Hello blog world! So much has happened since my last entry, I could write a book. Since December, my relationship status has gone from in a relationship, to engaged, to married. My name has changed from Brenda Dueck, to Brenda Chen. There’s even a wedding band on my finger! I’m back in Cambodia. It’s been a wild journey!
New Years Eve, at midnight, under the stars, Colin went down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was so awestruck by the beauty of the moment, all I got out was a whispered “Yes”, as he slipped the ring on my finger. We shared our first kiss. It was magical! Time seemed to stand still. At this point we climbed back in the truck, since it was about -35 degrees Celsius. Together we asked God to bless and guide this new step in our relationship.
A few weeks later, Colin flew back to Cambodia and I stayed in Canada to spend time with my family and friends and plan the wedding. I also worked part time. We spent countless hours on the phone. Both of us had less than ideal WiFi connections, so there was a lot of “can you hear me?”, “let’s try messenger” and “let me go outside”. One of the benefits of long distance relationship is the amount of time you spend in conversations. We had to keep talking. That was the only way to know that our wifi connection hadn’t failed. I learned to verbalize my feelings and thoughts a lot better. We discussed cultural and personality similarities and differences. We talked about childhood experiences. We dreamed together. And prayed together. And so much more. But, boy, was I happy when those 106 days were over and I was back in my beloved’s arms!
Colin was back in Canada for just over a month before our wedding. We finished wedding planning. We went shopping for our time back in Cambodia. We spent time with family and friends. We did premarital counselling with my pastor. And we counted down the days till we’d become Mr and Mrs.
And then we rode off into the sunset (ok maybe the sun wasn’t actually setting yet). We spent four amazing days in a cabin by the lake and two days in the city. Came back home and began packing and spending the last days with family.
June 24th, we stepped on the plane, together, to fly back to our other home. The first morning we drove around the city on our motorcycle, happy to be home. Spent a week getting over jetlag and settling in to Colin’s apartment. And then Colin went back to work and I went back to join my Iris team.
These last few months have been such a whirlwind of events and emotions. Most of it has been absolutely amazing and some of it hard! But it’s been so much, I feel like I stayed behind. I jumped back into ministry really fast and pretended all was well. But it caught up with me. I’ve spent the last few days resting, allowing myself to feel, to miss my family, to be a wife, to get used to the food and culture again, to think and process, to trust God, and allow Colin to pamper me.
In all this, I want to say God is faithful! I am excited to see how He will continue to lead.
Thank you to so many of you who have blessed us through letters, meals, finances, hugs, and encouraging notes!
Love you all,
Brenda Chen
