By Kelsey
As I make my final decent into Cambodia, I am flooded with a plethora of emotions. I am sitting next to a Cambodian man who shared his story with me earlier. This 80 year old, well spoken man is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide. The Cambodian people had 3 days to flee the country and he was able to take his family to a refuge camp in Thailand. He has his PHD in physics and therefore his family was a target for the genocide. After spending 2 months in the refuge camp, a relative of the Bush family sponsored his family to come to America. After spending some time in the US he eventually moved his family to France, where he worked for 25 years. He and his wife retired to Cambodia in 2005. He told me this entire story all because I asked if he was from Cambodia. He was so open and honest with me and I was extremely grateful for that. I hope that this I the first of many experiences similar to this.
By Jenny
As we walked through the market yesterday, heading to meet a woman who survived a land mime explosion, the word “intentional” just kept floating through my head. For the past few years, our trip leader has been intentional in building a relationship with this woman. Coming to buy water from her each time she is in town, talking to her, bringing her pictures- just becoming a part of her life. As I watch this unfolding with this woman and others- I am struck with the idea of “missional living.” This is something I have heard about- but, seeing it in action- it just makes me realize how prone I am to compartmentalize my time and my life. Instead of looking for an opportunity, expecting Jesus to put people in my path and trusting the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me no matter what I am doing or where I am at, I have the tendency to separate “ministry” and “life” or in Cambodia – “ministry” and “tourist” time. I am learning –seeing- through that this is not what we are called to do. Jesus wants us to be a light anywhere and everywhere. He loves the merchants at the market just as much as the victims of trafficking.
This was most impactful to me where we were at the prison. After touring and hearing of the torture and terrible conditions, we met one of the survivors. He smiled and took pictures as we bought his book (he returns to the prison every day to make and income for himself). Before we left, Connie asked our tour guide to tell him that we came to Cambodia so that he would know that God loves him. As this was translated I watched the survivors eyes filled with tears and was reminded that hope should have no compartment and love shouldn’t be reserved only for a few.
