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October 5, 2008 – Goodbye dear Vietnam and hello sweet Cambodia!

We left Vietnam on the 30th of September and then headed to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, for debrief. Vietnam was a weird month for me. I was at a different service opportunity almost every day. It was a month of change. It was a month of struggle.

At the end of the month I realized I did not give it my all. I mean, I was 100% in during every service opportunity we signed up for, but that was it. I did not seek to strengthen relationships outside of that. With the constant change I was not able to build personal relationships. I did not seek to serve beyond what was asked of me. I do not want to ever do that again.

After such a heavy month in Vietnam I am ready for Cambodia. I am ready for the work that we are going to do this month, in the slums here in Phnom Penh for 3 weeks. Also a fun little fact… Remember how I talked about how the room we lived at in Nicaragua was small? Well, welcome to the land of 15 x 12. I sit here in the dark typing on Sara’s new computer with her bottom snuggling against my leg and with Natalie trying to not freeze sleeping on the floor. At first I thought no biggie, we can do this. Well I just snapped at someone because I wanted to keep my jacket when someone else wanted to use it. I got cold last night but I will sweat if the fan is turned off. Someone tried to mediate and I snapped at them. Really! I have a cool room and a hot shower but one tiny room….how can I complain or even snap? The people we are working with this month are sleeping on wooden planks and worried about how they will feed their children today. I make myself sick. I am constantly being reminded to get over myself and then maybe I will learn what it means to truly be a giver. I’m sure this lesson will be drilled into me one tiny hotel room at a time…

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