August this year saw the departure of our summer interns and our annual staff retreat. This is a time for us to spend together as a family and not just as work colleagues. We spent time in the mountainous region of Mondulkiri where we at lots of good food and even saw some elephants. It got cool enough in the evenings to even enjoy a bonfire and worship.
This summer has also seen some exciting new developments at my Khmer church. I have begun to play in the worship band, and I’ve also started to translate! I feel blessed and humbled that the leaders at church trust me enough to give me this opportunity to learn and practice. Even though I didn’t feel quite ready to begin translating, they encouraged me that the best way to learn was by doing. I love how my church feels more like family than some other churches I have attended in the past. We often eat lunch together after the service, and like shown below, we have special parties before holidays where we play games and have fun.
The end of September also saw the arrival of our fall interns. This year we have Danny from the US, Marin from Cambodia, and our returning Khmer intern, Menea. We were a little concerned that Danny would be the only expat interns, but I’ve been super proud of our Khmer staff for making him feel at home and included. I love their playfulness and joy, as you can see by the intern photo they created last weekend.
