Mittsomlang

The letter begins:

I love Alyssa, kid in preschool love u all and realy miss u so much.

you are a great person!

thanks you very much for helping kid in Cambodia...

Mitch & Alyssa spent six months living and volunteering in Poipet. They came wanting to learn and to serve. They weren't sure if they had a special 'calling' but they were willing. And that's all it takes.

M&A proved to be faithful, flexible servants. They adjusted to cold showers, squat toilets and the challenges of living with 'uninvited guests' of the insect & animal kind. Alyssa walked through the mud to advise and encourage the teachers at the MMF school. She persevered through staff changes, even when the 4.5 teaching staff at the end of her six-month term were all new. Mitch taught English in two villages and at one urban school. He also mentored a Cambodian-American who was new to the faith. M&A prayed together, read the bible together and encouraged each other daily to rely on God and to look for the positive in every circumstance.

M&A came as servants. They left as friends. The fact that half a dozen people have already told me they miss Mitch & Alyssa's friendship is interesting. Cambodian people have trouble pronouncing the name Mitch so it often comes out sounding like 'Mitt' instead. And 'Mitt' is root word for 'friend' in Khmer. Mittpeak = friend. Mitthepheap = friendship. Mittsomlang = dear friend. Mitch's very name was symbolic of the wonderful gift that they left in Poipet.