In our Cambodian village, love is interwoven in the everyday rhythms of life.
It looks like warm greetings down dusty paths, with Khmer children calling out “Grandfather!” and “Grandmother!” as we ride our bicycles past. It’s sharing meals with our Khmer friends and listening to their stories from the many seasons of their lives. It looks like turning up every day, going outside our comfort zone, listening and loving in unexpected ways.
What’s love look like? Bringing God’s love to life – everyday in every place. And that’s exactly what we’re discovering here.
In 1 John 4:19, we read: ‘We love because God first loved us.’ Everything begins there. We are simply responding to the love we have received. Love looks like being an imitator of Christ in the classroom. As we teach English, we’re not only sharing words we’re sharing encouragement, patience, and dignity.
Each person is known by name. Each voice matters. Each small step is celebrated.
Love sounds like laughter over new vocabulary and gentle persistence when learning is hard. Love also looks like transforming a place of rubbish into a place of beauty and fruitfulness.
When Rob picks up plastic waste around the school garden, it is an unexpected thing for a foreigner to be doing. Plastic waste and the pollution from burning of rubbish is a problem here. Recently while Rob was working in the compost the air was thick with pollution. But a parent asked him, “Why aren’t you burning the rubbish?” For many people here, plastic waste and green waste are the same thing. So modelling creation care by composting waste and separating plastic rubbish is a unique way of showing love in this community.
Love looks like being members of the community, living here, learning language, sharing everyday life. We sit on woven mats, listen to stories and receive hospitality that humbles us. We are guests, learners and friends.
Recently, a student, who was once too shy to speak, stood up and spoke a full sentence in English. The whole class cheered. His smile said everything. In that moment, love looked like courage, community and the joy of being seen.
Thank you for the way you show love by supporting us to be here. Your prayers, encouragement and support make it possible for us to be here, to teach, to garden, to learn and to share life in this village. You are part of every lesson, every seed planted, every relationship formed.
Love doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like showing up – everyday, in every place. We love, because God first loved us.
The above is the transcript of Rob and Deb’s 2026 May Mission Month update video.
