Dougie’s Blog….

My heart is broken and I’m overwhelmed. It’s very difficult to share the experience that we are having without being able to show you first hand. But I am reminded of the scripture in Matthew 9:35-38 where it says that “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. And when Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harrassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” I don’t necessarily feel that I’ve been “changed” in any way so to speak, but I do feel the compassion of Jesus more that I ever have for these people here. It’s so incredible to see the joy and happiness in their hearts in spite of their living conditions, their past, and their way of life.

We just finished our last night of the festival, and after about 2 hours of worship in the steaming heat, literally, I could do it all over again. The crowd was as energetic as I’ve ever seen, and it was amazing to see around 4-6 thousand people (about 2000 in the building, the rest outside), none of which could understand a word I was saying, going totally crazy for Jesus and vibrantly expressing themselves in worship. It was really cool, you’ll have to check out the pictures later!

But I have to say that even beyond all of the hype, and massive quantities of people, the time when I was moved the most was when we had the opportunity to help dedicate the childrens orphanage on Saturday. Just to see the hope that we have brought to these children in just the little bit that we’ve done makes this whole trip worthwhile. Kassie and I met the most beautiful little girl, about 3 years old, named Leeza (probably not how you spell it) at the orphanage. She was very shy and closed off when we first arrived, but when we brought out the balloons, you would have thought it was Christmas morning all over again; and every time she smiled as she caught the balloon, my heart broke into a million pieces at the thought of her, or any of the other children, never being able to experience the love that we gave them. If we were allowed to adopt them, or take them home right now, I have no doubt in my mind that I would. It’s a very humbling experience.

On a much lighter note, I have thoroughly enjoyed the extreme miscommunication between us Americans and the Khmer speaking population. For example, last night when we were eating dinner at the one and only place we’ve eaten at this whole trip, Kassie and I decided we wanted to order some ice-cream. No big deal right? Well, I ordered a regular mixed fruit flavored ice-cream in a “cone”, which took a while to explain, and Kassie ordered a cappucino flavored ice-cream in a “cup”. After some confused looking faces, the servers finally figured out what we were ordering, and confidently assured us that it would be there in a few minutes. Well, it finally came out, and it ended up being a scoop of cappucino ice-cream placed on top of my scoop of fruit ice-cream, in a cup, and finely decorated with a cone on the top like a hat. It was awesome! We couldn’t stop laughing, and the Cambodians were once again confused!

Anyway, I love you guys, and I’ll see you all next weekend. Later.

Dougie

~ by celebrationmissions on July 22, 2007.