(I wrote this on January 18. We don’t have internet access very often this month.)
Our squad left Thailand this past Sunday night. Travel days are just the best stories. And the most interesting days.
My team left Phuket on Thursday night. We took the night bus to Bangkok, a 13 hour ride. I watched three movies and read half a book during that time. It was great. We got to Bangkok early Friday morning and had to find a taxi to the YWAM base there. Once we got there we crashed for a few hours and waited for the rest of the squad to arrive from their locations. Since it was ministry month for the guys, we have been separated all month. We had a great time catching up with them and having our entire team together again.
Then on Sunday morning, earlier than I care to think about, we left for Cambodia. We took a tuk tuk to the bus station, then boarded a bus to the border. It took probably 4 or 5 hours to get to the border. Then we unload in a median in the road and walk to the border. We have to go through about 4 different check points at the border, a total of about three hours. It was definitely the longest we have had to carry our packs. Needless to say, we all needed a massage afterwards.
After getting through the border and into Cambodia, we took another bus to the bus station and then boarded a different bus to Phnom Penh. We finally got to Phnom Penh a little before midnight and crashed. We even got a real hotel, which was a nice change for us. Granted it was a $15 room and worth every penny.
The next morning we woke up early and had a cultural briefing from one of our contacts here. Then my team headed to the place where we are living this month. I don’t even know what its called. We are pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I think it looks a bit like West Texas. Dry and dusty and hot. But we love it here. We are working with Teen Challenge, a place for boys getting over addictions come. They also have a girls home, which is where the all girls team is. The boys are precious and I almost feel like I’m at home. They grow a lot of the food they eat and they raise pigs and chickens and a few cattle. Its nice.
We don’t have internet this month and our electricity is not completely reliable. We probably wont get internet very much. We have to go all the way into town to get it. I’m looking forward to a month without internet, though. It can be really distracting.
Keep praying for my team to become fully funded. There are several people on my squad that still need funds and 3 people on my team. Pray for provision for all of us.
