Update from the Cambodia Mission Team

By smhaut

ELizabeth Bernados with a Cambodian Friend

Here is the latest update from the mission team that is comprised of students from William Jessup University and One Life Church in Lincoln:

I am writing to you from Siam Reap, in the northern part of Cambodia. Our team is taking a short siesta after our week in Battambang – where we worked with Hope Bible Institute (HBI). Soon, we will continue on to Phnom Penh and serve with Agape International Ministries.

On Tuesday we visited a house church. In that village they had no clean drinking water and they needed fences to protect their crops from animals. Their only source of water was a polluted river. One member of our team donated the money needed to drill a well and build some fences. Tuesday night, our performance of the “Lifehouse Everything” skit seemed to have a big impact on those attending the Leadership Training Institute at HBI.

Wednesday was filled with more visits to churches. The poorest church that we visited (a house church) had a choir of over 20 kids. They sang us several songs in Khmer, which was the sweetest thing!

On Thursday morning, we visited a home for 91 girls rescued from sex trafficking. There the girls are provided with shelter, food, education, job skills, training and counseling. The girls are also helped with setting up their own business after they complete the program and are old enough. I found that the home needs English books to help teach English to the girls. I plan to hold a book drive for this home in September at William Jessup University in Rocklin, CA. If you have any books appropriate for k-6th graders, please consider donating them!

Thursday night was rather hard emotionally since we had to say goodbye to our friends at HBI. Many tears were shed that evening, but one thing I know for certain – even if I never see my friends from HBI again here on earth, we will see each other again in heaven! We will worship God together for eternity!

Friday, we took a six hour boat ride from Battambang to Siam Reap. We passed agricultural land, fishing grounds, small huts, and floating houses. We even saw a floating church! Ingenious! Today, we visited the temple ruins at Angkor Wat. We saw the actual temple that is portrayed on the Cambodian flag. As we stood inside that temple, we prayed to our God for the nation of Cambodia. It was quite an experience!

Tomorrow we travel to Phnom Penh. Please continue to pray for spiritual and physical strength, health and open hearts. Pray especially for us as we encounter much spiritual warfare. Pray also for those we come in contact with – that their hearts will be opened. Thank you so much for your support and prayers.

Elizabeth Bernados, WJU student and team member