Ok, so it has been over two months since my last post and I have some catching up to do.
I took a break from sharing anything for a while because there has been so much happening and so much to process I got to feeling a bit overwhelmed. I didn't have any desire to blog about anything, I just needed to live it and think about how things were transforming.
I think I'm ready now to share again. So I will attempt to bring things up to date.
I left off half way through my Cambodia trip so I will start there by summing up the last few days of that incredible journey:
Day 6 (8-30-13) Friday
Today is our last day in Kep. We had breakfast at a place called Veranda, which was a local resort built up like an amazing huge treehouse on the hillside overlooking the trees below all the way down to the sea. We met up with the rest of our team that returned from Rabbit Island and checked out to take our vans to Penom Phen.
Our first stop was a place called the Killing Fields. And it was even more horrible than the name suggests. The day was hot and the air was heavy and thick, difficult to breathe. We received headphones and a map and began our individual walks through the grounds. Many of the stories on the audio were first person accounts which were the hardest things to hear among the brutal evil history that devastated the Cambodian people in the late 70's under Pol Pot's Khemer Rouge. It was an emotionally draining experience to listen to such horror and indescribable pain while walking the ground on which it occurred. As I made my way back to where we started to turn in the audio player, the skies opened up and a heavy rain began to pour down over us. The unspeakable grief, like tears drenching the blood stained land.
The second place we visited was equally heart crushing. The infamous S-21 Prison in the middle of the capitol city, Penom Phen. What once had been a large beautiful high school campus with four three-story buildings surrounding an open landscaped courtyard had been turned into a secret place of torture. It was taken over by Pol Pot's regime and used to imprison and inflict the most evil forms of torture imaginable upon the elderly, men, women, teens, children and babies and then to photograph each of them before murdering them. Walking the halls that had once held innocent youths going about their studies and laughing with their friends, entering the classrooms now stained hideous dark colors from the blood that will never wash away. Crossing the grounds that had been exercise fields and seeing how their equipment had been altered for hellish unspeakable horrrors was too much. I could not make it through the last building. I had to stop. How can human beings do such things. My heart could not bear any more of it. I did not want to see more. The heaviness was too great. I needed to lay this at the feet of my Lord and not let myself get suked into despair and grief and questions that will lead me in circles of more and more questions leading to only one answer: sin.
We left and our whole group needed some quiet time.
Our final hotel was a peaceful, serene kind of place to end our trip together. It was called the 240 and was a artsy kind of building in the middle of the busy city. Shayla, Mandi, Gabi and I shared a room together. Poor Pete got an ear infection and feels terrible so we are trying to find a place to get antibiotics for him. Our debriefing this evening was eye-opening as people shared the different ways God is working in their hearts in such individualized ways. Each of us having unique experiences of the same experiences.....if that makes any sense.
Our friend, Pastor Tonet (who is about my age) shared the story of how his grandfather was a government official at the time the Khmer Rouge came into Cambodia to overthrow the capitol. He sent Tonets' parents away across the river to a small village outside the city. He instructed them to change their names and make up new lives, to stay hidden and survive. His grandfather was taken by Pol Pot and tortured and killed in S-21 Prison.
Thanks to the sacrifice Tonet's grandfather made back then to ensure the safety of his family this baby boy grew to be a young man who gave his heart to Jesus and now lives for spreading the gospel.
Day 7 (8-31-13) Saturday
Today was a special outing to experience another side of Cambodian culture. A place called the Russian Market. It was an instant overload of the senses. Sights, sounds, smells. Vendors and shops crowded together along the streets and stuffed into large buildings creating a great maze of trinkets, clothes, art, electronics, accessories, food and more. I stuck with Mandi, Gabi and Jared and we had the most fun searching and purchasing ridiculously cheap souveniers to stuff in our bags and take home to the kids and family. A lighthearted morning like this was just what we all needed after such a heavy week. I have so much loved getting to know the people in our group and I cherish each one of them. We have lived together like family this past week, getting into the nitty gritty of life together and developing a special bond.
For lunch we met up and ate at a place called Daughters. Oh, I may cry again here. This place was also overwhelming but in a silver-lining kind of way that overflowed my heart. It was a lovely cafe with a childcare center in back for the workers who have children. There was an open art studio upstairs and a prayer room surrounded by long flowing sheer drapery with a soft breeze flowing through open windows. Scriptures were painted on the walls and there were cushions and a couch. Soft worship music was playing throughout the place. Daughters helps girls by empowering them with good jobs, training, counselling and support to exit the sex trafficking industry. Many of these girls were sold into the industry by their own families. There is also a Sons of Cambodia which does the same thing for boys who often are even more at risk than the girls. Something I did not know and was surprised to learn about. They are sold and worked as "ladyboys". These things are too terrible to go into but I am grateful for this christian based organization that is working so tirelessly to make a difference and bring about sustainable change. Boys and girls learn trades in screenprinting, cooking, baking, sewing, jewelry making and more so that they can get good jobs earning fair wages and create a new life for themselves. They can find healing, comfort and peace through Jesus and a community of people who care.
Day 8 (9-1-13) Sunday
Our last day is bittersweet. I long for home and can't wait to see my family but I feel I've lived in this place a tiny lifetime and I am sad to go. Miraculous things are taking place here among the ugly sin and hurt of past and present darkness. I pray these sparks of light will catch fire and burn bright so that the salvation of our Lord will spread like wildfire across this lush land, burning away the false gods and stifling darkness to bring freedom and hope for these precious people.
We took the ferry boat across the river one more time to attend church with Tonet and his community. It was a hot, sticky morning. My foot is better but I am still the last one hobbling along the long distance. Papa Pete hung back and walked with me. Have I mentioned he reminds me a lot of my dad and I'm pretty fond of him.
The church was sweltering and we were all drenched with sweat before we even began. Worship was undaunted by the heat and it was a joyous time of praise. After the service the people moved chairs out of the way and brought together small tables and began setting out bowls of fresh picked fruits for us all to share. Before leaving our team prayed over Tonet and his family and the church. I will always remember them.
We had a laid back afternoon waiting until time to go to the airport. We took our luggage and all went back to the hotel we had stayed in our first night (Mandi and a few others would stay here before traveling on tomorrow) It was a place for us to take a nap if we wanted. But a small group of us went to a place Mandi had planned for us as a special treat. It was a tiny spa within walking distance from the hotel where we could choose from different massage treatments. Some of us got 90 minute massages for $10!!! Others did hot stone or various other options. It was so relaxing. The place was clean. There were cusions on the floor and soft oriental music, dim lights and orange robes to wear while we took in the intoxicating aromas and were treated to deep tissue massage, including facial and head massage. What a way to end the day before flying 26 hours back home.
Our last meal together was at a place called Friends. Another awesome establishment that Mandi introduced us to. It is run by an international group that works to protect children from getting caught up in sex trafficking. The food was excellent. However, I did not try the plate of ginat tree ants that Shayla, Mandi and Crystal ate....yuck!
One thing that really hit me hard was the photography on the walls when we entered the restaurant. They were collections of black and white close up images of Cambodian people of all ages (exactly like the ones on display from the horriffic S-21 Prison) except in these photos the people were happy, smiling, laughing, healthy and full of life, hope and future dreams. It was surreal. It was a new birth. It was a message that even though they have experienced the worst of things they have risen again and they will overcome. They are going through a healing process and they are hoping for a brighter future. They will remember their past and honor their loved ones but they will not let it hold them in despair. They will be survivors. I pray they will also be set free spiritually through Jesus.
Our last few hours were spent laughing and talking together in the hotel room.
Then we took our tuk tuks back through the dark city streets to the airport.
I am so very, very tired now.
It seems I have been running on supernatural energy all week and it has come to an end and so have I. I long for home. I long for rest.
Thank you Jesus for this journey.
I love you my Saviour, my God.
Praise you.
May what we have learned and experienced here bring effectual change in our lives that draws glory to you Lord.
