I Feel Like Timothy

MONUMENT FILLED WITH BONES FROM THE KILLING FIELD




I finally got to wake up without an alarm today! Guess what? No pain at all in my body! Praise God! We ate breakfast and then drove the 4 hours back to Phnom Phen. The drive was great! I started off opening may 2nd letter from Will! So encouraging! Will your letters are something I definitely look forward to. I have only read the first two, but I re-read them over and over again because they constantly encourage me. In this letter Will encouraged me to read 1 and 2 Timothy and also Titus. Well guess what? I have already been diving into 2 Timothy! I decided to read 1 Timothy all the way through. So for the first part of the bus ride that is what I did. It was so encouraging! Everything, and I mean everything Paul was saying to Timothy, was exactly what I needed to hear! It is like Paul was writing this letter directly to me! I am Timothy :) Thank you GOD for speaking this through Will, and showing me this. The rest of the drive was full of joking and laughter and talking.

I have really begun to connect with Susanna (a girl from the South Louisiana team) and we are very similar in a lot of ways! We connect very well, and it is very encouraging to have that. I swear though, the amount of useless information we both have in our heads is ridiculous. We could be geniuses if we actually replaced it with information that mattered. It is definitely cool to see the ways that she experiences God daily. By no means do I know all about her, but I do know a lot from what I have observed and been told by her. It is just encouraging to have someone that is similar to you. I have really begun to connect with the rest of that team as well! They are all becoming like family to me, and it is going to be sad to see them leave us Tuesday.

We got back to Phnom Phen and we went to The Killing Fields! For those of you who don't know the history of Cambodia let me explain a little. Before the Genocide from 1975-79, Cambodia was way ahead of many countries in technology and a lot of other things as well. But in 1975 the Kahmer Rouge invaded Cambodia and took over. They basically arrested and killed lawyers, scholars, monks, teachers, their families, and basically everyone but farmers. They knew if they only had farmers and poor that the country would be much easier to control and it would have to depend on them. During this time they killed close to 3 million people. There are many Killing Fields all over Cambodia, but this is one of the main ones. The things that happened here were so gruesome and overwhelming that I can't even begin to describe them. I encourage that you research this topic and find out what happened. Not because I don't want to describe it all to you, just that I don't know how and there is SO MUCH! I was so overwhelmed by this, and the thing is there are genocides in Africa right now, these things are still going on around the world. This Genocide sat Cambodia back so much as a country and they are still recovering from it. What I do know, and what God taught me from this is these people are constantly happy. They are happy to just be alive! A lot of times we take just being alive for granted. We also forget that the way we act towards people have a huge affect on them. We can be so cruel! We must remember our daily interactions with people, and the way we act towards them, speak to them, and treat them. And a smile can really go a long way! Trust me, being here I know!! A smile makes their day, and definitely makes mine.

Afterwards I came back to the room and had a facebook message from my sister. My sister is such a wonderful daughter of Christ! Ashley I want to tell you a lot of times I think you doubt that you can experience the things I do, or that your relationship with God is not as strong as mine is. FALSE! You are such a beautiful, amazing, wonderful daughter of GOD! You have spoke so much encouragement to me! That message literally made me weep (good tears though, happy tears!) That definitely comes from God, trust me. Those are not your words in that message, but those are God's words. Especially when I talked to you about being nervous about my job opportunity. You knew exactly the right words to say to encourage me, and you reminded me that whether or not I got the job, God has a plan for my life! That was God speaking through you to me. I praise you for being strong. You have had many struggles, and I have seen you overcome so much! Trust me, we are not going to experience God the exact same way, everyone's relationship with God is different. You can experience God in mighty ways though, and I have seen you do it! Just remember to be open to it, and dive into the God's Word (the Bible) daily! It helps so much, and opens up so many doors! I love you so much Ashley! I praise God for you every day! You mean the world to me, and I don't know what I would do without you! Don't doubt that you can experience God! You are a wonderful, beautiful, AMAZING daughter of Christ.

I also got to skype with Stephanie Guthrie tonight! She is the first person I have video chatted since I have been here. It was good to see a face from home, and hear from part of my Lubbock family! Stephanie I want to remind you that you are a beautiful daughter of Christ as well! Your worth is in Him, and He loves you! Whatever you do this summer in Midland, know that God has a plan for you! Seek out why He has you there, and stay encouraged in that! I miss you, and send everyone my love!

As for tonight I am going to leave with this Scripture from Timothy:

"Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." -- 1 Timothy 4:11-16

--Discerning the Call
Chase Fallin