As the school year has come to a close, I think to myself… “Is it possible we have been in Cambodia for 11 months now? Have I been teaching in a foreign country for 10 months? Where has the time gone?” As I reflect on the last 10 months of teaching at Logos and 11 months of living on the other side of the world, a couple of things come to mind and it reminds me of a movie my dad loves an old western movie called, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (secretly I really like the music!). So here is a list of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of our time here in Cambodia!

The Good (just to name a few!) – finding a furnished house within our price range to rent on a monthly basis within the first couple weeks of us being here, having people here we already knew before landing, hosting a lifegroup at our house every Saturday, John coming along side Alf and starting Cambodia’s first wake park, two Kam-Air employees learning new truths about the Bible, through weekly Bible study with John and Alf, finding a church to call our church home, John volunteering with the sound at church and me teaching Sunday school when needed, the wonderful and supportive staff at Logos, flying to Thailand – the doctor finding what was causing my pelvic pain and taking care of the problem the same day, skyping with friends and family, seeing 25 kids change and grow into a wonderful group of students and the highlight of the year so far…. one of my students accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior.

The Bad (not so many, promise) – having a mouse in our classroom and not being able to catch it, the truck alarm going off and not knowing how to turn it off without getting into the engine, the wake park system not working for a couple of months, having pelvic pain and the 1st doctor you go to tell you there is nothing there, John falling down on his moto twice, Luke going through a “hitting phase” when we first landed

The Ugly (personal) – God using Cambodia to strip away my pride, selfishness and control issues… He continues to do this everyday, but this really hit hard in February!

So on the last day of school, I sat in front of my students crying uncontrollably as I thought about God’s goodness and how He has carried our family through “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” this year. Through this all, God has remained in control of everything and has shown His power and grace to us time and time again!

UPDATE from Kam-Air Wake Park – The system had been down for a couple of months. The guys didn’t know what they were going to do. They needed parts and didn’t know when those were coming. Sure enough, God had a different plan. He sent a team from Canada (from Matthew McCullough’s home church) to be a blessing. One of the men on the team, Dave, is an electrician and he went to work on the system. Sure enough, after a couple of months of not working, it’s working again! Praise the Lord for He is good!

In Him  ~Ashley