Do I Have A Choice?

Written and photographs by William Ting
Mission Trip to Cambodia 17-24 Nov 2007

This is a long overdue report but after some thought, it is better late than never.

I have never planned to go to Cambodia for mission last Nov because of my work. It was because one of my very important projects was due to complete in Nov. I couldn't afford to miss the commissioning date. But because Bro Paul one day came up to me and told me "William, you are going to Cambodia". I said "Do I have a choice?". Anyway, that was history now. I decided to go in faith. True enough, my project was completed on 14 Nov 2007. I went with peace in my mind.

The response for this mission trip was overwhelming. At the beginning, more than 20 people registered for it. Anyway, on the departure date, there were 21 people.

Group photo with family members at Miri Airport

We were divided into Team A & B which was led by a qualified doctor each, ie, Dr. Roy and Dr. Lau. I went with Team B.

We stayed overnight at the Bible College in Phnom Penh. Early the next morning my team left for Svay Rieng which is near the Vietnamese border.

Departure to Svay Rieng at 5:00AM - 4 hours journey

The road was mostly tar sealed except for a dusty stretch of road under construction. We stopped at a ferry point and there were so many "traders".

Scratch resistance Ray Ban sunglass, US$1 each. Anyone? US$ is freely used in Cambodia.

Delicious looking prawn. I had no idea how much they cost and neither was I brave enough to try them. I was told that I might get "food poisioning" if I was not used to the food stuff there. As a precaution, I already had Hep A&B injections before I went.

On arrival at Svay Rieng, there was a crowd waiting for us. The local Methodist Church is run by a Korean missionary who mastered Khmer language in three months.

This girl was very sick and had been waiting since early morning. She needed specialist care and there was not much humanly we could do except to ask for divine healing.
After the doctor had seen the patients, we prayed for them. We also provided them with some basic medicine.In addition to medical ministry, we also did children ministry and some social concern, eg, cutting hair.

After cutting my children's hair for the past 20+ years, Pastor Kim trusted his hair to me!

After three days and seeing over 200 patients, we finally bid farewell to Pastor Kim. We hope to return again.

Farewell Pastor Kim, family and friends

Living condition
I came from a farming background and I am used to stay in worse condition. Therefore, I found the living condition in this mission trip very good. Food was basic but Pastor Kim was so obliging that he "supplemented" us with fruits and other goodies. Thank you Pastor Kim! Also, the church is very near to Svay Rieng city (10 minutes walk away) and looking for any extra that might be needed was quite simple.

I noticed that Cambodian meals normally consisted of just two "dishes". Pastor Kim's wife made Korean pancake for us!

Fruits, etc, provided for us by Pastor Kim.

Evangelism

There was plenty of opportunity to evangelise to the people there. In this trip, our primary objectives were to do medical, social concern and prayer for the sick. In future trip, we should get ourselves more prepared for evangelism. Our team did not evangelise to as many people as we would like to. But the other team was more successful.