Sunday May 26

Just a quick check in to say that we're safe and enjoying Phnom Penh. A lot of our team is sick, though, so please be praying for a quick recovery! We start VBS tomorrow, and will be doing that for the next week until we leave Cambodia. We will be partnering with William Jessup. Please continue praying!! You guys rock. 

If you want someone else's insight on the trip, follow Lars' blog! 

http://larsonamission.blogspot.com/

Recap

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged! Our Internet has just been so terrible and things have been a whirlwind. We haven't fallen off the face of the earth though! We've been so busy though. 

Okay, so I'll just bullet point through the last few days. 

- we toured some temples! Including Angkor Wat which was beautiful. Oh! And we saw where Tomb Raider was shot. That was pretty sweet. Words can't do it justice...and pictures can't either, but they get closer. 

A couple of us rode elephants while we were at the temples, but there aren't very good pictures of it. Here's what I've got. 

- today, we went to S-21 and the killing fields. I don't think I have ever felt so broken by something. Thousands of people were killed in the most brutal ways. 

Lets cover S-21 first. This was a place where prisoners were kept and tortured. I can't find words for the amounts of horrific things I saw there. 

Prisoners were kept in these cells. They were so incredibly small. The cells were short enough where they could see the person next to them, but they were forbidden to speak. Many prisoners starved to death, were beaten so badly they died, or killed themselves by cutting themselves and letting themselves bleed out. 

Then we went to the killing fields. We saw mass graves where people were killed and buried. There was a massive memorial that was just a huge multi level case of collected skulls. I can't even imagine the terrible things that happened to people here. Women, children, and men alike. All brutally murdered. There was even a tree that was meant solely for beating children against. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it, but it broke my heart so badly that all I could do was stand paralyzed and cry. The Khmer Rouge were monsters. They bought gas and poured it into the mass graves to keep the smell down and kill anyone that didn't die from the blow to the head. 

So now you're about caught up on our trip! Tomorrow we are going to work with some more girls that have been saved from human trafficking. It should prove to be another emotional day. I'll do my best to keep you updated!

Tour of Siep Reap

Today, we visited another restoration center that works with girls that have been trafficked. We went on a tour of Siem Reap and saw several different places that make their money off of trafficking girls. The man that sat in our bus with us and shed some light on what happens in this city made some very interesting points. I don't know how else to give them to you except through bullets. 

- most places have anywhere between 20 and 500 girls offering their bodies

- there is a bridge where hundreds of girls and lady boys are being sold. As soon as one girl is taken out, the pimps will send out another

- the trafficking business pays the police $150,000 every year to stay under the radar and in business

- there are 10 nice, big clubs in Siem Reap alone

- the bigger clubs make around $60,000 every night WITHOUT the cost of sex.

- there is a huge stigma against girls involved in human trafficking. There is no stigma, however, against parents that sell their children, pimps that sell the girls, or the men that buy the girls (There is no need to hide that you are going into a club or brothel. There is no negative outlook on it here)

Here are some pictures of the clubs and brothels we saw today. 

Please help me pray for this country. You can see my blog named Prayer Requests for a more specific list of things we need prayer for.

Prayer Requests

1. Sam (our translator from Battambang)

- He is recently married and has very little money to get going. Him and his wife bought a nice house, but have little money left over to do renovations. Please pray for financial comfort and support. He works for Hope Bible Institute. You can pray for the services and hope they are able to provide in this society. 

2. The girls involved in trafficking. 

- I don't really know how to expand on this. Please just pray that they would be able to escape from that lifestyle. Pray for their well being. To try and imagine their emotional state after all they've been through is impossible. Please just pray that they have an opportunity to find Christ and find peace under the protection of His wing. 

3. The large businesses (such as Samsung and LG) that are sending their employees on all expenses paid vacations that include buying the girls involved with trafficking. This doesnt mean they're supporting sex trafficking or that they're encouraging their employees to participate (that we know of / can prove). But the idea that it's still paid for when the bill for the trip comes in, is concerning. So please pray about large corporations and their moral compasses. 

4. Organizations that help rescue girls enslaved by human trafficking. 

- These people have the hardest jobs in the world. Please pray that God would continue blessing them in their personal lives but also in their work. They face challenges we can't even comprehend every single day. And please pray that the government and police force will start to help them. 

5. Our teams unity and attitudes. We are seeing things every day that consistently break our hearts. Please pray that we work together and support each other for the next 2 weeks. 

6. Health of the team. Being overseas and eating foreign food is hard on the stomach!

7. Matthew and Melissa Stock. 

- They used to be in Eugene (Melissa worked at NCU) and have recently moved to Siem Reap for an indefinite amount of time. They have opened 2 bakeries here, and are accomplishing some great things. Please pray for the hiring process for their next store, their financial wellbeing, and their willingness to continue following Gods call for their lives. 

Boat ride

Today, we are embarking on a 5-8 hour (big range, I know) boat ride from Battambang to Siem Riep. As I look out the sides of the boat, I am experiencing a whole new level of poverty. There are literally "floating villages." And when you arent seeing floating villages, you see shacks on stilts. I don't even know how to describe what I'm seeing, so here's some pictures... 

We had some really cool guys driving our boat. They switched a couple times, but this one guy was just hanging out with us more than driving. He was such a character! (My family will enjoy my word choice there). He caught us a fish with his bare hands, covered the boat with a tarp when we get in the middle of a torrential downpour, and just used funny hand motions. Anyways...here he is sitting on the front of the boat drinking some soda. 

Oh yeah...and Lars reverted back to his younger years and hung out the side of the boat. 

And Jason...always in touch with his adventurous side. 

Last bit of the boat ride

I already posted about the major events of the boat ride, but just realized I was so exhausted, I didn't report about the end of the ride! 

In my last blog, I showed pictures of some houses on the river we were going down. After writing that blog, I promptly fell asleep for an hour or two. When I woke up, I thought we were at the ocean. Here's a glimpse of what I saw:

There was so much space around our boat! But then as I looked through the zoomed in lens of my phones camera, I saw worse poverty than before. There were shacks with no sides. Just 4 sticks holding up a thatched roof...all balancing on some wood tied to empty blue barrels for floatation. Before I fell asleep I was sure I had seen the worst poverty in the world. When I woke up, I was quick to realize just how wrong I had been. (I wasn't able to get any pictures of the shacks because I was too busy sitting there with my jaw dropped and deep in prayer) 

Not only were people living in something no human should live in, the water was filthy. This is the water they go to the restroom in, bathe in, wash their clothes in, and cool off in (and probably sometimes drink...if they are too poor to buy water bottles) I can't imagine how these people survive out here. 

Please pray that Gods hand would be over these people. I am praying that God will continue to break my heart for them and give me a way to brighten their day. Even if I can't change their lives, I want to see them smile at least once. Please pray for our team as we continue to see poverty, trafficked girls, and all around corruption. Pray that we stick together as a team and support each other as we continue to have broken hearts. 

God bless. 

Sunday

Today, we started off by going to HBI (Hope Bible Institute) for church. Our campus pastor, Troy, preached the message with the help and translation of Sam. The kids did a dance, and some of the ladies sang a song for us. It was so beautiful! 

After the message, we ate lunch outside on the church's porch with the rest of the congregation. They served us an awesome stew mix with rice, native fruits, and fish. It was really fun to have a meal where it felt like it was what the Cambodians eat on a regular basis. 

After the service, we went to see Sam's recently purchased house. On our way back to the church, we stopped to sing and play with kids that live in the village. After we sang some songs and played, we headed back to the church to finish a few things and get back on the road. When we turned around, the kids were following us! So we hung around and played "down by the banks" at the church building. 

I'm not sure if these little girls were sisters or best friends, but they were so cute! They were completely interested in what we were doing and were so photogenic!

After our time at the church, we headed back to the rehabilitation center we visited yesterday. Since we weren't there very long yesterday, we made a point of going back to see the girls again and buy some of their handmade products. The cool thing about this place is that 100% of the proceeds from their sales go to the girls. For example: if I bought a bag that "Mary" made, "Mary" would get all the money I paid for the product. Our whole team was able to spend money at the center and bless the girls. 

After taking a quick break at the hotel we were off to the races again. We went to another temple, but today's was Hindu. It was called Banan. It was a temple back before the Khmer Rouge came through, and is not really in use anymore. Thankfully, there were only 358 steps at the temple today. Don't judge me for being sweaty...it's hot here!

The cacti are planted all over the place around the temple. Apparently, people believe that if they etch their needs into one of the cactus leaves and pray, they will get it. I don't know why I took this picture with it, but I think it's funny, so here you go. 

And here's a real (normal) picture of what the cactus looked like. You can see the etches. I found out that they etch the leaves using burning incense. 

The way down...ahh!