"Same Same but Different"

Becca and I survived our first full week in Cambodia and we got to celebrate with a wonderful blessing from God. WE FOUND A PLACE TO LIVE!!! God demolished our expectations and fulfilled our need to find housing. Becca and I will be living in a safe apartment with two other American women who are working at two different anti-trafficking agencies. What an unbelievable opportunity! Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory.”

Here is the view outside our current hotel window.

Though we have been very anxious to begin work, Becca and I have both taken full advantage of our time here before beginning. We’ve spent lots of time writing, reflecting, journaling, and processing all that we see, hear, and experience. It's been a wonderful gift.

Waterfront view.

Last Saturday we were able to visit the Royal Palace and walk along the waterfront in a different area of the city. When it rains, it pours. There are moments when it feels as though we are in the middle of a rainforest, the raindrops are HUGE. One of the most exciting parts of the weekend was a wild ride we had back to our hotel on a tuk tuk (taxi service on a motorcycle). Our driver was hilarious as we drove through the flooded streets while being splashed by naked children playing in the life size puddles.




Sunday we attended an Anglican Church which was spoken in English. Becca and I take in these precious moments worshiping together with different types of believers from different countries, places, and cultures yet bringing glory to the same God. It’s absolutely beautiful. We plan on attending several different churches the first month or so before we begin to settle in somewhere.

Becca and I were assigned to read several articles prior to working at the agency. They included working in Cambodia and human trafficking specifically in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I cannot explain the feeling of reading about such things while looking out our window into the outskirts of nearby locations, not sure if I should allow my mind to go to that place.
As we are reading and learning more about the Cambodian culture one of the articles really resonated with me. It claimed, “very few of us give sufficient attention to recognizing that others think, believe and feel very differently than we do, sometimes so differently that nothing in our experience equips us really to understand each other at all. Perhaps it is because the subject is so challenging that so little time is given it.” Whether a foreigner has been working in Cambodia for 20 years or just 6 months, there are things that will never be understand and to some degree cannot understand. 

Royal Palace

Another view from our hotel

Prior to finding a place to live, Becca and I were looking at hotels online. We came across a very “nice” looking hotel only to find from the reviews that “the hotel had girls coming and going through the night, with lots of laughing noises and high heels on stairs. There was a side entrance off the lobby for this type of business.” At this point I’m still surprised by the commonality of sex trafficking here. I believe my naive surprise to be a good thing, I only fear becoming numb to this causality.

Prayer Request: Becca’s has had a mystery allergic reaction after our first days in Cambodia. It is not progressing but not improving much either. Becca and I will be moving soon to our new location so pray that we quickly get adjusted to the surrounding locations and are able to transport all our belongings safely across the city.