God truly does answer prayers! He always keeps his promises, and it continues to amaze me. After feeling terribly home sick last week, God has answered my  prayer to redirect my heart and focus. After this last week at the center, I am filled with excitment. This has been a huge week for our team and I'm sure God is at work. This week has been a week og growth in relationships with the women and spiritual growth.

Monday night, Cambodia was celebrating the kings birthday, which we later found out was the kings fathers birthday. This was a day off from school for the women and the orphans, and really was a day of rest for the center. People in Cambodia do not celebrate birthdays like we do in America; there is no cake or party or presents. However our team took in upon ourselves to have a celebration. We searched out a bakery in small Kampong Chnang, and was suprised to find sparklers, confetti poppers, and silly string. We also lucked up on a green cake. That night after our rice dinner we expected, or at least I did to eat an American cake or something similar. Man was I wrong!! The cake was green inside and out, and the layers of icing tasted like crisco and was painful to eat. I have never not enjoyed the icing. We surprised the women with sparklers after bible study that night. They  were so excited and overjoyed to dance around and have a great time!! This was just the beginning of where the women opended up and trully accepted us as more than visitors.

Wednesday night God gave me the opportunity to speak to a woman who i have especially become close with. She is a ball of energy and I love spending timer withe her. After bible study our leader told the women that they can talk to us whenever they want.  That night she with a few other women came to our rooms and and asked difficult questions about God. She really wanted to know how to love God more and to always think about him and not forget to pray. It was just a perfect opportunity that God gave me and I loved it so much. It was a precious time together and I really felt the support of my team while they surrounded me. This was exactly what I needed to encourage me throughout this trip. Going into this trip I was "fearing", a new term we use, that I would be looked down on because of my age. But it was just amazing that God decided to have this wonderful lady come and sit and talk next to me. However God has confirmned that this is my place and he wants to use me. This special lady has continued to serve me and teach me sewing, and how to dance like they do. Lord I'm excited to see what you do in her heart while you continue to show her your love.

God I thank you for the women and their willingness to open up to strangers about their past. As we continue to go into the weeks to come, which is only about a month, I will continue to pray that our team would be intentional in conversations and always put Christ above forming relationships and teaching English. We did not come to the other side of the world and raise $5000 to meet some new friends. Our purpose is clear and time is limited. The title of this blog is a phrase I learned this week from our translator, Ratana, and is a phrase I have spoken over the women and children. It means "I love you". Cambodia is where my heart is and God has brought new people to have a place in my heart. I want to close with a song I love singing in my home church and has been a huge encournagment to me, but also now I sing over the women. "You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of us. You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of the dust… You make me new, you are making me new"

Much love from the Blue Pumpkin!!