Humility

It's nearly 3am, what am I doing still up? :-)

Today (technically yesterday !) has been a day packed with circumstances that have humbled me!

Guest Speaker
My roommate and I were asked by a friend, to be guest speakers at the school he works at. He asked us just over a week ago, and we spoke this morning (Monday). The topic is from 1 Corinthians 13 ... "Love is not rude." I got the privilege of speaking to children ages 3 to 5. Going in to this, I had no idea what to say, how to get children that young to understand, if these kids were foreigners like myself (some things are considered rude by Americans, but are perfectly normal to Khmer), how much English the children knew ... Of course, I didn't start to prepare until Sunday morning. This made Sunday a somewhat stressful day. Praise the Lord that He gave me the words to say, and a roommate who had a story that I could somewhat copy / change, and share with the kids. I don't know if anything I did or said means anything to anybody, but I learned something that I've learned time and time again ... I can do nothing apart from Christ AND Everything I do should be for Him and about Him / His glory, not my own!

Ask
One of the hardest things for me to do is ask people for things, whether it be time, money, things, or anything else. I prefer to not be a burden, and try to do it myself, and sometimes go without because it's too much trouble to ask. In some instances I am not able to do it myself. The most recent instance is sending items from America to Cambodia. Before I left the states, so many people expressed a true desire to send me things I might want or need. I appreciate that so much! I had to get over my own pride and give people the opportunity to serve me in this way. It's difficult because I feel like I am asking for things ... which I am, but none of those things are absolutely needed ... life goes on without them, but they do make life more enjoyable / comfortable! And so I sent a list of items to my church, which is asking not only for the things, but for the time and the effort of people getting the things together, getting them to the team, the team going through all of the hassle to get them and bring them here ... Part of me wonders if it's worth it, everyone going through all of that trouble. It would certainly be easier for everybody, including myself, to not deal with it. On the contrary, we would all also miss out on a blessing. I know I am blessed by so many people willing to go through all of this trouble and by so many people genuinely wanting to help and encourage me.

All that being said ... the things don't really matter. It's seeing the body of Christ and the love of Christ at work!


Language
Some days at language study, I learn a lot of new words and phrases, and some days are review days. Today was a review day. With anything we learn, we have to practice. I could study words all day long (which I don't), but if I don't practice speaking them and making sentences with them, then I will not really know them. I know that, but it's easier said than done! Practice takes time, effort, and humility, all three of which do not encourage me to learn the language. I think the humility part is the hardest. Practicing means getting it wrong many times. It means asking for help (as I said before, it is a difficult thing to do). And so much more! In all honesty, I don't study that much, I don't make the time to and I don't practice my new words each day (I need to do that, but it seems like other things come up / I don't make it a priority). Today seemed like one of the worst "review" days. I don't know if it was because of the heat, it being Monday ... my teacher was ... I don't want to say less patient, but kind of. Maybe less excited? And in addition to all of that, I didn't know a lot of what we reviewed, even things I've known for a long time, just seemed to slip my mind. #humbling

It sounds like language is always this huge challenge, and it is, but it can also be fun. I've been going to a Khmer church on Sunday afternoons, and this definitely encourages me to learn the language. I get excited when I understand several words, and occasionally, I can even get the jest of a sentence or topic (mostly because it's about a passage that I have in front of me in English) ... but still, it's exciting!

One of my big goals with language, is to be able to share the gospel in Khmer. The added bonus is to also develop relationships, but I have to be reminded that even building relationships is not solely about me, but it's about His kingdom!

Good day!