When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." -Matthew 9:36-38I have thought about doing a short-term mission trip for awhile now (like most things I think about doing), and what do you know, now I'm doing it. I figured that while I am young, healthy and single I should use these gifts to serve God in some crazy way.Incidentally the requirements for STEP state that you must be single, in good shape and less than 40 years old.
For those of you who stumbled upon this blog accidentally, I will be volunteering on a ship called the Doulos (which means bondservant in Greek) for 2 months. During my stay we will visit Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. That link in the previous paragraph can tell you a bit about what I will be doing. Beyond that I don't have much of a clue what to expect!
Cambodia is my first stop so I have done a bit of research on it. Here are some facts about it, if you are interested:
- Population: 14.5 millionish
- Median age: 22.1 (compared to 40.4 years in Canada)
- Buddhist 96.4%, Muslim 2.1%, other 1.3%, unspecified 0.2% (1998 census, CIA World Factbook) or
- Theravada Buddhism 95%, Islam 3% and Christianity 2%, according to Wikipedia
- 73.6% literacy rate
- Type of government: democracy under a constitutional monarchy
Cambodia was once the center of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 13th centuries and it's capital Angkor was apparently the largest pre-industrial city in the world. The Khmer Empire fell to the Thai and Vietnamese and Angkor was abandoned producing the famous temples in the jungles with trees growing on top of them. From 1863 to 1953 Cambodia was a protectorate of France. Soon after gaining Independence the Khmer Rouge came to power in the wake of the Vietnam War. Under the leadership of Pol Pot millions of Cambodians were forced from their homes, executed or died of starvation and disease. The Khmer Rouge was eventually taken out with much violence by the Vietnamese during the 80's. In 1991 a peace settlement was ennacted. Cambodia has only recently reached a relative stability and begun to see decent financial growth. The country is very poor still especially in the rural areas.That is just a sterile surface-scratching introduction about where I'm heading. I hope to be able to have some regular, more bite-sized updates during my trip, but I can't guarantee anything.
Prayer requests:
- that I get to the ship
- that God would prepare me for what's in store
- that what's in store would be challenging and awesome
- that God would fill me with the same compassion that Christ has for the Cambodians, Thai and Malaysians
1 comment:
Oh! I forgot to also say thank you to all the people who have so generously supported me! I have received over $2000. I really believe that God intends money to flow freely among the Body of Christ wherever there is need or wherever people are pursuing his purposes. It is encouraging to see the Body functioning in this way in my life. I hope to respect this generosity by serving wholeheartedly on the Doulos.
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