A few weeks ago we ate banana flower soup for the first time. This was our first time to see a banana flower up close. We could peal away the petals of the flower to reveal small bunches of growing bananas. It was really cool to see. Yayyi cut the entire flower up and boiled it to make soup.
Oh – there are also really good street waffles in Cambodia. No need for syrup – they are sweet enough!
Most of us missionaries want to send exciting stories back to their supporters about the opportunities God gives them and their children to share the Gospel. Wouldn’t this make a good one: Dear Supporters, during a recent Cambodian religious holiday our daughter climbed on top of our gate and sang “Jesus Loves Me” to several Buddhist monks who were waiting to receive gifts from our neighbors. Pray for continued Gospel witness in our neighborhood.
It’s a really precious story until you find out that before she sang Jesus Loves Me she sang Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof, proclaiming at the top of her lungs to all the monks: “be glad you got a man!” And while climbing to sit at the top of the gate she said: “hello monkeys.” Fortunately they thought it was funny and had a good time pointing to each other and asking if the other was a monkey. Hmmm…guess we won’t use this story in our next update.
While we don’t have any exciting Gospel-furthering stories to share right now (the kind that make kids want to be missionaries when they grow up), we do know this: we are doing the work God has called us to. We’re learning language and slowly trying to build relationships with our neighbors. It might not be exciting to write about, but it is God’s work in God’s place for us. May this be what all our lives are like: doing God’s work in the place where God has put you, whether or not it’s exciting to share with fellow believers. Be faithful to what God has called you to in the place God has put you.
Happy 10-month birthday, Anna Grace! We love your smiles and seeing you move all over the place…you’re so fast! We love watching you try to play with your siblings. You are a sweet gift from God to our family.
Today we celebrate 7 months in Cambodia. We do a lot of things differently than before: we speak a new language, eat differently, almost always wear short sleeves, drive differently, shop differently, etc… But to us it’s now normal and we are enjoying it.
Last week we enjoyed a three-day visit from the Dersches, a couple from one of our supporting churches. They were in the country for a medical missions team and arranged their trip to spend some extra days with us. We enjoyed our fellowship with them.
For old time’s sake we had Dr. Dersch check our kids’ ears, since Isaiah remembers him from the States as the doctor who looked in his ears when he had an ear infection. 🙂