SIEM REAP MINISTRY

Hey!! Its Lauren AGAIN! (: Just wanted to give all you lovely people an update on our ministry this past week!!! We didn't have a long stay in Siem Reap but we wanted to make the most of our time there. The first day of ministry we split up into two groups. My group consisted of Kels, Steph, Juliane and I!! We all prayed and felt like God was really calling us to this specific street right by the place we were staying. As we were walking down the street we could not exactly grasp what we were being called to until we reached this school quite a ways down. We couldn't decide if we should go in or not because there was heaps of kids playing. We went with our hearts decision and went in. We had the opportunity to talk with the teachers there and they seemed very excited about our eagerness to help them in any sort of way they needed. They asked us to come back the next morning at 8 a.m. Of course we agreed and we left extremely excited and anxious for the ministry awaiting us the next morning. As we were walking back we didn't feel like our day of ministry should be over quite yet but we were indecisive to where we felt God calling us to next. So.... we went back and prayed again. We all ended up having a heart towards Douk, this guy we met earlier that week who doesn't have arms because a land mine blew them off. So we headed back out towards town to find him. As we were searching for Douk we found this guy that I had the opportunity to pray for the day before. He isn't able to walk so he crawls around Siem Reap, (where heaps of tourists explore) trying to sell different items to get by. It was really cool to be able to see him again. Kels, Steph and I were blessed to be able to pray for him again and it was rad because we recognized after the fact that there were a lot of tourists around and to see the impact that we could have made just by sitting on the cement to pray for this one man could have changed heaps of different peoples perspective on these people who try to sell them books or paintings.

The other team -> Andrew, Colleen, Mandy and Bianca went out to a neighborhood near where we staying. They ended up getting invited into two people's homes that were surrounded by severe flooding.  They also were able to spend a lot of time with a Mom with her two children. They had the opportunity to just get to know these families, pray with them, and to share Christ's love with them.

The second day my team went back to the school and we got to draw with the kids and we also were able to teach them a few english words through the drawings. We also read books to them and just loved on them. We had brought cookies so we went to a few different classrooms and handed them out. It was so funny because when we were leaving the kids were all standing outside the doorways waving and smiling at us goodbye. It was precious.  The other team went to White Dove which is a ministry that provides housing and jobs for women who used to be involved in the sex trade.  They provide a hope and a future for women who did not believe that they had one.  Many of the women there have completed DTS training through YWAM as well!  Bianca shared her testimony and then she, Mandy and Colleen went off with the women to learn how to make bags and to spend time with them.  Andrew went with their men's ministry to make jewelry and key chains out of coconuts!

The third day of ministry we went to White Dove's.  We did devotions with them in the morning and they sang a few worship songs. After that we went upstairs with them and Bianca and Juliane gave guitar and piano lessons. Mandy and Steph made cards with them and Kels, Colleen and I made purses with them. After lunch Colleen, Steph and I had the opportunity to go to the salon that they have. Steph and I thought we were going to be teaching them how to cut hair, but we were all in for a treat when we arrived and they asked us to pick out a color for them to paint our nails. They asked us if they could style our hair as well and as this girl was styling Colleens hair she asked to trim her bangs. Colleen was pretty much crapping her pants while Steph and I were trying our hardest to not burst out in laughter. It ended up looking very cute though! They did our make-up as well and the girl took a straight razor to my face to clean up my eyebrows, lets just say I was pretty nervous about that situation. They couldn't speak english so we could hardly communicate with them so we all just laughed a lot (:

Our last day of ministry we went back to White Dove's and did devotions again in the morning and we had the same routine of making purses, cards and teaching guitar and piano lessons. BUT THEN.... in the afternoon we taught them a line dance. We weren't quite sure how it was going to go over but it ended up being a big hit! They asked us about 8 to 10 times if we could do it ONE last time hahaha it was precious. There are so many kids who just run around the house all the time so we were blessed to be able to hangout with them as well. It was hard to say goodbye but we know they're in a good place.

Even going out to dinner and walking around town is ministry in Siem Reap for the fact that we will stop at any point in time to pray for someone. It is such a blessing to be living a life of ministry and for the growth of God's kingdom and to be constantly put in situations to bring the kingdom here on earth.