redemption July 27, 2009
my eyes have seen more in the last 24 hours than my brain can process…
yesterday we went to the killing fields from the genocide. truckfulls of innocent people were dropped off there, tortured, and killed. they’ve since found over 100 mass graves- over 2 million (one fourth of the population at the time) killed. we saw a tree upon which the executioners used to beat prisoners and smash babies; another tree from which hung a loudspeaker that played noise loud enough to drown out the screams of the tortured. we saw a building at least 5 stories tall, filled with the unearthed skulls. its a lot to try to understand. but there was one really beautiful, amazing thing that we did see.
one thing i didnt mention when i previously wrote about the genocide is that no one- not one single person- who was considered a leader in the regime has been brought to justice. pol pot died in 1998 before going to trial, and many of the others even work in the current government (the current prime minister served with pol pot). there has only been one man to ever come forward, confess, and show regret over his actions. the chief executioner- named duch- began his trial in march of this year, and has taken full responsibility for the lives he took and ordered to be taken. we found a biographical plaque about him, and discovered that after the regime, he became a christian.
we were blown away by the beauty and power of god’s redemption. i think its easy for some people to look at duch’s life, see that he became a christian, and become angry, thinking that its an easy way out of guilt; thinking that he deserves to be in hell. well, ok, we all deserve that dont we? and as many of us who sat by and watched this happen and didnt do anything to stop it, we’re just as guilty. so lets just be eternally thankful that christ’s grace and redemption covers us as much as it does duch.
secondly- we went to a new orphanage today. the one we went to last week was amazing, but god led us in a new direction. he allowed us to meet some people who knew other people and eventually we were sitting at lunch with some expats who had started an organization to raise supplies and support for an orphanage caring for 17 children living with HIV. tony, who we’ve adopted as our british grandfather, told us all about the work they’re doing, how they got started, how they help, etc. the name of the organization is CHOICE- Charitable Humanitarian Organization In Cambodia by Expats (he told us he’d originally wanted to call it Feeding Underprivileged Cambodian Kids- he was outvoted for obvious reasons…).
so today we rode with him to the orphanage, and were blown away. the kids are beautiful. we just played with them for as long as we could before they had to go to school. it doesnt feel like our time there could have done much to encourage them, but i have to believe that it was worth something. its such an overwhelming feeling to see children in circumstances like theirs, and believing that there’s nothing to do to help them is just not an option. i had to fight against that all morning. it was an amazing experience though, one that i’ll probably write more about later after ive been able to think through it more.
this trip is making me appreciative of things i never even knew were a blessing before.
and jesus has shown me more about redemption and grace than i ever thought i’d be able to handle.
thats alot for one post. i’ll end here. pictures from the orphanage soon.
playing in treetops July 18, 2009
we’re in cambodia- our flight got in yesterday afternoon. im so excited to be here. i feel like God’s been preparing my heart for something big on this part of the trip, i dont know what, but I cant wait to see what he has for us. i know im going to love it here.
i never wrote about our day wednesday, and i need to, because it was one of our favorites so far. we woke up really early, around 6, and got picked up from our hostel to go on a canopy tour (ziplining). our day consisted of 32 different lines (the longest being 300 meters, the most ballin being one that took us right between the trees so we had an incredible view of the mountains), some abseils (its like rapelling, only you go straight down instead of using a wall to brace yourself- our highest was 40meters), a 516 meters suspended bridge, and heaps of hiking (including to a waterfall, which we climbed and played in). it was amazing. we literally played in the jungle treetops for around 4 hours.
our group and our guides were so great- definitely made the day even more fun. it was me, anna, brandon, a guy from portland, and 4 aussies. mike was a bigger guy with a thick australian accent, and bianca reminded us of the loud cousin on the movie “the wedding date.” i bring them up specifically because they accounted for most of our entertainment throughout the day. poor mike. about 4 or 5 lines in, he zipped his way right into a huge tree, smashing into the trunk and ricocheting off. once we found out he was ok though, we had to laugh…a few platforms later, he didnt quite make it all the way across because he used his brake too early, and he slid back to the middle of the line. our guide had to shimmy out to the middle of the line and reel him back in (mike was at least twice the size of the guide. bless his heart). finally, on the very last line, mike hit a branch and lost his shoe. im sorry he had such a hard day, but if he had to, im glad i was there wih him to witness it. bianca was great because everytime something happened to mike, or to anybody else for that matter, she had a comment to make. but it wasnt obnoxious, it was hilarious. we loved our group. we loved ziplining. we loved when anna crashed into the tree (someone forgot to use her brake….). and we loved chiang mai.
brandon flew home early yesterday morning. the two weeks he was here went by so fast. but we had a lot of fun and we learned a lot. he should be safely home by now.
my ulcer is gone- i can finally eat normally again. i will never take eating for granted again. it was terrible to not be able to enjoy meal time.
God completely answered our prayers and provided an orphanage for us to spend our time in while we’re here in cambodia. here’s the website- it tells all about what they do, the children they help, and how you can help support them:
http://www.lighthouseorphanage.co.uk/
