holy adventure batman!!

Yesterday I went to a village. It was the adventure of a life time! The day began with Rachha asking me to join him, his father and his little brother for breakfast. We just went to a little place right beside SLM. Rice, BBQ pork, and soup. Breakfast, huh? It was good though. We all left around 8am. There were six of us total in the taxi car. That’s what Rachha’s father does for a living. It’s a very nice car. I got to sit in the front seat because I was the only girl. There was Rachha, his father (Mr. Nget), his little brother Thea (pronounced tear) who is 5, Jonah, myself and an American named Dan. Dan is a retired man who is living out the rest of his days in Cambodia. He is originally from Oregan.

We set off and drove for a while, maybe 1 hour, and then stopped in a small town, which is basically one big market. Phil (my leader from back in May), this is his favourite place in all of Cambodia. He loves the little town. After the town we drove for about another ½ hour before we met up with the pastor from the village. He was going to guide us the rest of the way. We drove up and down and around in the mountains for another ½ hour. Then we turned off the main road to a dirt/sand road that didn’t look too traveled on. The car barely made it about 8 - 9 km before it couldn’t go on. The road was terrible! While we were driving we had to stop at least 10 times ( I was counting) and get out of the car so that it wouldn’t bottom out on the road.

Finally we stopped at someone’s home and ate our lunch. They were very nice people. A young couple with two little boys. While we were eating a parrot came by. It was a pretty green. I took pictures.

Jonah and Rachha kept going with the guy on his motto. Shortly after we left Dan and I decided to walk on foot. The man said it was only another 3 km from here. We could walk that no problem. It was beautiful! I felt like I was walking through the plains of Africa. Only it was the plains of Asia! There were many mountains in the distance. As we walked we realized that the car would never had made it. It was a good idea that it just stop and stay where it was.

We walked about 3 -4 km before the man returned to pick us up on the motto. Then we drove another 10 km to get to the village. I’m told Cambodians have no sense of distance. Apparently so. 3 km turned out to be closer to 15 km. Event the motto had troubles in some areas. But it sure was a beautiful ride. I had mountains on one side of me and plains on the other. After a few km the plains disappeared into a huge rolling ocean of blue. Here I was on the back of a motto on my way to a tiny remote village in Asia with mountains on one side, and the Indian Ocean on the other.

Huh…

We pulled up into the village and every one stared at us. As I approached Jonah and Rachha all the men and women of the village pushed their way through the crowd to come and bow to us. It was surreal. I bowed to all these people in return, feeling like I was in a movie. They were smiling like I’d just brought the cure for the common cold or something. They were overjoyed to see me. Dan and I walked around the village for a bit. I took some video footage and pictures. After the medical clinic we had church. I was the key speaker. I cut it very short because we had to get going soon. It took much longer than we expected to get there. The sun was beginning to go down and it looked like it was going to rain. We still had to go all the way back through all we came through with the car. I didn’t want to do that in the rain. I don’t think we would have made it otherwise.

I spoke some words of encouragement for them. I took everyday normal negative thoughts people have and rebuked them with scripture. We say things like it’s impossible, but Luke 18:27 says that all things are possible. I had 10 points but only did 5. I used thoughts such as:

It’s impossible - Luke 18:27
I am tired - Matthew 11:28
Nobody seems to love anyone - John 3:16
I can’t do it - Phil 4:13
I am alone - Heb 13:5
I am afraid - 2Tim 1:17
I am sad - John 16:20
I have no home - John 14:2
I am no good - John 1:12
I doubt. Where are you God? - Matthew 28:20

It seemed to go over well. Rachha was a fantastic translator.

After church we went outside to scout out an area to put a well. We also brought about 100 baggets with us to give out to the people. Thanks to many people at home who contributed money, this village will have another well. It doesn’t have enough fresh clean water to sustain itself. It’s going to be right in the center of the village. I played with the children for a little bit. Took pictures of the people. Then we had to get going. The sun was going down and fast. I said my goodbyes and was on my way. Part of me was sad and part of me was happy to be leaving. I’m sure you can understand why I was sad, but I was happy to be out of their constant gaze. The people were gawking at me!! I’ve never been stared at like that. I didn’t like it. I had hundreds of eyes on me at almost all times. They weren’t judgmental stares, just studying me. Jonah told me later that I was the first woman to ever publicly address that village. He thinks I might have even been the first white woman to ever enter that village too. Wow. That’s huge. That would explain why they were staring at me. They’d never seen anyone like me before. I’m still a little bit in awe of the whole experience.

I took many pictures and videos on the way home. We made it out safe and sound, but as soon as we were on the main road again it began to pour.

All in all it was a really great day. I hope Jonah takes me with him every time he goes to a village.