I woke up extremely late today…. 6:15. ha.
I barely made it through last night’s worship and dances. As in, I literally could not keep my eyes open. I went to bed at 8 and slept like a rock. I think I’m finally un-jetlagged.
We had service again in the morning, after breakfast (which was another hot dog), and it was really lovely to hear a testimony. You may not understand their language, but when they cry, you understand what that means. And when they smile… its comforting.
After our small groups, which always follow up the sermon, we started working on a skit that we are to perform at the night service. Each group has a skit to share in the competition and they LOVE it! My students would probably despise an activity like this but as we talked at dinner, it’s important to realize that their lives are extremely monotonous with no diversity of any kind because survival is so important. Therefore, anything with some spunk and fun they absolutely love. They happily do it because it’s so different to them.
After a very intense soccer tournament of 4 teams and barefooted jumping and kicking, a few of us went swimming. The pool is beautiful and they swim in their clothes. It’s an extremely modest culture which is somewhat refreshing. I just wanted the option to actually be cold and I enjoyed every moment of it.
I had a pre-dinner snack and nap which consisted of Pringles, cookies, and then rice. I actually woke up to my dear friend AM putting a cookie underneath my net and it was the best wake up treat ever.
A group from South Carolina joined us today and they did a few dramas and a dance at the evening get together. The Khmer loved it. Also, each group performed the dramas they prepared and our group had the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers. And can I just say the way we practice it was NOT at allllll how we performed it. I couldn’t fix it either because I had not clue what they were saying… just had to go with the flow. Once they got on stage, they drug it out because they love having the microphone. =) Apparently, after talking to all of the other groups, everyone’s group did that. I think that’s funny.
The last full day consisted of a morning service, small groups, Khmer dancing and games, and then a fun evening service. Small groups were really intense and we actually had a few students, just in our group, fully commit to Christ. One girl said she prayed and actually felt something different inside of her physically which is so ridiculously cool because she would have no frame of reference to ever make up something like that.
I won’t go into details but everything panned out super fun…. We did all the Khmer games in the pouring rain which I think the kids loved and then they taught us their dances. They are a very “dancy” culture. Maybe that’s why everyone is so skinny?
