Phnom Penh, Cambodia Day 2

I’ll have good new pictures for you soon.  The pictures below of Emmanuel Village are not pictures of the new facility.  But, these are the handsome kids in the Primary School at Emmanuel Village.  The new education facility will include a program for the equivalent of a high school GED, which will enable young adults who had to drop out of school to work to go on to college.

BREAKFAST

This morning started out with a good breakfast. Matt “Izzy” and I enjoyed a bowl of noodles, fruit, and sushi (I’m thinking the sushi is a result of the number of Japanese business and tourism).  I’m totally rested…couldn’t have asked for a better arrival time.  I’ve not felt jet lagged at all.

The one thing I do have going against me is swollen feet, ankles, and legs.  I’ve never experienced that before…probably wasn’t properly hydrated for the trip and didn’t move around enough on the flights.  It isn’t uncomfortable…just looks and feels strange to me.  Mitch Maloney said I’m getting old.  I’m the one that uses that card on him to get him to meet me for a late night dinner while passing through Cleveland, TN.  It seems like it sufficiently appeals to his sense of macho.  So, turnabout is fair play.

DEDICATION OF PCL LEARNING CENTER

From breakfast, we went into Emmanuel Village for the Government Dedication of the People for Care and Learning Center. On the way there, we drove down streets crowded with mopeds.  The only traffic law that I could tell that was really in effect was “don’t get run over.” In the middle of all of the swarm of activity, I saw a little boy walking in the traffic.  He was around McKenna and Kourtney’s ages (3-5 years old).  He was asking people for money as they stopped at the intersection.  My heart really connected with this place at that moment. I’m so cautious about my kids.  This little guy was completely on his own.

In 20 minutes or so, we arrived at Emmanuel Village.  The provincial governor had some really kind things to say about Fred Garmon and the work that People for Care and Learning is doing in Phnom Penh.  The building is a beautiful 4-story facility with offices, computer labs, classrooms, and a covered terrace on the fourth floor, which is beautiful.  The cost of the building was $80,000…not a lot to build a building the size of this place.  Even in a falling housing market in Miami, $80,000 is barely a down payment on a place to live.  Inside Emmanual Village, this building will compliment the primary school that PCL runs.  In the distance behind the building, you can see the dump where the Poverty Relocation Project is focused.  There is abject poverty everywhere you look.

The Government dedication concluded with the provincial governor, Fred Garmon, Mitch Maloney, Mark Schrade, and myself cutting the ribbon to the new building.  As we went in, some of the ladies that are a part of PCL handed us a beautiful arrangement of flowers (mostly Jasmine) that was big enough to fit around our wrists.  It smelled incredible.  It looked like a work of art.  Later, as we were walking to the primary school, the cutest little boy came and jumped on my arm just like Kourtney and McKenna do to me.  I gave him the flowers and he became my friend.  I’m guessing I’ll see him again tomorrow night when the band plays at Emmanuel Village.  For now, my last interaction was giving him “five.”

THE SECOND BUILDING DEDICATION

Anyway, after the dedication was over, we went to the fourth floor.  There we were able to circle up and share some of the things in our hearts about what God was doing with PCL.  Pastor Mark Schrade prayed a prayer of dedication for the building.  I was blessed to be able to lay hands on Pastor Bien, an incredible missionary pastor that has been in Emmanuel Village for 6 years…since it’s beginning as a relocation camp.  I prayed for him and the PCL Learning Center faculty.  Then The Saturn Project came into the center of the circle and everyone prayed for them…that God would prosper them, give them favor, let them share Jesus powerfully, and open up opportunities for them, which will advance the Gospel here.  The fourth floor event was an amazing time…we’ll call it the Upper Room.

KILLING FIELDS

From here, we went to the killing fields of Choeung Ek.  This was a sobering place.  It is one of hundreds of mass graves across Cambodia.  It is the mark of Pol Pot on humanity.  Some 3-4 million Cambodians were slaughtered and dumped in mass graves.  As we walked through this sacred place, you could see clothes, bones, and teeth coming up through the ground.  While large areas of Choeung Ek have been excavated, much of it remains unearthed.  It’s hard to believe this happened only 30 years ago.

What happened is that the Khmer Rouge under the direction of Pol Pot executed anyone that appeared to be an intellectual (if you could read, write, wore glasses, had a college degree), were a member of the former government or another government, Buddhists, Muslims, or Christians, and eventually when suspicions grew and after they began to run out of people to kill, they even began to kill the communists.  Many of the Khmer Rouge were children, killing their own families.  It’s hard to understand how humanity could do this to itself.  But, left to our own devices, this has to be the ultimate outcome…the outcome of sin is death.

One of the pastors at PCL was one of only a handful of people that actually escaped from S21, which was the interrogation center that prepped the Cambodian people for execution at Choeung Ek.  She has a beautiful story.  God is working through her in a significant way.  If I can, I’ll get some pictures and introduce you to her.

DINNER

After these challenging places, we hit the rooms to get ready to take some of the faculty from PCL in Phnom Penh to dinner.  I sat with Jesse, Fred, Pastor Bien and Bill Tolia (who lives in Ft. Lauderdale and has been volunteering with PCL for sometime).  Pastor Bien is infectually optimistic.  Being around him has been really great.  We spent a little bit of time reflecting on what God has done in such a short amount of time in the Anthems for a Broken World project with PCL.  I believe God is in this.  The more I’m around the people, the more convinced I am of this.

REFLECTION

Tonight, I’m just kind of strung out with the feeling that I’m a fairly self-indulgant person.  I’m not sure how justified my standard of living is in light of what can be done in the world with the level of affluence God has given me.  I’m not going to stop buying clothes and move into substandard living as punishment for being an American or for being incredibly blessed.  But, I will stop to consider my role in God’s Kingdom being expressed here on earth with more gravity.  God has a plan for me…for us to be more heavily involved in demonstrating His grace to the world around me.  I want to be better at developing the leaders God places within my reach.

By early this morning, I wanted to grab up my family and hug and squeeze them tighter than ever.  God has been incredibly good to me, to us.  I know that when I get back home.  I want to re-double my efforts to bring God’s grace to south Florida…and that we’d position ourselves so that we can bring His revolutionary Son to the world.  I want to give more generously.  I want God to use me…don’t pass me by Lord.  I want to be used by you.