Journey Off The Map

These first few weeks in Cambodia have been incredible. On Saturday, October 14th, my squad left the Adventures in Missions base in Georgia and began the journey to our first country on the World Race: Cambodia! After a four day journey that included a short layover in Turkey, a twelve hour layover in Thailand, and a five hour drive from Phnom Penh, my team arrived at our home for the next month and a half.

My team is staying in the city of Siem Reap and working with the New Day New Life Organization. From Monday to Thursday, we drive for about an hour and a half out to the villages, where we teach English and Bible stories to the kids there.

On our first Sunday here, we were invited by our ministry hosts to their home church, which is called Freedom Church. It felt like such a breath of fresh air to walk through the doors of a real church and hear the worship music swelling around me as the congregation lifted up their voices in praise to the Lord. While I may have traveled across the world, over multiple continents and jumped eleven hours ahead, the songs that we sang that first Sunday in Cambodia were some of the same songs that I had been singing in Georgia for those first six weeks, and I am reminded of Psalm 139:7-10:

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

Though I am almost as far as I could get from my home in America, the Lord’s presence is still evident and clear to see; He is alive and working here in Cambodia.

After church on Sunday, we were invited to their congregation’s ‘Sunday Fun Day’, which turned out to be a gathering in a rice field by a river and a beautiful waterfall. At this point, we had only been in Cambodia for five days, and we had not started ministry yet; instead, we had spent those past few days in the city of Siem Reap. During those first few uneventful days, my impression of Cambodia had been ‘a busy city with a heavy emphasis on Buddhism’.

That Sunday afternoon, one of our ministry hosts arrived with us at the rice field. As my friends and I took in the amazing sight, she grinned and spread out an arm to encompass the landscape before us.

“This is Cambodia.”

In front of me I saw rolling green fields, a picturesque waterfall, golden sunbeams, clouds that came straight out of a painting, and most of all, a happy church congregation gathered together in fellowship with each other and with the Lord.

Since then, I have been so blessed to be able to serve and minister to the people here in Cambodia along with my team and our ministry hosts. This is what the past three weeks have looked like for us:

We drive out to the villages in the mornings and arrive at about 9:00 am. For the next few hours, we get to help teach a group of elementary-age kids. We sing some songs about Jesus and how much he loves them with the children; the songs are in Khmer, so my team performs the hand motions while our three wonderful ministry hosts do both the hand motions and sing along. Every single time, the kids get so into it! They love to dance and sing about Jesus. We also do an English lesson with them – they are very good at remembering all the English words for articles of clothing! We play some games, and then it’s time for a Bible lesson. The first week, it was mostly review of what they had already learned because it had been two weeks since the teachers’ last visit. The second week, my team performed a skit that illustrated the story of Adam and Eve, and this week we’re teaching about David and Goliath.

We then have a break for lunch! Did you know that a nap right after lunch is part of the culture here?

Then in the afternoon, we would go back to the village and do another lesson for the kids who weren’t there in the morning. We also have a few of our team members go and help with a Bible study for some of the older ladies in the village. Our afternoon activities will vary from day to day; on Tuesdays, we do a house visit with an couple with whom we do a Bible study. On Wednesdays, some of us stay to do a Bible study with the older ladies and the rest of us go to weed and clean up at the Thursday village. It’s not too far from the Wednesday village, and this property is the only one of our teaching spots that New Day New Life owns, so it’s our job to make sure it stays weed-free, and therefore snake-free!

All the children are enthusiastic and wonderful, but the kids at the Thursday village hold a special place in my heart. While the kids at the other villages are slightly more reserved, we arrived on Thursday to immediate hugs and kisses and shouts of “I love you, Teacher!” They sat beside us throughout the whole lesson, holding our hands and playing little hand games and hugging us close. It filled my heart with so much love, and gratitude for our chance to be able to love them back.

Then on Fridays, we clean the house we’re staying at; washing all the sheets and the mats, sweeping and mopping and dusting, and making sure it’s nice and clean for the next week. Saturdays are our Adventure Days; this past Saturday we went to Angkor Wat, a vast, ancient temple that is regarding by many as a wonder of the world! Sundays are our Sabbath days, where we can rest, recharge, and spend time with the Lord.

It has been such a blessing getting to serve here. One of my favorite times of the week is Tuesday afternoon, when we get to do a house visit Bible study with a Khmer couple. They don’t speak any English, but our ministry hosts will translate for us as we share Khmer worship songs with them and study Psalm 23.

The only way to reach this couple is to cross through a stretch of river. There are no boats or paths around it – the only way is through the water. It’s about a twenty minute walk, with both dry patches of a muddy path and then stretches of waist-high river water.

Walking through the water has been an incredibly surreal experience for me. It feels like something out of a story – the missionaries, traversing a faraway land, have to cross through a river to be able to share the gospel with a remote couple who can’t be reached any other way. It’s as if my life has become a wonderful adventure story, centered around the Author of Life Himself.

Reflecting on these last two Tuesday afternoons brought an incredibly old memory floating up to the surface of my mind – a song that I learned in a long-ago Vacation Bible School. It was probably my favorite VBS song that I ever learned, from the wonderful adventure visuals it conjured to mind.

It was called Journey Off The Map, and it goes like this:

Uncharted waters
Uncharted lands
The unexpected ’round every bend

Jesus is our guide
Helping us to survive
Leading us to find everlasting life

We’re on a journey
We’re on a journey off the map
We’re on a journey
We’re on a journey, journey off the map

I can still remember being little and jumping up and down, singing that song with joy. Now I’m living it, all the way across the world!

I want to give a big thank you to all of those who supported me, encouraged me, and made it possible for me to get here. I am extremely grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support! God bless you all.

I know there’s been a large gap in between the first blog post and this second one. There have been complications with Wifi, my writing device, etc. and I’m so sorry for the delay. However, now that all those issues have been worked out, I should be posting much more frequently! Thank you all for waiting patiently; I’m so happy I get to share all that God does with all of you.

Blessings from the ends of the earth,
Laura Jane Moody