Let's Go Food Shopping in Cambodia

Really Fresh Market

In the spirit of preparing for a good, fresh Thanksgiving meal, I thought I'd show you food shopping photos from Cambodia today. There are outdoor markets in set locations in each town or city, and there are street venders as well. Let's just say, I never saw a "Safeway" or "Fred Meyer" type store while I was there. They might be there, but they were tucked away somewhere other than where I was!

Yum!

One could buy fresh eels, many other fish from streams and gulleys, sticky 

treats and hot stir-fried type things with mounds of rice from the side of the road venders. We often saw pigs, strapped upside down to motorcyle back areas or even truckloads of pigs that were upsidedown. I guess when a pig is like this, he can't really move. 

Mango and Sticky Rice

I want to emphasize that as you are preparing for the eatingest holdays coming up, maybe you want to add some rice to the meal. I'd strongly suggest sticky rice and mango....that would make the best dessert you have had for Thanksgiving. It would be a wonderful, dilectible way of remembering all our friends in Cambodia. Now, does anyone know where you can get a really fresh mango in the USA? At least in the Seattle area?

Chomno and Hope

Chomno completing the "Break the Cycle" bike ride.

When I think of a picture of hope, I think of Chomno in Cambodia. Hope is something you are certain of, but it may be something to see sometime in the future. Chomno and his wife, Kim, must have this type of hope if they keep advancing good and beauty and truth in the face of so much opposition and evil. 
And, they do! Today, may I ask, if you are reading this, will you take a moment to pray for Chomno, the most amazing picture of hope I know in Cambodia? Thanks.

Chomno at the opening of Hope Transformation Center.

Water, Water Everywhere - and the Plight of the Girls

A Home Found Along our Travels in Poipet

We have been hearing about the flooding in Thailand. Many families have been displaced. That may mean more girls being forced by family members to prostitute themselves. This is not hearsay, I've heard about this practice firsthand. So, today, when you think of the water in Thailand, which then goes down to Cambodia, think what you can do and pray hard for the girls in these countries. Even the little ones.

Grab your Coffee at Hope Transfomation Center

Destiny Cafe in the heart of Poipet, Cambodia

Miraculously, a really pretty cafe and bakery is tucked among the dirt, mud and oppressive heat of Poipet, Cambodia at Hope Transformation Center. Here, you can purchase special coffees and yummy cakes and breads, and sit around chatting about life, ideas, faith and dreams. If you have been following this blog or know anything about Cambodia, you know how miraculous this center is.

Grab your coffee and have a seat!

After picking your jaw up off the ground, you can head on over to the Redemption Spa, where you can set a spell and relax, clean up a bit and enjoy knowing you are helping young girls and boys get away from the sex traffic industry. I believe there is a dream for a beauty salon at the spa, one day soon.

Redemption Spa

You'll bump into Chomno and his wife, Kim, Thea, Sophy, Rosa, Angie and Mary serving the coffee, Hang and the New Bloom gang heading off to work, and many more amazing people who I can't remember the names of at this moment. I suggest you go sometime and check out the whole, beautiful scene.

Hope Transformation Center

Yep, this is an actual cup of coffee at Hope Transformation Center. Amazing!

Flowering Mural - Flowering Lives

Mural in a meeting room in Pattaya, Thailand, where the Freedom Stone Necklaces were being made.

I love the bright, vivid colors of this tree as the flowers and designed branches weave through the mural painting. I think it would be a great type of mural to paint in different locations around the world. I know, in Hungary, this way of painting the tree would be readily accepted and enjoyed. Maybe Nicaragua?

I don't know what the Thai words are saying below the flowers, and no one I spoke with seemed to know either. So, if you speak Thai and want to help translate, I would be very appreciative! 

We met and prayed under this flowering tree as we prepared to meet girls in the bars and along the beach. We were asking God for rescue for many thousands of children, both boys and girls, who are enslaved in the sex traffic industry there in Pattaya. We also sat with, and heard from, a beautiful young woman, who leads the work in the Pattaya Slum Ministry, as she explained what would be happening as we partnered with her when we would be visiting the ministry. After meeting under this "tree", we headed out joyfully to serve "the least of these."

Giving medical care in the Pattaya Slum

Our lives were flowering as we served, and, hopefully, their lives were beginning to flower in vivid color as well.

Khimer Rouge - First Hand Account

Phnom Pehn

I've had the priviledge of listening to many women's stories. Each one is important and matters. Some are so filled with horror, I need to recover myself after being an empathetic listener. I sense I need to be encouraged after these times of intensive listening, particularly when the story is made using art. Today might be one of those times.


Hearing Kim, a refugee from Phonom Pehn, Cambodia, in her fifties or sixties, share her story last night after dinner, just about did me in. I was at a fund-raiser to help raise funds for rescuing and caring for kids in Cambodia who are enslaved. Chomno had flown in from Cambodia for the event. Paula had talked with Kim after the meal and ran over to introduce me to her. Kim was eager to share her story of escape from Cambodia when 9 others in her family were killed. 

Traveling from Phonom Pehn to Thailand might be like this.

Kim's husband was a teacher, she told me he had passed away, but he was the only teacher who was not killed by the knife. All the other teachers at his school were killed. Kim and her husband and one daughter, after loosing 2 children to starvation, ran through the Cambodian jungle and countryside, and made it to a refugee camp in Thailand. The horror of that journey is fresh in her mind.

Eventually, an American family adopted Kim, her husband and remaining daughter out of the refugee camp. It was nothing short of miraculous that all this transpired for Kim, actually surviving, during the horror of the Khimer Rouge and the rule of Pol Pot. I couldn't hold back the tears, and we all wept as she told of running past bodies that had been killed by the knife. 


Many years later, she recounted to us, she flew back to Cambodia to see a few remaining relatives. She said she was very frightened to do this, always wondering if someone would be coming to get her.


One of her daughters has now become a dentist in the United States, and she knows the Khimer language. She is writing down the history of the family before it is lost. It is really hard for the next generation to believe what happened in Cambodia under Pol Pot, so it needs to be written down. And, as hard as it is, we need to have the courage to listen to these stories and be a part of the healing process.

Come and Hear about Cambodia

Yes, it is a week away, but this is America, and we are always busy. I thought giving you a little heads up a week in advance might help in your preparations for next Sunday. I hope some of my readers can join us as we share.


Next Sunday, November 13, the team that went to Cambodia will be sharing about their experiences during the trip. The event will be in the AIM missions class at 10:45 AM at Northshore Baptist Church in Bothell, WA. /room 210.  Please come join us and hear what amazing things God is doing in Thailand and Cambodia with and through many people.


Come and meet some of the people you have "met" on this blog, enjoy a Power Point presentation, maybe a video and lots of eye witness accounts of the work God is doing in that region of the world. Hope to see you there!


AIM News:http://blogs.nsb.org/mission/adventures-in-mission-aim-schedules/