Another part of my heart

If you read my previous posts about Cambodia, you might be under the impression that we worked tirelessly every single day! :) No worries...we had lots of time to just enjoy one another's company and experience Cambodia!  With the nature of the work we were doing, the ministry makes sure to leave a lot of time for debriefing, resting, and random fun when making the schedule for their teams.

Just a normal tuk-tuk ride! 

Erik playing around on one of the staff member's motos.  It had been raining, so they just brought it inside the center!

Morgan, Erik, Katie, and I enjoying our 50 cent coffee from the corner stand! Made with sweetened condensed milk, coffee, and ice! I usually had at least two a day!

Morgan and Kelsey acting as boy caterpillars one day during Kids Club.

Our fearless leader, Drew, being goofy with his niece.  She is one of two Cambodian girls that Ally, the founder of Hard Places, has adopted.

Kelsey having some fun at Dream Land!

We shared a lot of laughs with the staff over lunch and dinner and also got to know some of the interns pretty well.  We had a lot of dance parties that involved us teaching the Khmer staff various dances like the Wobble (their personal favorite), the Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide, the Cupid Shuffle and the Macarena; and they also taught us a traditional Khmer dance.

Full-time HPC staff, Derek, with 17-year-old intern, Ben.  Their pretend father-son relationship was very amusing!

Ben, Josh, and Drew.  Josh and his wife, Gretchen, are interning for three months with HPC.

Dance therapy as some of the Khmer staff called it...they loved doing the Wobble!

One night we ate at Chuck Norris Dim Sum.  They served different kinds of dumplings...and lots of Chuck Norris jokes.

Dinner at Jars of Clay on our last night in Cambodia.  Love these people so much!

Definitely one of my favorite dinners!

One of the first nights, we took a walk down by the River Front, played on the exercise equipment, and tried some of the local delicacies!

This little boy was killing it on the elliptical!

I tried grasshopper, cricket, and frog.  Frog was by far my favorite so I ate five or six of them.

Other reactions to the bugs!

As I mentioned in my first post, we played an American vs. Cambodian game of soccer.  They had been practicing so they won, but we had a blast!

One of the most recent ministries that HPC has started is a touring business.  They helped four guys who were working in male brothels in Phnom Penh get out of the sex industry by teaching them English and training them as tour guides.  So now, a year later, they are starting to give tours on their own to various tourists who come to Phnom Penh for various reasons.  We got to go on a tour, hear more about the country, get to know the tour guides, and see some of the places around Phnom Penh we had not visited yet.

Kelsey, Katie, Morgan, and I on our tour.  It is the year of the snake so they have a huge snake out in front of Wat Phnom (the main Buddhist temple).

Unfortunately, this monkey already belonged to a lady at the Wat. :(

My roommate, Katie, and I playing on the "sacred grass" in front of the royal palace.

My week in Cambodia was full of challenges, brokenness, and spiritual warfare.  But it was also full of hope, laughter, singing, dancing, worship, and smiles.  I feel so blessed to have been part of such an incredible group of people serving alongside such incredible followers of Christ.  The trip really taught me to seek out opportunities to share that same kind of joy and hope in the States and I know God has me right where He wants me.  But I also look forward to the day I can return to Cambodia, where I have left another part of my heart.

All the kids, staff, and team members at Dream Land!

One of my favorite pictures from the trip...It just makes me laugh!