Greetings from Cambodia,

Last night was the three week anniversary of my arrival in Cambodia. I arrived on a Wednesday evening. The next morning I left with the MTW team for our annual retreat which was along the coast. It was nice to spend a few days getting to know the team to start my time here. After we arrived back in Phnom Penh, I started unpacking and getting things for my house. I have started to feel more settled in this week. My time is spent meeting with a language tutor four or five days a week, studying the language, and spending time with a few Cambodians that I have met and some of the team. I have been eating most of my meals with a Cambodian Christian couple that live across the street from me. We sit on the floor to eat and we have had rice with every meal but one. Life here has been about as different as I expected. But it is much different to hear and read about these differences than to actually live in the midst of them. I am reminded of a David Powlison quote where he says, “Love of comfort and ease leads to every sort of evil…love of pleasure, love of excitement, the desire to never be bored…love of good health, love of control, love of adoration, love of good looks, love of getting your own way, love of what people give me, love of self-righteousness…these are profound idolatries.” I probably didn’t realize how much I loved my relative life of ease and comfort in the US until I stepped off of an airplane a few weeks ago and it was gone.

Prayer: You can pray for my cultural adjustment. I guess being a white guy in Asia has its limitation to fitting in, but you can pray that I fit in appropriately. Also, pray for my language learning and that I am disciplined in my study. Finally, pray for me as I am in the midst of many adjustments and frustrations at times that I would take comfort in Christ’s gospel.

Thanks,
Luke