Unending Love, Amazing Grace

Our adventure started as soon as we reached the Knoxville airport. DELAYED. Our flight had been delayed two hours. Can you imagine how much more I could have slept in?! ARRRGH! None the less, we were there with PLENTY of time to double check everything, pray and check in. We got to our gate, and crashed. As we awaited our flight to Atlanta, we each tried to squeeze in a few more moments of sleep before the roaring engines would keep us awake for the duration of our travels. We made it just fine to Atlanta, and caught a connecting flight to Los Angeles, knowing that we wouldn't be able to catch the next connecting flight to Korea. However, as the flight came to an end, it looked more and more like we might just be able to make it. The LA airport consists of two buildings, we were to land in one, and run to the other to get on another plane. Knowing this, we hit the ground running. As we reached the second building, we saw that there was only a janitor behind the ticketing desk we were to check in at. You could almost hear our spirits drop, but wait! Sure enough, the assistants came forward and began to check us in. They had already given our seats away, but after a little convincing, and overcoming a slight language barrier, we got them to get us some seats. As soon as we got checked in we took off running through the airport, tore through security, and ran down the concourse with untied shoes. By the time we all reached the plane, we were all glistening with sweat, and panting for breath. We highly doubted our luggage made it to this plane, but there was no way to know. PS: Sorry, mom and dad, for not calling you before I left the country, as you can see, I was just a little busy!

As I was finding my seat, a bearded gentleman shouted at me and asked if I was with lighthouse ministries. As I struggled to catch my breath, and figure out who this guy was, I replied that I was. I soon found out that him and the guy next to him were the two guys from Virgina that were joining us for the trip. They were both excited that we made the flight and we found our seats. This began one very very very long flight. Our team was spread out all over the plane since the ticketing counter had to reassign our seats, and so each of us had to entertain ourselves for the international flight across the Pacific. I didn't really want to read, watch TV or a movie, so I prayed that God would show me some way to pass the time. Not a second after I began my prayer, I saw the lady next to me had a Bible in the pouch in front of her. I politely asked if she was a Christian pointing to her Bible. She replied, "Yes, I am." THANK YOU LORD, she spoke English!!! Keep in mind that I was on a Korean airline with mostly (you guessed it!) Koreans. Come to find out, she was Filipino, and spoke fluent Spanish and German, too! I began telling her a little about myself and the mission trip we had just embarked on. She told me that she wanted me to grab something out of her suitcase, she had a gift for me. I curiously complied and grabbed the book she wanted me to get. She had apparently just published a book, about the rewards of faithfulness, and wanted me to have her only copy. I was honored and spent most of that flight discussing the material of the book, as well as testimonies to the greatness of the God we serve. I was so humbled that God honored such a simple and selfish request, so I wouldn't be bored. He truly is a loving and caring God.

We landed in Korea, still with no idea as to whether we would get our luggage at all for the trip. For all we knew, our luggage could be waiting in Bangkok as planned, or it could take up to two weeks to get back to us by then it would be to late. We spent some time sharing stories of how each other survived the boredom of such a long flight with no friends, and took some well needed rest. We only had one more flight until we could grab a bite of REAL food, and lay in a REAL bed, so we could catch up on some REAL sleep.

Our flight to Bangkok was uneventful, there was still a lot of talk in the air about the possibility of our bags making it, but it was all speculation. When we got to Bangkok, we went through customs, and approached the baggage check. Prayers were being muttered, and I had all my fingers crossed. But all for not. Our bags hadn't made it. Thankfully, Dave and Shane's bags made it just fine. But we all sat around while Lewis dealt with the baggage representative. After a while, Lewis came back with some good news. Our bags would be making it to Phnom Penh in a couple days. So without our check luggage we all piled into a couple taxis and headed to the hotel. Once we all got settled in, we all met back outside to run to the store to grab some needed toiletries that were not in our carry ons. The hotel we stayed at was pretty nice, it had a narrow, steep, winding stair case or a ridiculously slow elevator to choose from. It reminded me a lot of a hotel in Rome I had stayed at. The rooms had a couple full sized beds, a full bath, and a little kitchen area. All in all, it was much better than sleeping in an airport concourse. The next morning we all headed downstairs to meet for breakfast. Lewis took us to a place where he had eaten when the last Superbowl was on, and he shared some stories of times he had been in Bangkok before. The breakfast was great, I had some Tom Yum Soup which was like a spicy shrimp soup. It was very good! We then headed back to the airport to finish our flight schedule. Just one more connection, Phnom Penh. Most of us didn't have any luggage to check, and so things were pretty easy going. We even had some time to stop and get some VERY nutritious Dairy Queen. (it keeps our immune systems running strong)



When we landed in Cambodia, we found Vutha there to greet us. We loaded up what bags we had into what looked to be the most comfortable truck in the world (see top of post), and all found a seat. We somehow managed to all fit on the tiny seats, with all of our luggage sitting in the middle. Lets just say that leg room was not an option for me. Yeah, that's me in the very back. Phnom Penh was much louder than what you might expect. There was traffic everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Lewis describes the traffic well by saying it is very much like liquid. Scooters zip in and out of lanes dodging sometimes on coming traffic, and sometimes just slow cars. Bicycles run the sides of the roads, and cars just lay on the horn, expecting everyone to yield to them. We saw at least two accidents on our way to the restaurant. Accidents will shake you up, whether they are common or not. Thankfully, we didn't see anyone get seriously injured, but it doesn't take much imagination to think how bad things could be. It was times like these that we knew we had people praying for us, because there is nothing we could have done if someone came hurtling into us. We decided that we would leave Matt and Bob in Phnom Penh until our luggage arrived at the airport. The rest of the team would head on to Kampot, and begin work on the building.

When we got to the restaurant we all huddled around a massive round table with a very large lazy Susan in the middle. This would be our first Cambodian food of the trip. We all examined the menu to find things that would not destroy our insides. We all introduced ourselves to each other, vutha, Lewis's daughter and the two older girls from Heritage House. We then all piled back into the truck, dropped Matt and Bob off at a hotel, and started our long ride to Kampot. Things were bumpy to say the least on that ride. We were all pretty tired, but still had to stand up from time to time, just to stretch our legs. As we watched the road fly past the back of the truck, we could see poverty, gambling, tin roof shacks and shed's with hammocks, as well as a lot of rice fields. Towards the end of the ride, we all started singing worship songs. They really lifted our spirits and got us in the mindset for what we were headed into.

The food, I loved the food. The first place we tried, the CoCo House, seemed to hit the bulls-eye. It was a tiny little place with no more than about ten small tables. We rarely if ever saw anyone else in the restaurant. Our hosts were friendly and we loved interacting with them. They did all they could to make us feel at home. (including playing some very cheesy 80's and 90's karaoke CD's) We soon remedied the music problem by asking to play some Christian CDs we had. They were more than happy to do it for us, and hearing hymns and worship while we ate and discussed the trip helped to lift our spirits even further. We tried a couple times throughout the trip to eat at some other places, but lets just say that the food elsewhere didn't sit too well on our American stomachs. Even when we weren't able to leave the orphanage because of time, Lewis would go the the CoCo House and pick us all up some food. It was easy to say that the CoCo House soon became the La Fiesta of Cambodia. We felt free to share testimonies of the trip, give insights that God had given us, have bible studies, pray, as well look into finding Matt a Cambodian wife. (Unfortunately, people who worked there were unable to come up with one so soon. Sorry Matt!) By half way through the trip, we all had the menu memorized. And by the end of the trip, we all had a "usual" for each meal. Some of my personal favorites were pancakes with key limes and sugar on top. Noodles with chicken or beef, as well as a delicious fruit plate with pineapple, apple, dragon fruit, banana and papaya. We all ate very well, and were mostly able to stay away from being sick for most of the trip.

After our first breakfast, be began the cleaning process. This consisted of cleaning some nearly unbearable bathrooms, wiping away a jungle of cobwebs, scraping scraping and scraping away a tremendous amount of water damage, as well as wiping down a lot of tile. We went through a lot of bleach, bathroom cleaner and took off an enormous amount of plaster. And that was just the inside. Outside there was a lot of over grown foliage, as well as a lot of grime that had to be scraped. And that was just to get the place clean!

After all the cleaning was done, it was time to start the real work. Painting, rescraping, repainting. Bob did a great job rewiring everything so no one would be electrocuted. We also needed to put in a clothes line with some very warped hardwood, and very weak hammers.

When we finished, you could barely recognize the inside, and the outside cleaned up really well. Everyone pitched in, and even the children did an amazing job helping out. Even the landlord was very complimentary of our job! The staff and children of the Heritage House were very happy with all that we got done. It was very satisfying.

While we weren't working, we had a great deal of time to walk around the city and see what there was to see, I truly loved this part of the trip. It was an amazing experience to pass by businesses, shrines, and homes praying and listening to hear what God had to say. God revealed many things to each person in the group, and it was common for the spirit to reveal similar if not exactly the same things to many people at once. I love that our God confirms his words to us! We even found an old church building! Lewis is looking into renting it for the church plant that Vutha is planning.

One very neat thing to me, was to see that how God had filled this city with beauty. Everywhere you looked, there were flowers, and other exotic things. They looked so different from the worn down buildings and trash piles. Every time I saw something like that, it put a smile on my face.

On our last day in Kampot, we took some more time to take in the sights, we went to go see the market where all of the food we ate was purchased. The ground was very dirty, and plants and meat were hanging everywhere. The smell wasnt too bad, but you could imagine it could in the summer months. WARNING: this video does have pictures of the meat and some animal parts.

After spending some time in the market, we decided to go on a boat ride up the river. We all got in this boat that barely held all of us. The rim of the boat was about an inch and a half away from the water, and that was when we had it perfectly balanced and going strait. The views we had were absolutley amazing. And we had a beautiful sunset that made it look like the mountains were on fire. It was truely a blessing from God.

We left the next day for Phnom Pehn, we grabbed a few last dougnuts at the dougnut shop in Kampot and got in the taxi and headed back. I had an amazing time in Kampot, and was missing it even before I left. The taxi ride was cramped, there was two drivers, and nine of us with our luggage in the van. As we were being bounced around, we all wondered how we made it to Kampot in the back of the truck. This van had cushion seats and we were still stiff and sore! When we got to Phenom Penh, we dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and took a couple tuk tuks out to Lucky Burger, and got some good ole american food! We then went to the Russian market and did some shopping. When we were done with that we went out and grabbed some pizza (more american food!)

When we were leaving the pizza place, we were unable to get some tuk tuks, so we all split op on moto taxis....bad idea. The guys all got to the internet cafe we were to meet at, but the girls, with their excellent sense of direction, got lost. (Yes, I am teasing, it wasnt their fault at all) The girls, Heather and Maria on one moto, and Sarah and Roonie on the other, got a nice little night time tour of the city, particularly the rougher areas. There was nothing us guys could do but hope they would show up at the hotel. After a little while, my stomach couldnt handle the pizza much longer, so I split off from the group and headed back to the hotel. The moto taxi I got seemed to be a little on the drunk side. I got a nice little tour myself, and the guy had to stop three times to look at the little map on the card we got from the hotel. (two of those times, he was holding it upside down) I eventually got back, only a few minutes after Maria and Heather did, and as I was walking towards the hotel, I heard Sarah shout my name. Thank goodness they all made it back alright! Sarah paid the driver very happily and ran into the hotel and kissed the ground. We all shared our stories, and then I headed onto bed with a migrane.

When I got up the next morning my headache was gone and I was feeling much better. We went downstairs, ordered some breakfast and all got something different from what we ordered. It seemed only the people at the front desk spoke a little English. After breakfast, we headed to the airport and said our goodbyes to Lewis. We flew from Phnom Penh to Bangkok and had an eight our layover there. We couldnt check our luggage in until two hours before the flight so we had six hours to kill in the main part of the airport. We quickly found the massage place and we spent most of the time in there. I spent three hours being massaged and spend the rest of the time talking with the rest of the group while they were getting pedicures. It was very very relaxing. If we hadnt gotten the massages, I dont think we would have survived the journey home!

We then flew to Seoul, Korea, and had another eight hour layover. I caught up on some sleep and found a free internet cafe. We then flew to San Francisco, and barely made our flight. There were only a few people running security and they were taking their sweet time. We then flew to Atlanta, and had a great time joking with the flight attendants. They were a lot of fun. We landed in Atlanta, and had about an hour before our flight home. I grabbed a bite to eat and stretched my legs. On our last flight home, we were cracking up our flight attendents, we had been going for two days strait and we were acting very goofy. The flight attendants were barely able to make it through the saftey demonstration they were laughing so hard.

We finally landed back home in knoxville at around 10:20pm, grabbed our bags and headed home. So here I am back home in knoxville after an amazing mission trip to Kampot, Cambodia. PRAISE GOD!


PS: Check out Lewis's blog To the Ends of the Earth.