I know many people are very eager to know what happened in my trip to Cambodia, but so much has happened in the trip that I really don't know how to begin. I guess I'll tell it bit by bit.
No matter how much I've read about Cambodia before, Phnom Penh is still quite shocking to me at first. Thanks to Pastor Ng who picked me up from the airport and shown me around the city a little bit, I was able to settle in with a boost.
After a few instructions about the traffic from Pastor Ng, I've learned how to cross the road the Cambodian way: "Walk calmly, don't run, even if cars are charging toward you, the bikes will see you and steer away." Sometimes I find I have to walk toward the oncoming traffic so that they can make a way for you, otherwise you'll never be able to cross! On the first day, I can't believe I actually walked around the city all by myself!
Knowing the country has gone through such a terrible history, I find that Cambodians are surprisngly friendly. People always smile at you, and not everyone are trying to squeeze money out of your pocket. Yes, in the Cambodian point of view, when you don't speak Khmer, you are rich. There's a big possibility that people being friendly to you just because they want something from you, but in most cases, Khmer people are just very simple people, the only barrier is the language.
However, the country has a very deep root in their idolism. For hundreds of years, it has been the same way. In front of many homes, you'd see miniature temples posted up, which supposedly housed a god who would protect their home. When you see Angkor Wat, it is just a super scaled up version of these little temples.
Before my trip, I felt very clearly that the Lord wanted me to finish the Gospel For Asia (GFA) book. As the book says, I know that the gospel can bring these people out of their hardship and poverties. However, there are still lots of work to be done in this place, as I discovered later on.
When I went to the national museum, there are lots of sculptures of different gods, some have missing body parts. However, whether the sculptures are intact or not, they are still continued to be worshiped. It is hard to understand why they would worship a god with missing head or arms, ..etc. Sometimes people would sell offerings to give to the gods. When I was walking around the national museum slowly, trying to appreciate the marvelous hand work on these ancient sculptures, an old lady with a very kind face smiled at me, and spoke to me with a very soft voice, wanted to sell little flowers to me to offer to the god. When I see her innocent face, suddenly I remembered what I've read in the GFA book, it suddenly made me feel really sad. Because despite her kindness, her soul is trapped unknowingly by the darkness.
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