Farewell Kampong Chhnang

So far Kampong Chhnang has been not only more than I expected but almost hard to put into words. It has been a blessing to have Micnea and Pastor Seila be a part of our team. We hopped on the ferry at 8:30 and started our journey to Kampong Loyang. After our van did not get on the ferry, we packed ourselves into a Tuktuk and made our way to our first stop in a village about half an hour away. After 20 minutes we had around 50 children join us in the Church. We taught them “head, shoulders, knees, and toes” and “I’m a little tea pot”. Then we played a big group game where I misunderstood the rules a ran around with my eyes closed.  

After handing out bread to the students we jumped back on our tuktuk and headed to Da Mountain. After an hour of riding shotgun with Pastor Seila, we arrived. As I was getting off, the side of my foot sizzled against the exhaust tank. With my hypoallergenic mask still on, I began to take deep breaths while Pastor Seila who is trained as a nurse saves my foot by putting salt on the burn with ice water. I then proceeded up Da Mountain with my salty foot and we ate lunch on some big rocks. After lunch We hiked about 150 steps and that was it. Our “hike” was complete.                                                                                                        

We crammed back into the Tuktuk and made our was to another village were we made a short visit due to time constraints. Most of us played the same big group game from the other camp with 220 students. However I couldn’t risk my foot getting stepped on so I talked with the adults. Hearing their stories and what they are going through broke my heart. On the other hand it allowed me to pray with them and shine a light in their dark times. Many of us feel as if we should have stayed longer however a half an hour was all we had.We then headed back to Kampong Chhnang.

We had a short debrief when we got back to the guest house. Around 6, with my foot all bandaged up and rocking my socks and sandals we headed out for our last devotion. Afterwards we ate with the Onyx students at Micnea’s restaurant called “Shalom and Anna” named after his kids. We said good bye, took many pictures and accepted many friendship bracelets. Now we are off to bed and we will see what God has in store for us the next couple of days.

-Felicia Holmes