Meet Sydney Gesler, a sixteen-year-old living in Cambodia and serving on the PR team for the first time this year. Sydney is originally from Columbus, Ohio, having moved back and forth between America and Cambodia ever since she was a kid. Her parents moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia before she was even born. Once she reached the age of one, they moved to a small town by the name of Kampong Cham and started the Friendship School for poor and unprivileged kids. The reason Sydney chose this position is because of her love of being behind the camera and taking photos. She was inspired by her sister, Lauren, who took a photography class in high school and would always use her as a model. Although she hated it at the time, she always loved pushing the button on the camera and would try to convince her sister to give her the camera every chance she got.
Currently, Sydney is taking a variety of classes, which include AP Biology, AP Psychology, Precalculus, English, and SAT prep courses this upcoming semester. Outside of TPS, she is also enrolled in American History and Music. When she’s not busy with all the work she has for school, she makes herself busy by going to her parents’ school and helping to teach English to third graders. For fun and to get her creativity out, she expresses herself through music. She plays both the piano and guitar; one of her favorite pastimes is writing lyrics and playing different types of music on both instruments. Even though she would like to say her hobbies are all her own, she has to admit she was again inspired by her sister. When her sister moved to the U.S. for her college education, not only did these hobbies help pass the time for Sydney but also helped her remember her sister when she missed her.
Because Sydney is part of a missionary family, she has a very unique testimony with her walk with God. Going back and forth between two countries usually left her with few friends, especially since her family lives in such a small town. Due to the fact that she does not know enough of the language in Cambodia and does not have a lot of foreign families around, she began to call out to God often for comfort and friendship. She grew a lot in her faith growing up in a place where the only thing she could really depend on is God. Seeing how many people struggle to eat and live in Cambodia gave her a lot of motivation to serve and bring people to God. In America she has a high school bible study that meets twice a week and has taught her a lot about God and being there for other people.
Finally, her favorite book of the Bible must be Hebrews. This book helped her really grow in God and showed her just how powerful he really is. Although this is her favorite book of the Bible, her favorite verse is actually Psalms 34:18, which states, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” This verse is important to her as it has helped her depend on God and shown her how much he cares about her, even if she could not always feel him around.
Photo Credit: Sydney Gesler
piano and guitar – the two best instruments!
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