MONTH ONE: Cambodia Stories

Team Deep felt strongly that the Lord was calling us to Battambang after training – so we set off bright and early on our first free day (the other 3 teams stayed in Phnom Penh a bit longer). While in Battambang, we were able to partner with this church through a sweet friend I made back in Phnom Penh. Jahzeel moved from the Philippines to help another Filipino missionary family lead a church and ministry school in Battambang. We went to their Sunday service – SO powerful worshipping in the Khmer language, seeing my God fully expressed in this beautiful culture! Lunch followed and we got to hear the hearts and stories of Pastor Philip, Teacher Armie, their family, and Jahzeel. The MOST generous, fun, and kind people. Ronny and I went to their 5am prayer time and led a devotion, and we all taught at the school another morning. Just hanging out with this faith community that are so so passionate to see Kingdom come in Battambang was the BEST. We taught the students how to give a ’3 minute testimony’ and went around the group listening to each other’s stories. Seriously one of my favourite moments so far, it was SO powerful. The Lord gently reminded me again just how much this is not about me – where I was feeling inadequate and ill equipped to ’teach’ and encourage these established missionaries, we got to see the impact on Armie as she heard her influence in each of the student’s testimonies. the sweeeeeetest. We were simply partners & vessels to that working of the Holy Spirit. This has been our most structured type of ministry to date, and it was dope for us all to experience and debrief how we each sat with it in the bigger picture of this Unscripted Race. 

In Battambang, we tuktuk’d out to this remote village the Lord called us to, and after prayer walking around and meeting some great locals, we realised there were no tuktuks or any form of transport available to get home. Lol. So we just started walking, and ended up walking like 15km back to the hostel in Battambang. It was honestly the BEST! This life is 100% what we make of it and our attitude in each situation. I have fallen in love with walking everywhere: constant reminder of journey > destination, keeps us interruptible/open to whatever the Lord speaks, gets in that cheeky cardio, positions us in the local culture more, and we just SEE a tonne! Stopping to pick a frangipani, high fiving the kids playing in front of us, exploring temples, buying crickets on the side of the road, asking locals for directions, etc. It reminds me so much of how Jesus interacted with his world, walking and talking as he went about his days. He had the best conversations when walking! John 4 the woman at the well, Luke 24 the walk to Emmaus etc. Walking humbles & slooows me down, deepens my appreciation of all that surrounds, and makes me interruptible to the people the Lord places in front of me. 

We passed an orphanage one day when out walking. Stopping, Ronny and Hunter went in to see if we could serve in any way. I stayed outside, every fibre of me resisting this opportunity – in light of what I knew of ‘voluntourism’ scams here in South East Asia (where some fake orphanages are harmfully set up to attract white tourists to pay to ‘serve’ there), AND I didn’t want us to walk in any form of a saviour complex (preferring to let them be, to tautoko (support) in prayer from afar), AND thinking we’d just be going to make ourselves feel like we’re doing something, AND (finally) that we’d be just another set of people to walk outta these kids’ lives. All kinda valid checks to have! Sam saw my hesitation, and beautifully called me out – made me realise again just how little this is about me. “What if we just get the chance to bring some joy to their day? To affirm the kids’ full humanity by having FUN?” I chose in that moment to trust & submit to my team – we went in and had SO MUCH FUN. I for sure get why Jesus talked about kids & a childlike faith so much. Kids are seriously cool and there was so much of Jesus in that orphanage that I would have missed! It was a lesson in trusting the redemptive narrative the Lord is slowly weaving in Cambodia, far above any effort I myself could have affected with the little time and capacity we have on this Race.

Battambang is a local smaller town, with next to no tourism or english speakers. One evening when ordering dinner at the night markets, some young kids came up and we had fun without words, then we ended up learning to count in Khmer (language in Cambodia). The food vendor obviously heard what was going on, and laughingly answered me in Khmer when I asked the price. It was such a small moment but the sweetest encounter!! Those joyful girls again reminded me to be ok with these simple human to human encounters, rather than live in the frustration of not being able to communicate deeply in Khmer with all the locals we were meeting. It also highlighted for me the isolated vibe of Battambang – which was such a blessing to our team. We were the only people on our squad in the area, and there really wasn’t much we could do individually. So we ended up spending a LOT of time as the 5 of us! Looking back, I see that was one big reason the Lord called us to Battambang – for we were able to work through a bunch of issues and seek resolution fully that we wouldn’t have if surrounded by our squad, or even other tourists. This time set us up so well right from the start.

I went one morning in Siem Reap to my fav smoothie place (Tevy’s if you’re ever there!) for some alone time journalling etc. The place was packed and the only free seat was with another girl – so I was headed somewhere else, fully focussed on this slice of alone time. Buuuuut I felt a tug to go sit with the girl, so I did. Her name is Chelsea – what a WOMAN! We instantly hit it off, she works in Phnom Penh, from Taiwan, and was holidaying up in Siem Reap for a few days. We talked about all the things, nothing even too spiritual but it was the most beautiful connection. And she even paid for my coffee on her way out! Seems funny writing this now (in Month 3, having had SO many more dope & deeper spiritual convos with other travellers), but I remember how significant this was at the time. I was so focussed on celebrating & empowering my team to live this Unscripted life, and obey those tugs from the Lord, that I rarely lived as such myself. That morning, laying my own agenda down, led to a beautiful new friendship and boosted my personal engagement with this lifestyle in one affirming step.