To clear up any confusion this is a blog I wrote this past month during my time in Cambodia and I am posting it now since I had limited Internet access to be able to post it during the month. However that means part two will only be two short days from now so stay tuned.
This story begins in the summer of 2012 when I took my first trip to Cambodia to teach English at a local orphanage outside of Siem Reap. . In my head the way I always pictured Asia was having a picturesque temple on a mountain overlooking a gorgeous landscape. My first two trips to Asia I was unsuccessful finding this idealized temple, but on one hot summer day I found it in relatively flat Cambodia on a bike trip to Tonle Sab, the lake outside the city. This mountain is the setting for our story.
After locking my bike at the bottom of the mountain to a fence barely standing, I began my ascent up to the temple. It is always hot in Cambodia, but today it was especially hot and I was exhausted after already biking 30 miles earlier that day. It also didn't help that I already had a severe sunburn. Nonetheless I climbed the mountain and could feel God giving my body supernatural cooling for the journey up the mountain. Little did I know at this place God would set into action a huge plan for my life.
God met me on the mountain at this temple that day. I can still distinctly picture sitting on a bench overlooking the beautiful floating village in the lake below. The Spirit came down upon me in the most tangible way I'd felt to date on this bench and this is when I was still skeptical about how the Holy Spirit can manifest itself. Looking back it was clearly a time the Spirit had been leading me to for quite a while. On the mountain God spoke to me not in a loud booming voice, not even with a whisper in my ear, but through my subconscious thoughts. I felt an overwhelming, undeniable feeling that God was going to bring me back to Cambodia. From that day forward I had a heart, a passion to love the people of Cambodia.
Fast forward to November 2013, about 16 months later, when my squad arrives in Siem Reap, Cambodia for a day and a half. Imagine my excitement to be back in the place God had so clearly called me! Immediately the first chance I got, I was on a bike riding back to the mountain with one of my squad mates. The vision from God that day played a huge role in me going on the World Race and after patiently waiting I was finally back. I returned to the same exact bench God gave me a heart for the Cambodian people and I was overwhelmed with joy and anticipation to find out why God called me back here to this specific country. So here I am seeking to set out why God called me back to this beautiful country and I fully expect it to be something big.
Pray for God to reveal His reason for my return and for me to have peace as I patiently await His perfect timing in this. Stay tuned for what God has for me in my long awaited return to Cambodia…
