It is hard to believe that month 1 is over and I am in Cambodia for month 2! We departed from Thailand on Wednesday evening at 10pm for a 13-hour bus ride to the Cambodian border. I was able to sleep most of the night, which was a huge blessing. I woke up about 11:30pm for about an hour and my heart was full of thanksgiving for the time in Thailand. It was such a wonderful month of ministry, personal growth, team time, time with squad, time with Jesus, and introduction to life on the Race. Arriving to the Cambodian border about 11am, we unloaded the bus and began making taking the steps to cross the border. This meant unloading bus from Thailand and going through border control to be allowed into Cambodia. I personally really enjoyed this time and was making the most of it with my safety vest on. Altogether this was a 4 hour process full of PB&J’s, lots of sweating, rat watching, form filling out of ALL the forms, lots of people watching and most importantly getting all 46 of us across SAFETY! Then we loaded 46 people with all our packs into 3 “24-seater” buses and began the journey to Phnom Penh, which was an 8-hour bus ride. This ride was full of no sleep, singing “In Cambodia…”, Pitch Perfect, 2 pit stops, one turn around in the middle of the road, and bumpy roads preparing us for Africa. Both rides in this entire journey were quite the adventure and proved to us the toughness of our logistics people. This being said we arrived to our Lucky Star 2 Hotel about midnight and all went to rooms to shower and to bed. The accommodations at the hotel are great including hot showers, AC, firm Asian beds and the best bed buddy in the world Mary Lyn Albritton (we discovered I’m the BIG spoon)!
Border of Cambodia
My first official day in Cambodia was Friday and it began with a 9:30am orientation with a fellow named Chris, which went till about 11am. This time was full of us being educated about the culture, religion, history, and all the in’s and out’s of Cambodia. He was on point and was great at keeping our attention. After this my team, Paige, and our fantastic squad leaders went to lunch down by the river. I had yogurt, granola, and fresh fruit piled high on a plate, accompanied with 2 perfectly fried eggs. To top all this off I drank fresh apple juice with and, at the end, each of us was served the most divine chocolate mousse I have ever had. We headed back to the hotel and gathered more details about when we will be heading out for ministry. My team leaves Saturday 7:45am to catch a bus at 8:15am to head to our location for the month.
We had the afternoon free so we headed to The Killing Fields, which is a museum to explain and tell of the genocide that happened in Cambodia in the 1970’s. This was a time when the ruler, Pol Pot, killed off anyone who was educated and turned the country into a society of slaves and laborers. There was an army formed by young men who were recruited in and told promises that really only meant them taking the lives of millions. At the museum we had an audio guide with individual headphones to take it at our own pace. It was very interesting to hear the history of this country and why now 50% of the population is under the age of 20. I feel much more educated and that this was a perfect way to begin ministry in Cambodia. Now I understand the people better and have knowledge of what has happened here. The Lord gave me a spirit of peace about the situation and gratefulness of my growing up in America, land of the free and the brave. There were too many emotions to put them altogether here so let’s just say how thankful I am to call North Carolina my home. Our transportation to the museum was a tuktuk that sits 4 comfortably; we had 8 on it to and from the museum. The day ended with dinner down by the river, and I had a yum Club sandwich.
Tree at the Killing Fields where children were murdered, bracelets are left to remember those who lost their lives. Please be praying for the Cambodian people, as they continue to recover from this time when millions were killed.
Saturday will be spent traveling in the morning to our contact for the month and from there I have no details. When I know more I can hopefully get a blog posted and update everyone about what the month looks like. I know we will be doing prison ministry, but from there I’m not sure anything else. My time at the museum was a perfect way to set up ministry the month and help me understand the people here better. So I am super pumped to bring joy, love, hope, and peace into a very dark place.
