and I’ve been so overwhelmed to see that the God that loves me, is the same God that loves the people in Cambodia. He is the same God!!!! We are halfway across the world, but we are brothers and sisters because we are children of the same God! He heals in America and He heals in Cambodia. It’s hard to believe we have less than three weeks left here, I could stay here forever! I could go on and on and tell every little detail of my time here so far, but I will stop for now. I enjoyed getting to see and hear from friends and family yesterday, I love you all!