A Day in Cambodia

As I am leaving, I look back at my days here in Cambodia

• I wake up to dogs barking, children laughing and the man selling duck eggs playing music to let everyone know he is coming down the street.

• I crawl out from under the mosquito net and brush my teeth with bottle water.

• I walk downstairs to eat breakfast with 5 other girls. We walk downstairs and out the tall, beige and gold-painted gate, into the world.

• “Arun soosadaay” I tell my tuk-tuk driver as I step onto my “horse and carriage”.

• I put on my facemask (like a doctor’s mask) so the dirt and smoke don’t get in my face.

• As we our driving I look at the scenery of chaotic driving, naked babies, people laying in hammocks, carts selling food being pushed up and down the street by vendors, spirit houses, idols for sale, and monks in sandals holding umbrellas as they go door-to-door.

• I arrive at one of our many destinations: medical clinic, orphanage, business for ex-prostitutes, school, theological education center office, university student hang-out, church, market, restaurant, etc.

o I pick up a baby with AIDS and I stare at his handsome face. He smiles at me and giggles as he rests freely in my arms. I throw him up in the air and catch him and I remember how much I loved when my dad would do that to me.

o I go to a sleep-over with Khmer girls. We can barely understand each other but we spend the night painting each others nails, dancing, and laughing at each other. I remember my friends at home and how much I love them.

o I take care of a 21 year-old patient who can’t walk. I observe as her mom cares for her by feeding her, changing her skirt when she pees herself, and standing over her when there is nothing else to do. I remember my mom and how she took care of me when I am sick.

I see the evidence that One God created us all, that every nation would come to worship him.

Stone God---Living God

I will be putting out another update in a few days. I wrote this one from last weekend and haven't been able to post it.

This past weekend we traveled to Siem Reap, the province in Cambodia that houses Angkor Wat and other famous temples (one of the 8 man-made wonders of the world). We walked through these stone temples. They had carvings on the walls of chariots, soldiers with weapons, women and other things. In many of the temples you had to climb up 2, 3, or more flights of steps to get to the main room. In the main room were stone statues of Buddha. They were all dark rooms, with little lighting, and nothing but stone. Stone floor, stone walls and stone gods.

At one of the the temples I sat with one of my teammates at the top of the stairs looking down the the 3 or 4 flights we climbed up. There were other tourists passing by us, going in and out of the temple. We were so saddened that many people believed that they had to sit in these cold, dark rooms burning incense and praying to earn good standing with God. They don't know that we can never do enough good for God to love us. His Son died for us and He loves his son. That is what gives those who believe right standing before God. I remembered that I brought my Bible with me so I opened it up and began reading out loud. I was still discouraged until I got to the end of the passage and He reminded us. This is what God said to me, my teammate, and those passing by:

Isaiah 44

⁶ "This is what the LORD says—
Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.

⁷ Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come—
yes, let him foretell what will come.

⁸ Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."

⁹ All who make idols are nothing,
and the things they treasure are worthless.
Those who would speak up for them are blind;
they are ignorant, to their own shame.

¹⁰ Who shapes a god and casts an idol,
which can profit him nothing?

¹¹ He and his kind will be put to shame;
craftsmen are nothing but men.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
they will be brought down to terror and infamy.

¹² The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.

¹³ The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in the form of man,
of man in all his glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.

¹⁴ He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.

¹⁵ It is man's fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.

¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
"Ah! I am warm; I see the fire."

¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
"Save me; you are my god."

¹⁸ They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

¹⁹ No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
"Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?"

²⁰ He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
"Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"

²¹ "Remember these things, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you are my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you.

²² I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you."

²³ Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.

Cambodia!!!

Its almost been a month that I’ve been here in Cambodia. I am just starting to feel like I kind of know whats going on. My time is mostly divided up into different ministries, so I will give a short update on each.

Mercy Medical Clinic- I have been able to sit in with several doctors, and they are very helpful. I have learned a lot from them. One of the doctors I was observing actually prescribed one of his patients to read the bible and to find her rest in God. So I had the honor of filling her prescription by printing off some bible verses. It was great! We printed off Psalm 23. It makes me sad to think about what would happen in the States if a doctor were to do that.

New Hope School- We have continued to teach English on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to the Vietnamese children that attend this school. Me and my teammate teach a group of about 8 teenagers. They are so eager to learn. We have started reaching out to them through prayer. We have asked each student to write down something we can pray for them about, each week. Since my teammate Lisa does most of the teaching, I am making this my focus of this ministry.

Orphanage- We started going to an orphanage this week. There are 70 children living there! Our first day we planned on playing with the little kids and focusing on getting to know them. But when we got there the director brought us into a class room with about 12 high-school aged students, with paper and pencil in their hands, ready for an English lesson. So with no lesson plan and no preparation, we taught an English class. Today we will be having our second class. Hopefully it will go better. And somehow, in God's amazing providence, I have been able to use the little Spanish that I know. There is a young single female missionary here from Colombia that works and lives at the orphanage! She doesn't speak any English, only Spanish and Khmer. So our conversations are tri-lingual and quite interesting.

We are also staying involved in Friendship club, reaching out to the university students. We are having a girls slumber party this Saturday! We are also switching off every other week with our other teammates teaching Sunday school. I am looking forward to the experiences the next month will bring. Our whole team would appreciate your prayers for what God is doing in Cambodia!