Our first week in Cambodia was glorious. Besides the fact that we were all adjusting to village life, we were all healthy and content. We were growing closer together as a team, and pressing in harder to our ministry than ever before. One night, we decided to let loose and praise God for our wonderful situation, so we gathered in a circle and worshipped our sweet Jesus as a team. a couple of us rejoiced in song with arms stretched wide, while others bowed down silently in awe at the throne. we read scripture and laid hands on one another in prayer. and finally, when our eyelids felt so heavy that we could not hold them open anymore, we each retreated to our respective tents for the night. I fell asleep in a blissful state of peace.
About two hours later, I awoke to a teammate of mine at the door of my tent. His words were frantic and jumbled, but once I shook off my sleepy daze, I realized what he was saying: another teammate of ours was violently shaking and had a fever. In a hurry, I scrambled to get some acetaminophen and a cold compress. My heart began to race, and anxious thoughts crossed my mind. No, they can't be this sick. Cambodia is known to have some of the worst health care in the world. They can't get sick here. Not here. I went back to sleep, trying to stop my mind from proposing any possible worst-case scenarios.
In the morning, I had hoped that everything would be better. Well, it sure wasn't; in fact, things were quickly escalating downwards. Two other teammates had fevers as well, but they all had completely different symptoms. At one point, a teammate's fever rose to a dangerously high temperature… one which I would normally rush to the emergency room for in America.
In addition to all of this, another teammate desperately wanted to leave the race and had no desire to do ministry anymore. She was convinced that being here was a mistake and that she had nothing to offer our team. And just to put the cherry on top of this nightmare sundae, we were still obligated to teach our 7 classes and Bible study for the day.
In the midst of the chaos, as my world was spinning out of control around me, I literally fell on my knees praying. We were experiencing our own full course of spiritual warfare as a team for the first time. In between sobs, I pleased to the father to come and rescue us. Where are you? Why are you allowing this to happen? Satan you are not allowed here! Father, rescue us! Why aren't you doing anything?
Our team leader's phone rang; he said that the squad leaders, who were ambivalent of our situation, were coming to the village to spend a few days with us. They were already on their way. Thank you, Jesus.
The squad leaders arrived with a heaping dose of spiritual encouragement. Within the next 24 hours, fevers broke, hearts were changed, and the Cambodian rain ushered in a sign of hope: a magnificent rainbow over the rice fields. One of our leaders spoke verses from Psalm 84 over us: "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley… they make it a place of springs… they go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion."
We realized that through this dark and twisted valley that we had to walk through together as a team, we learned to depend on one another more than if we continued walking on top of a mountain. We learned to fight for one another through prayer. This was not an individual battle; we fought together as an army. We were unite in our efforts against the enemy, and we marched in this pilgrimage from a valley into a place of living and flowing water… a place of springs.
