Month 5 was spent in beautiful Cambodia!
This was my raised up squad leader training month.
We took a bus from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As soon as we arrived to our final bus stop in Phnom Penh and got ready to walk to our hotel, the rain started pouring down! It was such an adventure running down streets in the rain with all our packs.
There were 3 alumni squad leaders, Tina, Leanne and Mark. They spend the first 5 months with our squad, showing us the ropes, discipling us, guiding us and praying with and for us. Vivian, Jackie, Kevin and I were invited to be raised up squad leaders to take over when they left at the end of month 5. Our team of 4 and their team of 3 came together to make team LOL!
My first week was spent doing squad leader training in a hotel right in the middle of it all Phnom Penh. We learned about so many things that go into being a squad leader and how things work, especially the behind the scenes kind of stuff. Kevin, Vivian and I got to visit the killing fields where much of the genocide happened. It was such a heavy thing to see and walk through. This country went through SO much pain. The average age in Cambodia right now is around 30, meaning that they are still recovering from the horrible loss they experienced. Please do me a favor and go do some research on this atrocity and learn some more about this!
We prayed, laughed, cried, talked, discussed, gave feedback, received feedback and laughed so much. Such a good first week!
The second week, team LOL split up into 2 teams and went to go visit 2 teams for a week. Vivian and I went with Leanne to go spend the week with Team Carolina Reapers. They were teaching and building relationships at a seminary school on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. They were such a welcoming team, we joined them in teaching classes and the daily ins and outs of their lives. I helped teach English comprehension and English grammar classes with a couple of the team members and attended daily chapel. Going to chapel every day made me miss ACU so much! Going to seminary school had been a dream of mine for some time and then I found myself teaching at one! God has such a sense of humor!
During our time together, we also got to go have an adventure weekend! We went to Sihanoukville and it was gorgeous. We stayed in beach side bungalows, ate really good food, went snorkeling and even visited Koh Rong Island where one of the survivor series were filmed. Absolutely GORGEOUS!!
Third week, the three of us took a bus to Siem Reap and met back up with the rest of team LOL at the adventures in missions hostel, called Overflow! If you ever visit Siem Reap, go stay there, it’s awesome!! Tell them Lene sent you haha. We spent the next few days going through some more intense training time and prayer time. We learned more about being disciples who make disciples, policies, procedures, and everything in between. We got to have an adventure day to break up our meeting times. We went on a sunset four wheeling adventure. It was so cool to experience the country side like that, we even drove through a wedding!
Then our team LOL split back up into different teams and went to visit a team for a while. Tina who is one of the alumni squad leaders and I went to go visit team Abounding Joy at the New Hope Orphanage just outside of Siem Reap. I absolutely treasure the time I got to spend there. The kids there are so, so loving and truly love the Lord. There was one boy in particular that completely stole my heart. He always found me in the crowd, sat on my lap or held my hand, constant hugs and cuddles. I love that boy so much and I’m forever grateful to have had a few days to love on him. At the orphanage we joined the team in teaching English class, some taught computer class and we walked them to school. My heart was completely melted by the end of the walk to school, and it wasn’t because of the blistering heat. The kids worshipped the Lord in such a way that it brought me to tears. I stood in a room full of precious orphan kids, one holding each of my hands and listening to their voices singing praises to God. I just remember closing my eyes, getting chills and thinking, this is a taste of heaven. Team abounding joy took me in as one of their team members and I had such a blast laughing with them. Even though the heat and dehydration was real, we still found plenty of time to laugh and bond. Especially when there’s chickens constantly trying to live in our bedroom. My little buddy and I had a very tearful goodbye, it broke my heart to get in that car and drive off.
The first team I was with was to observe Leanne and learn from the experience. The week at the orphanage with Tina was my week to put into practice what I had learned so far and be observed by Tina.
Week 4 was spent back at the Overflow Hostel doing more training and planning for our LDW (Leadership Development Weekend) for the last weekend of the month. We received our final days of training and planned a weekend for the squad to be able to attend sessions and to be poured into.
Kevin, Viv and I went to go visit Angkor Wat! We got there super early to watch the sun rise over the big temple…ohh a blog post is brewing about this experience!!
After all our training was done, the squad showed up for an awesome last weekend in Cambodia at Overflow. We held sessions teaching about various things including listening prayer, our identity in Christ, and worship nights. Y squad, who are actually on their month 10 of the race right now got to come join us in worship the first night! It was such a powerful night of people worshipping freely and breaking free from things that were holding them back. We worshipped on the roof of the Hostel, which happened to be the tallest building in the area. This was amazing because all around us there were Buddhist temples blaring their music all the time and it was finally our turn to proclaim the name of Jesus over the area!
The next morning at our opening session I spoke to the squad…but that’s for my next blog. This is getting really long!
Wow!
This month was something else!
I was stretched this month more than I ever was before.
I taught at a seminary
Sat in 6 hour prayer meetings
Attended chapel
Went on some amazing adventures
Went snorkeling
Jumped off a 3 story boat
Figured out what vulnerability looks like for myself
Got a taste of heaven at an orphanage
Heard the Lord speak to me in so many ways
Healed from pain from my past
Heard squad mates testimonies
Stepped into more leadership
And SO much more.
Cambodia…you will be unforgettable!
