Destination Cambodia

Thank God for opening the door for Pastor Vic, Deacon Colin, Bro Ivan, Eugene and myself to go on a short 4-day trip to Koh Kong. It was an amazing eye-opener of a trip and an experience of great joy coming face to face with the Lord's mighty working in the lives of the missionaries and the people at the ministries there. Everything went smoothly by God's grace during our journey - we boarded our Jetstar flight to Bangkok early Friday morning and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport safely within two and a half hours. After passing through customs smoothly, all of us got onto a van which took us through to the next leg of the journey.

Koh Kong is an island located southwest of Cambodia, near the border of Thailand. As shown in the map on the left (courtesy of Canby Publications), the distance between Bangkok to Ban Hat Lek (which is at the border of Thailand and Cambodia) is a total of 460km. That was the overall distance we travelled in approximately 6 hours by van from Suvarnabhumi Airport. Before we made our way to the Thai-Cambodia border via Trat from Bangkok, we made a short stopover at a Thai hawker place to have lunch. The variety of dishes at this mixed rice stall is absolutely fantastic - this hawker place is recommended by Pastor Vic and Deacon Colin, who often makan here en route to Koh Kong.

This is a provision shop selling Thai delicacies and snacks located just next to the hawker place. Its layout reminds me of those good ol' mamak provision shops we often see back in the olden days.

Dn Colin ordering food for us from the mixed rice stall

Packs of nuts, green mangoes and corn cobs for sale..cheap cheap! ;)

The delicious and succulent ter kar we had for lunch..yummadum

This is a stretch of provision shops located close to the border at Klong Yai. It is about 100km to the border crossing and the road winds along the narrow strip of land between the hills that form the border with Cambodia, and the sea. After passing a few kilometres through the village of Klong Yai, our van finally made it to the Thai border immigration post at Ban Hat Lek.

We made it!

Ivan and Eugene at the Thai-Cambodia border

After we made our way through the Ban Hat Lek border immigration check point, we met up with Pastor Noe, Roti (our most capable and skilful Cambodian driver) and Daniel and James, two 12-year-old Cambodian boys who stay with Marissa at the Koh Kong church building. It was a real blessing to meet them all and see them so joyful in the Lord. Daniel and James spoke to us in impeccable English and greeted us with brilliant smiles..The Lord used them to bless our hearts through their warm and hospitable welcome. We loaded our luggage onto Roti's minivan and made our way towards Koh Kong, crossing over the new bridge linking Thailand to southern Cambodia.

Upon reaching the church building, we were warmly welcomed by Marissa, Sister Grace Pulmones and little Darah. We also met the rest of the children who have been faithfully attending the children's Sunday School every week. After fellowshipping with them over a refreshing drink of coconut juice, we joined some of the children at the yard for a singspiration session.

Bro Ivan taught the children some action songs and they absolutely loved it! Sitting next to him is a gifted 12-year-old guitarist, Lendy, who picks up tunes in a jiffy and serves as a musician at the Sunday worship service.

Marissa, our dear sister and missionary servant of the Lord, with Pastor Noe's daughter, Darah, at the sing-along session.

Dn Colin is seated next to Daniel and Simon, a solid worship service pianist in the making.

The boys from left to right: Lendy, Daniel, Simon, Samuel and James. Thank God for their salvation and their spiritual growth in Christ. =)

Singing praises to the Lord together

The girls - each of them so sweet and surrendered to the Lord..praise God!

Bro Ivan, Pastor Vic, Pastor Noe, Deacon Colin and Eugene

These children are very fast learners..they learnt 2 English songs in 20 minutes!

It was a real blessing enjoying their lively and melodious singing and witnessing the love of the Lord that is shed abroad in their hearts.

After our mini worship song session, we took a short break before dinner and Ivan, having brought a soccer ball along with him on this trip, decided to organise a soccer match with the boys in the evening.

On the way to the school field, we saw someone coming our way..Lo and behold..it's Dn Colin having a go at Samuel's bicycle on the streets of Koh Kong..:D

Eugene and Samuel

Splitting into the two teams...Oh-yah-bay-yah-SOM!

Still at it..we're almost there - and finally it's Team Ivan with Samuel and Daniel v.s Team Eugene with Lendy and James..
Finding a nice spot to kick ball

Go show 'em uncles what you're made of, boys!

The friendly neighbourhood cows making their rounds and watching the teams as they fought it out on the field..

Go Samuel!

That's our Daniel..GOAL!!!

These boys may be young but they play the game like professional soccer players..simply amazing! Pastor Noe shared with Ivan and Eugene that he has plans of holding a soccer evangelism campaign in Koh Kong, a sports outreach where the gospel will be preached to participating teams. We might send over a Singapore team or two for the outreach – but our teams had better be prepared to be defeated by these skilful, soccer-loving juniors!

Koh Kong soccer champs unite! Great game guys..:D

After the match, all of us went out for dinner together with Pastor Noe, Sis Grace, Darah and Marissa. It was a brilliant time of catching up with them and knowing more about the ministries located at other parts of Cambodia. The Lord has been working in marvellous ways in this vast mission field. We retired early that night as we had to be up at 5am the next day to set off on our journey down south from Koh Kong to Prey Nob which is located near Sihanoukville.

It was an early and misty morning at our first river crossing. Peaceful and tranquil with not a soul in sight.

God's Cambodia - a beautiful and breathtaking place,

a small piece of heaven on earth

A cloud-covered sunrise in the horizon heralds the start of a brand new day

Our journey by van to Prey Nob took about 5 hours from Koh Kong. We travelled sometimes on paved roads which soon enough became dirt tracks especially when Roti decides to take a short cut. During the journey, we crossed 4 rivers by boarding barges which would load as many vehicles as they could fit on the deck in order to take people across the river. Road conditions towards the riverbanks can deteriorate dramatically during the wet season, lengthening travel time. Thank God for a smooth journey without any delays despite a challenging time making it across the 3rd river crossing due to a mudslide situation at one of the banks. I got into a sticky situation when my right foot plunged right into a deep and wet mud patch when I was alighting from the barge..thank God for Eugene who rescued me from my sorry plight..hoho :pConstruction of flyover bridges which will replace the 4 barge-facilitated river crossings is nearing completion - the pilings in the river are done and the piers have been erected with the siderails. In about a month's time, travelling across the rivers will be an absolute breeze for all vehicles.

The awesome view from one of the barges

Heading towards the opposite bank

The view from the bank upon alighting safely from the barge

A roadside stall at the river bank

After 4 hours by van, we reached Prey Nob and had the opportunity of viewing a future church campsite which is currently under construction. It is here that an 11 hectare piece of land owned by Pastor Noe's church is currently under construction to become a leadership-training campsite. Pastor Noe's vision is that this campsite will be used to hold leadership or evangelistic camps to train up future leaders in the church. It is his desire that God will mould and shape young lives for His glory here. Pastor Noe shared with us that the YEP team will most probably be working on a student dorm building project here this December.

A road connecting the place to the main road will be constructed to make it more accessible to others travelling towards the campsite

A building at the campsite

Pastor Noe showing us the vegetable patch behind the building

From left to right: A Prey Nob church sister, Pastor Vic chatting with Pastor Noe, Roti (our skilful van driver) and Sari

A view of Prey Nob's landscape

Bible studies and church services are held here every week at Prey Nob. Sari takes care of the ministry and serves here regularly.

A gaggle of geese at the pond

A little girl from the village washing her clothes by the river

The paved road of gravel and dust that our van travelled on
How now brown cow? We saw a few herds of cattle making their way towards their destination on the road. They caused quite a few jams along the way because they failed to mooove along and follow their herdboy.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. ~ Psalm 19:1

*simply awesome*

Vivid green paddy fields..a visible reminder that the harvest of souls here is plenteous, wipe and ready for the picking

A barge on its way to pick us up

Bro Ivan, Pastor Vic, Eugene, Shem (Pastor Noe's youngest son) and me

Vehicles backing into the deck of the barge

We made it through the river crossing!

Our van driving out of the barge and onto dry land
Lunch at Pastor Noe's place at Sihanoukville, lovingly prepared by Reshmey (a sister-in-Christ from Pastor Noe's church). We were very glad to be able to catch up with Sari, a dear brother who gave his testimony at GLCC when he visited Singapore this year as well as other church members from Pastor Noe’s church at Sihanoukville. All of them are now faithfully serving at the various church ministries and we pray that there will be more God-fearing servants like them reaching the vast harvest of souls in Cambodia for Christ.