Cambodia Journal: Day 6

Again, I’ve woken up for the 6th morning in a row feeling sick. I look forward to getting home and going to get some medicine. I’ve tried not to let it bug me or give me an attitude, but it’s becoming increasingly harder to swallow in the morning and at night. During the day it seems alright, but by the end of the day when I’m tired it’s bad.

We gathered for morning prayer at 11am. We were allotted a late start today. I guess it was nice. I woke up early, mostly wasted time, and then wrote for an hour and a half. I wanted to be diligent in recording this trip and what God has both done and shown me. I have written down a lot, but I know there is so much that I missed or couldn’t remember.

None the less, we packed up and headed out. We headed to the Daughters of Cambodia cafe. It was a refreshing little cafe with a prayer house on the third floor. We got there and sat down in the restaurant area in the back. A big open garden that used to be a warehouse or something. P. Mo and I ate this delicious burger and chicken crepe. A-May-Zing! We all had different kinds of smoothies that were really great too!

The best part about having this lunch though wasn’t the amazing food or the great drinks we had, but that portions of the money we spent at the cafe went to help restore women who had been trafficked. As well, all the women who work in their businesses were victims that were taken off the street, counseled, and given jobs that paid them a good wage. I was able to buy some more stuff from their little store to help as well.

As we were preparing to leave we ran into the two brothers we met that help run an amazing organization called “Hard Places.” They were coming to help run a session at the prayer house. So, we walked up with them and participated for about an hour or so. It wasn’t quite what I was used to, or expect from a prayer house. I’m not sure if that’s a normal session for them, but it seemed more like a small prayer meeting with a large group who were in a group together. It was a farewell or something, so we moved on our way.

When we finished we used the time we had to walk back to the church were we had about an hour at another coffee shop before we gathered with Pastor P. We finally made it to church and climbed on a tuk-tuk altogether. It was quite funny as P. Mo and I sat in the small side of the seat, and the girls all sat together on the other side. We made it to Pastor P’s home, which was very close to the dump and slums we had visited the Sunday before. They had a nice 3 story apartment. The time there was really wonderful. We got to eat some wonderful food because Pastor P is a great cook. We also had time to talk more about Cambodia, ministry, and families. We were all really blessed by their hospitality and generosity towards us.

Pastor P dropped us off at a mall where we got ice cream. We had some time to talk and bond and really get to know each other more. We made it back to the hotel after a short tuk-tuk ride. As we debriefed we had a long, honest, hard talk about our ministry, our passion for Jesus, our roles as leaders, and what our future holds. I realized that we all have a lot of the same thoughts, ideas, fears, concerns, and frustrations. I mean, it’s easy to complain about where you’re at and what you feel is going wrong. To be honest, it’s super easy. But the better and harder thing is to make something new, refreshing, and bring it to life.

We want to see Jesus, and help others to know Jesus too. We want God to open our hearts and make them burn for the things he burns for. We want to be a church that is first and foremost passionate about Jesus. I want to see us be a church that makes our own way, our own mistakes, and makes our own gains through Jesus and for Jesus. We can’t copy what others are doing, we can’t follow other peoples models. We just can’t do it. It would ruin our church and ruin our effectiveness.

I don’t have all the answers but I don’t want to be part of the problem either. I want to truly live out the things that I’ve been called to do. I want the freedom to live and work those things out confidently. I want to be who God has called me to be and who He made me to be.

I hope that we can take the hearts that we’ve developed here and bring them back home, otherwise, we won’t stay. Who wants to stay where they don’t feel God is moving, and where they don’t empowered to move for God.

We have learned a lot over the course of this trip. We’ve learned what we thinks effective, what we think is not effective. How we can be more humble to make changes in our own lives, and how we can lead others effectively to make changes in their lives. Most of all we just want people to see Jesus. I hope that we can continue to do that as we leave and begin what will be the rest of our lives.