Today I told those 8 eager faces (my Cambodian teachers) that we were going to study the ខួរក្បាល (in English this means brain). Four times a week I tuk tuk out to a local village to lend my love and support to 8 elementary teachers who range from ages 16-27 and minister to 145 students 3-year-old until 2nd grade. Two are currently in Cambodian university, 2 have not completed high school and ALL have no teacher training. This has been my most daunting task since arriving in Phnom Penh almost 3 years ago. While this is my fourth round of teaching at schools, it never gets easier. As I first walk onto their school sites, most have NOTHING! Few supplies, cramped spaces, untrained personnel, very little English, but one thing I have consistently seen in all 4 schools I have worked in: A RADICAL LOVE FOR JESUS AND CHILDREN! This passion brings me to my knees every time as they pour out their untrained hearts (both in educational models and Biblical understanding) in changing the landscape for Cambodian children.
In this, they are my heroes. They teach me. 
To encourage educational growth and stimulation, I taught my teachers this…
1. Teachers need to help their students by stimulating brain growth (I called it “exercising their brains”). Children need to exercise their brains to boost cognitive performance, memory and thinking. Just as I said these things, a lightbulb went on over my head.
Duh! This applies to my 62-year-old self. You try learning a new language at 60. You try navigating impossible traffic in Cambodia. You try driving a moto for the first time. You try teaching teachers with absolutely nothing but what I create. You try teaching Biblical applications to non-Bible readers. After “liberation” day from the Khmer Rouge in 1979, there were only a few hundred Christians left and 3 pastors! The whole Bible was not translated into Khmer until 1954, thus Biblical illiteracy is widely evident. Most don’t own a Bible! Yet, the few stories they know, they teach. They pray. They fast. They attend church faithfully. They worship.
These are my heroes. They teach me.
2. Teachers need to help their students by creating new and exciting challenges for them. (Instead of doing things the same old way, change it up! Get creative!) Hmmmm….
Duh! Again, this applies to my 62-year-old self. When God saw in His good mercy to give us a passion for human trafficking, he gave us a whole new work. In 40 years of marriage, we have had many exciting new experiences: parenthood, marriage ministry, adoption, 10 moves). But who gets a new call to go half way around the world at 60 to fight the atrocity of child sex trafficking in Cambodia? He knew what we needed. What a challenge! We pray daily for creativity in reaching the lost here and rescuing and restoring as many children as possible. As I watch these precious teachers really try to be creative and change it up, I am challenged as well.
These are my heroes. They teach me. 
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