Visiting Teams

These past two days we had the opportunity to chaperon 36 people from two churches and take them around to visit different projects that we have been involved with. Clearly this is not a normal size team and logistically shuttling this many people to different places can be quite challenging especially given our limited capacity at this moment, but we are thankful to those who came. One group has been planning and preparing for a year, learning and educating themselves about human trafficking, about Cambodia and also our work here in Cambodia. They spent time watching our documentary called 'Redemption'' and so it was so encouraging to meet this team and to learn how engaged they were in this issue and how attentive and sensitive they were to the environment we operate in.

Brian McConaghy briefing team members

 My colleague Brian McConaghy flew into host this visit and to provide the teams with info regarding a variety of issues which including: security matters, trafficking issues, project details. We first assembled the team at an upstairs open area in the hotel they were staying at and had them sign off on our confidentiality and Child protection policy agreements. Once that info was all completed it was off to visit one of our partner projects Daughters Cambodia.

With that many people on the team, it was a wonderful opportunity for them to shop at the Daughters store purchasing all sorts of gifts for their family members and friends back in Canada. Following that, it was back to the hotel for a short briefing meeting as we had made arrangements to take them to the brothel district outside of the city. We split up the teams into Group A and Group B and arranged for two vans to take the women and men to visit The Sanctuary and The Courtyard located in the brothel district. The vans arrived at different times so as not to overwhelm the staff who serve this community so tirelessly.

 I went with the first group of women who for months had been learning about different Ratanak funded projects and were quite thrilled to meet with Pastor Chantha. They asked him many questions and were engaged in the discussions as Pastor Chantha had also arranged for two of his female disciples Dary and Siny to share more about their work in this community.

The Tour Guides: Dary and Siny with some of the women

Watching both  Dary and Siny in action as they shared their hearts for this ministry in this brothel district was a fresh reminder of the fact that God is working in and through His people who live in this area. The team was so appreciated of having the opportunity to meet these young disciples that they decided to pray for them on the spot. Their praying hearts continued as we led them to the Courtyard where they stood in the open surroundings and prayed for Pastor Chantha and wife Bunthan and the ministry here in this brothel district.

Praying for Pastor Chantha and Bunthan

Soon as they were finished praying, they were back on the van to Phnom Penh, yet thankful for the privilege of visiting a place that they had heard about, seen on a documentary and had prayed about. As one of the team members said, ''it was surreal being here, this is holy ground, Jesus has moved in.' Within the next hour as this team left,  some of the men on the team arrived. They were quickly whisked up to the 3rd floor of the Sanctuary with Brian briefing them on certain matters and pastor Chantha sharing his experiences in this community.

Brian and Pastor Chantha debriefing the men

Following the tour of the building it was back into one of the rooms on the ground floor where the men offered up prayer for this ministry and those who work so tirelessly in this community to protect the kids.

We repeated this event two nights in a row and the second group of women were fortunate enough to do some ''shopping'' at our partner Agape's new training center located in this brothel district. They were so thrilled to buy different products made by girls who have now been integrated back into the community. It was an unexpected treat and they went home happy to have the opportunity to bless the young women who are now working in this training center.

Praying and Praising at the Courtyard

 Once again before they left the brothel district, the women formed a circle as they stood on the Courtyard. They have been following our progress on the purchase and clean up on this land and so as we stood outside with Bunthan (Pastor Chantha's wife), Siny and Dary, they spent time praying to the Lord asking Him to continue to show favor over those who serve in this village, to watch over them and protect them as they seek to be the watchman for the vulnerable in this community

At the end of the prayer time, they broke out into a worship song by Chris Tomlin called ''Our God''. How fitting the words of that song were as they praised the Lord for what He was and is doing in this community.

Water You turned into wine

Open the eyes of the blind

There's no one like You

None like You

Into the darkness You shining

Out of the ashes we rise

There's no one like You

None like You

CHORUS

Our God is greater, our God is stronger

God You are higher than any other

Our God is Healer, awesome and power

Our God, Our God... 

Into the darkness you shining

Out of the ashes we Rise

There's no One like You

None like You.

Our God is greater, our God is stronger

God You are higher than any other

Our God is Healer, awesome and power

Our God, Our God... 

Our God is greater, our God is stronger

God You are higher than any other

Our God is Healer, awesome and power

Our God, Our God... 

[ Lyrics from

BRIDGE

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us

And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us

And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

What can stand against?

It is a blessing to have teams like this who come wanting to bless the staff who are working on the frontlines of these projects and who appreciate the sensitivities of the ministry that they are grateful for what little time they can spend with us to pray for us. We also took them to visit the RAP home in the morning and introduce them to our Khmer staff who acted as tour guides to show them around the inside of the home as they prayed over each room.

For me one of the highlights of this visit was seeing this team lay hands and pray over our Khmer staff. We are so thankful for all the prayers that have been poured out for our staff over the months by so many of you on the home side and having these other prayer warriors present was an encouraging reminder that prayer is foundational in all that we do for we know that apart from Christ we can do nothing! We are in need of His presence, His power, His wisdom and His strength as He prepares us all to serve the young women He is entrusting to our care!

The ''Team'' praying for our Khmer Staff!

We know that unless Christ is the center  of all we do, we can easily feel discouraged because of the visible reality and the darkness that so easily envelops many who work in this environment. Some of the female team members witnessed the darkness first hand when we were driving them through one of the local streets where the sex tourist hang out. Just a few feet away were 6 big Caucasian men sitting with a little girl who honestly was probably around 8 or 9 years old! While dealing with the shock of seeing this, they felt compelled to pray at that moment trusting that the Lord in His sovereignty would frustrate the plans of these men and somehow protect this little girl from any harm. It was this scene that gave them a fresh perspective of the tension that we who work here live with each day. The darkness is in our midst but we take heart in knowing that there is no place too dark that Christ's light cannot shine!