Hey guys! Welcome to our first blog! We are very excited to share this adventure with you. We arrived 2 weeks ago and we are just starting to settle in. We definitely hit the ground running. Our friend Rin was scouting out some apartments for us while we were in the states, when we arrived on the first day he could hardly wait to show us some options. So we landed and within the first 2 hours we were looking at places! The second apartment he showed us took the gold. It has 2 bedrooms, furnished (kind of) and on the top floor so no noisy neighbors. We love the big living room/kitchen so we can have teams over and hold bibles studies. The only partial downfall…. it's up 4 flights of steep stairs. We are definitely getting our workout on. If we are leaving and we forget something like sunglasses then we are driving around without sunglasses. They aren't worth the hike. Haha.
I think my biggest challenge yet is riding on the back of our motto without having a nervous breakdown. There aren't really traffic laws here so people drive wherever they want whenever they want. Curtis is a surprisingly great driver out here, but that doesn't stop me from white-knuckling the entire trip. I think I am getting better though. Curtis says otherwise.
A couple of big cultural landmarks have happened while we've been here. The first major event was Cambodia's king passed away 3 months ago and they've had his casket open to the public for 90 days (for every year he was alive). So this last monday they cremated the body. The city was flooded with outside villagers and the main part of the city was shut down for 4 days to pay their respects. This was a huge deal to the Khmer people because this king freed them from the French occupation. It was very cool to be here and see how a country can unite together in remembrance of strong leader.
The second major event was the Chinese New Year. Curtis and I have heard of the Chinese New Year, but didn't know a thing about it. The people here basically treated it like our Thanksgiving. Eating a ton of food and celebrating with family and friends. The week before the new year the markets spiked up their prices on all of their foods for the occasion. So a pineapple is usually 50 cents but during this last week it was $2! Insane. So we ate Mac n' Cheese at home. Haha. Most of the markets have been closed for the new year for about 3 days. They take holidays very seriously here!
While moving here and adjusting to the culture has been fun and a learning experience, we've also been working on the Harvest Bible College and getting it all set for classes that start March 4th! We are so excited for classes to start, but there has been (and continues to be) a lot of prep work involved which has been really fun. From driving around town looking for basic office supplies, which is a lot harder than it sounds, to going to distant villages and spreading the word about the bible college, which is a whole other cultural experience in and of itself. We are working hard building relationships here and talking to a lot of bible college student prospects. People here are so excited for this project and are hungry to learn more about the bible, but they are having a hard time making the commitment because a majority of them are tied down to their responsibilities, such as: farming, training for careers or working full-time jobs, which is understandable. We have full faith that the Lord will provide the way for the students and the college to be successful.
Please pray for us and our student prospects that the Lord will shine a light on what He wants done here and how He wants it done. We look forward to walking this journey with you. Thank you for thinking of us. It means the world to us to have support group at home that encourages us to move forward. You can always email us at BreCurtisJohnson@gmail.com :)
Until next week…. GOD BLESS!!!