Reaching the Nations

Mission Cambodia

1-12 Feb
Awesome.

To try to describe the entire trip in minute detail through a blog post would be a difficult challenge,

as i can't wave my hands around madly when i get to the exciting parts. Anyway..

Let me introduce the team before hand:
Ps Victor + A.Rama - the power couple(mission leaders)
Gary Lee- Personal bouncer (assistant&security)
Daniel Tan- Paparazzi (video&photography)
Tricia Yeoh- Ah long (treasurer)
Ivy Toh- Nerdy note-taker (journalist)

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So here are some of the highlights of our trip to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

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Day 1 was mostly spent travelling.  Penang-KL-Pnomh Penh.
A big TQ to U.Philip + Julian + U.Joo Chong + A.Elaine! Their assistance to the team was truly a blessing.

Cambodia, we found out, is a very dusty, dry& hot place with their own set of traffic rules.

tuk-tuk ride.

Day 2- Five hour journey to Battambang (pronounced Ba-tam-bong) where we were picked up and briefed by Suel, a YWAM director. We stayed at a pastor's house which surprisingly had electricity,running water and comfy beds but unusually large spiders

             Went to check out the Youth Centre, a short walk along a dirt road from where we stayed. There we met some Cambodian youth and tried playing volleyball wih thm.

             Our main meals at the house were prepared by a personal cook. I can assure u, it's not as glamorous as it sounds. 

           

Day 3- Our second briefing by David, another YWAM director, who told us we would be helping out with the classes held by the Youth Centre every afternoon.

One of the classes held by the Youth centre

             That afternoon, Pastor and Gary helped out with the Mandarin classes while the rest with the English classes. We were encouraged to make friends and interact with the youth there. They were quite shy at first but really friendly and sociable once u start talking to them. They ask lots of questions because they have this eagerness to learn new things.

the team making friends with the Cambodian youth

Day 4 was when we met up with Rina, our translator and went to visit the local hospital. The condition of the place were below standard. Patients slept on wooden boards, 6-8 per room, with flies buzzing around their faces. Sad. We broke up into 2 teams. The girls went into the wards to pray for the patients while the guys had a prayer walk around the grounds.

hospital building

           Daniel joined hip-hop class held by the Centre. Pastor and Gary got to teach Mandarin class for a few days because Mei Ling, the teacher was involved in an accident. So in a way, a door was opened for us to serve.

Daniel showing off some moves

Lee lau shi in action

Day 5- Went to Pan-yeh village, just outside of town. We really didn't know what to expect, but we managed  to work as a team and come up with a program for the children there.

We sang songs(God is so good, Read ur Bible, some Japanese song, some butterfly song,etc),
We told stories with lots of actions(3 little pigs, God sending Jesus Christ to save us),  

We played games(eagle and mother  hen, improvised version of skittle ball),

We took pictures,

We laughed with the kids,

We had great fun and most of all

We learned to appreciate the simple things in life.

3 little pigs and a big,bad wolf

mother hen and eagle

Day 6 was our rest day. We went over to Suel and Justin's house to help finish painting one of their rooms.

"i'm serious abt wall-painting"

Later, we had lunch at City Cafe, which had air-conditioning, WiFi and English menus wth pictures!
           After lunch we went to climb up 'Pnomh Sampeau', one of the rare hills in flat Battambang. Located here was the killing fields of Pol Pot's reign. 

Tengkorak

View of the very flat landscape

           Guess which air-conditioned restaurant we went to for dinner?! =D

Day 7-Arrived at the Four Square church for Sunday Service. Didn't understand the sermon as it was preached in Khmer but the people were still very friendly and welcoming plus we enjoyed watching a church service being carried out in a different culture.

church service

           A marriage seminar was conducted in the afternoon by Ps and A.Rama in the afternoon. The rest of the team who was unmarried 'babysat' the kids. We taught them games we used to play and they too taught us the games they usually play.

marriage seminar

'babysitting'

           Had dinner at that wonderful restaurant again.

Day 8- Pastor fell  sick, maybe City Cafe wasn't so wonderful afterall. haha. The rest of us headed off for base worship at the Youth Centre, which was where the staff gathered to pray and praise and worship.

base worship 

             Classes as usual in the afternoon. Daniel was invited to teach the hip-hop class a few of his own moves.

teaching the class a Mandarin song 

u put ur left foot out and u shake it all-nevermind. xP

Day 9- We took a long walk to Mark's (a missionary) house to help clean their house compound as they just moved there. Put our gotong-royong skills, which we've reluctantly obtained during high school, to good use. 

die weeds!

             Later,Tricia & Daniel shared their personal testimonies during English class,of how God has worked in their lives.

Sharing his testimony 

Stayed back in the evening for a birthday celebration  for the Youth Centre staff born in Dec,Jan and Feb. It was really a lively&entertaining event with silly dancing and chocolate ice-cream.

Day 10- Our last day in Battambang! =/
               The guys took a walk around town and prayed for the town & it's people while the rest of us took the time to write short,encouraging notes for the YWAM staff.

                Helping out with the classes tht day was a bittersweet affair. I mean, we enjoyed helping the students and talking with them like every other day, but we knew it was going to be our last time. Having to leave Battambang just as we've started to bond with it's charming people was not easy.

               Stayed back for Community Gathering which was something like our own Youth service with singing and preaching. The only difference was tht it was done under the night sky, but somehow it was just as good.

Day 11- Traveled back to Pnomh Penh. Ate pizza and drank coke! Good to be back in 'civilisation'. Went sightseeing and visited the National Museum. Tried surprising Pastor for his birthday but failed. Potong stim. haha.

Day 12- Visited the Russian Market for some very cheap souvenir shopping. Had a good last look around Cambodia before taking a flight back to KL. We were picked up by Ps Heok Cheow & Ps Albert and reached lovely Penang around 3am.

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TA-DAH!

And thus the story of our amazing trip. 
*claps hands*

Thank you, God.
and all u ppl who've been keeping us in prayer.

=DD

hmm, so will you be part of the next mission team here??

           

       
           ps: Please lookout for the awesome video of our trip on Youtube.