My first week in Cambodia was in Siem Reap for our squad debrief, where we met with teams and had sessions that encouraged each other and we all worshipped together which is always a treat. I got to teach which has become a passion of mine the past few years. I am always humbled and blown away by how God chooses to use me when I get to share how He has changed my life. I love watching the Holy Spirit open His people’s eyes to who they are and what He is calling them to.
While in Siem Reap, my team decided to run a marathon at Angkor Wat. I love running, but typically no more than 3 miles. I ran a 10k several years ago and had no desire to do that again. Two of my squad mates have been training for a full marathon and when I heard there was a half marathon and that it took place at the most beautiful ancient temple in Cambodia (and where an Indiana Jones was filmed) and it was on my friend Mason’s birthday, I decided it would be a good idea to make a memory. Boy, did we. Mason and I ran the half marathon (12.1 miles) and halfway through, I wanted to die. Did I mention we did not train for this? Whoops.
In the moments when I wanted to stop and my body did not want to cooperate, I looked around me and prayed. I was in the most beautiful run of my life. Parts of it looked like scenes from Pride and Prejudice with lakes and green trees reflecting in the water. There were monkeys in the trees, people riding elephants, mossy green ruins that we ran through and little Cambodian village children lining the road to give us high fives. How could I not worship while I was running that race?! It was the hardest physical thing I’ve ever done and God was with me every step of the way reminding me of His strength and His beauty that were both evident with every step.
For ministry, I joined Team Fearless in Phnom Penh for 3 weeks of helping Cornerstone International Church reach their community for Christ. This church is run by a Filipino couple who were called here 5 years ago to start an English class in their home and now they teach English classes, go to a nearby college campus to meet people and evangelize, disciple new believers, show up to the railroad slums every Saturday to teach the children Bible stories and plant a church in a nearby village.
We spent a week in Rah Village in the Kampong Chnang Province. This village has a huge Buddhist temple in the middle of the town and the village felt very dark and oppressed when we arrived. We prayer walked over the community and prayed for God to bless it. We got to be there for the ground breaking of the new church. We dug large holes for the foundational columns to go in, we mixed concrete, cooked meals for our work crew, did VBS-type lessons for the children and got to meet several families in the village. One of the few Christian families has been praying for other believers to fellowship with. It was cool to see the people eager to see what was going on, even if they were Buddhist; just the appeal of something new coming to their village will draw them in. Cornerstone Church has done a phenomenal job of loving this community and telling them about Jesus and I cannot wait for more of this village to know God’s power and His salvation to dispel the darkness that is there.
