A Hurting People

Yesterday as a pretty intense day!  It was Saturday and we decided to do the typical tourist locations.  Our first stop was the Genocide Museum(Prison).  If you don't know much about the Khmer Rouge, like me before deciding to come here, this is a short summary I found online.  I encourage you to research this more  if you don't know about it. I want to warn you that some of the things I will share about my experience will be a little graphic so read with caution.  

"Khmer Rouge: A Communist guerrilla movement in Cambodia (formerly Kampuchea) led by Pol Pot, which ruled the country between 1975 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 2 to 3 million Cambodians via torture, execution, over-work or starvation during its four-year reign of terror. (This was 1/4 or 1/5 of the total population.) They sought to cleanse Cambodia of capitalists and intellectuals, and to impose a new social structure based entirely on collective agriculture.Pol Pot's murderous regime was forced out of power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, but the Khmer Rouge fought on as a guerrilla army from the jungles of western Cambodia until 1999.Today, some of the Khmer Rouge leaders are being tried for genocide and crimes against humanity. Pol Pot himself died in 1998, before he could face trial.The term "Khmer Rouge" comes from Khmer, which is the name for the Cambodian people, plus rouge, which is French for "red" - that is to say, Communist."

As I walked through this prison, that was one time a school, it was overwhelming to see the images of innocent victims that suffered and died by their own people.  The place felt heavy as I walked through the halls into each cell room.  I could not understand how human life was treated with no value or respect.  Many starved to death or were tortured in ways that I cannot forget.  There were only 7 survivors from this one prison.  

We took a tuk tuk over to the killing fields.  Before going inside we ate lunch at a restaurant nearby.  It was pretty good and they had french fries!  On their menus, it is actually written "Fried French".  It was nice to have something other than rice.  It is not an exaggeration when you hear asians eat rice for every meal.  Literally, they do! 

We walked into the entrance of the killing fields and was able to get audio to guide us through the tour.  I was standing in the place where thousands were murdered!  Each marker told us of what happened in that place from the time they arrived, to what they used to kill, and where they put the bodies. There was a tree that had spikes on the stems and it was a way that they would slit the victims' throats so it would be silent.  There was also a tree called the "Magic Tree" that they put a speaker in and blasted music so no one else would hear the torturing.  

There were many large pits on the land as we walked.  Those pits were where they would pile up the bodies.  I really felt sick when I saw the mass graves of where children had died.  There was another tree, called the "Killing Tree" where they would just swing and hit the babies and children head on the tree.  When it rains, the remains of things like teeth, bones, clothes, etc. come to the surface and are preserved in boxes around the grounds.  In the middle of the site, there is built a stupa and many skulls are kept.  They are classified into categories and it's a place to go and pay respect and pray. 

This day was hard to take in.  Seeing what Cambodia has been through and how they are trying to rebuild gives me such a love for these people.  They are so kind and excited to see us Americans.  Even with their hospitality and stares along with smiles, you can still feel the oppression.  With the religion over 90% Buddhist, it is a very dark place.  Because I live in the Bible belt, it is hard to wrap my head around the fact that many have not heard the name of Jesus.  What is encouraging is that we have met people here that have been saved by Grace and are active in spreading the love of Jesus to their people.  We went to church today.  It was mostly in Khmer, but they had English words under the Khmer words during worship and the message was translated.  It was an awesome experience!  They were so on fire!  One guy got up and shared a verse and told a testimony with tears running down his face.  Although, I could not understand...I could see he loved God.  It was so cool to be with my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world!!!

Please remember my team and I in your prayers.  We each have our own struggles and challenges to deal with on this journey whether it be with health or our spiritual lives.  Thank you so much for the prayers you have sent up thus far!  

Blessings,
B

Settling In

It's Friday afternoon and I have some time to update.  I can't believe it has almost been a week.  My feelings from the first night have changed drastically. Teaching this week has been really fun!  I'm amazed at how well they speak English. I have been teaching them things I would teach my Kindergarteners...even things that I don't.  I have some students that know very little English, so there is a large gap in levels that make planning lessons a little difficult.  I think I actually have their names down now.  That was one of my main worries.  Thank the Lord I have a two TA's(Teacher's Assistants) that speak Khmer and English.  They have been a big help! 

Yesterday, we took a trip to the dusty market. You may be wondering why they call it that.  I think a better name would be the Nasty Market.  LOL! The place smells like garbage and their is muddy with who knows what kinds of bacteria in it!  There is raw meat hung outside in the hot humid weather, dried fish heads, and flies everywhere.  It was definitely an experience, but not one I want to relive.  

I have tried some interesting foods while here.  When we arrived to our apartment, we had a plate of fruit in our room to welcome us.  There were leeches, mangosteens, and bananas.  These are all very good!  I also had dragon fruit (yum!), rumbaton, even durian!  Durian is a fruit that smells incredibly horrid and absolutely tastes that way, too!  You can see the video on Facebook of me trying it for the first time.  YUCK!  

Everyone here is extremely kind!  They are so hospitable and want you to be happy.  Those who we have met, who are Christians, are so passionate about God.  They are so thankful for what they have, even though it isn't much.  It really makes me see how spoiled we Americans are.  I already knew that, but being here really confirms it!  I think of the beginning of the week, how cockroaches, the heat, and lack of resources made it hard to adapt.  It was so much for me to take in that I wanted to go home almost the instant that I arrived.  I wanted God to challenge me and to push me out of my comfort zone.  Even though I wanted it, it doesn't make it easy when the push comes.  I know God has more "pushing" to do and I am praying for the His strength to handle each challenge as they come.  

Tonight, we are going to a church that has been hosting talent shows all year.  All the winners from each month are having a big talent show, so I'm really excited to see it!  I am going to take a cat nap before I go.  Unfortunately, I still have some jet lag and am waking up at 4 AM and falling asleep at 5 & 6 in the evenings!  

In Christ,
Britt

Culture Shock

Hello everyone!  I finally have some time to send out an update.  I want to tell you what it has been like so far for me.  As you know, my team and I left on Saturday afternoon and headed toward Shanghai.  The flight was about 13 hours.  It actually wasn't as terrible as I anticipated.  My seat was next to two girl from Malaysia who were my age.  They spoke English very well and were returning home from their first time in the states.  They were so kind and kept giving me food:)  I slept most of the time.  We arrived in Shanghai and our flight was delayed into Phnom Penh.  It was about 9:00 when we boarded and arrived into Phnom Penh around 1:30 AM.  I was very confused with the time changes.  We got our Visas at the airport and met Aaron, he works for the school.  We had to divide up for our houses so since Deanna and I roomed together in CA, we decided to stay together.  I was not prepared for the next few hours.  The apartment we are living in is nice and belongs to the Librarian who teaches during the year.  Deanna and I finally put our stuff down and was ready to take a shower when we found 4 GIANT cockroaches in our bathroom and 1 in our bedroom.  I have never seen any this size!  We were scared to death and neither of us could get the courage to get close enough to kill it.  We were up until 5:00 AM tackling one by one.  We didn't take a shower because we were so creeped out and I thought to myself anything but this God.  We only got a couple hours of sleep and had to get ready to go see the school.  We were picked up by the rest of the team and it was hard to hear how wonderful their places were, bug free with their own room and bath and comfortable beds.  We toured the school and I got to my classroom.  I was told that I couldn't use anything that was covered up, which was everything.  I got very overwhelmed and was having such a hard time adjusting.  I cried, which for me, doesn't happen often.  Then I started feeling sick.  I felt very nauseous and overheated.  My roommate wasn't feeling well either.  Her and I ended up going back to our room while the others went to the grocery store.  We laid in bed and I kept thinking what did I get myself into?  I just want to go home.  We slept on and off from about 4:00 that evening to 4:00 the next morning.  I still felt very sick and hadn't eaten much.  It was the first day of school so I had to force myself to get it together.  We took a tuk tuk (a moto attached to a cart for 4) to school with our housemate Sybil.  I met my class and then everything seemed to feel so much better.  Once I saw their cute little faces, I was reminded why I was here.  God just gave me the strength and I felt so much better.  My class is wonderful and they are very bright!  Most have really good English and can read books.  The first day we worked on colors and read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See."  It was a good day!  Well. its 5 AM

here (my sleep schedule is still off) and I'm going to get ready.  I look forward to sharing more.  

Blessings,

Brittney

Soldiers in Training

I have some time to recap my week at training so far.  This week has been very busy and its still hard to believe that in 4 days I will be headed to another country!  Sunday, I arrived in L.A. and met up with Jennifer, one of my teammates.  Her and I had been communicating the last month or so about the trip and it was so good to see her in person.  We caught a cab ride with Jose, the taxi driver I had met when I came to L.A. in March.  It was good to see him, too!  I arrived to the campus and was welcomed by those we had been communicating with for several months. It was good to put a face with a voice.  People were continuing to arrive all day, so we had a couple of hours of down time.  I wasn't feeling really great on my connecting flight from Phoenix to L.A. but figured it was motion sickness.

 Later that afternoon, we met up with everyone and made name tags to represent a little of who we are.  I made a butterfly, of course!  Then we had dinner on the lawn and visited with one another. It is so beautiful here!  There are beautiful flowers, and large palm trees with the mountains as a backdrop.  Did I mention how wonderful the weather is?

That evening, we all came together for worship.  There are teams going to 5 different schools this summer in Russia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Next, each team came together to create an object that would be useful overseas using only scissors, newspaper, and duck tape.  We came up with a backpack loaded with essentials like a sleeping bag, food, a bottle for water....and because we are awesome, our team won!!

Monday morning was worship time with our team.  It was good to hear each ones testimony and what brought them here.  Our team is the largest, so it takes twice as long to get through questions and devo time, but we use our time wisely and continue where we left off.  During the afternoon sessions, I was feeling light headed, felt a little off, and didn't have much of an appetite.  I was a bit worried because I am usually never sick and didn't want it to turn into something serious that might make the traveling hard.  I didn't sleep well the two night before, so this was a concern.

I was one of the first teachers that had to teach a lesson Monday evening.  My lesson was on body parts, so I taught it with the head, shoulders, knees, and toes song(Jack Hartmann style). Even though I have been teaching for 6 years, teaching a foreign language is an adjustment for me.

I woke up this morning feeling like I had rested well that night and felt much better.  Thank you to those who prayer for me.  I had a little bit of dizziness, but not to the extent that I felt thrown off.  We learned about culture shock and what that might look like.  We zoned in on what type of characteristics we could see ourselves having while overseas.  I will admit that I feel it will be challenging for me to make those adjustments quickly.  I'm also nervous about living with people for 4 weeks, especially since I'm use to living on my own and having that time to myself.  I have a great team though and we have all been very open and honest about what we need for ourselves and from each other. Tonight, we went on a ice cream run and stood inside the store and had our team meeting on accountability.

This experience is so important to me.  I am ready for God to teach me more about missions and understand what it really means to die to myself daily.

Be blessed!
B

Packing My Suitcase!

Greetings!  I am one week away from leaving Shawnee, OK and heading to training in California!  This last week seems so surreal as I've been preparing to go.  It's almost as if I'm getting ready for an experience I haven't quite convinced myself is about to happen.   Even though I got serious about getting things done a few weeks ago, I still feel far from it.  However, for me I tend to work best with pressure and I get it done.  So much preparation goes into an adventure like this! Preparation like making sure I have all my bills taken care of while I'm gone, finding someone to house and dog sit, packing all that I think I will need in a third world country, but making sure it doesn't weigh more than 50 Ibs., raising $5,000 but more importantly....preparing my heart.  There's been times I've gotten so stressed out with the things I need to bring with me, that I got lost in the fact that what I am bringing to the children of Cambodia is everything they need.  I'm carrying hope, love, forgiveness, salvation, redemption.  All that they need, is within me.  As a child of God, I have the opportunity to tell them a love story that entails them as the main character.  I can bring light into the darkness and tell them they have a Savior who wants them and loves them! When I refocus, my purpose becomes crystal clear and those insignificant things are a blur in the background.

"He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30 

This song has been one that's really spoken to me throughout the year.  I love that God has used it in several circumstances to remind me to look at Him! Enjoy:)

After one week of training, I will be going to Southeast Asia!  I don't have many details about the conditions of where we will be living and teaching.  It's probably a good thing, because I tend to take control of things.   I am anticipating some culture shock.  That's a given when you've been in the same town all your life. LOL!  I'm a little nervous about the cuisine there.  I haven't had much exposure to many foods, but I am willing to try new things....except bugs!! I really don't want to eat bugs!! There are a few things I need to remember as far as customs and etiquette.  I will constantly have to remind myself to not point at things, cross my legs, or touch children on the head.  I am thankful I will have my team to help me out and vice versa!

Support Update:  I am still continuing to raise support.  I have raised approximately 80% and looking for those to partner with me in raising my last 20%! There are a few ways to give.  https://www.teachoverseas.org/give/make-a-donation/  Fill in your information then in the drop down menu, select teacher and type my name: Britney Lynn Allison.  Your gift is tax-deductible! :)

I would love for you to keep up with my journey.  I will continue to post on my blog when I have the chance.  If you would like to receive an email as well, just send me a message or text me:)