My team and I just finished up our first week in the village of Po Peyl, and it was amazingly. I cannot begin to describe the immense amount of joy I feel when teaching English to those precious children. I have two classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The first class is smaller with 2-4 smaller children while the afternoon class is about 21.
My students are incredible children that have captured my heart in amazing ways. There is Rain, a little 7 year old who is super smart and always has a smile on her face. There’s Wy, who is a little mischievous boy who has trouble concentrating, but once you get him to do his work, he is ambitious. There’s Srypai and Srymol two young cousins who are so smart, they are my translators in the classroom. There’s Sophea, who is so eager to learn that she comes into the classroom a half hour early.
It’s been a struggle to come up with activities that are fun, challenging for the more advanced students but understandable for the younger students. We’ve been hand making worksheets for them to practice each letter of the alphabet and introducing new vocabulary words with that same letter. Then we play two games related to English and one fun game like duck duck goose. In their Khmer school, it is very strict and rigorous, so it’s been my goal to see them have fun in English class.
Another amazing opportunity we have is to lead a Bible study under Om Ram’s house, the village elder who is a 56 year old woman. Her daughters and granddaughters come together to sing worship songs (in Khmer) and then we go through a Bible lesson. Boona, who works for the ministry, translates for us. They know so much about the Bible and come together in fellowship despite being persecuted by their other relatives for being Christians. The husbands of these women are gamblers or gangsters, and often forbid them from coming to the Bible study when they are around (which is seldom). They are the light of this village and have God’s protection.
Despite our rough living conditions, this trip has been completely amazing and it’s only been a week. I don’t even notice the bugs and roosters, the sweat and heat, and squatty potty anymore. Just like my cousin, Kelsey, said in a note that I opened today, it’s just a small price to pay to serve the Lord.