“ARE YOU READY?”  A sudden burst of little voices can be heard soaring through the morning skies replying with enthusiasm with the words “YES I AM”.  Standing side-by-side with their hands on their hips, the little Cambodian children are ready to start their Sunday school lessons.

My experience in Cambodia has been an exhilarating one and there was never a moment I did not manage to savour.  Touching down at Phnom Penh International Airport at 10.25 a.mam together with Uncle Michael, Michelle, the Chung Brothers and a healthy dose of buffet breakfast and sandwiches courtesy of Malaysia airlines, I felt ready to take on Cambodia.  As we made our way to the hotel in the church van driven by John, a Bible student fromof Glory B-P Church, I started to observe the surroundings of this foreign land.  This place was reminiscent of my  childhoodmy childhood. How the streets and shops were structured holds a resemblance to my hometown in Malaysia, only with more people on the streets and a lot more vehicles on the road. The traffic in Cambodia is insane; no one ever gives way or obeys any traffic rules and crossing the streets requires a lot of skill and effort. I felt like a tightrope walker whenever I tried to cross to the other side of the street. They say the key to this art of crossing the road is to walk slowly and do not make any sudden movements. Perhaps it is also a good idea to keep your eyes closed to avoid panicking.

After months of prayer and preparation, I still couldn’t believe I was finally here at Cambodia. The excitement was still building up and it was taking quite a while to sink in. Meeting Pastor Choi and his wife Mrs Choi for the first time was such a blessing. Finally meeting the people you pray for week after week in the prayer list and not having seen or heard of them previously was very encouraging and it rejuvenated to my prayer life. There was a lot to learn from these remarkable Godly people. Especially, Mrs Choi. The way she explained and described the work that had to be done in Cambodia, you could tell right away that she had passion, zeal and love for God’s work and His people by her expression, her tone and the effort she puts in. Even before the translations, I somehow miraculously felt that I understood Mandarin. It is through her example that I remind myself to share that same joy and passion when I talk about God’s work. It is in this area that I realise that I fall short of and much improvement is needed.

Before coming to Cambodia, I equipped myself with a few verses taken from the book of Philippians 2: 5-11. These verses taught me that Christ came down to earth as a servant, humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. As Christians, our ultimate example is our Lord Jesus Christ and going to Cambodia reminded me that I wasn’t there for a holiday but to go there to do God’s work, to spread the good news and to serve others. This was further enforced by Pastor Ki’s email reminding us to have a servant’s attitude, having team spirit as well as having humility by always regarding others better than you.

“Experience is the mother of prudence”. By just hearing and not being able to see and feel it firsthand, I did not fully comprehend the plight of less fortunate people, both physically and spiritually.

There was once a young man at the end of his rope, groaning in distress as he prayed. “Lord, I can’t go on. My cross is too heavy to bear.”

“My son,” the Lord replied with compassion, “if you can’t bear its weight, come with me to the cross room. There you may exchange your cross for any other cross you choose.”

Filled with relief, the young man sighed, “Thank you Lord.” Briskly entering the cross room, he mindlessly discarded his own cross and searched for one he’d rather carry. He saw many other crosses, some so large the tops weren’t even visible. After winding in and out of the rows of crosses, he spotted a tiny cross leaning against the far wall. “I’d like that one Lord,” he whispered.

And the Lord replied, “My son, that is the cross you brought in.”

What I’ve learnt is that to put my worries, trouble and pain in proper perspective. Sometimes it’s good to set my hassles aside and reach out to minister to those less fortunate than myself. Assisting others in carrying their load of suffering in this mission trip has helped me to recognize that God has blessed me with a lighter burden than I’ve realized.

One of my most memorable moments in Cambodia was during the first day of the medical missions.  While the doctors and medical students were getting ready to treat patients, the non-medical people were sent to schools as well as inner parts of the villages to teach English or Sunday school items. I was thrown into the deep end, not knowing what to expect. As the church van dropped me, Wui Chiuen, David and two bible students off at a village called “Tot Ma”, I could see from afar off, many set of eyes peering through the windows of a hut. At a closer look, the hut was actually a community kindergarten set up by foreigners for Cambodian children to study. As we prepared to settle down, 40 – 60 children came pouring out of the hut. I was taken aback, not knowing what to do.  After some discussion with Wui Chien over our materials, we manage to start off the lesson with a Sunday School Song. What made the lessons more difficult was that the children, ranging from 2-6 years old, had a very short attention span and their interest usually lasts less than a few minutes before their thoughts go to other things and their active little bodies follow. Having taught Sunday School at Hope Church and dealing with children of that age a couple of times, I knew this is going to be a difficult task to overcome. What made things even harder was that we needed the Cambodian Bible students to translate our lessons into Khmer.

As the clock struck 11 indicating the end of the lesson, I felt a sense of relief having been able to complete my first lesson in Cambodia. By God’s grace the lesson turned out quite well. Indeed, this would not be possible without His guidance and the reliance on Him for wisdom and strength. After our first Sunday school song, we split the group of children into two. Wui Chien and I took a group each and we taught English, Bible stories as well as some games. What made the lessons easier was being able to see the faces of the children radiate with joy as well as the invaluable assistance from the Bible students. As soon as the lesson was over, clothes and food were distributed to the children. Cambodian children are remarkably polite. They place both palms together, as if in prayer and with a short bow, they say “Or Kon” (thank you) whenever they receive something.

Once the medical mission team treated all the patients, we would usually have lunch outside and later have some free time to rest, go sightseeing, do some shopping or to prepare materials for upcoming lessons. Sometimes the medical mission work lasted till late in the afternoon and all we had were packed lunches. Later in the evening there would be a team of people set forth to teach the Bible students English, Mandarin and computing. This was pretty much our daily routine with some variances.

Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”  I would not forget the first message that I had to preach, also turning a quarter of a century old on that same day. During the Sunday service, all the men were sent out to different villages to preach at local churches. Most of them were first-timers like me. I was a bit reluctant at first and wanted to back out but I recall a verse from 2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” This reminded me to be always ready to preach God’s Word, regardless of whether I didn’t feel able to do it or it was an inconvenient time to do so. As I was called to the pulpit, I prayed earnestly to God to lead me and guide me in this task. I did what I had to do and delivered my message on “Why should we read God’s word daily”. I thought the message went pretty well as many of the people were listening attentively and I managed to bring across the points. The congregation even applauded after the message. I wasn’t sure if they thought it was a good message or whether it was getting boring and they were clapping because it was finally over. All in all, I really thank God for this task that He set before me and for pushing me to do what I never thought I could. It was only through putting aside my nervousness, relying solely on His strength and through the leading of the Holy Spirit was I able to say the right words.

I never realised that the next message that I was to preach would be a greater lesson for me than my listeners. After the first message, we had to travel to the next village for their service. I preached a second time because a  teama team member’s computer broke down with his message in it. Having good feedback from the last message added an extra boost of confidence and I thought I would be able to handle it without any problems. Moreover it was just a repeat of what I had already said before.  My pride took the better of me and halfway through the message, I could see some of the listeners getting lost and starting to fall asleep. I could come up with many excuses. It could have been a new church with new people not being familiar with listening to message or I was getting tired and my voice was getting monotonous or worse, I could blame the translator for not doing a good job but I knew that the real problem was that I did not pray much before this message and I did not commit this task wholeheartedly to the Lord. This made me realise how difficult it must be to be a pastor and how discouraging to see someone falling asleep in his sermon. Furthermore, it also reminded me of my first visit to Hope church where there was this Korean man with a funny Korean accent preaching up in the pulpit and I didn’t understand a single word he was talking about.

This Cambodia Mission trip has profoundly impacted my life in ways that I never knew possible. Coming to Cambodia, I thought I could contribute and serve as much as I could to the people, but in reality I’ve actually received far more that I have given.  It has changed many of my perspectives in life, made me learn to appreciate what I have more, understand my long term commitment to Christ better, humbled me in many ways, rejuvenated my spiritual walk and helped me to develop a better awareness to the need of less fortunate people, physically and spiritually.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Pastor Ki and Uncle Michael who led this mission team, the beautiful Rosalie and Joseph (my roommate, he is a good roommate, he doesn’t snore and he attracts a lot of mosquitoes) for organizing accommodation and transport, and also to the many others that have helped out in one way or another.  It is really encouraging and edifying to see everyone working as a team having a common love, joy and goal to do the work that the Lord has appointed to us. I’ve truly enjoyed my time in Cambodia and the many friendships iI have made, not only with the Cambodian people and the Bible students, but also with the people from Melbourne and Singapore.

Above all I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for his provision, protection and guidance throughout the trip and for making it possible for me. Indeed all of us in the team have been blessed with a new sense of God's love, hope and compassion for the nations.

Lastly I would like to encourage many others to be involved in future mission trips.  I do not consider myself an expert in the matters of Cambodia and her people with only 2 weeks experience, but I hope to share this blessing with you and I guarantee that you will find it very rewarding.  After two decades of war and isolation, Cambodia is now truly starting to recover from the Khmer Rouge's genocidal rule. Areas like education, health and sanitary system require lots of improvement and even more so in the spiritual needs of the people. There are many out there, who have not had the privilege of hearing the Gospel.

As Forest Gump states, his life is like a box of chocolate. My life I believe is like a candle.

There was once a little candle that stood in a room filled with other candles, most of them much larger and much more beautiful than she was. Some were ornate and some were rather simple, like her. Some were white, some were blue, some were pink someand some were green. She had no idea why she was there, and the other candles made her feel rather small and insignificant.

When the sun went down and the room began to get dark, she noticed a large man walking toward her with a ball of fire on a stick. She suddenly realized that the man was going to set her on fire. “No, no!” she cried, “Aaaaagghhh! Don’t burn me, please!” But she knew that she could not be heard and prepared for the pain that would surely follow.

To her surprise, the room filled with light. She wondered where it came from since the man had extinguished his fire stick. To her delight, she realized that the light came from herself.

Then the man struck another fire stick and, one by one, lit the other candles in the room. Each one gave out the same light that she did.

During the next few hours, she noticed that, slowly, her wax began to flow. She became aware that she would soon die. With this realization came a sense of why she had been created. “Perhaps my purpose on earth is to give out light until I die,” she mused. And that’s exactly what she did.

God created you and Ime to produce light in a dark world. Like that little candle, we all can produce the same amount of light, no matter how small we are or what colour we might be. But we can’t produce light until we receive it from an outside source. That source is Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

Also like the little candle, we have to die in order to produce light. If we try to preserve ourselves, our lives will be meaningless. But if we are willing to “lose our lives for Christ’s sake,” (Matthew 10:39) we will find our true purpose and meaning.

I believe that ministry is participation not just passive observation. We should seek the opportunity to serve whenever possible and by being involved we can discover and unlock the gifts we have that God wants and will use, anywhere whether it be in the streets of Phnom Penh, the sandy beach of Sihanoukville or the ancient buildings of Siem Reap. I pray and hope to see you in the next mission field.