We decided to get bold and do a prayer walk. We had tried this earlier in the week with mixed results mainly due to us not taking the situation as seriously as we could. Before we left we got together and prayed that the Lord would communicate however he wanted with us. Rocio was the first to speak up and told us that the Lord had given her the number 297 a few days ago. She had no idea what it meant and even checked with some of the locals to see if it had any meaning but they knew of nothing. I went and laid on the floor and shut my eyes with no preconceived intention, immediately I saw bottled water. I thought it silly and opened my eyes and shut them again, same result. I have this little conversation with God that went like this, “God I am going to open my eyes a third time and shut them and I don’t want to see bottled water because it seems foolish to tell the team.” Open, close, same result. So I sat up and told the team what I saw. I wasn’t sure if he was asking us to hand out bottles of water but that was the only logical conclusion I could come to (I’ll tell you now that I was wrong).
So with the number 297 and an image of bottled water we decided to leave the base. Our first thought was to go to a tok tok and ask them to take us to 297. Of course they had no idea what we were talking about and were asking for a landmark, which we couldn’t provide. We decided to change course and walk about a mile away where there is streets 296 and 298 but no 297. The whole way over I was looking at every street address and licenses plate in view. I have never really seen God work this way but I had a gut feeling about His method. We walked 296 and 298 without any incident. We came to a corner and Taryn and Rocio started talking to a street vendor. Cameron started writing in his journal, Miles took a seat with me and Jenni stood close by. The Lord told me to get up and keep looking. I thought in my mind God does not work like this; he doesn’t give tangible things to look for.
I walked about a block away without telling the team where I was going. I heard God in an inaudible voice say Nick I am going to show you what you are looking for just have faith. Less than a minute later I look up to cross the road and in front of me is a small concrete building and on the side is a 15 digit number scratched into the wall. In the middle is the number 297. I thought all right Nick you are just stretching; this is mere coincidence not God. I crossed the street and poked my head in the open door. I saw three or four little old ladies sifting rice. To my left were a young man and an older woman sewing some fabric. They greeted me with a smile and a wave and immediately I felt welcomed. I stood there for a moment not sure what to do. I decided I need to look at the number on the building again. As I was walking out I saw something out of the corner of my eye, turning to look there on the ground was two cases of bottled water stacked next to the wall. I froze and in 95-degree weather with ridiculous humidity I got instant goose bumps. Let me be frank and say I am a skeptical person in most situations. I tend to error on the side of logic and circumstance. However, in that moment my human logic broke down. I stood there amazed and outside of reality.
With an extra hop in my step I got back to the team and told Miles what I saw. True to Miles style a big grin immediately appeared on his face. He gathered the rest of the team and I walked them down to the wall. I watched their faces as they realized the number on the wall. There was mixed results until I pointed to the water and then it was like the Holy Spirit fell from the sky and we were immersed in an “ah ha” moment. We didn’t know what to do; do we praise God or maybe pray for direction? Without talking we all walked into the building. The guys approached the young man whose name is Dara. The girls went to the older ladies who were sifting rice. We spent well over an hour getting to know these people. The building is a family business that sells rice. They use to be in the middle of a market but in an effort to get people off the streets the government has moved the market a few blocks away. This has caused their business to slow. Dara and his mother rent out space to run their sewing business. Dara is a high school student who can speak English and stops by to see his mom during lunch breaks. These people were so receptive to us and as we left they asked that we return. Unanimously we knew we had found our ministry.
It wasn’t handed to us and it came in a different package than we expected but God has revealed part of why He has us 6 in Cambodia. We have walked away for this event more unified as a team and desiring to hear from God even greater. We saw the Body function like the NT talks about. We saw the importance of every member and how community fosters understanding. I know some can justify this in their head and write it off but we know what we saw and experienced and it was not of this world. Praise be to God.
