Cambodia

This is day "I don't know what" of our trip...it's really still all a blur. We have seen so much and traveled so much that if I calculate correctly we have only stayed in one place more than 30 hours! What a trip! This week we are heading to "I can't tell you where" and will stay (I think) in the same place for about 4 days - our longest stay anywhere in our three weeks of travel. God is good though! I believe our attitudes have been very good and we are getting some down time in the hot part of the afternoons to rest and reflect, most days.

We arrived in Cambodia on Saturday night and met up with some US long-term workers. It was good to stay with them and get what I considered a solid overview of the country in general. Even those like me who have traveled all over Asia can still be surprised by the happenings among the people here! We spent Sunday touring Angkor Wat, a very touristy area in Siem Reap (located in northern Cambodia). Before we left I spent quite a bit of time in prayer. I didn't know what to expect and wanted to be ready spiritually for what was happening in the area. We first visited Ta Prohm, an ancient temple that is overcome by tree roots. It is an amazing sight to see, the trees have literally broken the stone apart as they have grown over who knows how many years (someone knows I'm sure; I'm just not that detailed!). Next we went to Bayoun, another ancient temple where faces were everywhere. Here I wrote a poem of praise to the Lord. I'm not sure I'm ready to share the poem, maybe someday. Lastly, we went to the famous Angkor Wat. There were tourists all around us. It was huge! The spiritual oppression in that place did not feel as strong to me as it did in the other two; I wonder if that is because so many believers have prayerwalked it time and agian. I will say though, that at Angkor Wat I began dealing with thoughts in my head which I battled with while in China two years ago. I was surprised that they came back and really didn't think much of them until after I left; I am now wondering if that was a spiritual attack. Because I was dealing with the thoughts and trying to pray them out of my mind, I did not pray as heavily for Angkor Wat as I did for the first two temples...maybe the spiritual oppression there was great than I thought.

We left Siem Reap on Monday morning and took a 5 hour boat ride across a lake and down the river to Phnom Penh, where we are now. Last night we got to meet a Serve Asia worker from Germany and talked with her about her experience here so far. Today we visited the Tuol Sleng Museum, where the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed over 17,000 Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. I have been reading Don Cormack's Killing Fields, Living Fields and am about half way through with it now. I highly recommed reading this book if you would like to know what the Church inside Cambodia faced during this time of Communism. Visiting the Tuol Sleng today gave me even more insight, with pictures, of what really happened here, just under thirty years ago! My heart aches and my stomach turns when I think about these things and the fact that some of the same type of action is happening in the world today; most of the time though, hundreds of thousands have to die before anything is done - what part do I play in all of this?

In the midst of all of this I have been seeking the Lord in prayer regarding my own obedience to Him. I don't feel I am able to write about it now because I am still struggling with it in my journal and in my prayer time with the Lord. However, your prayers for me as I gain insight, wisdom, and here's that word again, vision, would be most appreciated.

Here's what I've been meditating on today:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Resto to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your wans, and sinners will be converted to You." Psalm 51:10-13

(My battery died on my camera so keeping checking out pics from our travels in Cambodia on Cheryl's blog at www.ceichy.blogspot.com)