សូមស្វាគមន៍មកកាន់ប្រទេសកម្ពុជា។ (Welcome to Cambodia!)

And then there was one…

Here we are already – F Squad has arrived at our last country! We got to Cambodia on September 14 and we’ll be here until we leave for the States (👀 CRAZY) mid-November! Since coming here, we’ve had a week of orientation and debrief, and then this week we’ve started ministry. To summarize:

Travel to Cambodia

Our travel ended up taking about 24 hours altogether, so certainly not our worst travel day. However, every travel day is different, and this one had a travel day first for a lot of us – an overnight bus ride, from our ministry locations in northern Thailand to Bangkok. From Chiang Mai we packed all our things and stowed them in a double-decker overnight bus, which we rode (top deck!) from 6pm Friday evening to 6am Saturday morning. After arriving in Bangkok we rode in vans to the Cambodia-Thailand border, and after walking over the border we rode in some more vans to our final destination of Siem Reap.

Craziest moment: our bus tickets came with a meal ticket, to be redeemed “halfway through the ride”. Wait, isn’t that the middle of the night for an overnight bus ride? Yes, yes it is. Would they really stop the bus then? Yes, yes they would. At 1am – most of us had finally started to fall asleep at this point I think – the bus pulled into a stop with a huge open-air cafeteria and turned on all the lights. We all got up and off the bus, ordered food to the best of our ability since everyone spoke Thai and there was very little English or signage, ate, and got back on the bus within probably 20 minutes. It felt like a fever dream. 😂

First Week Recap

Our first week consisted of an orientation day with our hosts, a day of virtual PVT, and a couple of days of debriefing Thailand before heading into ministry here. During orientation we learned some of the history of Cambodia, different aspects of the culture to be aware of, more specifics about ministry, and helpful words and phrases to know in Khmer. Our virtual PVT (Parent Vision Trip) day was an opportunity as a squad to invite our parents into our Race experience and share what God has been doing in and through us during our time on the field. For 2.5 hours (which is pretty impressive considering the 11 to 14 hour time difference between Cambodia and different parts of the States) we got to spend time together on a Zoom call, sharing introductions, worship, and testimonies. Then during debrief, we took time to process and reflect on our time in Thailand and our time on the Race so far, as well as look ahead and pray into our last country.

Ministry Summary

During our time in Cambodia, our squad gets to live all together in one place! We’re all excited to get to finish out our Race all together. Our two teams, however, will be at two different ministries. One team is working directly with our hosts to visit local villages, teaching Bible and English lessons to the local kids as well as leading Bible studies for local believers. The other team is working with another ministry at a school, assisting the English teachers and connecting with students there as well as in a church youth group. And I’m extra excited because this time around, Josie and I are sticking together as squad leaders! (I didn’t think we’d get to do ministry on a team together again once we were raised up to be squad leaders, since SQLs are normally always assigned to different teams, so this is a sweet blessing 😊) This means that for the first 3 or so weeks of ministry, we’ll both be with the village team; then afterward, we’ll switch and serve with the school team.

Though we haven’t been here long, it’s already been sweet. It’s bittersweet too to think that we’ll be leaving in the not-too-distant future! For now, though, I’m choosing to live in the present. I’m still so grateful to get to be here serving and loving the people God places around me and in my path. It continues to be the biggest privilege to live life out in the nations in order to further the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. ❤️