Our month in Cambodia absolutely flew by, partly due to a week-long pause on all ministries in order to respect the Khmer New Year. But in spite of the shortened time we spent with the people in Phnom Penh, we saw God moving in several specific ways.
GNIES
Good News International Education School was the church we worked with this month. Our main contact was the associate pastor, Sareoun. He has a heart for his people and God has given him some great visions for how to reach out to the community surrounding the church. One of those visions is to start a small business of women sewing clothes to sell in the market. Sareoun’s wife has already begun teaching a few women this trade that provides them a dignified, secure way to earn an income. Sareoun has also taught us to prepare for the visions that God gives you. He believes God is soon going to increase the number of church attendants to at least 80. Currently the number is much lower, but instead of waiting around for the people to come, GNIES has already started expanding their space to accommodate the people they believe will come.
We believe more and more every day that God specifically put team Ridiculous together for a purpose. Our first month together was a beautiful experience of community. The team is continually growing closer to the picture of community that Jesus taught, which is both an exciting and challenging journey. Our prayer for you back home is that you would all be able to experience community like Jesus taught. A community that loves with no judgement, brings things into the light, holds each other to a higher standard, gives generously in all areas of life, and feels more like a family than a group of people. We are definitely not experts but we can tell you that as uncomfortable as it may be at first, the blessings on the other side are priceless.
Timing
It’s been a recurring theme that God’s timing is infinitely better than our own. So many things happen that we don’t understand or that we don’t see the purpose in. But then as things fall into place we can see the purpose and we can see that God was working on a bigger picture to accomplish His plan. It happens over and over, but we still act surprised every time! Yes we were only able to spend time with the Cambodian people for a few short weeks, but God had us there just in time. He had us (a team full of Godly men and confident women) there to minister to countless women who had been abandoned or mistreated by their husbands. He had us (a team full of people desperately seeking after more of God) there to pray for and believe in the healing of people with physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds. And yes, he had us (a team full of tired, new teammates) there to experience one very important but often overlooked aspect of ministry – rest. God is always working everything in our best interest!
So after all this, we packed our bags to leave Cambodia. After 16 hours, 4 buses (only supposed to be 2 buses but hey, it’s the World Race!), and a border crossing that was both humorous and a little sketchy, we made it to Thailand! There are some great things coming up in May so we’ll have more info up soon about that.
much love.
