Today it is the 16th of August… It’s already 11 in the morning over here but back home it’s about time to be waking up soon. Yes we are ahead of you… I am in… CAMBODIA!
Asia is taking some time to get used to. Although it’s our third official Asian country already, the languages and Buddhist faith are difficult things to grasp, to say the least!
GUAT’S UP
On the 15th of June on a Wednesday afternoon in Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, surrounded by 5 volcanoes… I got BAPTIZED where I subjected myself to the death of Christ so that my Spirit was at last awakened into the supernatural. Now I am fully ALIVE in Christ and at the moment God is teaching me what it means to walk every day in the Spirit and deny my flesh! It’s challenging… heck yes, but when I weigh up that challenge next to just the glimpse of God I have seen… it doesn’t even come close!
So South America… I finally started to get a grasp of Catholicism and to hold slight conversations in Spanish. But most of all… and most importantly I got to experience God in the most incredible ways.
nMy initial expectations of this year that were about me giving of myself and loving a world in need were quickly overtaken by God wanting to do more within my life and change me! I have learn’t so much about our Creator this year, that as His creation, I could not help but decide to give my entire life into saving the lost and some form of ministry!
So South and Central America are over (for now) and that concludes half of my Global Challenge year already! Asia and India were up next… our itinerary…
PHILLIPIINES
Traveling from Guatemala to Philippines we had 9 connecting flights! Yes… NINE!
Once we arrived we were sent to one of the many thousands of Islands that make up the Philippines where we had a busy busy schedule of physical work and crusades every night! We helped a church there in building a camp ground and hostel for the school at the church. Never in my life did I picture myself chipping away at countless coral which made up the entire island which was obviously once under water many many years ago.
We started work at 5 every morning just to be out of the sun longer during midday… yes, we constantly had sweat pouring off every part of our bodies! Luckily we also got to experience some of the best beaches in the world!! And sunsets too! Those were our days, and as for our nights… we held crusades at different villages around the island where each night we would do dramas, songs, testimonies and one of our team members would share the gospel.
Sadly our two weeks in the Philippines flew by extremely fast and we began our overland travels to Thailand.
THAI; LAND of spicy foods and Buddhist temples.
Thailand began with much excitement. Hanalie and Louis left us for two weeks as they went and joined a relief team in Japan. But our team was by no means smaller… in fact it grew from 14 members to 23! Many of the family members came to visit and of course Anthony and Clara were with us too.
Our first two days in Thailand were given off and I went with a small group to one of the beaches on Phuket Island where we literally camped on the beach. From hitchhiking in the pouring rain, braaing marshmallows and riding a scooter for the first time, it was quite an adventure to say the least. The food in Thailand was definitely the best food around the world we’ve eaten so far! [Gran, those curries you make at home, well… I’ll have to give you a run for your money now!]
Our ministry in Thailand was everything from weeding to painting the pastor’s house. But our program then had a bit of a twist. Yes… our LUKE 10 JOURNEY began! [Go have a read of Luke 10 when you finish reading this and you’ll understand just a glimpse.]
For 8 days we could anywhere God sent. Silver team headed down to Northern Cambodia. After many hitches, free train rides, receiving visa money and never going without food or a place to sleep we arrived in SIEM REAP. We met our man of peace there who was a Buddhist but so willingly opened up his home to us. We also got to visit Angkor Watt temple which is the ruins of the biggest temple in Cambodia where the first tomb raider movie was shot. So we all got to play Lara Craft and jump around from tomb to tomb.
So much happened within the 8 days that I’ll have to leave this for another blog.
CAMBODIA
At the moment I am writing this from a little coffee shop in a rather large city called Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia down in the center. Two weeks ago we completed module two of Veritas Bible School over here in Cambodia and this past week we worked in a few orphanages and schools doing tons of children ministry. We’ll be making our way up to Malaysia in a few days.
Things you can pray for
- The people of Cambodia; they are still recovering from a genocide which happened only 30 years ago where 30 million people were killed off.
- Team Finances
- Personal Finances n
- My plans for next year
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