I can truly say I have had an amazing last week.  I can also say that my heart is breaking.  I came into the centre knowing that I would be working with women who have been saved from the darkest streets- victims of human trafficking.  What I didn't know was you would never be able to tell that these girls have suffered so much.  They smile and it lights up the room.  They laugh and it dances around the room onto everyone's faces.  I also underestimated how much I would love them.  I have two brothers at home( who I love dearly,) but I have no...

I have never been good with goodbyes!  I tend to either avoid the moment or become a basket case. I find it hard to reach that healthy balance. Going into our last week with the women, I intentionally wanted to live in each moment and not think forward to the next day or Sunday when we have to say goodbye. Many times when I leave someone, or they leave me I become emotional days before so when the day comes I can put on my big girl panties and hold it together. However it is good to not completely fall apart it is also good to mourn when it is time to mourn. I have realized that...

Greetings friends, family, and countrymen.  This week I was going to write a blog about all the things I will miss when we leave Cambodia.  But once I started I realized that topic entailed becoming ridiculously emotional and possibly refusing to board the plane come next week.  So, in the interest of delaying balling my eyes out and not wasting a plane ticket, I decided I would stick with talking about time here in a slightly more passive and fondly memorable manner.     First off, I still haven’t gotten over the fact that all the women here address me...

I honestly don’t know how to begin with this blog.  This past week was our last week with the women, and it has been one of the most bittersweet weeks of my entire life.  Bitter, because the bonds I’ve formed with these women are indescribable and leaving them tomorrow will be one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.   Yet this week has been so sweet, as I’ve literally had one of the most amazing weeks of my life.  Coming here to the Women’s New Development Center, I’ve witnessed and been a part of living life to the fullest...

I sit here staring at a blinking cursor and wonder how I can possibly write how I'm feeling. And there's really nothing I can say. Maybe I'll just mention a few little moments I don't want to forget. Little Sam laying on me and laughing during Mary Poppins. "Following along" in the Khmai hymnal with my sista during devotions. The 3 year olds face during The Little Mermaid and Tarzan and the pure joy it brought. Slip-n-slide on the balcony. Storm watching. The girl's genuine concern, care, and hand holding when I was sick. Doing dished with the dish crew!...

To think that this will be my last blog post in Cambodia seems absolutely unreal to me and brings about so many emotions.  Tonight will be my last night hugging the women and children goodnight, my last night sleeping under a mosquito net.  Tomorrow morning my team and I will be loading up onto some form of transportation (I’ve learned to never count on an enclosed vehicle, a wagon is likely haha) and waving goodbye to the women, children, security guards, and the compound I have called home for the past 2 months.  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction,...

      Being content doesn't necessarly have to be a negative thing. As I was thinking about this weeks blog, with the fact that we only have one week left in Kampong Chnang, a developing topic came to mind. We may never see the fruit from this ministry, but that does not mean it is not there. I am beginning to learn to be content with whatever the finished product is.      I think I can speak for my team and I that during our stay we have been frustrated one way or another. Through the language, level of interest, and teaching English our stay has not...

For your entertainment: There was that time at the market. Lo, Tiff and I decided to go with Seap one day. The market is great, but in the back is what I call the “meat packing industry.” Fish are flopping on tarps, pig heads to your left and SNAKES to your right. I was afraid of touching anything. Ladies were chopping off live fish heads and it was awful. While our chicken was being dissected, we look over and see a woman grab a live fish the size of my arm out of the cooler. She drops it and puts it in her purse. She PUT THE FISH IN HER PURSE. I was on the swing watching 7...