If I could sum up my experience in Cambodia, I’d probably choose something like the word “redemption” or “healing” or “love.” When I came here, I had no prior knowledge of what Cambodia was like. No history lesson on how they run their government. (Did you know they’re actually The Kingdom of Cambodia?) No knowledge of the genocide that happened here so many years back. I just strapped on my backpack, got on a plane, and went where the Lord instructed us to go.
Our entire squad, for the first week had the chance to stay at the Overflow Guest House which is a ministry Adventures started as a place for people who need rest, respite, and restoration. It’s a bed & breakfast where people come and can be connected to the rest of the city of Siem Reap. They just built a church on the roof and asked us to speak words of vision over it. I spoke, “wholeness” and later found out that one of the meanings for “holiness” is “wholeness” as they both come from the same root as “hale.”
The Lord, while there, spoke to me a ton about wholeness and love and I think when I come home I want to work as hard as I can to build a home where people can be loved into it. I get so excited just thinking about even an apartment where I can give people rest and home. I want to love people like that, and I’m praying for eyes that would see needs and meet them better than I have in the past. I think through being in Cambodia, I’ve learned that most of the time, people just want you to show up in the same time and the same space as them. That’s a place you can build from. That’s where the gospel has good soil to fall on.
We got to go into town a few times and we ended up getting those weird fish massages where they suck on all the dead stuff. It tickled and I barely got any fish to come to me because I kept jerking my feet, but the ones that did come, killed it at the dead skin game.
People in Cambodia are kind. The weather is exactly like home. There are lotus pads EVERYWHERE. I got to see a bunch of really old temples.
One of the first times we ever did what’s scheduled “ministry,” we did an ATL which is short for Ask The Lord. At Adventures they abbreviate literally everything. Like. EVERYTHING.
So, to live this thing out, you get with your team, and pray and say, “Lord, show me where you want me to go…what you want me to say…who you want me to speak to.” (Such an outlandish idea, right? Christian people asking the Lord what to do? How have I missed this?)
The first time we did it, our team was feeling run down and attacked. For me, I had this overwhelming feeling of just not being safe. Like I’m so used to having all these men around me as pillars of safety, and for some reason it hit me that day that I couldn’t just call one of them if something happened. So, we’re praying and I just felt like the Lord was telling me, “You know you’re safe, right?” Just like that. So casually but with such authority. And I prayed for fear to leave and it did. I don’t think I’ve prayed with such authority before that. It was such a sweet moment.
Anywayzzz. Back to ATL. We got done praying and one of my teammates just got super hyper and felt the Holy Spirit say “Daniel,” another saw “tuk tuk” (which if I didn’t mention this before, a tuk tuk is the little carriage on a motorcycle things we ride to town in) and another teammate saw a pink shirt, pepsi sign, Daniel, and a little girl who spoke English, and anooooother teammate saw a bridge. I didn’t see anything but I felt like it was more of a lesson on trusting the Holy Spirit in my team as much as it was a lesson on following Him.
On the last night we spent in Siem Riep we did another ATL and this time, The Lord showed me a picture of my team walking down this alley. Like. Every time I closed my eyes, all I wanted to do was walk down this alley next to us. Two teammates heard the word “deaf” and another saw flowers. Everyone spoke and I almost didn’t until our squad mentor looked at me and said, “Did you get anything?” (Side note: for some reason, I don’t feel like taking initiative most of the time. Like I don’t feel the need to be heard or seen, and I don’t really regret it most of the time. I’m just like “Oh its their chance” a lot of the time. Idk why. It seems like a lot to process most of the time, or I just don’t really want to compete. That could be bad. It’s been kinda nice to not be famous, though.) So, I told her, “I really feel like we should walk that way.” And we did. We almost walked all the way down, when through a restaurant window, one of the servers got our attention and told us it was a dead end. I thought I’d missed it, and then Kate just started talking to her. Asking her her name, about her life, and her kids. How she learned English.
We spoke to her for a good amount of time and as we told her she was beautiful, she kept telling us that she wasn’t beautiful because of her skin and nose and features. She was deaf to it, as one of my teammates pointed out. Over and over she would say, “No. You beautiful.” And we got to tell her about Jesus and how “The God of Christianity” which is what it translates to, thinks she is beautiful and she teared up. When we asked if she wanted to know more, she said no, but a few of us got to pray with her.
I think I’m going to try to take initiative next time, because as I’m typing this, knowing I was part of the reason we met her, I barely said anything to her, and that breaks my heart in different ways than I thought. The whole time I’d just been glad to be a part of it, to be a witness to what was happening, but I don’t want to spend the rest of the race telling second hand stories. I want to tell my own and write my own. I’m not here to miss it. I think I’ve gotten better at the shelter, but dang. Crazy. Also. Her window at the restaurant was the only one with flowers in it. Haha Jesus is cool like that.
Over the last few weeks we’ve been able to paint, make lunch with the house mothers and older girls, hang out with the kids and play games with them have dance parties, and teach English–which for Abigail (my teammate) and I, it consists of writing a word on the board, drawing a picture and spelling it out loud with them. It’s very lively and a ton of fun. The kids here are so loved by their house parents. You can’t tell which ones are biological and which ones are adopted.
I’ve loved getting to know the kids at my shelter and I’ve loved being in my element of painting. At Overflow (the first guesthouse), our team got into a huge fight because we were in charge of making a space better, and because we were having trouble getting along we couldn’t agree on something soon enough to get to put it into effect. This mural has been sweet redemption for us, and we’ve bonded more through it.
There is one baby in the whole shelter and I got to spend time with her. Her father was abusive and an alcoholic, and her mother ended up leaving her with him because she, herself, couldn’t stand the abuse anymore. I cringe at even writing this as I know this isn’t the end of her story. She will grow up in the redemptive love of the Father, far from a tragedy. She’s 9 months old and smaller than she should be. She’s so tiny but she’s getting strong. Her arms and legs are thin, but you can tell she’s smart. All she wants to do is be held and be held up so she can see everything. She has poor circulation so her hands and feet are blue, but she’ll follow lights and sounds and will hold your hand. We’ve learned this is due to a heart defect she was born with that as far as the doctor’s know, seems to be a defective heart valve. The Holy Spirit moves when I’m with her I think, which is so awkward to say, but there’s just something about getting to be with her and loving her that makes me feel like I’ve made it. Like I know that she knows who God is when I hold her. I love her so much.
We also had the chance to do some village ministry with the house parents of the shelter, telling bible stories and teaching songs to groups of kids in the neighborhood. On one occasion, we got to travel an hour away to a village, tell the story of creation in skit form. I was the fifth day with fish and birds. Score. We then had the opportunity to hand out gift bags of school supplies and clothes which we were able to donate money towards, from the money you all donated to send us, and then we got to just hang out with the people there. That’s where I met my squishy baby Bubby, and got to love on him some before getting on a van to hike up a mountain.
I hiked up all 809 steps and made it to the top to see incredibly intricate temples and a view!
And finally, just for kicks, we threw the kids a Halloween party! We spent all day making them pipe cleaner animal ears, and then after dinner we helped get them all dressed. We handed out candy, and danced to end the night.
Stay tuned for Part 2: The Heart
