After about 6 days of travel and transition we have arrived safely in Cambodia and at our ministry location. We had our brief layover in LA to stock up on more than we need and eat some good American food. In Tokyo we got to experience green tea kit kats & remote control toilets. In Thailand and Cambodia we have seen some new and unusual fruits (dragon fruit), elephants on the side of the street, lots of temples and TONS of motos. While rice continues to be the main dish of most meals, Asia has added a whole new element of veggies and taste that all of us are pretty excited about. I really didn’t know what to expect of Asia, but so far I love it. The people are super sweet and the children are precious. I may have to post a video of them simply saying hello because that alone melts my heart.
Yesterday we went on a tour around the city learning about the history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rogue. To sum it up the Khmer Rogue took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 under the leader Pol Pot. During this time anyone who was educated and supported the old system was taken into concentration camps with their families and tortured until they died. It is estimated that during Pol Pot’s 3 1/2 year reign close to 2 million people died. It is heartbreaking and horrific to see and walk the grounds where this genocide occurred. Some of the images I saw yesterday will never leave my mind. I haven’t spent much time processing this yet, but this I do know. When I first saw this yesterday it angered me. It angered me that people would do this to one another and that God would allow this. However as I prayed for the people of this nation and the healing of this land, God reminded me that He was here the whole time. He was there through every beating, every shock and every act of torture. It broke Him to see what they were doing to each other, but He was there. He was crying alongside each suffering child. He doesn’t leave us ever and He is our only hope and our only strength. He is the hope and restoration for this land and for each one of us. His love is far greater than we can even begin to comprehend. That is the beauty of the gospel and that is why I am doing what I am doing.
New Life In Christ Church/School is where we’ll be serving for the next 3 weeks. After one conversation with Pastor Keat I know that it will be an incredible 3 weeks. We are teaching English, Bible, Computers and hanging out with the youth. Really we are buidling relationships and sharing our lives with people. The youth is apparently the most open to the gospel in Cambodian culture. 98% of Cambodians practice Buddhism. It is a very unreached area. Pray that God would continue to move and draw Cambodians to Himself. Pray that we would have servant-like and willing hearts to be used however He wants. THANK YOU!
*Side note, I didn’t do much justice to the story of the Khmer Rogue…take sometime and google it if you can, there is much to learn*
