Sues'day! (that's hello in the Khmer language) First of all I would like to thank you for all your prayers for our group during this trip. We truly appreciate all your support. This mission/vision trip so far has been pretty amazing. It's difficult to describe in words the experiences that I've gone through the past week. Everywhere we went there was brokeness, from just seeing the endless poverty on the streets when we're travelling in our van and hearing tragic stories of orphans and victims of sex trafficking. But despite seeing all this darkness I do see hope for this country. I see God setting beacons of light to slowly change things for the better, through the churches, orphanages, and NGOs. For me it has been a while since I've visited a third-world developing country and I am reminded of all the corruption and struggles that are faced with the people at these places. Although I am still processing everything here there were a few experiences that really moved me spiritually. One was our attendance at the church service at New Hope for Orphans. Eventhough I didn't understand their language the majority of the time during the sermon and worship I felt really joyful just to be in the same room praising God with them. Despite our differences in culture and background we are all related as brothers and sisters in Christ. I was also thinking of our church service back home and seeing some things that might be still lacking, one is the disconnection I still feel sometimes and not really having that family feel. Hanging out with the numerous orphans that we visited was also a great experience. It's encouraging to see how strong spirited these children are despite all their tragic family backgrounds. I truly believe the struggles that God put in our lives will make us stronger people. For these children I can see them growing up to be leaders of this country. Visting Hagar, one of the christian NGOs here, was pretty inspirational. Social enterprises that just focus to make money for social causes is so different from the typical corporate mentality back at home. All enterprises should be social enterprises is the philosphy of one of the Hagar staff. Well there are still so much other stories that I have yet to share but honestly I don't really like blogging :) So I hope to share more with you guys in person when I return.

-John