Hey Everyone!
My team left Cambodia yesterday, and completed our trip, to Bangkok, Thailand, after a combined 13 hours of bus rides, border crossings, and cab rides. I’ve included a 1 Second a Day video of our time in Cambodia, for your viewing pleasure. This will give you little bit of a picture of what my day to day has looked like for the past 30 days. What you won’t see in this video is the countless connections we’ve made in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. In most of the ministry opportunities we’ve had, it just hasn’t felt natural to stick a camera in someone’s face. So I’ve also included a top five list, of my favorite moments in Cambodia to give you a feel for what our training and ministry have looked like throughout our first month. I actually did 5 bullet points instead of numbers, because I can’t rank these. They’ve all been so important for the start of my race:
- Self reflection: There’s been so much space here for self reflection. Our training was full of opportunities to think through our own stories (the big and little moments) and what God wants to speak into them. I’ve also had so much space for solo time with God. All of this space has been really great for me to figure out where my heart is and where God is trying to take it.
- Sugar: The person, not the sweetener. We met Sugar at a small street food restaurant. There was only one table, so we sat across from him and conversation just naturally happened. Later in the week, we invited Sugar to go to the night market with us to have dinner and he accepted! We had multiple opportunities to share about why we were traveling the world (sharing about Jesus), and to hear about his life. So thankful for this friendship coming so early in our trip. I think it gave our group more confidence to strike up conversations with strangers.
- Aren/Other Travelers: Aren was the first traveller that I had a spiritual conversation with in our hostel. You can read more about that conversation in my previous blog! But i really enjoyed it and it felt like God was in it. I also just really enjoyed meeting the travelers in general. I had a great conversation with a girl who we met pretty early on, went to watch a soccer game at a restaurant with a guy that was in my room, played cards with new friends, and chatted with people from all over the world. Such a fun time with God and others!
- Team Time: I was placed on a team with 3 other guys for the next few months, and most of the past couple of weeks has been spent doing ministry, building friendships, and encouraging each other, as a team. These guys have been an encouragement to me already, and I’m really excited for our relationships to deepen, and to have the opportunity to seek God with these guys, wherever we end up.
- Feast With Douk: Douk is an older local man, living in poverty, in Siem Reap. He lost both of his arms up to his elbows, because of a landmine accident when he was younger and in the army. We met him on one of first days out doing ministry, and he was so hospitable to us. He invited us into his home, proudly showed us pictures of his family, gave us pictures that his son had painted, and introduced us to his wife and grandson. Over the next several days, we would see Douk out in the market selling books, and he would always wave at us, come over and hug us, and take us to his home. We would sit in a circle of chairs in his home and talk, through broken english, and just share time together. One day, one of my team members asked Douk what his favorite restaurant was, and he misunderstood us, thinking we were hungry. He immediately stood up and walked out his front door, prompting us to follow. He led us to a restaurant (convenience store) right around the corner, had us sit at a table, and had the staff member bring us a plate, multiple drinks, and bag after bag of potato chips and peanuts. he was so proud to show us his friends and to share food and drinks with us, and it was just an honor to share that time with him. It didn’t necessarily look like a feast, but it sure felt like one. We got to pray over Douk pretty much every time we met with him, and it was just so fun to build a friendship with him!
Thanks for reading! Below you’ll find the video of my time in Cambodia! Hope you enjoy!
