You know that part of the year when many of us make New Year’s resolutions? Well, that has faded while living the last 11 years in Cambodia. Cambodia celebrates three different New Years here and the “Calendar New Year” in which the year changes, is the least celebrated. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of celebration happening, but it does not even come close to the Khmer New Year in April or the Chinese/Lunar New Year in late January, early February. So, with less of a focus on the “Calendar New Year” some of the habits and rituals surrounding it have faded. Even though I’ve let some of the resolution setting going into the New Year fade, there still are those resolutions that I never set but still come to pass…know what I mean? Yeah, me neither, that sounds about as crazy to me as it does to you. Life, parenting, living, working, dieting and health, etc. and all the habits surrounding them require a lot of intentionality and decision making. That’s why, when a wonderful unexpected result comes, without the intentions of seeing that result, it’s all that much sweeter.
That’s what I felt I had this last January on an unexpected journey to the North-West part of Cambodia. My responsibilities since I moved here to Cambodia generally involve working alongside our local staff to host teams and complete projects. Most of the time, the projects are construction oriented and when I’m involved, it usually means the project is sponsored by a visiting team. Due to COVID, I had the rare opportunity to travel with our local staff without the responsibilities of hosting a visiting team. When I first arrived in Cambodia, this would have scared me to death, however, now I jump at the opportunity.
On the second Sunday of January 2022, I was informed of the opportunity to head north with our staff and on Tuesday we were in the vehicles, heading north for the 12 hour journey.
We slept on the floor of the church, took bucket showers and ate off the land as we refurbished the home. There is a decent size city in the vicinity, so for major needs and construction supplies, trips into the city were made.
As the church had been severely neglected, we welcomed leaders from a neighboring province to come and join in devotional and worship times and we dedicated the building to the Lord.
It was a wonderful time that tested the limits of me physically a bit but well worth it. There were no mattresses, chairs or running water. It took a few days for electricity to be hooked up and the meals were “simple.” By simple, I mean stews of all kinds of meats and whenever they’d butcher an animal, they eat ALL parts. No waste.
