Sunday July 26 - Day Eleven
Blog Post: Sunday July 26th
If I had to name one thing that amazes me the most about the Christians in Cambodia, it would be how they worship God. Despite all of the pain and suffering they have endured, they sing about God’s never ending love and amazing grace, falling down on their knees and shouting out in prayer. This has been our experience this evening, as we attended a bible study at Dove center in Kampong Chhnang Province.
After waking up at 6AM at Green Pasture Inn to have a quick Skype call with my parents, the group hurried to the hotel’s courtyard across the road to have breakfast for 7AM. ‘Hurry hurry – wait’ seems to be proving a good model to live by in Cambodia, as 45 minutes later we were quickly eating our breakfast of eggs and fruit before rushing to church with all of our baggage in tow. We ended the service by hanging back and having a quick meeting with the youth group of that church, praying for them as they hope to create a kids camp by the end of summer, and as they prayed for us and our continued safety for the duration of our trip. As a full team, we then loaded into the busses and headed off to Kampong Chhnang.
Now, I’ve been trying to step outside of my comfort zone on this trip, but eating fried fish, scales bones and head included, at the roadside restaurant we stopped at for lunch was certainly new experience. I can say that I am no longer quite as scared of the squattie potties as I used to be, so hey, progress right? Michael and Queenie were able to come to the Dove foundation with us, to see what we would be doing for the duration of our trip, before they headed back to Oodong village. Us staying in Kampong Chhnang will be doing a variety of things for Dove over the next three days. I’m not so sure about the construction project they have planned for us tomorrow, but Toms count as closed-toed shoes, yes?
We are once again blessed with a wonderful guesthouse, this time in bright yellow. Each room has wifi, real showers and toilets, and air-conditioning (power permitting). Can I say #blessed without everyone cringing? In any case, we just had time to drop off our stuff before doing a quick tour of the city, and meeting up with the Onyx crew we’ll be working with at Dove. Our devotion session was so powerful, it was immediately evident that the Spirit of the Lord filled the place. The songs became full on prayers to the Lord, and Mandy’s testimony lead to an intense circle of prayer.
Ending the night with a late dinner at a nearby restaurant, we all quickly headed off to bed, eager to rest before the long days ahead.
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers, love and support, and we’ll be seeing you in 5 short days!
P.S. Mom, I’ll try and FaceTime you sometime tomorrow morning (aka 4pm your time)
Mia