Pastor Jeremy Stephens

Today was even more exhausting than yesterday. I believe that will be our pattern for the next few days.

I awoke this morning at 4 am to the irregular ringing of the prayer bell at the Buddhist park in front of our hotel. Maybe thirty minutes later loudspeakers throughout the town began broadcasting and car/moped horns were blasting. Therefore, I was awake.

We packed, ate a rushed breakfast, then walked about six blocks down to the Mekong River to get on our boat. It was similar to a NYC water taxi, and we were about to become very familiar with it over our 6 hour ride to Cambodia.

There are a few stories from along the river (like Brandon losing his iPhone in the River) that I’ll share another time. But when we finally arrived in Phnom Penh we were exhausted. No worries, we just hopped a bus to visit, not our hotel, but a NGO working through the prosecution of the Khmer Rouge who were responsible for the genocide which took place here in the late seventies and early eighties.

It was great to talk with the people there and to see their work. We even had an interesting conversation with the leader, who was a survivor of the work camps.

The next three days will be difficult. Each day we’ll be on the move for about 12 hours, and the emotional wear will be high. Tomorrow we’ll see the prison called Toul sleng and then travel to see the Killing Fields. Please pray for my energy level and that I would be able to thoughtfully engage with what we are experiencing.