My last week in Cambodia, I was able to spend three days in outlying Provinces.
On Thursday, our trip centered around Children at Risk, a program at New Life Fellowship church where single-parent or orphaned children are sponsored (usually by Americans, Brits, etc) in order to provide the kids with food, education, clothes, etc. The province we went to on Thursday was 3 hours away from Phnom Penh. So we left early, stopped for a yummy treat of spiders, and arrived at the church plant’s pastor’s home.
Immediately we were welcomed with smiles. Masses of Children at Risk kids were lined up, quietly awaiting our arrival. It was a bit overwhelming and exciting at the same time. 
We introduced ourselves and shared a few Bible stories with them. Our main purpose was to share that God is with those who have faith in Him, and how the Lord will protect them. The day was filled with fun games and a memory verse.
It was amazing to see the children open up. At first the kids were shy, not getting close to us. 
By the end of the day, after pouring out love to the kids physically, emotionally, and spiritually, the children warmed up. Girls ‘fought’ over who could hold my hand and walk with me. It was amazing to see the love of the Lord pour out on these kids. Our friends from Children at Risk (Khen, Ya, Sarean) were such a blessing! They translated for us and encouraged the kids and the pastor & family. Even though their families had faced hard times in the past, these young men boldly serve the Lord with their whole hearts. On the way home we saw a beautiful sunset, a sweet topping to the wonderful day.
The second Provincial trip was amazing. It was an overnight trip; we left Saturday early morning and arrived back in Phnom Penh on Sunday evening, just hours before Monday morning when we began our journey out of Cambodia. This Province was only an hour away. Three September WR’ers and I traveled with Pheakday, our friend from New Life Fellowship who has a heart of outreach for his home Province.
The evening before we left, we were each asked to prepare our testimonies to share with the church on Sunday morning. Pheakday also asked one of us to preach the Word on Sunday morning. I felt the Lord drawing my heart to share His Word. “But Lord, am I misunderstanding? Should it be someone else? What should I teach?” Immediately God confirmed His calling in my heart. After all, hadn’t I been praying for such an opportunity? And He also quickly gave me peace about what I should share — teach about prayer. After all, that’s exactly what He had been teaching me over the past month. My daily time with Him over the last month had been studying the examples of prayer warriors in the Bible, and where and when the Bible used the word “prayer.” So I began praying over and preparing the Sunday message, as the Lord called me.
The weekend schedule of events: Arrive at Province. Fellowship with pastor and family. Tour the church plant. Visit and pray with local villagers. Drive to the next village. Teach an English class/ corner. Share testimonies of our lives in Christ. Meet our friend’s family. Drive to another village. Do children’s ministry. Teach a cell group. Drive back to the host church. Teach / sit-in on another English class. Participate / Lead a 3-hour youth party. And that was just Saturday! Sunday was mostly church, sharing, teaching, preaching, praying, fellowshipping, and driving home.
Our weekend was amazing, yet it was nothing like what we had envisioned. We prepared several programs for children and youth, including games, stories, themes, etc. We used none of our prepared pieces. However, God still had a way of sharing our message with the youth. 
We wanted them to know that they are not alone– God is with them always, and also that there’s strength in the fellowship of believers. God used games to share that theme with the youth. Same with the cell-group, it was not according to our plan. I had no idea that we would be attending a cell group until I got the message that I would be leading one. Fortunately, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to the many women (and the two men) who attended, encouraging them to press on in the Lord, train up their children in His ways, and spending time of prayer for them.
I still see the hand of the Lord on His people in Cambodia, especially on the youth and young adults there. It’s a whole fresh generation. And I see boldness in these young believers’ eyes. They’re hungry for God.Please pray for Cambodia — for the young believers to continue pressing on despite hard circumstances (challenges to find a job, finances, food, provision for families, etc); that many more people on-fire for the Lord will be raised-up, young and old alike; and that the Lord will continue to use the draw to learning English in order to draw people to Himself.
