Hello to our family and friends, This is the last update (written by Erin so I can brag on the team) We are *now* home after a very full and rewarding trip to Cambodia. I couldn’t be more proud of this team. These ladies worked hard! We painted diligently and strategically to complete the murals at the AIM school in the capital city and they look great. We worked together with the amazing AIM staff in the second location and enjoyed connecting with the community during Lotus Kids Club. There are so many instances of God’s faithfulness that we can’t wait to tell you about in person. Please ask us for details! See you soon! 🙂
(Praise God for the safe arrival of this team back in the states and for a blessed trip! Please keep the team in your prayers as they adjust to life back home, get over jet lag, and begin to process and debrief all that they saw and experienced on this trip. Thank you all!)
Hi! This is an update from our team written by Virina and Roosmarie.
Over the last three evenings, we spent two of them having dinner at two different restaurants that support the community. I love how these companies are committed to treating the staff fairly and friendly, they are eco-responsible, and have quality food. I love their ethical values of operating the restaurant and how they hire disadvantaged people for their staff. The foods are very delicious and very creative as they integrate different cuisine styles while remain their traditional dishes. I felt honored to support these restaurants and hope to see more of these enterprises create a better community in the nation. We were also able to support people here by using an all-women tuk tuk company for our transportation this week. The lady drivers told us that we are strong ladies! They also thanked us for supporting them as an all-women’s group ourselves.
One thing we did at the school we volunteered at was having a devotional time with the staff. We took turns leading worship songs and sharing devotionals with the staff with the help of staff translating. We all enjoyed praising the Lord regardless of our language. I (Virina) was amazed by how God used me in this section. During the first day at the facility, I was not asked to share a devotional until an hour before. I was lost and did not know what to share. Perhaps the devotional we did that morning? Or the devotional I did before? I didn’t have my Bible with me which made me more frustrated. However, God always provides. As I asked God about what to share, a verse from Psalm 46 appeared in my mind. I had peace in choosing this chapter as I read through it. After the devotional, the translator told me how the staff here like Psalms a lot and how it gives them hope, and they felt thankful for me sharing the message.
When we went out into the communities each day, we taught songs, bible stories, and shared snacks with the local people. It was so fun to see how the kids and parents were excited and having fun with the things that we and the staff brought to them. I saw how God’s word and power moved in a community. The village that we served for all three days got more involved day by day. Seeing how the activity started with mostly kids and a few mothers to having more kids and parents (including dads!) join this program showed how God attracts His people to come and know Him. We are honored to be the bridge and help the community in learning about God. People here are very nice and they show a lot of respect to their neighbors and people who they just met. We learned a lot from them! Even though working with kids is not my strong suit, I (Roosmarie) was happy to see that the children enjoyed my company. I was honored to serve and bless them even if I struggled to work with them. It was a blessing to see their childlike joy no matter my strengths. Either way, God used me to help serve the children and their community.
At our last day of helping the school, we were excited that we were asked to teach the preschoolers there a song and craft just like we did in the community. Seeing how joyous the children were despite the situations they may have been in was encouraging. They had so much laughter and creativity as we shared our song and craft. I do not think that any of us wanted the day to end as we went into the community for the last time. Regardless, it was a blessing to serve the children, staff, and community. We had become better bonded with the staff over the last three days. We and the staff gave each other blessing words and thoughts of encouragement, expressing all of our gratitude, before being given a farewell gift and saying goodbye.
I think all of us on the team can agree that these last few days (and the whole trip) have been a blessing to us. We are so humbled that we were able to serve such an incredible ministry. We can see that there is so much more to come for this place and are honored that we were able to be a part of it.
This is Brittany here with an update from Southeast Asia. There have been many blessings so far on our trip and we have definitely seen God move here.
Our first project was to support our partners‘ school with a beautiful mural for the students and the staff. In four and a half days, our team was able to see the mural to the finish. The past couple of days have consisted of tracing the designs on the walls, painting them, and going back and touching up. The biggest blessing of this project has been seeing the staff join us in painting. It truly brought our entire team much joy and happiness seeing how excited the staff and students were.
We also had the opportunity to have amazing coffee each day. We always looked forward to stopping by this store and get an iced coffee because the shop owners were so sweet and kind to us. Hannah drew them a picture of iced coffee to give them for our last day in the area.
On our last day at the school, the staff surprised us with a special blessing where they sang to us reminding us we are all part of God’s family. Then they gave each of our team members a scarf, which is traditional to this country in Southeast Asia. It was a beautiful surprise and we have been so blessed to witness their happiness and joy for the mural. We couldn’t have asked for a better end to our time at the school.
On Saturday, we had another culture day. Our driver, B, is truly another blessing to us and brings our team so much joy and laughter. He is not only our transportation each day, but a history and tour guide, teaching us about Southeast Asian culture. We always laugh at his jokes and stories, and we also make him laugh. He especially likes my (Brittany’s) laugh.
For our culture day, we started at the Russian market. It’s huge! This is where the team got most of our personal souvenirs and gifts for family and friends. There were things like palm sugar, coffee, dried mango, varieties of pepper, handmade shirts, bags, etc. The team had a lot of fun there and spent almost 4 hours wandering through all the shops at the market. It was an incredible experience.
We then stopped for lunch and had some amazing fried rice, sweet potato fries, curry, stir fried noodles, cookies, and shaved ice. We then visited the National Museum where again our driver, B, filled us in on the history. We saw many religious statutes and artifacts belonging to the country.
The team then visited a Buddhist temple, Wat Phenom. It is a very important place for the people here and they measure distance all over the country from its center. It was a powerful and challenging experience for some of us. Going into the temple gave us the opportunity to pray for the people there.
After visiting the temple, we took a boat ride on the river. Our driver, B, once again was a wealth of knowledge about the Mekong River and the surrounding geography. During the river cruise, it started pouring and we all embraced it while blasting worship music on the boat. The experience was peaceful and exciting all at the same time. Some of us did get super wet, including myself and Jenna who loved the rain.
After going back to the hotel to freshen up, we ended our Saturday night with Mediterranean food. We tried hummus, which was amazing. Although I (Brittany) typically have never liked hummus, last night changed my perspective! We also tried some chicken skewers, ground beef skewers, and mini shawarma’s. We also had a little friend visit at dinner, a cricket. It kept jumping from any point until it landed on our table which made a couple of us jump. We ended up placing a cup on it before it could continue jumping from table to table. It was an exciting dinner experience. 😉
The team also recorded a video of reading a Psalm for Brittany’s church.
On Sunday, we packed up our things to take a bus to our next destination. We had a bit of a bus delay but ended up getting into a bus to take us on a 6 hour drive to our next destination. We are excited to see how God is going to continue working in our team and the amazing things He is doing in Southeast Asia.
We started our day very early on Monday taking Tuk Tuks at 4:30AM to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat (one of the 7 Wonders of the world!) It was worth losing a little sleep to see and experience such a beautiful sight. It was such a special time to pray together for this place and for our field workers. We also visited 3 other temples and prepped for Kids Club tomorrow.
We have been immensely blessed by the opportunity to serve in Southeast Asia and we continue to ask for prayer in health, safety as we travel, and prayers for this country and the people here. That’s all for now and thank you for praying and supporting our Southeast Asia team!
Hi family and friends!! This is Hannah and Jenna 🙂
The past few days have been deeply moving and powerful. We spent Monday visiting the sites of a devastating genocide that occurred here just a few decades ago- it is plain to see how much the people here have suffered so much loss and are still in the early stages of recovery as a nation. We will not soon forget the suffering that these families have undergone and the story that they have to tell. The hopefulness and perseverance that the people around us carry with them is beyond inspiring and we are humbled and grateful to be here with them. God is ever present in their trouble and is doing beautiful things in this city and in this country.
As we were ending our day, we were reminded of God’s grace and provision for His people as it began to heavily rain! It rained so incredibly hard it felt as though heaven was crying alongside us through all that this beautiful place has gone through. Due to all of the heavy rain, we had to wait until it lightened to be able to leave. The streets began to be flooded and it took us quite a long time to get home! Praise the Lord, our amazing bus driver got us home safe and sound! (Jenna)
On a bit of a lighter note, we are BIG fans of our bus driver! Monday morning he took us to a local fish market where we toured the street lined with fish- both dried and fresh, where we also got to try durian for the first time! Contrary to what we expected, it was fresh and sweet and so so delicious!
He also was so kind to welcome us into his home in the countryside, where his wife had prepared all kinds of amazing and colorful tropical fruits. We filled up on rambutan, watermelon, oranges, dragonfruit and mangosteen which were all incredible! We laughed and laughed with our driver and his beautiful family, and then he walked us across the street to a lotus farm full of the most beautiful and delicious smelling lotus flowers. He picked flowers for his wife and taught us how to fold the petals and how to eat the fruit of the lotus, and how to pop the unripe fruits on each others foreheads (it was a shocking experience for some- haha) It was the most special afternoon!
The past two days have been spent painting a mural alongside our wonderful friends in their work here to bless the city. The mural we have been graciously given the opportunity to work on is outside of the school that our partners run for the most underprivileged children of the area. It has been such a blessing to see how much we can get done in our project with 8 sets of hands, as well as the unexpected help of some of the school staff members here. They are truly wonderful people with servant hearts and we have learned so much for them already! (Not to mention their painting skills 😉 – Hannah
While the rest of us were painting, a few of the teammates have been able to ride along with the workers here to bring kids to kids camp each day! They have had the most amazing time, and the kids instantly bond with them! When we are walking in the street, kids get super excited to see us in love to practice in English whenever they can! Even through the language barrier, we have made meaningful connections with many kids! They really enjoy sitting and watching us paint the mural while also trying their best to have conversations with us! It is so precious seeing the joy on these kids faces!
We’ve been able to make great progress on the mural that we are working on! Hannah came up with the design, and it is absolutely beautiful! Everyone at the school absolutely loves it! It was really beautiful to see the mural starting to come together and such an honor to see and work alongside Hannah and her beautiful artwork! -Jenna
We are so excited and blessed to be here and will check back in soon!
It’s April and Maddie, here to update you on Days 1 & 2 of our trip!
We began with a 13hr flight that consisted of many naps and movies. After a small layover, we caught another flight that brought us to our destination! Thank you for all the prayers for safe and smooth travels!
Upon arrival, we met J, the AIM representative who will stick with us throughout our time here! He introduced us to our driver, B, who bussed us to our hotel. On the ride there, J told us to stay near the hotel for the day. This was because the streets were very busy, due to the election parade happening!
After settling in, we walked across the street to dinner! Let me tell you, trying to order a hot-pot dinner for 8 people in a foreign language is a bit difficult! Eventually, the servers just brought out a bunch of food for us and we began concocting our delicious hot pot soups! We all tried new foods and enjoyed every moment of the experience. The restaurant staff ensured that we had a welcoming experience by playing a country song on the speakers, just for us 😉
On day 2, Sunday, we attended church. Good thing B taught us Khmer on the way there, because we were asked to introduce ourselves to the church in front of the congregation. We tried our best to speak Khmer and the congregation was so sweet! It is truly a beautiful thing to see how, even though we are on the other side of the world, we still worship the same almighty God. They provided in-ear translation devices for each of us, so we got to hear Pastor R’s powerful message of justice, mercy and humility. A little boy who sat next to Erin took a special fascination to the maps and pictures in her Bible. 🙂
After church, we headed to the soccer fields. This is where Maddie displayed professional soccer skills. Maddie, Jessup’s very own Goal Keeper, had the absolute time of her life. She was even asked to play Goalie for the highly skilled older-boys team in training! The rest of us huffed and puffed as we took turns playing Kings Court version of soccer with the smaller kiddos. Although the language barrier was a challenge, it was so rewarding for all when we found ways to communicate with one another on the field, mostly using hand signals and facial expressions.
All in all, the first 2 days have been absolutely amazing and moving. As we take in our surroundings, the reality of the reason we’re here has really begun to set in. Psalm 23 has been a comfort to us. Please pray for emotional rest and protection, and that we will continue to have humble hearts of service and gratitude.
Team Southeast Asia made it to their destination late Friday night CA time, and midday SE Asia time! Join us in praying for them as they get settled into their hotel and ease into the time change, the new culture, and the ministry!
We are so excited to see all that the Lord will do in and through them in these next two weeks! We will update again in a couple days when the team has a post ready.
Our fifth and final Global Outreach team of the summer is off to the airport to start their two weeks in Southeast Asia! Please join us in praying for their safety as they travel, and for their health (spiritual, mental, and physical). Pray for the Lord to bless this time as they serve in unity and for them to draw closer to God as they shine his light in every interaction they have.
We will update again once they have arrived safely to their hotel in Southeast Asia!
