finally the cambo trip

ok, so i've finally worked up the "courage" to do it!

to put in into persepective, i met this lady on tuesday night, an amazing lady who's 18, has quite an amazing story of faith by just coming to thailand after her DTS not knowing what she was to do, or anything of the sort, but just coming on faith. she was so open and broken to Christ and infront of me. it was so beautiful. so, i prayed, "God i want that. i want the faith and the brokenness in YOU! i need that to be real in life." 2 days later i'm on my way to cambodia, with no place to stay, no adjenda and no sense of control.

i guess it's what i prayed for, and it's been good. really. it's just funny how when we pray we think God will answer the prayer in a sensible way. God is way to big to be sensible... haha.

i went on the 7:30 bus to a bordering city on the thai side. when i got past the border i got into a taxi with 4 other locals (to save over 1500 baht (45 dollars)). they didn't speak english. they didn't understand me... and the 4 hours of dark nighttime as we were driving i tried to keep my attention on praying and not thinking. as doing this, i got some thoughts as to what i should do when in phnom phen, Cambodia.

anyways, arrived at 9:30 only to look on the internet for a good/cheep hostel or hotel. i found one for 10$ that has all-night check-in... so i went. it was decent and after i figured out where i was to go the next morning, i went to bed, and thanked God i was there!

the next morning i made it to the embassy, things went more then smoothly and they were very helpful and polite in how they helped me. i briefly talked to an older man whom was needing a little help getting his information filled out.

i then had a wonderful morning, and as i went to the central market in phnom phen i thought, God what am i doing here? i found myself in a market which i didn't want to be in. after that prayer, or subconcious thought i stumbled across this lovely lady and began to have conversation with her. we became great friends and she explained how she helps her mother, lives on 1 dollar a day, makes basically everything she sells, became fatherless a very young age, and how she wants to help other children whom do not have their parents to look after them.

we planned to meet at 7 later on that day. as i was walking home (to my hotel) and the man that i briefly said hi to at the embassy runs from an internet cafe and says, "hey, i found a really good deal on a bus from phnom phen to the border, you can get it here" and he pointed it out to me on a map. he was busy, so after that he just left. now, as random as this may seem, i didn't even think about the ticket the whole day. i was to leave the next morning, and it didn't ever dawn on me. so, needless to say i went and got the ticket before meeting with my new found friend from the market.

as a side note, God was asking me (before i went on the "trip to cambodia") what i did as a child on a trip. and, the conclusion was i just went along with whatever my parents did. he said, that's what i want to do for you. no adjenda just alowing me to lead. so, this whole trip was God lead and inspired by faith. it was one of the most enjoyable times ever.

so, i met my friend at a bar/restaurant/rent-rooms place. it's a bar but with they have rooms you can rent by the hour above the bar. anyways, this lady was telling me how she used to work there, but she would not go with any of the customers. (this was one of the thoughts i got in the car, if God wanted to open my eyes to prostiution in cambodia that he would do so). anyways, we had a long talk, and she was very knowledgable. she went to thailand and worked on a plantation after highschool for 2 years. now, she didn't speak the language, know the people or even have experience to what she was doing. she mentioned that they would work double the hours we would work in canada for an average day of work... with (if lucky) one day a week off.

all this injustice of one side of the world and glutony of the other side of the world put me into a righteous anger that night. although i get all the crap going on, it doesn't mean that it's easy for someone's life to be like that. they're not just stats, they're stories. they're real people that feel and care and have an outlook that is valid. that mixed with the dozens of children i saw begging for their lives (money) on the streets that night alone, struck a chord as well. life isn't what i/they/we thought it was going to be. it's real with real questions... not just always fun and games.

with that said, this travel experience was amazing to see God's imagination flow through. he is so imaginative how he got my attention with that lady and how things worked out, (driving with locals to the capital city, even from the food eating, the impecable timing, and so much more!). he's just so big, and it's amazing when "we abide in him" as oppose to just trying to comprehend him... 'cause we can't do it. but, when we abide in him, things begin to really happen.

anyways, on my way back from phenom phen i sat beside a lady. i tried to speak a little thai with her and she began to speak english. she was from burma and a refugee from the 1988 january unrest. her story was amazing. she fled the country and went to the states for 20 years, without her family or any close relatives, but along with 5,599 other refugees. she was 47 when she fled. could you imagine? anyways, she went on and on and on about her amazing story. i loved hearing it.

i then got a call from my friend (the open and broken lady i talked about before, leslie) and began talking with everything that Christ has been doing. i was on a public bus, with 99% farangs (foreigners, aka they understood what i was saying). i went on and on about this lady i met and the whole prostitution thing (when just across from me there was a man with a thai lady sitting right next to him, i have a sneeky suspicion they met that night). i went on and on about all the faith issues and everything. i kid you not, the whole bus was a dead silence. NO ONE was talking. it was very interesting, to say the least.

anyways, then i began talking with the lady about her beliefs, buddhism and again brought up the similarities between his teachings and Jesus'. i've written about that in a previous blog, but it was again a very interesting converstation.

the whirl-wind trip was amazing... and it's amazing how God answers prayers. thank-you for your care and prayers. these have been challenging times, but have always been overcome by facing the issues, grieving over them, and allowing Christ to put a new perspective on them. it's so much learning...

anyways, i'd love to hear from you! e-mails, comments, whatever. msn. my msn is on my old e-mail address- idontknowhatodosoimdoingthis@hotmail.com and my new e-mail address that you can reach me at is danaekrahn@gmail.com. i also have facebook, look me up!

thanks guys