Four Years Later....and We're In Cambodia

Good morning!

Well it's certainly been a good long while since I blogged. Four years, four kids later....it almost feels like another era. Well, I am not about to fill in every bit of time past - truth is it's been such a fog up here in my mamma brain, good luck trying to extract it all! But I can begin a new chapter of recent accounts in the Friesen's world.

Up until three months ago we have been living in Sydney, working, pregnant and barefoot (literally) and having a jolly old time with friends and family. I asked one of our mates,
shortly after the birth of our fourth baby if he could remember me NOT pregnant and he laughed - nope. Since moving to Australia five years ago, arriving here five months pregnant, I have been having babies ever since! And as much as I have loved this season of growing our tribe and the four little blessings we get to snuggle up to, I began to wonder what else I might be good at in life?!

Sweaty bubba in Cambodia

So began some months, of Kevin and myself asking some big questions about where and what we wanted to see ourselves doing for the next chunk of time. The end result of this has been a drastic change, as we uprooted from our comfortable and loved Sydney community and moved to a YWAM base in Wollongong. If anyone knows anything about YWAM they will know that it's a very minimalistic and stretching experience - often endured by the single 20 something year old. Well, we can't just let all the singles have their fun and adventure alone.....so we have in full capacity invaded their segway in life with our noisy tribe, akin, searching for the next step in life.

Judah trying to understand what's on our street...

After three months of being students and learning everything from biblical worldview to relationships and missions we have prepared ourselves to now embark on the next leg of our YWAM adventure - living in Cambodia. For the next two months our family are trying to immerse in this drastically different culture and get a feel for life as cultural anthropologists with Jesus. 
The goal for long term missionaries these days is about becoming a 'belonger' of the new culture and serve, though love, the people of that culture. We go seeking to bridge the gaps of misunderstanding, create safe and empowering communities of sustainable growth all the while preserving the uniquity and beauty of the culture. Our model: The Kingdom of God. What is this?? A whole other level of love in action. Sometimes we are the ones, who in the process of it all, get humbly transformed first. In fact, anytime I have travelled and immersed in another culture, this is always the way. Culture shock lends way to a dying of self in order to become a more integrated, more resilient person. 

Our local coconut and cold beverage vendors - bless!

After reading up on some blogs and others experiences of culture shock, I have diagnosed myself as being in the third stage - The Re-intergation Stage. Aside from being irritable, and idealising the life I am accustomed to, I find myself rejecting aspects of our new Cambodian life and hiding away in my room eating 'western' food watching movies with the kids. If that eventually drives me crackers, I bust out of my confinement with kids in tow and hit the western grocery store and buy a whole bunch of food I would never usually eat, like Oreos and crappy granola bars! Kevin on the other hand, has just returned from a walk among 'his fellow Cambodians', as he put it. He has reached the 4th and final stage 'acceptance'. Hopefully, Mama and kids won't be too far behind!

Our street 

Amidst it all, there is something so special about being here in the Kingdom of Cambodia. We are met with curious smiling faces everywhere we go and the smell of outdoor BBQ's. Tuk-tuk's (motorbikes with a passenger canopy) scoot by and take us to our destination, the warm air breezes past us and cools the sticky sweat that is notorious in these parts of the world. The food is surprisingly delicious and Siem Reap has so many amazing food options (I have already posted a shout-out to Vibe, vegan cafe). Our kids are in awe of such a vastly different place and are thanking their lucky stars we have access to a pool, regardless of how much higher the chlorine content is than normal! And we haven't even explored the ruins of Angkor Wat! 

Izzy getting crafty at Pouk Village

This week has been a busy one as we help run a King's Kids camp for 25 teenagers and primary aged kids. Kevin has been teaching alongside our team and Izzy and Jubes have been able to partake in a very kid-focussed and fun event. They have been meeting friends from Cambodia, Korea and Phillipines, even the USA. It's been so cool to see the kids even writing in their journals each day!

We have had the opportunity to reach out to other communities outside of Siem Reap and help them in their ministry to the poor, and uneducated. One such couple Sokha and Theada are angels in action as they live in a corrugated tin shack with their three year old son and open their home up to 30 plus kids each day to teach them basic schooling and feed them. They recently enlisted our help to come and help teach a 'kids camp' and we have all taken turns teaching and orchestrating activities for these beautiful children, hungry to learn. 

Kev filming with Nate and Yang

We are also working on a video project to help the YWAM base here raise funds for a new education and missions facility here in Cambodia.  We were super excited get started working with the local leaders Nate and Sophat on their vision and bring life and helpfully the funds needed to achieve their vision. 

It's hard to believe we are almost half way through our outreach, yet we are so excited for whats ahead! Massive shout out to our team, Jill, Geoff, Rocky, Solomon, Irene, Al and Cheryl for having our backs all the way. We have managed to have a date afternoon and they have many times lightened the load of kiddos so Kev and I can take time to get our bearings in this hectic place. We are so blessed to be surrounded by these beautiful people. 

Well, that's all the time I have .....making the most of my 'power hour'!
Bless you all and I'll be putting fingers to keyboard again soon.

All smiles in the Tuk-tuk

Love,
The Friesens x