Hey everyone!!!

Last week was our last week of ministry. It was set up differently than the rest of our time, they call it nutrition week. On Monday and Wednesday we would get food from the market and prepare it for Tuesday and and Thursday. On Monday and Wednesday we had our usual schedule, we taught the kids in the morning and around 65 kids came Monday. They remembered us from the week before and me and Bella braided their hair. It was so cute and gentle to have the little girls come up and point at us, then point at themselves and shrug to ask if we could do their hair. Even with a language barrier they were able to communicate with us and we were able to love on them and communicate God's love through these little acts of service. On Tuesday and Thursday we had the big lunch with the kids. We would gather them like usual, but this time instead of their books and pencils, they would bring bowls, spoons and little bags and rice or greens or woods to help cook the meal. Because they are allowed to contribute to the meal, they both feel loved and feel appreciated for the part they played. Instead of doing a teaching that day we would just play games that went over some English words they were learning and just messed around. It was a nice way to end ministry because we were able to just enjoy our time with the kids instead of worrying about the lesson, we also spent Thanksgiving in one of the villages so our thanksgiving meal was the big pot of soup that we shared with the kids. It was such a good example of the community and live that is supposed to be at the center of Thanksgiving. I was so happy that I was able to be a part of this ministry for the last 5 weeks and I'm so excited for what God has next.

Through working in this ministry God has really shown me what it means to love unconditionally. The Bible tells us to have a childlike faith and you can look at children in America and see that, but it's so much more obvious when you see these children, that have nothing, be so excited and eager to come to school. They were so excited to see us and chose to find ways to communicate even when they couldn't speak to us. That is the same eagerness we should be having with God. I've been reading through the book of Ecclesiastes, which can seem like a scary or intimidating book, and it does talk about the meaningless of life and how everything will pass, but it gives this encouragement and the end of almost every chapter: we should enjoy the fruits of our labor because it is what God has blessed us with and we should fear the Lord and obey his commands. Those kids truly showed us unconditional love and it is inspiring and also a heart check. I'm able to love them so much and they love me so much, but it's easy to love them because they loved me first. We need to have that same attitude when we aren't receiving love back or in the ways we wish we were receiving it. Unconditional love quite literally means to love with no conditions attached, I think that is an area that the Lord is going to grow me in through these next few months and I'm excited to see how much more that is amplified with our next ministry in Thailand where we will be living in a village working with the same kids for three weeks.

I have fallen in love with Cambodia and it will be hard to say goodbye, but I'm so excited to see what God has next for us and the ways he will demonstrate his character.

As always, thank you for the continued support and prayers, if you are interested in helping some of my teammates fund for their race please let me know, I'd love to direct you to them, you can reach me at gramirez7155@gmail.com or (805)-825-7759.

Gianna Ramirez