When : June 24 to July 3. Our team leaves SFO on Thursday at 2AM PST. We go feet wet at 2:15AM PST and arrive in Cambodia approx 15 hrs later. We will be on Cambodian soil for nine days after that. We return to SFO on July 3rd, 8PM PST.
Who : We have eight people on this years team. The smallest team we've ever sent. For the first time ever, half the team will be returning members. Me, Victor, Amy and Chris are coming for the second consecutive year. Carrie, Lizz, Simon and Eric are the newbies. This is us
Where : Cambodia, Phnom Penh. 90% of our time will be spent in the capital. We might make one or two forays into the villages.
Getting Updates : We will be updating the team blog throughout the trip. And I will tweet when I can. So follow us and RSS us if you wish.
Why : To change the world. And that's not me being bombastic (as I am sometimes on this blog). We have a fairly ambitious, never-attempted vision for this trip and that is to teach the orphans how to give love. The thinking behind this is that the kids who live in the orphanage are very accustom to people (missionary) coming into their lives and showing them mercy, whether it be giving gifts, spending time with them, or teaching them. All their lives these kids have been the recipients of many kind and generous acts from foreigners. We want to flip this model around just a little bit and teach them what it means to do the same in their (the Cambodian) community. One of the studies that we have planned is about the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We want to teach them that even though they might not have much (physically, like the Samaritan), they can still do much for their community. And we want to teach them that loving your community is not optional as a Christian.
In addition we will also be visiting organizations like Hagar and IJM this year. We hope to learn more about the problems (like trafficking, poverty, unemployment) in Cambodian society and what these organizations are doing to help.
Me : How do I feel about the trip? My feelings for this trip fluctuated quite a bit in the last few weeks. At times I was excited, at times nervous, at times scared. I think i've settled into a quiet anxiety about the trip. The good kind of anxiety, of not knowing what's going to happen, but anxious to get started and see what God has planned. The planning for the trip has been nothing short of a hurricane (the leadership team was named Team Hurricane) as we juggled lots of unexpected personnel changes, plan changes, schedule changes and distractions, but somehow we have a plan for the next nine days. We put this trip together in less than a month, probably half the ideal time.
There is a high degree of uncertainty to this trip. The plan that we have for the orphans (teaching them to be missional) has (literally) never been attempted before (by our church, or any church, the orphanage told us this). We have no idea how this is gonna be received or how this is gonna play out. For all we know, this could be the biggest bomb in Asia since Hiroshima. Needless to say, this has added to my anxiety.
You know in sports how before big games sometimes athletes get nervous, but once the game starts everything is okay? I feel that's where I am at now. Nervous excitement. I can't wait for this trip to start... And i can't wait to write about it when I get back.
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