Pure Joy

It’s barely been three days; I can’t believe how much my outlook of life has changed. Everything about this experience so far has been incredible.  There hasn’t been a day where I don’t catch myself smiling for no apparent reason. That’s what Cambodia will do to you.

We have all been working so hard. Most of the work has been on the field clearing the land, digging holes in the ground, and filling them with cement, all for the boy’s house that we will be building soon.  All this hard work is worth it though.  It will be so rewarding to see the house finished. Knowing that the house will be home to kids who may have never even had a bed to sleep in is truly overwhelming.

Everyone in Cambodia is so unpredictable. Talking to Sopiep today was such a pleasant surprise. I had no idea that I would ever become so comfortable with talking to a person who I had barely even met. We randomly started talking to each other. It was spontaneous!  We were challenged to conquer a fear today. I had already conquered one, but this one was special. I had never talked to a person who is blind before, and I didn’t know what so say or how to act around him. I was nervous at first but after the first 10 seconds into the conversation I was completely comfortable. I asked him two or three questions, he asked me maybe ten, and we were having a hard time communicating. I asked our translator Meng for help, and now I really feel like my connection with Sopiep is growing.

Throughout this trip so far, I have experienced so many different emotions, but today I felt something that I have never felt in my life…pure joy. As we were leaving the orphanage on the tuk tuk, the kids where still clinging on to my arms, and even after they let go, they chased after us. They were still full of energy, and jumping up and down simply because they knew we would be back tomorrow. This was such a precious feeling. It made me feel , for the very first time, like I was doing something right.