Our final days...

Day Ten – Thursday
No Fruit from Buddha
We continue our rest and process time in Phnom Penh. Today, we visited the Royal Palace and the Cambodia National Museum. At the royal palace, we saw the Buddha tree, which was interesting. The flowers, in bloom, are amazingly beautiful. When they fall to the ground, pregnant women actually collect them, dry them in the sun and then mix them in water and make a tea from it. This tea, they believe, helps the birthing process run smoothly. So, back to the tree itself. You have these flowers that draw you in, but then there is the fruit of the Buddha tree. The fruit takes months to mature and then when ready is poisonous (fatal) to eat. The fruit is of no worth to the people, from the Buddha tree. You can draw your own parallel there.

In contrast, I want to share about Jork, our Cambodia team leader with FCOP. (Foursquare Children of Promise) This young man came to live at Chom Chao, one of the orphan homes, around the age of 10. Prior to that, he was on his own, against the odds for surviving and fighting to stay alive and get to school each day. He made friends that cared about him and his passion for school. They gave him money so he could attend English classes. During that time, he compared the Buddhist and the Christians. Yes, at this young age he compared these 2 belief systems. To him, the supposedly wise Buddhist elders did nothing to help the people. The wisdom was just their own and they were too old to go out an share or do anything real with it. In contrast, he liked the fruit he saw with the Christian people. Therefore, he became a Christian and eventually came to live at the Chom Chao orphan home. He became a Christian. Today, this young man loves Christ will all his heart. He has a passion to see his nation come to know Jesus. He now works for FCOP as a team leader traveling to orphan homes throughout Cambodia. Now that is fruit and the harvest is abundant!

Day Eleven – Friday
Farewell Cambodia!
Today is our last day in Cambodia. We all miss our families and home so much, but it’s sad to say good bye here too. Olympia, we’ll see you all soon!

We spent the day visiting the Russian market and Central market. Here we got to practice our negotiation tactics while purchasing a few gifts and souvenirs to return with.

After an early dinner, we headed to the training center just outside of Phnom Penh. Here, we attended a prayer and worship service led by orphans, every Friday night. There were about 150 people present and when we arrived it had already begun. The best way to describe this encounter would be a disclaimer reading Buckle up! Cambodians for Christ are passionate for HIM! They pray and worship with the authority given them by Jesus. It was a powerful time of prayer and worship and again, despite the language barrier, the presence of God was felt. The service ended with our team taking hands and kneeling in a circle. They surrounded us in prayer. Little hands of children and big hands of adults blanketing our backs. It was awesome! Following this prayer, our team handed out ice cream and soda to all in attendance. They were excited.

As we visited for a short time after, it was shared how impactful our time at the home was in the community which Kong Pixay resides. In Buddhist culture, orphans are at the bottom. They explained how our presence, love, work and care for the home and people would greatly impact the way the local community saw these children. How awesome is that!

At 11:50 pm Cambodia time, we prepare to board the airplane for Seoul, Korea. Once in Seoul, we will enjoy a day use hotel for our 12 hour layover. We’ll see you on Saturday Washington state! Much love and here ends an amazing experience in Cambodia.