I'm now sitting in my apartment in Atlanta and am wondering if anyone will actually check this blog now that we're back home. I would have done this sooner, but we had difficulty with internet connectivity at the hotel on Wednesday and Thursday and I was just too wiped out on Friday to even try and put together a coherent message. My guess is that this may go unread, but I still wanted to go ahead and share a few details about the last few days we spent with the kids.

My last post was on Tuesday night and I mentioned that we were heading to the beach the next morning. The bus first picked up the kids at the orphanage and then pulled up to our hotel at 7am. We were immediately told that many of the kids had been awake since 2am because they were so exicted about the visit to the beach! The drive took over 4 hours and even though many of the children got sick along the way due to being unaccustomed with riding in any type of automobile (and we did have them take motion sickness medicine to try and prevent this), we never heard a single complaint come from any child. These kids were so well behaved the entire ride and the only real "noise" they made was when they would file up one-by-one to the microphone (yes, the bus came equipped with a microphone) and sing their favorite praise song or recite a bible verse. And watching them do this was such a wonderful treat for all of us.
Despite the overall calmness of all the children, the ride for me was actually filled with quite a bit of anxiety because I awaiting word on whether an extremely important event would be able to be performed when we arrived at the beach. About an hour outside of our destination Samoeun (the pastor's wife) handed me her cell phone and said her husband wanted to speak with me. It was then that Pastor Vek told me that he was in a car behind our bus and that he would be able to perform my baptism.
I had attempted to email Pastor Vek beginning in June to ask if he could baptize me when our team was on the trip, but we had multiple issues with exchanging messages and I never received a response from him about this request. He and I were able to speak briefly when we arrived, but even then it seemed as though the baptism might not happen due to the Pastor needing to be at a conference during our stay. However, I received word on Tuesday night through Sarith (whom I previously mentioned in an earlier post) that the baptizm would most likely be held, but it still wasn't 100% guaranteed. So it truly wasn't until that final hour before reaching the beach that I could finally rest easy.
I'll never have the words to describe how moving this baptism was for me. I had played out in mind how I thought it might go, but what I experienced was infinitely more than I ever could have expected. Not only was it performed in front of all of our children (which was one of things I was truly wishing would occur), but there were also two additional mission teams from our church who were serving at the two other orphanages run by New Life Ministries and they were at the beach as well - and these teams had to drive 8 to 10 hours. So everyone participating as a member of this mission was there to witness the ceremony...and even more amazing was the fact that this was the first time that all of the children had ever been together in one place. One of the teams had received word ahead of time about my baptism and this lead to one of their members saying that she wanted to be baptized as well. So I was able to share this great occasion with Candace.
Pastor Vek was the first to enter the water and watching him walk out into the ocean (the Gulf of Siam) was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever witnessed. Pastor Vek, Samoeun and their infant son all survived the brutal reign of the Khmer Rouge and their story is an incredible testimony to God's power and goodness. (Their story is detailed in a book called 'Ordeal in Cambodia' and although it has long been out of print, used copies can be found on Amazon. The book is a quick read and it provides first-hand insight into a terrifying time period of Cambodia's history from a family that most likely should have been targeted for execution from the moment the Khmer Rouge seized power.) Being baptized as an adult is an event that I will, of course, always remember and I knew that asking Pastor Vek to perform the ceremony for me was going to make it even more special. After watching Candace get baptized, I then walked out to Pastor Vek as all the children and adults stood on the beach singing...and my baptism was then completed. The walk back to the beach seemed surreal and I felt very fortunate to have my wonderful friend and trip co-leader Carol waiting (with video recorder in hand!) to be the first person to hug me as I walked back onto the beach.
The remainder of our time at the beach was as wonderful as we expected to be. Nearly all of the children played in the water the entire time we were there and it was pure joy to be able to spend this time with them.
When we arrived at the orphanage the next morning, I was greeted by yet another unexpected and amazingly moving moment. My hand was immediately taken by Srey Nath (the same girl who had painted my nails on Sunday) and she lead me back to the clothes line where numerous sets of clothes were hung to dry. Included among those clothes were my bathing suit, shirt and towel which I had accidentally left on the bus the night before. She had hand-washed them for me and wanted to let me know that they were ready for me to take back when we left for the day. Talk about a humbling experience.
The big event for us during the day on Thursday was our Field Day where the children are divided into teams and participate in events such as the dizzy bat race, the 3-legged race and a water balloon toss. This "competition" was a huge success for us the previous year and proved to be so again this year. These children take such delight in even the simplest games and it is always a delight to watch them encourage one as they play.
Our lesson for the day was the story of David and Goliath and the children were all clearly familiar with this story because each and every one of them answered "David" when asked whether a the enormous giant or little boy would win the battle. This was my favorite Bible story when I was a child and even though this was not new to them, I was still very moved to have an opportunity to share it with these beautiful children.
When we were preparing to get into the van and leave for the day, Kim, one of the translators who had been working with our team, asked me if I wanted to ride back to the hotel on his moped. Riding through the city in the van or via tuk-tuk is always incredible, but there is no better way to experience Phnom Penh than by riding on a moped...so obviously I said yes. As we were making our way back, he then asked me if I wanted to join him for an evening English class that he taught several nights a week to school children. Again, no hesitation on my part to say yes to this. He had originally asked me if I wanted to help instruct and I told him I would be happy to do whatever he wanted. I didn't actually end up teaching, but instead was given the opportunity to stand in front of the class of about 20 students (age 7-14) and tell them about myself, my purpose for being in Cambodia and also to share with them a little about my faith. The lesson itself was very brief, but I couldn't help but smile as Kim taught the children about standard ways Americans greet one another and had them repeat each greeting after him. Don't think I'll ever forget hearing a group of young Cambodian children utter the phrase "Are you cool?"
After the lesson, Kim then took me through an area of town called 'The Hill.' As we neared the area, it was easy to see this was the poorest part of the city and what appeared to be a hill running several miles through this area was in actuality miles of trash. This was easily the most downtrodden sight I have ever seen in my life. Living conditions here were like nothing I could have ever imagined and my heart broke as I witnessed children playing on the hill or picking through it for food. I immediately pictured the beautiful children at the orphanage living here and thanked God that they were all being provided with a safe place to live and caring adults to look after their well-being.

I apologize that my end to this blog is going to be so sudden. I was hoping to maybe give a little more detail about our last day with the kids and also talk briefly about our visit to the ancient temples in the city of Siem Reap, but I have hit a wall and know that I need to get some sleep in preparation for rejoining life in the ATL tomorrow morning.

Once again, thank you to everyone who followed our blog and prayed for our team during our mission to Cambodia. This was an incredible experience that none of us will ever forget and we are fortunate that God blessed us with health and safe travels during our time away.

I will close by asking that you continue to pray for the health and spiritual growth of the children at all the New Life Ministries orphanages. And please pray as well as for Pastor Vek, Samoeun and all the other leaders of that ministry as they attempt to spread the word of Jesus Christ among their nation.

God Bless,
Alex