Being a teacher was always the occupation I would have put on the bottom of my list. But I have fallen in love with teaching in a way I never thought I would. I graduated high school a mere six months ago, and here I am, teaching a kindergarten English class in Cambodia to 25 students whose ages range from 5-15. It’s an extreme struggle, but I’ve fallen in love. There is something so sweet about my students and their kind hearts. The pictures I get drawn for me daily, the jewelry that has been given to me, the dance parties, the smiles & the laughter & sassiness from my...

Imagine. You have spent a little more than two months in beautiful, rural Cambodia.  You have had maybe a week (max) of city experience and even less time with just your team.  You and most of your teammates finally get the opportunity you have been waiting for: Angkor Wat. This is one of the seven manmade wonders of the world!  This massive temple holds history, religion, and beauty—all completely unique to Cambodia.  I am sorry to say it was underwhelming. We woke up at 4:30am to leave at 5am and see the sunrise over Angkor Wat.  Everyone who goes to Angkor...

As I rub the coconut oil into her hands, my fingers trace her callused skin, and I wonder about her life and what might have formed these visible signs of living. Viesna’s mom is sprawled across the wooden frame beneath her stilted house. Emily, Haley, and I surround her, each focusing on a different area of her body. The smell of aromatic oils fills the air, and I smile, taking this picture in. This Cambodian woman whom I met yesterday has quickly become an important piece of our story here, so let us start from the beginning. It was Monday night. Bible study was supposed to start at...

we started with the everything skit. not exactly easing them into this. lacey shared her testimony. amber shared the gospel. raw. plain and simple. no fluff. laid it out there. we played a song. and scattered to pray for them. the lord was moving. teens were asking for prayer. they wanted to know god deeper. they were captured by what they had just seen and heard. and then i saw her. in the corner of the church. right by the door. i had never seen her before. she was not one of our students. she was much younger than them and was not in uniform. i didn’t know who she was, but i knew...

Last Saturday our team had the chance to do something different on our off day.  We took an almost two hour drive, squeezing as many people as humanly possible into a sweaty fifteen passenger van.  We had our hearts pierced by the brutality of the killing fields. Then went to a sweet little café called Connecting Hands in downtown Phnom Penh.  This café was not just an ordinary eatery.  It is actually an NGO that trains women who have a history or poverty, abuse, and/or sex trafficking.  They learn how to become baristas, waitresses, and chefs. The café was cute, decorated with comfy seats...

I never thought I would be called to this. I never imagined that I would travel halfway across the world to share the Lord with a tourist from Canada. I never thought I would befriend a bartender and go to her church. I knew the Lord had called me to something bigger than myself, but I didn’t know it would look like this. When I signed up to go to Cambodia for three months, I had very different expectations of what my stay here would look like. I thought I was going to be working with human trafficking and showing the women involved that there is hope and a way out. Instead, I live...

  Yo, Yo, Yo, How is it going all the way from Cambodia?!! Can you believe I`ve already been in Cambodia for a month in a half now? WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! I`ve posted a few times on my Facebook, but this will be my first official blog post . . . (about time Lacey). I only get Internet once a week and to be honest I haven’t wanted to write any blog post because it takes a good amount of time, and you only get so much time in a day. BUT, God has been doing a lot of amazing things here and there has been some great stories and I think it`s about time I write some of them (finally)....

I love these mornings. I love how easy it’s become to wake up at (or before) 6 AM. I love the sounds of all the roosters and crickets and lizards and birds. I love the coolness of the air, the orange glow of the sun that quickly rises above the palm trees and creates a cotton candy aura in the clouds. I love my cup of coffee that comes from a powder mix. I love all the sleepy-eyed entrances as I’m sitting at the table, the mumbled good mornings and crazy bedhead hair-dos. I love the tuk tuk rides to the market when it’s my day, the only time I ever get just a little bit...

“Haley, dun’t fart.” This is the most accurate description I can give of what it is like to teach a class of Cambodian preteens who speak broken English. All of a sudden there was a bad smell that crept its way into our classroom.  Emily quickly picked out one of our students and told him not to fart, which began a series of “Haley, dun’t fart” and “Emily, dun’t fart.”  We definitely did not stop them.  We actually joined in the ridiculousness. This is just a snapshot of classroom life.  There are many more stories...