Pictures

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The Children

It's hard to know where to start in writing my thoughts on my trip to Cambodia. It seems a bit surreal that just over a week ago I was actually on the other side of the world. I'll try to just hit the highlights so as to not bore you.

When I think back on this trip, there are several things that stand out. Obviously the biggest thing is the children. Even though I couldn't say their names or have a conversation with them, it was amazing that we were still able to build connections with them through activities and physical touch. Even the first day, many of these kids would come up to us and hold our hands or sit on our laps. It wasn't that they didn't get enough love at the orphanage. We could tell that they were well loved. It was if they knew that touch was a way to express love and they wanted to share that with us.

We went on this trip planning to teach them about how to serve each other. This pictures is from a foot washing activity we did. After the first day, we realized they already understood this lesson and could probably teach us a thing or two about service. All week, they were so good about helping each other and sharing. It was awesome. Both the love they showed us and the love they showed each other demonstrated that these children were being taken care of and taught about the love of Christ.

I want to tell you about one kid that really touched me, and I think the sentiment was shared by everyone on my team. His name is something like Sokia (like I said, I had a really hard time with the language, so I just have to take a guess at what his name actually was. My first interaction with Sokia was during a game of Red Rover. We had played quite a few rounds when his name was called. With no warning, this boy with a HUGE smile on his face took off running across the field...only he couldn't actually run. His motor skills were very poor. He ran on his toes and couldn't really bend his arms or legs like most people. If this would have happened in America, chances are that the other kids would laugh at him. This was not the case in Cambodia. He probably received more cheers than anyone else. They really encouraged him. Sokia's joy and boldness continued all week. No matter what the challenge was, he faced it head on with no indication that he knew he was different. We later learned that Sokia wasn't born like this. He had an abusive father who stepped on him, resulting in his physical disabilities. What makes him so inspiring was that he was possibly the happiest of all the children. The smalles thing would just make him light up. He made me stop and think about my own life. I find all sorts of excuses to not do things if I don't think I'll succeed, and I complain or get down if things don't go my way. But here is a kid with so many things stacked against him, yet he was so happy and so bold.

These kids were what it was all about. They were an inspiration.

Highs and Lows

It's a common occurrence with my friends after a trip to send out our highs and lows, so here are mine from this trip. Ironically, they are the same event. The low was the 7.5 hour bus ride to the beach. That is a long drive regardless, but when you factor in that I was surrounded by people that I couldn't communicate with and dozens of kids throwing up, it made it a REALLY long drive. It was 7.5 hours to question what I was doing on this trip and if I could really make it the rest of the way. I felt very lonely and drained after that trip. I can't speak for the other people in my group, but I think it was difficult on all of us.

However, the trip to the beach was also the highlight of our trip. We had originally planned 1 day to go to the beach (thinking it was somewhere between 2-5 hours away). When we got there, the pastor told us how excited the kids were about going. He said they had been praying for 2 years that they would be able to go to the beach. That's long before we had plans to take them. He then told us it was 9 hours away and we'd have to stay overnight (luckily he overestimated and it was only 7.5 hours). This threw a small kink in our plans, and added a whole heck of a lot more travel time. But when he says they've been praying for it for 2 years, what can you do but be excited that you get to be a part of this. None of them had ever seen the beach. Along the way, we also discovered that they had never seen mountains before. Many of them had probably never been in an air conditioned bus or stayed in a hotel room before, either. What an honor to be able to provide them with this experience! I wish you could have seen them when they first got to the beach. With no hesitation they stripped of their clothes and ran to the water's edge. Their smiles were so huge! They laughed and jumped and splashed with so much excitement. It was amazing. This is one of my favorite pictures that I took during the trip. It's one of my favorite kids just sitting on a beach chair staring at the ocean. He just sat there for a long time entranced by the waves. To me, it just seems to capture their awe at God's creation. I hope that I'll never look at the ocean again without remembering this experience.

Travel

One of the toughest things about this trip was the actual travel. Next time you find a globe, put your finger on Georgia and then put another finger on Cambodia. Yeah, it's the complete opposite side of the world. I just wanted to give you a brief overview of how much traveling we did. It makes the 5 hour drive to Florida seem like nothing!
14 hour flight to Seoul, Korea
5 hour flight to Phnom Penh
5 hour drive to Battambang
7.5 hour drive to the beach (not sure what it was called-I think it was the gulf in the southwest corner of the country)- factor in kids who aren't used to long bus rides. Let's just say we ran out of barf bags pretty early on!
7.5 hour drive back to Battambang
5 hour drive to Siem Reap (bumpiest road you can imagine!!)
6 hour drive back to Phnom Penh
5 hour flight to Seoul
(12 hour layover-1.5 hour drive into Seoul to sightsee and 1.5 hours back)
14 hour flight back home.
AHH! I'm happy not to get on a bus or an airplane for a really long time!

Shut your mouth

I want to take just a minute to express an unexpected lesson that I learned. I'm having a hard time putting this into writing, but I hope you'll understand what I'm saying. This is part lesson, part confession. I've recently become aware of the fact that one of my struggles is negativity and complaining. In a lot of situations, it seems like it's easier to complain about something than to say anything else. I guess it seems easier to connect with people by finding common complaints than on deeper, more meaningful levels. Gossip falls in the same category. It just comes so easily in many situations. I have tried many times to change my habits with various accountability tactics, but it never really stuck.
So on to the lesson... without even thinking about it or consciously making this decision, about 1/2 way through the trip I realized that I was NOT complaining about things that I normally would have complained about (squatty potties, humidity, strange food, jet lag, risk of getting illnesses from the children, less than wonderful hotel rooms, etc). Maybe I just knew that things were going to be rough on the trip so they didn't bother me. I was also very careful not to make any negative comments about anyone else on my trip (not that there's anyone bad to say about anyone- they're all GREAT!). At first I just thought, "Wow, good for you, Sara." However, by the end of the week I realized why God instructs us not complain or gossip. If I had voiced all the little things that could have bugged me, my focus would have been on the negative rather than appreciating all the little things God was showing me. It also would have affected the overall dynamic of the group. When you're with the same 10 people 24 hours a day for 10 days, it's easy to imagine the harmful effects of gossiping-division, tension, hurt feelings, etc. But these things don't just occur in extreme situations like this. They happen anytime you gossip or complain. I am hoping that now that I've gained this insight and understanding, I'll be able to really change my bad habits (a nice way of saying my sins). I will tell you now that I've already failed and have found myself slipping back into my old habits, but hopefully I'll continually grow and gain more control over my mouth. As one of my good friends told me, a good rule is to only "speak life". If something won't edify or encourage those who are listening, it's probably best to shut your mouth.