Soo I’m a little delayed on telling this story, but it is worth the wait to hear the ending!
So a couple weeks ago, my team and I had four hours of ministry time. We don’t have a ministry host, organization that gives us daily ministry needs, or anything close. We simply have the sweet Holy Spirit that we listen to and pray He guides us to where He is leading. So this is a few days after finding Haiti in Cambodia (see my last blog) and we decide we need to attempt to go to the same park again. As we are walking, we decide to check out a market maybe to grab some lunch. Note: the maps of Cambodia..not always exact on the right location. So according to the map, this market has two entrances. We walk down an alley looking for the market. We only find people, their housing, and a dead end where the market should be. So we walk around the building to the other entrance, only to find a slightly sketchy opening that leads to a very dark market if that is what you want to call it. Within a few steps, I tell Jenna that I wish I had my electricity (short story..my taser/flashlight was confiscated out of my checked bag by the China airport police. They said that electricity was not good for people) and continue to follow the group and praying the whole time. A few steps later, a man with a toolbelt full of random things and a walkie talkie walks up on us out of nowhere. He inquires what we are doing or how he can help us in his very good English. We tell him we are just checking it out. I had told Jenna that I had a sense he was hiding something and she sensed the same. He almost insist we leave and almost pushes us out the other entrance, which ends up being back in the dead end alley we had just been in. After deciding that wasn’t the market, we circle back around the building to find the right entrance to the market. We couldn’t find it, but the guys in our group had this strong feeling we needed to go back through the market. Here we go. Now I was really doing some praying! My team felt that the real market must have been down one of those rows we didn’t get to see because walkie talkie dude pushed us out the door. I don’t remember as much as we walked through this time but just telling Jenna that I feel like he is hiding girls. My heart broke. So now for the third time, we are in this dead end alley. Travis speaks up and states how we have been in the same spot now for THREE times. What are we missing? What is He leading us to? We look around and nothing is overly clear why we are there. We give up on food and head for the park. PRAISE! As we get a little ways away from the alley, I share my discomfort of being there with the guys of our group. They were upset with me that I didn’t communicate that sooner, but it wasn’t just me that felt that way because all three girls felt the same. We head to a coffee shop to get a smoothie, cool down, and have a mini debrief on what we just experienced.
If you have research anything about Cambodia, human trafficking is one of the first things you will learn. We know we aren’t here to free the captives, but we can pray in His name to attempt to break the chains. We decide to go back through and pray over the market. This time through, I am very observant. Locks, fence, and boarded up doors everywhere. Of course, we don’t get around the first corner and walkie talkie dude is hot on our heels. This time, no English he says. The best way I can describe this place is darkness. I had commented when we were in there that it felt like The Truman Show to me. Everything was rehearsed and fake. I had previously purchased balloons at a market a couple days prior and needed more. I found two bags, covered in dust and dirt at a booth in the dark market and no one ever came to sell them to me. Very unusual for a market here. As we walk towards the exit, we notice two men at the entrance. One is like on a cot and the other in a chair facing the entrance. To me, it felt like they were guards. We get out the door and pray over the dark market as a group. As we are blocking the door, a man on a moto comes out of the dark market to make sure we are leaving and to make sure we don’t go back in.
We cross the street and guess what we see? A beautiful market. Full of life, people, and things that are actually for sale. We don’t say much to each other as we are all just processing. As we are just walking around, I think to myself..how much of what we see is real? How much is fake? Everytime someone waves to us, is that always hello? Or is it sometimes a wave of help?
We get to a place that in English say Cambodia Gospel Book Room and Josh suggest we check it out. We walk in to browse about. We meet the sweetest man, Bunlin and two ladies of the church. Bunlin’s brother is the pastor of the church. I remember him asking us if we were Christians and smiling big when we told him we were. After being in such a dark place, He led us to the Light. Bunlin told us about the church, what they are doing, and the ministries the church does. As we continue to ask questions, we find out they print tracts and Bibles at that location. We go up to check it out. It was awesome! Coming from a church that uses a lot of the same materials for street ministry, it just felt right being there. One of the ladies had been collecting mangos from the trees outside and had brought them up to us. It was a blessing because we didn’t eat lunch and the Lord provided at just the right time.
The next day, some of my team went back to the dark market on their lunch break and said it was completely different. The darkness was gone, plenty of people, and a completely different feeling. I wish I could have went back to see for myself, but I know my God is that big that He can do such mighty things overnight.
Fast forward to today.
Today, we attended Sunday morning church services at that church. His presence was with us again. We sang hymnals in English while the others sang in Khmer. They praised the Lord for all his love and goodness. After church, they fed us! Anytime anyone feeds us, it is a HUGE blessing because our food budget is minimal. It is just part of trusting the Lord that He will provide. And the best part is..that He does over and over and it’s always exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think.. (Eph 3:20)
