Greetings, once again from Phmon Penh, Cambodia! I have officially been on this World Race journey for 18 days. Training Camp has come to an end and we have now been split up into smaller teams and are now on our own.
We have team leaders, treasurers, and logistics coordinators. All responsibilities have been delegated and assigned among our squad and we are as equipped and ready as we will likely ever be.
It is hard to find a good starting point to share about what these past three weeks have looked like but I will do my best to share all the details.
First, it looked like a bunch of strangers coming together, many of us meeting for the very first time in an airport lobby like “Hi! I’m Ana, I love Jesus and I guess I love you too and I can’t believe we are actually here and doing this crazy thing. Like I don’t even know if I’mma like you….” HAHA JK (kinda sorta)
Then, I am reconsidering it all a couple of nights later after I find out there will be no room service! HAHA But I am doing it all in the name of Jesus – reel it in Ana!
Training Camp was great. Two full weeks of the leadership team pouring into us, teaching us about what it means to follow Jesus and how to discern His voice and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us as we embark on this journey. It was a lot of storytelling too from past World Racers, sharing their journeys and things they learned on their Race. They also threw in some do’s and don’ts. There was tons of prayer and worship and just a whole bunch of goodness. The main take away however, was how to live the rest of our lives doing ministry, sharing Jesus whenever and wherever we are.
“Life is ministry and ministry is life.”
Meaning that ministry is not always organizing vacation bible school or bible studies. Sometimes, it is just about doing life with others and bringing Jesus into every equation.
Then, we hit the streets – like literally. We had a 30-40 minute walk each morning to training. One of those mornings we had to hike with all our belongings. For some of us, that looked like 80 pounds worth of stuff. WHEW! & that was tough. We walk almost everywhere. At night we mostly get around on tuktuks to be safe. They are so fun! Although traffic here is a nightmare, and I thought Juarez was bad! haha
Shortly after, we get a Sabbath Day. A day of complete rest and walking with the Lord, resting in Him, reflecting on everything we had experienced up to that point. We experienced the people of Cambodia and their gentle and humble hearts.
Another day we went to The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to learn more about the history of Cambodia and the people we are here to serve. That was hard. It gave me a better understanding of their hearts too, the pain they’ve endured and what they have had to walk through as a nation. If you get a moment to do a bit of research, you will understand what I mean by it being hard.
One of my favorite moments however, was a night of worship at Phnom Penh House of Prayer. Y’all there were over 15 nations gathered together in one place to honor, praise and worship our God! It was phenomenal! It was the coolest experience, we got to hear the word of God read in many different languages from around the world. It was the most beautiful thing and I will never forget what that felt like – a little piece of heaven here on Earth.
In the midst of all of this, there have been divine connections and experiences that I will also carry with me for the rest of my life. The sweet smiles you encounter on your daily walks, the way the sweet people of Cambodia want to serve us and invite us into their homes, offering whatever they can to feed us or make us feel at home. It’s the little girl walking down the street with her momma that waves at me and then comes running and grabs ahold of my hand! I mean, really y’all – my heart.
It’s not all rainbows and butterflies though. Make no mistake – Jesus is here, but there is a ton of heaviness and darkness in this place too. But how fortunate am I, and the rest of my team, that we get to share light in the midst of it.
Sex trafficking, brothels, children being abused, hunger, poverty, etc. etc. I won’t share too much detail on this for the sake and safety of others, but just know that there are people in the world that are in bondage and we have what they need – JESUS.
How can we share Him? How can we show them that despite their circumstance, there is a God that loves them so deeply and desires to know them? We just love them. We meet them where they are and we tell them that we love them too, and we pray for them. There is power in prayer.
Overall, I have had really good days and really emotional ones too. There is a part of you that will never be the same, once your eyes have seen the struggles of another nation.
Today, however, my heart just burst with excitement! We got to go to church this morning and it was wonderful. It was mostly in Khmer (Cambodian language) but we had some sweet friends translate a bit for us. They welcomed us so sweetly and had us introduce ourselves too. Then they fed us after service and we had the best time. This is when we got to really spend time with Souka (see FB post). She is just the sweetest y’all. You can see the love of Jesus just all over her and the way she loves others. Her English is hardly any good but she can definitely say “Hello, Jesus, I love you and ok, bye, bye.” She kept hugging us, loving on us and singing to us. She invites us into her home and tells us that she is very poor but very happy because she has Jesus. She shares photos of her friends and family. She shows us the laminated boards she uses for her ministry of bringing all the kids in her community into her home to share Jesus. It is the absolute sweetest thing. When we finally take off on a tuktuk, she waves and skips and dances until she can’t see us anymore in the distance…
Tomorrow, we leave to Siem Reap and although I am so excited for the journey, I am sad to leave. I just wish there was more time to pour into the sweet people we have already met here. I will cherish these moments forever and I will continue to carry my new friends in my prayers too.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” – Philippians 4:6
