“Brandon, pack your bag. You’re an illegal immigrant. You’re going to Phnom Penh” my team said as I walked through the door.
“What? No. You’re joking,” I said laughingly.
“We’re serious! Get your stuff together asap since you need to catch the bus before the last one leaves” they said.
Phnom Penh, here I come I guess?
That was the first conversation with my team after I came home from teaching English on Friday. So off I went (with Jack so I wouldn’t be alone) to the capital city. As it was explained to me on the way, it turned out that when I landed a month ago in Siem Reap and got my visa, the immigration officer mistakenly didn’t stamp it. This officer is in big doo-doo trouble. Anyway, mine was the only one that didn’t get stamped out of the whole squad.
The problem was that they realized this when Ronny went to get our visas extended in Phnom Penh. And we were pretty much already overstaying our visas. That meant I needed to get it stamped in where I entered the country, Siem Reap, 6 hours away, before I could get it extended!
So, Ronny our squad leader threw together a plan to send me to the capital to meet him there and then take a bus first thing in the morning to Siem Reap just to get than darned piece of paper stamped. Then we would go all the way back to Phnom Penh to submit the visas.
Turns out that on that travel day we missed the early morning bus, but it allowed us to see 5 out of the 6 teams on the squad. The teams either happened to be visiting the city and we got to meet up or had time to meet up with other teams in other cities on the way.
Team Beehive. Sorry you weren’t in it, Maggie 🙁
Anyway, seeing the squad was great. And I slept on a sleeper bus. The beds are exactly 5’6″. I discovered this because the top of my head touched the back of the bed, while my feet touched exactly the bottom of the bed. Poor Ronny was 5’10” or something like that.
Another problem was that the embassy didn’t open until Monday, and the visas took a few days to process. Since it was most practical and affordable to wait in Phnom Penh a few days instead of temporarily going back, we decided to stay in the city until they were done.
We soon found that God was wildly unfolding divine purposes for our little trip.
So we frolicked for a bit in the newly-modernized, hot, bustling city.
Many skyscrapers were under construction and there were numerous new, modern-styled businesses along the streets. Its really a great place. However, Tuk Tuk drivers persistently tried to get our business. Everywhere. Like vultures awaiting the right time to feast.
The first blessing was that we were able to meet up with Ronny’s friend Emma, who is prepping for launch as a long-term missionary with AIM in Nepal.
She took us around the city and to her favorite Mexican restaurant.
It was this one Mexican place that I just happened to run into the Grace and Peace gals, who are long term missionaries from my church in Prescott, Arizona!
If you think about it, those odds are puny since we were in that same restaurant at the same time, all within the scope of mighty Phnom Penh. I’ll be darned.
Later on, Ronny and I went to get some Starbucks, like the classic American white girls we are. Especially since we have gone not once, but 5 times in the past week.
The second visit there, I saw a lady reading a book that looked an awful lot like the bible. I became curious. I didn’t feel any nervousness going up to her, unlike my introverted self normally feels. I was like “I’ll be darned. I guess it’s the Spirit.” So I approached her. And boy did we talk. For about 2-3 hours.
You need to meet Hannah. This Malay-Chinese lady is a true veteran warrior of the Lord. And I mean veteran, like a D-Day veteran. After she met Jesus a number of years ago, her story is one of intense, continuous pushback from her family for her faith — husband and children included.
She told us that she backslided a few years ago and found faith again after experiencing the mercy of God in a near-fatal car crash in China. God has been faithful to restore her faith and keep her strong.
I sensed a real, thick, tangible love on her as though Jesus had his arms tightly wrapped around her, covering her, protecting her from every attack, faithfully delivering her from every one.
She said that the rejection of her and the gospel makes no difference to her anymore. She read many verses about persecution and about the God that’s enough for her.
“blessed are you who lose brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers….”
“Blessed you who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…”
Truly blessed are you, Hannah. You are honored in the presence of God. (And I promise she is very happy in this picture)
I went to tears as she read verse after verse about persecution, since I knew that this was real for her. She’s invincible from what comes against her, because every day she walks intimately with her faithful God.
Everyday, while her husband is at work, she sits at Starbucks and asks the Lord to send her someone to share Jesus with. God is faithful to bring someone new all the time. Luckily, Ronny and I got to be those people that day.
I think we left more encouraged and poured into than we ever expected. She’s there, simply receiving God and giving Him away to a people who largely have never even heard of Jesus or the gospel.
And this was just the start of the many, many acts of the Spirit this week. It gets really lit. This was only chapter 1 of Ronny and Brandon’s journey to Phnom.
