Finally got the time to actually write down my reflections since coming back from a Mission Trip in Cambodia. This trip has been quite an experiential trip for me, and the first time I actually did ministry at a local village for a few days. And if you read my pre-trip reflection note, I had some apprehension going at first, but now after going for it, God have taught me so much that I would like to share with you all! :)
Pre-Trip Reflections (Flash back 25 Dec 2012)
Team "WWW.TBG.CO", aka Wanlin, Wesley, Wenshien, Tiffany, Ben & Gan Chai."
Thankful for my family, friends & my lovely youths who surprised me at the airport before we flew of to Cambodia.
A 7 days Exploration Mission Trip to Cambodia!
26 Dec- 27 Dec 2012- Stayed at Methodist School of Cambodia, Phnom Penh (Preparations)
28 Dec -30 Dec 2012- Stayed at Kampot Village (Ministry)
30 Dec- 1 Jan 2013 Back at Methodist School of Cambodia (Post Reflections & a visit to a local orphanage)
My reflections below are based on 4 questions that we were sharing on our final debrief on 31 Dec 2012 night.
1) What was you key moments?
2) What was your struggles & challenges?
3) What was your biggest take away?
4) Will you encouraged ymers to come to this same place in "Kamput" Village & will you come back to this place again? Have your views of mssions change?
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1) What was you key moments?
a) Interacting with the different missionaries in the past 7 days & learning so much from each & everyone of them. Each had their own personal stories & insights from their wealth of experiences. And despite some of the missionsionaries doing ministry there for 13-14 years here, they still served faithfully here even though it can be very discouraging at times.
b) Interaction with the "Kampot" local pastor, hearing his heart for the ministry and supporting him as much as we can. Also spending 7 days with our driver/translator/tour guide, Chanda, who became an amazing friend to us.
Pastor "Pros" gave a christmas message
Our wonderful friend, Chanda who was our Driver/Translator/Tour Guide and an amazing friend who was with us throughout the 7 days straight! Was so touched by his testimony, his dreams and his SMILE everyday! :)
c) The Home visits at Kamput Village. One of my personal highlights. Seeing & experiencing first hand what the pastor do every week to bless the church members. Visiting the homes, squeezing in a small platform just singing 1-2 songs & praying for the families. And they were so sincere in their simplicity of their prayer request.
d) Harvesting rice in Kampot. It was worth every effort using a sickle for the first time, bundling the rice stalks & understanding what it takes just to get rice on our plate everyday. It also allowed me to understand the stories in the bible when they refer to farming in the fields too.
Harvesting Rice for the first time!
Harvesting rice!
e) Interaction with the children. I'm not someone who is very good with kids. But this trip has changed me so much, seeing the kids there just melted my heart. Despite the language & cultural differences, we did our best to interact with them. Be it playing with them or just smiling or having small talks with the very little Khmer language we know.
I especially enjoyed the morning when we visited one of the children orphanage. Just put a ball in our midst and it just brought us all together so easily with the children & even some of the youths joining in for an awesome game mixed between Singaporeans & Cambodians. And it was so easy to warm up with them later & it reminded me on my heart for sports missions yet again.
Interaction with the kids
Soccer with the kids!
f) Interaction with my Team. This has definitely been one of the most amazing group of capable individuals with diverse personalities all coming together for this exploration mission trip. God have taught me so much from each and everyone of them. Had fun laughing, joking, having deep spiritual conversations & serving together.
Our Coffee Room, where we had our worship, devotions, preparations and debriefs!
Tiffany, Have been a fantastic team leader leading the spiritual direction & coordinating the admin matters. Wanlin, our Food IC and also someone who have been here so many times, and was able to share her experience with us. Ganchai, despite him falling sick, he was someone who just liven the mood with his happy joyful nature! Wenshien, the intellectual one who shared deep reflective thoughts throughout and somehow have always been the centre of our jokes with his interesting remarks. Wesley, despite being the youngest, his one of the most humble one on the team, who has such a big heart for the people there, and was amazed by his determination to learnt the guitar.
One of the interesting fact also about this trip was none of us were good at playing the guitar, so it was quite an experience for all of us, as we each took turns to lead worship and played the guitar at the same time. :)
2) What was your struggles & challenges?
a) The language barrier. There were moments where I felt so helpless, trying so hard to communicate with the kids with the very little Khmer language I know & even wanted to communicate with the local pastor who knew very little English. So had to always depend on the one translator all the time.
b) Battlescars. Got pretty bad cuts, sores & rashes on my arms after the rice harvesting, getting stung on my left hand which led to a bad swell & getting bitten by red ants on my right foot also during the harvesting which also swelled up later.
c) An "inexperience" one in the team. As I've only gone for one other cross cultural mission trip prior to this 5 years ago, and it was a campus type of mission. Felt some level of inadequacy at this trip. But God humbled me so much, to take a role more of a follower than a leader. And I've learnt so much from each & every member in my team.
3) What was your biggest take away?
Understanding the heart of the people there. Having the opportunity to interact with the missionaries & locals on the ground really open up my heart for these people to have some taste of the needs on the ground. Especially seeing the poverty and the low education that a lot of the people in the villages are affected by. And was reflecting on hindsight that it's really the little that we can do each time just to encourage the local pastor & support him in anyway we can.
Photo with the pastor and youth leaders
4) Will you encouraged ymers to come to this same place in "Kamput" Village & will you come back to this place again? Has it reshaped your views of mission too?
Yes. Having experience first hand the culture & environment we live in the past 7 days, I believe our youths need to get such an exposure to cross cultural missions, yet they need to be aware of the situation on the ground and not to do more harm than good at the village. Having said that, having gone through a few batches of mission trainings before this, my thinking of missions today has been reshaped quite a bit. And this trip has reinforced it, as it allowed us to be more aware what kind of impact we can do in such short term mission trip, seeing that at the end of the trip, one need to see long term of how one can really be of support & allowing the ministry to be self sustainable in the future instead.
Some other photos:
Preparation of logistics for the Children Christmas Story Puppet show!
(Before) The Tuk Tuk which Chanda decided to give the children a ride in!
(AFTER) This was quite an interesting highlight, we were all talking at the porch at the church, when chanda decided to take the Tuk Tuk for a ride with a bunch of kids, suddenly the tuk tuk fell into the ditch from a far where we were, We PANIC! Ran all the way there, and saw the Pastor laughing when he saw them, apparently no one was hurt, and Chanda who was in the ditch was just laughing and smiling along! In the end a bunch of us and some villagers came to help push the Tuk Tuk out of the ditch!
The village kids just love hanging around us
The Christmas Story Puppet show we put up for the children sunday school
Team WWW.TBG.CO & Chanda Harvesting rice! :)
Sleeping on the floor
This was the dinner where I asked the local pastor about his call into the pastoral ministry. And he shared his testimony of how he started of his ministry as a young pastor at the age of 22.
Collage of photos in Cambodia
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