PHNOM PEHN, CAMBODIA

AWAKENING: CAMBODIA
Waking up in Cambodia for the first time is a new experience. All over the place they have these little booths that resemble a phone booth, except there is always a middle-aged Cambodian woman sitting in a plastic chair in front, texting on her mobile phone. You approach her, slowly, and tell her the area code you wish to call. She chooses from a few of the same Nokia phones based on the area code, and dials for you. Once it rings, she hands it over. I know because I did this about 10 times. It's an incredible system for those who don't have a mobile phone in SE Asia (for example, me).

Utilizing this nearly flawless system, I called Kris Warner, a contact who works at an orphanage in Phnom Penh. Kris used to go to City Church when he lived in San Francisco, and now he runs the Vocational and Educational Program at a Foursquare Church sponsored orphanage- teaching English and overseeing the orphanage sewing shop. Kris agreed to come pick us up and show us the orphanage- which made us very excited.

THE ADVENTURE THAT IS THE PHNOM PENH STREET MARKET
Until Kris arrived, Katie and I toured the streets of Phnom Penh- most notably, picking up lunch in the street market. I was thoroughly impressed with Katie's bravery in even touching, let alone eating, the food they had on display. I mean, I'll eat pretty much anything (I had a professional career and would regularly dine on microwavable Chef Boyardee Meat Ravioli in a can), and even I was nervous. We grabbed the most edible-looking food: 2 baggies of white rice, some unidentifiable type of fried fish, and a few small cooked sausages.

DOG SAUSAGES
Not that any of the food looked great, but each item tasted much worse than it looked. Katie attempted to force the sausage down, but it's tough to eat anything that looks and taste more and more like dog the more time it's around. I got through one, and that was enough. My "fish" was, apparently, not meant to be eaten by human beings. So... in the end, we ate some white rice. And a fresh carrot each.

At this point, Kris joined our delightful traditional Camodianmeal. We greeted eachother, and immediately asked Kris what the sausages were made of. He assured us it was pork, but also noted he was "very impressed" that we were courageous enough to eat from the market. "What does that mean?" we inquired. "Just that most people wouldn't think about eating food from the street here. I'm glad to see you're adventurous", Kris responded.

KILLING FIELDS
We hopped into Kris's car and were off. Our first stop was the Killing Fields- the main site where Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime attempted to wipe out an entire generation of Cambodians in the late 1970's. Sobering. They have stacks and stacks of human skulls on display. 2 million people killed. The depth of evil that human beings are capable of attaining was tangible. Apart from God, we are all lost and broken- this truth was never more clear to me than when we walked the grounds.

After the devastating reality of the Killing Fields, we were fortunate enough to visit the orphanage. Let me start by saying that it is incredible to see so stark a contrast. On the one hand, the Killing Fields: a place of unspeakable evil, destruction of life, even spiritually demonic. A few miles down the road exists a Christian-run orphanage housing 100 kids focused on bringing healing, ushering in hope, binding people together in love. It is absolutely no joke- a striking example of God's Kingdom being built up on this earth. In fact, I would go so far as to say that there is a reason the main campus of the Foursquare Orphanages is located a few miles from these killing fields. God is showcasing how He can do a good and wonderful work out of even the dimmest of situations. Needless to say, it was powerful.

FOUR SQUARE CHILDREN OF PROMISE ORPHANAGE
We toured the orphanage. The have a brand new 2-level medical clinic building: complete with a table and a dentist's office (one of the older children is now in Dental School and peforms checkups for the kids). There is a sewing room that Kris oversees, where 4 girls and a mentor were making cloth handbags. The designs were incredible! So incredible in fact, that Katie and I each bought one on the spot. Lucky for me, the girl who had made my one-of-a-kind awesome new designer handbag was there, so I was able to get a picture with her. She was a total celebrity in my eyes.

The orphanage also boasts a computer lab for teaching kids computer skills (they had a class for Adobe Illustrator that I would love to take), a full kitchen and dining area, a church, a library, classrooms, and even a machine shop where the kids learn how to fix broken tractors. This functions on multiple levels: a service to the local farming community, an income generator, and valuable job skills training for the children. They are also almost finished with new dorms for girls who work in local factories and don't have housing.

Basically, this place is awesome. And from this main campus they have planted 139 other homes over the last 10 years for children all over the country. Kris introduced us to some of his students, and we got to talk with some of them for a while. Throughout the entire visit, Katie and I were both visibly pumped for what God is doing there.

BOAT NOODLE?
After the tour, we hopped into Kris's car to go to out for dinner. Kris took us to an awesome place with an even more awesome name that we never would have found on our own: Boat Noodle. I'm still unclear as to what a "boat noodle" is, and even after living there for 2 years, so was Kris. But it didn't matter. The food was superb. Traditional Khmer dishes + fresh fruit platters + vegetable egg rolls + a few "Angkor" beers + great conversation for 3 hours = A highlight of my entire Cambodian experience.

It was so good to hear the whole process that brought Kris to Cambodia- his passion for teaching, his love of travel and living abroad, and his faith in God. All of these combined to bring him to this place- and he is clearly being used and stretched. It was refreshing to hear about God's preparation of Kris through his previous travels around the world, building up to this call to be in Cambodia.

We finished with our "Boat Noodle" and called it a night- sleeping with full and happy stomachs.