A lot has happened this week: We moved again. One of our teammates had surgery. Another had worms. And another little boy from the neighbourhood has attatched himself to me. His name is Huaa, and I love his little rotten toothed smile. He’s so stinkin cute.

Okay, so we have moved. And here’s why: We were getting too comfortable with two people to a room, we weren’t growing anymore. So now have four to a room. I’m loving our new home. Why? No more cockroaches! Jesus loves me. And I’m loving my new roomies. They’re tres awesome.
And we’re still living on under $12 a day, including transportation and food, so no worries, we’re not being big spenders.

So, a lot of us were sick these past couple of weeks; about half our team was taken out with some form of illness. My teammate Kori got worms, I’m sure it’s from the “river” we walk through to get to our ministry. There are many things in that water, including fecal matter, just putting that out there. And one of my team leaders, Kendall, fell when she and our other leader went running in the morning, and she somehow managed to get some tiny rocks stuck underneath her wounded hands. So our translator, of all people, with his swiss army knife, of all things, performed ‘surgery’ on her hands to get the tiny rocks out of her skin. This all happened on the church stage at TransformAsia. Yes, you read it right. It worked though! Seang did an excellent job, and Kendall is free from any infection that could have occurred.

Huaa is probably about four years old. His baby teeth are already rotten, which we’re wondering about, why so many people’s teeth fall out so early here. The first day he came to the centre, I immediately started playing with him. The next day, he came running up to me and clung to me. He hasn’t let me go since. He’s another one I could put in my backpack and take home with me. Recently he’s developed a fever though, and he had stuff leaking out of his ears the other day. I really want to take him to the doctor, but there’s the matter of checking with his parents if he has any, seeing if Seang can tag along to translate for us, and all that jazz. So please pray that it’s possible for a trip to the doctor soon.

God grew me yesterday. He pushed me to do something I really, really didn’t want to do. My teammate Emily has got crazy musical talent. That girl’s voice is crazy awesome. She also rocks on the guitar and piano. So naturally, she’s been leading worship a lot. She’s been asking me over and over if I want to sing with her, and I’ve kept on declining. Because, here’s the thing: I hate speaking/singing in front of a crowd. I always have, even when it’s a worship band.  But God just gave me a gentle nudge and said, ‘you need to do this.’ Great. Just great. So I finally said yes to her offer. I told her my dislike for being in front of a crowd, she was completely understanding, and was incredibly patient with my negative attitude in the beginning of rehearsal. But God started to break down those walls of the past. He showed me that it’s okay,  that this is different. I’m amongst friends, and this time we are truly worshipping him. It’s not performing for one another, like I’ve experienced in the past with other worship bands. I did start to experience a panic attack near the beginning of the night, right before we were supposed to be on stage, but one of our leaders prayed with us and I was fine. All in all, it was a great night.

Also, my dad passed away Sept. 2nd, the day after I left for Cambodia. It didn't hit me until October 10th. I bawled my eyes out and was able to finally accept his passing. All your prayers have been helping immensely, keep em coming. God's been so good during this time.

I'm looking forward to what adventures God has for our team next week!
Thanks for all the comments on past posts, sorry I haven't had a chance to reply, but I love them, thanks for the encouragement.