On the lovely morning of Thursday, January 11 at 5:30am, the whole squad met up in front of our hotel to begin the travel experience to Cambodia! In just 12 hours, we’d be arriving at our new location! Or so we thought…
Thursday, January 11
- 7:10am – we depart on the bus
- 4:45pm – we reach the Cambodia border
- 5:45pm – we leave that border because foreigners aren’t allowed to cross there
- Have to drive 12 hours to Ho Chi Minh to cross at the right border
Friday, January 12
- 6:30am – arrive at the right border
- 8:30am – find out that our visas were expired so we have to go get them extended at the immigration department in the city
- This extension could take 5-7 days to process, so we are all going to the city to wait until it gets figured out
- 12:00pm – arrive at the hotel in Ho Chi Minh
- 1:00pm – arrive at the immigration department
- 1:15pm – leave the immigration department because we couldn’t extend our visas there
- They said the only way we’d be allowed to leave Vietnam is by flying
Saturday, January 13
- 10:00am – flight is booked for 8:30am tomorrow so we will leave the hotel at 3:00am
- 6:00pm – squad leaders are calling everyone to tell us to get back to the hotel to pack ASAP because we needed to leave for the airport right away
- 7:30pm – arrive at the airport
- All nighter party whoop whoop
- By 2am, most of us were trying to rest but until then, we were having fun with the luggage carts
Sunday, January 14
- 5:00am – papers are signed and visas are extended
- 6:00am – check in opens
- 6:25am – all carry-on’s cannot be over 15 pounds, or we’d have to pay $65 USD
- Everyone is panicking
- We totally cheated the system and handed our heavy things to our squad mates who already checked in
- 7:00am – Lianne and I get called aside by the airline to look at flagged bags
- Portable chargers, lighters, and batteries were supposedly found in the packs of our squad mates, so we had to dig through them to find the issue
- Unfortunately, most of them had already gone through security so we either had to find it on our own, or call them and ask where the problem could be found
- 7:45am – the remaining few who helped with the flagged bags are booking it to security
- 8:10am – we all make it through security
- While trying to organize my life, this Vietnamese man shoved me out of the way and Grace and Lianne had to hold me back because I was was ready to throw hands (I was tired and hungry, give me grace)
- Now, we are booking it to the gate because we’re boarding in 5 minutes
- 8:13am – we make it to the gate with 2 minutes to spare
- 8:15am – we board the plane
- 8:45am – we takeoff from Vietnam
- Flight was only 45 minutes AHAHAHAH
- We didn’t even get high enough to not see land
- 9:30am – we land in Cambodia!
I knew that I needed to make some changes for the second half of the race so I decided to approach Cambodia with a different mindset. Far too often, I found myself trying to “get through” so I could just make it home. But through that, I was focusing only on myself and was not being intentional with the people I was serving. My mind was always somewhere else. And I knew that when I get home, I will want nothing more than to be back out here doing the Lord’s work with my best friends. So how do I make what I know I’ll want later what I want right now? How do I begin to actually LIVE now versus going about my days just waiting for the next thing or next season? First thing I need to do to accomplish these goals: look away from myself. This isn’t about me. At all. I am here to serve and love, not to take. And I need to start seeing these people as God does. This season is an answered prayer, but I haven’t been treating it like that. The Lord spoke clearly and opened doors, yet I found myself complaining about the blessings He’s given me. So I started being more intentional about spending time with Him. I began to look away from myself and started loving and serving through His eyes. I started to make the most of where I am right now. I began to truly LIVE. And through that, I have found so much joy. I feel fulfilled and for the first time in my life, I see my purpose. I’m seeing the gifts the Lord has given me. Gifts I can give to others, but only if I’m not focused on using them for myself.
God is moving in Cambodia and He’s using us as His hands and feet. For the first time on the race, I’m looking at the countdown in a negative way because I don’t want this to end. And while I wish I could’ve had this perspective the whole time, I’m so glad it is just now, because it is making me be more intentional with the little time I have left here.
Happy happy happy to be in Cambodia.
