75 hours later, we land in Cambodia.
After collecting all of our bags, we met Bill at the bus that would be taking us to our ministry locations. We had about an hour drive into Siem Reap, and our team was the first to be dropped off! We met our host, Ralph, right when we got off and he walked us to the church we’d be doing ministry at and staying at, Victory Church Cambodia. We got settled into our rooms, attended church that afternoon, and had a small orientation before finally getting a good nights rest. Grace, Lianne, and I shared a room on the third floor while the other four shared a room on the second floor.
I absolutely loved mornings here. Because our nights weren’t too late, I got to wake up at 5:30am every morning and watch the sunrise. And sometimes, I’d even hear traditional Asian music playing from the monastery down the road.
We visited Angkor Wat one weekend with three of the other teams! That was AWESOME! We left very early so we could watch the sunrise there and it was so surreal to walk inside all of these ancient temples. It was absolutely baffling to think that these were like real deal temples in Asia and not a remake in Disney or something. Every carving, every stone, every statue was real. Far too often, my team has to remind me that I’m not in Disney World and that this is actually Asia that I’m living in. It’s crazy how everything goes back to Disney.
Ministry in Cambodia was absolutely beautiful in every way possible. We had quite the variety so we weren’t able to really get settled at one place and make super strong relationships. But we got to get a taste of a lot of different types of ministry and were able to plant seeds everywhere we went.
Ministry in Siem Reap!
- Most mornings, we would clean the base as a way to serve the church and the people who attend it. We did a lot of sweeping and mopping because it’s so dusty.
- Most nights, we taught English at this NGO called New Dream of Cambodian Children Organization. It’s a free, optional school for kids to learn and strengthen their English. And it is so so special every time we visit. We’d get there around 5:45pm and play tag or soccer with the kids until the bell rings. And because we were out of the city and in flat land, we got to watch the most beautiful sunset every time. Megan, Grace, and I were teachers for one of the four classes and we started teaching them the song “I’ve got the joy down in my heart” and they loved it. Actually had tears in my eyes as I led them through the lyrics of the song and heard all of their voices singing about how the love of Jesus is in their hearts. I think my favorite part of New Dream is the immaculate orange polos we got to wear. But seriously, the Lord was using us there and we hold those children in our hearts.
- One week, we taught a class to students at the University of South East Asia in the American Corner. It was a couple of hours for four days, and we taught on emotions. By the end of the week, we had made relationships with most of the students, so we invited them to a fellowship at the church Saturday night and most of them showed up! We played games, taught them the Church Clap, and shared the gospel a little.
- We also visited the village! There, we cleaned up the church, did some house visits, lead Sunday school for the kids, and attended church on Sundays and pour into the women there. We’d met a few survivors of the Khmer Rouge up there and every time, our eyes were opened more and more. But the Lord is moving there and we are believing that He will provide true rest and protection to these people!
- Since it was Valentine’s Day, we spent one day making paper flowers for the women of the church. And we spent another day making a mural on the wall in the kids room. We cut out a bunch of fish and letters that said “Jesus Said Come Follow Me.”
- One of the girls we met from the university course invited us to teach English at her school for one night. I was with Anna, Peyton, and Maggie and we started by talking about hopes and dreams. And then by the end, we were sharing the full gospel. We talked to the teacher after the class and she was so happy because she said she doesn’t ever share that with her students directly because she’s scared, but doesn’t mind translating it for them to hear. We had the opportunity to pray over her and for more doors for her to share a gospel and she kept saying “I feel so loved.”
Ministry in Battambang!
- We packed up and moved to Battambang for two weeks to work with the Victory branch out there. Life was a lot busier and very different but so beautiful. Best part was definitely the mega bed the seven of us slept in every night (don’t tell my team that I actually liked it). We did a lot of fellowship events where we eat delicious meals together and spend intentional time with some of the congregation. These were hosted at the church four days a week!
- We led the “Fun Friday” event at a local school called LOHI where we played games and shared the story of Noah with a bunch of young kids. The energy was high and so was their attendance ahahah. I felt like a kid again while playing with them and the joy was just overflowing in that place.
- We taught English for a week at LOHI, but it was higher levels so they were more advanced. Maggie and I taught level 9 and level 11 and the others were paired elsewhere. Teaching advanced English makes you realize how much you really don’t know about grammar and big vocabulary ahahah. So we would all have to do a little preparation and research before attending class.
- We used most of our free time to prepare our powerpoint on personal development for the workshop we’d be teaching at the university. And that went very very well! We taught there both Saturdays we were in Battambang.
- A few of us went into the village Sunday morning to lead Sunday school for the kids up there. We sang some songs and taught them the story of Jonah and then we got to pass out bread and milk to all of them. We got to speak about the love of Jesus and bless about 50 kids up there. We also put on Sunday school for the kids near the base and I got to have a dance battle with one of the kids. I think I won, but Grace disagrees.
- I think my favorite ministry in all of Cambodia has got to be the two days we worked with Handa Academy. Handa was this place for kids in between grade 2 and 6 to go to for extra classes and to just play. These kids had to qualify for this program, meaning that they were very poor. The first batch of kids came first thing in the morning. The seven of us split up to help teach English or computer classes and then we had some time to play with them outside. They had an outdoor basketball and volleyball court and also a whole turf soccer field so some big hits included soccer and volleyball. We got connected with Handa because one of the women who attends Victory is the arts and crafts teacher there, so she brought us over to help with her craft class. The foundation fed all of the kids lunch, and then the second group of kids came after noon and started there time there with lunch. And then we got to teach classes and play with them. Unfortunately, we only got to partner with Handa for two days, but they were a beautiful and moving two days.
After Battambang, we went back to Siem Real for a special last few days in Cambodia. This was a time of rest but we also did small things around the church. Since I had been talking about Mardi Gras for weeks, my team surprised me with a parade at our base and it made me feel so so special. And then the next morning, I got to surprise them with a big breakfast on Valentine’s Day. A few days later, our team hosted a Valentine’s Day party for the other teams also in Siem Reap and that was the first time in a while that a bunch of us were together. And it was so so special. Ralph wanted to take us on a bike ride around Siem Reap before we left so we did that Saturday morning and rode 30 miles. But the weather was perfect and we had a fun time with him.
We said our final goodbyes Monday morning before heading to the AIM base to meet the rest of the squad. We all piled on a bus and headed to the Thailand border! After some personal immigration struggles, I had finally exited Cambodia.
But it was quite the hassle to enter into Thailand. We had to wait in a line for over an hour while carrying allllll of our stuff. But we got to have some great conversations with the people around us since we definitely drew some attention, being that we were the ONLY people carrying any luggage. We got to spend 24 hours in Bangkok before heading to the airport and we had fun exploring a new city for a day. You could find majority of the squad at Central World, the eighth largest mall in the world, the day after we arrived. Quite the culture shock for some village backpackers.
The travel experience to Africa was pretty easy. Our first flight was an eight hour overnight flight so for the most part, everyone got quality sleep. We had a two hour layover in Ethiopia before the five hour flight to South Africa. The second flight was pretty empty so a bunch of us had a whole row to ourselves. We camped out in that airport for about three hours while we waited for our coaches to arrive. And then we had a three hour bus ride to our hostel in Nelspruit! We will be here for a week for debrief, and then we’ll drive over to Eswatini to do ministry there!
Our time in Asia was very very special, but we are SO excited to start ministry and life in Africa!
Teaching English at New Dream
Sunday school in the Siem Reap village
Angkor Wat
University workshop in Battambang
Handa Academy
