Cambodia.
One of the countries on my route that I had no idea or expectations about. It was just a name on a list for me.
And then I got here.
You see, our first stop was in Siem Reap as a squad. We were able to visit Angkor Wat, a place with many temples all dedicated to another God.
(Angkor Wat)
Walking through, I knew that I was in something ancient, something old, something far beyond me. But I was unsettled.
A peace was there, but not the right kind of peace.
Seeing the ruins of not only a culture, but of a people's group attempts to reach God and really feel connected to something bigger than them. It was a little unnerving and caught me off guard.
There are also a lot of foreigners, like me, roaming the place. Many of them are the type I like to call "soul searchers." They're looking for something to make them feel whole, complete, or anything that will fulfill and satisfy the place only the Lord Himself can do.
They're looking for an experience while not know that God has it for them.
As you can tell, the atmosphere is mixed and clashing like a bottle filled with oil and vinegar. They're yearning for the oil of God, with the reality of the vinegar of human works.
Walking through the temples though, I started to notice that nature was all around. In some temples it was taking over the walls. It was pushing forth from the earth, taking the spotlight from the rubble of stone around it. And I got a light bulb if you will.
God is still here.
Amongst the ruins, amongst the rubble, God showed off His creation. Letting His presence be known.
(Tree growing over top of one of the Temples)
I pray that these "soul searchers" would be struck by an experience of God through His creation in places like that.
After Siem Reap, my team headed for Phnom Penh for our first stop. See my team is doing ATL, Ask the Lord, month. We literally wake up everyday and ask God, "What do you have for us today?" And then we listen and then we go.
Being in Phnom Penh and working for a few days connecting with missionaries and seeing what God has, my team decided to take a Sabbath. Three teammates and I decide to use that Sabbath to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
(Rules of S21 Prison)
If you are not aware, there was a major genocide that happened here in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, almost 2 million, 20% of the population was killed without any intention but for the Khmuer Rouge to keep power. The museum we went to used to be a high school that was transformed into one of the scariest places to be in that time, S-21 prison.
Many people were killed for supposedly being CIA or KGB or anything that would go against the government and its leader Pol Pot. It was a very dark period here in Cambodia.
As we toured the buildings and read more about the things that happened there, I couldn't help but feel my stomach drop. It felt like a dead weight was taking residence in my body, and I couldn't help but want to curl up in a ball and cry as soon as I could get away from that place.
The museum hasn't changed barely anything since the Vietnamese came to the prison and set the Cambodians free from Pol Pot's reign.
(One of the survivors of S21 prison we met there. I can't believe he went back to the place.)
There are even still blood stains in a lot of the rooms, and they have very gruesome pictures posted everywhere that the Khmer Rouge took to document everything they did.
It's a dark place there, and I still have a hard time shaking it. I didn't take a lot of pictures because I just couldn't.
I couldn't take pictures of such an evil place.
I wouldn't change that I went, I know I needed to see this to understand where the locals here have come from and the issues that they face from this time in their country's past.
It was hard.
After touring the last part of the museum, I waited outside on a bench for my teammates to finish touring. My teammate Brittney sat with me.
I couldn't stay inside the buildings.
As we waited, off to the side was a little shop with books about the genocide and souvenirs from the country. Three kids were playing outside of it.
They look to be locals kids of the people working in the shop.
They were giggling and laughing. They seemed so untouched by the place they were in.
Skating, jumping, and just being kids.
Brittney and me started talking to them, the oldest one could speak a little English.
We laughed with them and high fived them, just spent time with them as we waited. I could feel my heart lift, and I felt the Lord gave us these three kids to remind us of some things.
(Brittney and Me with the kids we met!)
That He is still there, that life is still there. Even in the evil places, God is still there.
Nothing can separate us from His love.
God is always piercing the darkness with His love.
Cambodia has hit me as a very dark place…but God is teaching me that that is where He shines the most! In the darkest places.
In the darkest places, His love pierces through!
In Cambodia, His love IS piercing through!
