We have arrived ...

Finally. We have arrived in Battambang, Cambodia. It was 7:30pm, and we pulled up to"White Rose" restaurant. After a 16 hour flight, 2 hour layover, another 6 hour flight, spending the night in a hotel in the capitol city of Phnom Penh, and another 6.5 hour bus ride, we have arrived at our destination. We were graciously welcomed to the city, by the orphanage director, Ratha, his wife, the local pastor and Sup Keith, the youth minister. Such excitement to see both new and familiar faces. But the most exciting event will occur tomorrow morning, when our team gets to arrive at the orphanage to meet the kids.

But before we arrived in Battambang, we were treated to something both special and emotional this morning. After breakfast, our team headed off to S-21. S-21 was a high school that converted into a essentially a death camp, during the Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia from 1975-1979. It was estimated that over 20,000 men, women and children were tortured and executed at this location, part of the estimated 2 million Cambodians that were killed during this time frame.

Samouen, Pastor Vek's wife, who is the head pastor of New Life Missions in Cambodia, and subject of the book An Ordeal in Cambodia, and the partner church with North Point Ministries, gave us a guided tour of S-21. We came across graves of the final 14 people executed at S-21, visited rooms were people were held, saw pictures of numerous victims before they were tortured, saw torture devices (tanks for submerging people under water, cutting off fingers, etc) and and photos of mass graves. Samouen told us how two times, she, her husband, and her son, who was only 2 1/2 months at the beginning of the Khmer Rouge occupation, were set to go to S-21. And once you arrive at S-21, that was your final destination. But fortunately for them, God had a different purpose, a different plan. They never made it to S-21. They spent 4 years surviving the killing fields of Cambodia, before being rescued to the US via Campus Crusade in 1979. And when Cambodia finally opened it's doors in 1991, they felt compelled by God, to return to Cambodia, to build a church and spread the news of God. 18 years later, they now have 40 churches planted in the country, with 3 full time orphanages.

Samouen expressed how at times during th Khmer Rouge occupation, she and Pastor Vek didn';t know why God had spared their lives. But then they realized that God's purpose for them was not yet complete. Their purpose was to share the message of God to the people of Cambodia. That's why when were on our tour at S-21, Samouen got very emotional when we passed by pictures of the mass graves. Because she was reminded of her experience with fellow countrymen, who before they died, were crying out to all the wrong Gods to save their life. And she wish she had more with time, to share the news of Jesus Christ. So for every member of New Life Missions in Cambodia, for every kid that enters the orphanage, their first goal, before anything else, is to teach them about the grace of God. Unbelievable.

And that was only day 1 in the country. Wow.