After arriving in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, we spent the first couple of days acclimating ourselves to the
community we would be living in for the next 4 weeks. This meant walking up and down the streets, dodging the
thousands of mottos and tok toks, and weaving through the people and their
storefronts, mobile fruit stands, and barefoot children. All I could think was, “how do they
live in such chaos here?” Now,
that I’ve been here for a few days I realize this is not chaos to them at
all. The fact that there are very
few traffic lights yet tons of intersections, of which EVERYONE has the right
of way, makes sense to them. The
truth is, I haven’t seen one Cambodian driver get upset with another driver who
cuts them off or a pedestrian who steps out in front of them. In fact, everyone seems to simply yield
to who ever needs yielding to with no assumption that the other is being
malicious or inconsiderate.
It’s a mind-blowing experience really. Now, we don’t think twice to cross incredibly busy roads and
step into oncoming traffic. Don’t
worry mom! We look both ways
before crossing!
As far as our living goes, 4 of our
5 teams are staying in a local hostel right in the city. It costs $4 a week to live here…might
need to renegotiate with my roomie when I return to the states…=). I’m living with 2 fantastic girls,
Laura and Kristin. I’m quickly
falling head over heels for them!
We are each other’s safe place and comfort from the craziness of the day
and I am so very thankful for them!
Living here in the hostel is an eye
opening experience for sure. Every
night the workers at the hostel drag a large lit up sign out to the road and
another out to the closest street corner.
Once night falls it is not uncommon to see man after man enter the front
doorway with a young girl following behind. The men will always pay for a room while the girl waits
behind him usually making no eye contact with anyone else minus maybe those
working behind the counter. The
other night as I was standing in the hall outside my room talking with a
teammate, an officer came out of the room right across the hall followed by a
young woman. They didn’t have
anything with them, no luggage, not even a motto helmet. Less than 2 minutes passed by before a
staff member from the hostel walked in the same room to clean up and get it
ready for the next guest. I stood
there amazed. It had just happened
right there in front of me! I
didn’t know it would be so easy to find.
Why didn’t I grab her? Why
didn’t I try to tell her that there was something more, something
better?!?! I just stood there,
shocked, in awe, enraged, yet eerily calm. I can’t explain it, I just know it happened and I felt
powerless.
Every night there seems to be
another story of what a teammate has seen happening in the very place that we
are living. This has broken our
hearts and moved us to pray. Maybe
God wants us to be ever aware of why we are here. It would be easy to only be “on” while we are working in our
ministry assignments, but when something is happening at your home you can’t
ignore it! Praise God that He
desires us to not be distracted by anything less than His work and His purpose
for us here! We are praying
for HUGE things here in Phnom Penh.
Will you please join us?
Ask that God will:
-change the hearts of the police
and government officials here, that they would want to reclaim justice and the
protection of their people, and that they will experience the love of God in
their own lives.
-show Himself to every girl and boy
who is experiencing abuse tonight in Phnom Penh, that they will somehow come to
know that they are seen, heard, thought of, loved, fought for, and valued by
the one and only living God, their maker and their Father!
