There are many dark things about Cambodia.It has a dark past, a devastating civil war and in many places darkness still lingers as Cambodia is one of the child prostitution capitols of the world.
I have seen many hard things these past few months and many times I struggle to know what to do with all of the emotions inside of me. But God has shown me over and over again that His love and Hope are so much greater that the evils of this world, even if they are hard to see sometimes.
For many people, the only thing they know about Cambodia is that Pol Pot lived here and killed millions of his own people. It is true that this is a huge part of Cambodian history but it does not seem to define the people here.
2 million people were killed during the Khmer Rouge regime, roughly 1/3 of the nation’s population. Pol Pot wanted to rebuild the country based on a primitive agricultural model so he had educated people, religious people, and people simply living in the cities brutally executed with farm tools because bullets were too expensive. Anything Western was destroyed. People with professional jobs were eliminated. In fact, people were killed for simple wearing eyeglasses.
The killing fields where the mass executions were completed are right outside the city of Phnom Penh, where we are staying this month. Skeletons from the mass graves there are still visible. The events that took place here a mere 40 years ago are some of the most brutal and horrible in the history of the world.
It is sometimes hard to see the good. Where was the light in this dark place?
I often find myself fighting the hopelessness of the many things that I have seen. With these emotions come depression, fear, and even anger. Where is God in all of this? Where is His redemption?
There are not many people today in Cambodia that can remember the Khmer Rouge regime, although most have been affected in one way or another.The country is extremely young with 50% of the population under 22 years old. The Khmer Rouge no longer exists in any form and Cambodians are eager for forward progress.
This month my team was assigned to teach multiple English classes for local university students. We are also in charge of Sunday services of a church of about 100 youths, which is such a beautiful sight in a country that is only 2% Christian.
After a few classes it began hit me. Here we were, Westerners, educating Cambodian university students in the capitol city through a religious organization, something our parents’ generation would most certainly have been killed for.
God is here, and He is healing this nation.No matter how much evil will try to stomp out any spark of hope, it can never prevail. Even if it is successful for a little while it can never stand against the goodness and hope of my Savior.
"Now the hope of God dose not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us" ROMANS 5:5
Something that was said on a certain pirated Asian DVD I was recently watching really hit me as truth.
“The only thing stronger than fear is hope.” – President Snow
It can be difficult or very,very easy. Men fly into Chiang Mai from all over the Western world for one reason. They want to have sex with a prostitute. It seems simple enough. When you walk into the Thai Kickboxing ring surrounded by bars where Thai women await purchase, the music beats into your chest and the colors of all the lights overwhelms you. The women are all exceptionally beautiful and beckon at you to come into their bar. It doesn’t matter if you are a girl or boy, young or old. They smile and laugh and even seem to enjoy the gropes of the much older men that seem to dominate the kickboxing ring, until you catch a glace of their eyes. Many look so hard, so old, so sad, and so weary. If you really pay attention you can see one take a deep breath to pull herself together before approaching a potential customer. You can see subtle resistance as their humanity is chipped away little by little each time they are looked over like a piece of merchandise and sold like an object.
It costs $400 Thai Baht to cover a girl’s bar fee for the night (equivalent to about $20USD) and several thousand more to do whatever you want with her for the rest of the night. I can tell you not one of them enjoy it. They will smile because it is their job. They will laugh because if they don’t their family may not eat the next day. If you ask her if she likes it, she will look at you a moment and then quietly say, “no.”
Many of these girls are my age, and so similar to me in so many ways…so normal. I ask God many times why it is not me in these bars. I am a white American female.I will not be sold by my parents into sex slavery. I will never have to dig through the garbage to find food. I will never have to sell my body to feed my children. I will never have to beg on the streets or watch my family be killed by my country's government and I have grown up always knowing that Jesus loves me.Why me?
I still don’t have an answer for this, but I know that I have been blessed by God with an incredible and rich life, and I know that I have a lot of responsibility that goes along with all of this. I know that God did not make too many people and not enough resources to feed them all. I know that He did not intend for sex to be the most profitable industry in the world, and that he did not create so many children that there are not enough people to take care of them all. We are all here to do God’s work and He demands this of us over and over again in the Bible.
There are many ways to do this. I have felt called to the World Race for a year where I feel that I am being prepared for what it to come later on down the road. I am so grateful for all that God has allowed me to see and for all of the lives here that have touched me. I hope that in some small way I can shine a little of His light of hope in these dark places.
I am currently $3,107.40 away from being fully funded. I need all of this by July 1st if I am to continue on to Africa on this journey. If 100 people pledge $30 before July first I will be fully funded for The World Race! I get roughly 100-200 hits on each blog so I will ask anyone who reads this to prayerfully consider being a part of this journey with me financially because I cannot do this on my own.
If you would like to commit to being one of these 100 people please comment below or e-mail me at cwroberson@live.com. To send a donation you can click the “support me” link on the left hand side of this page.
Asking for money is always a humbling experience for me, but it always reminds me of how small I really am in God’s big picture and I am always in awe of how God has provided everything that I could ever possible need. Blessings from Thailand!
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
-William Wilberforce
After traveling to 5 cities, 4 countries, and 2 continents in 60 hours I have arrived in Thailand! As soon as I stepped off the plane I could feel the humidity and an assortment of fried food and spices assaulted my nose. We all hung out at the YWAM base in Bangkok for Easter as I watched a torrential downpour virtually turn the streets into rivers. The next day we had cultural debrief where we learned how to not be loud, obnoxious, offensive Americans although I don’t know if we can ever really be cured of that no matter how hard we try. We then all piled into three large vans and drove a very uncomfortable 12 hours to Chiang Mai where we went through another orientation and moved into our new home.
This month we are working along with YWAM with their ministry here in Chaing Mai called Lighthouse in action. Our contact is a Thai lady named Emmi. There are three parts of our ministry. Two teams are out in the villages about three hours from here living with the people there and working alongside them in the rice fields. Another team is working at Emmi’s coffee shop which is located across the street from Chiang Mai University. My team along with two other teams is living in the Lighthouse guesthouse about 4 blocks from the red light district where we go into the bars four nights a week and talk to the men, women, and street children there.
The people working in the bars (called LoveActs) split into three groups. One focuses on slum children and goes into the slums and plays with the children and organizes English classes. Two other groups are focused on the bars. We alternate going into the bars in the afternoons and evenings. While one group goes into the bars the other group stays behind and prays.
Our goal for this month is to build relationships with these people and just love them. We are speaking through our actions. Emmi told us to put on the skin of Jesus and they will see there is something different. We do not just want to present the gospel and leave. In some cases we may never even get a conversation about Jesus with these girls. We are building on what other teams have done in the past and paving the way for new teams.
It often feels like we are on a secret mission. We are not to talk about Christianity until we know they are ready which could be weeks or even years. We are not to look like missionaries or under any circumstances tell these girls we are associated with YWAM or The World Race. If we see other groups from LoveActs in the bars we are to ignore them.
I thought it would be hard to go into the bars and not even be able to use the name of Jesus, but it wasn’t. He doesn’t need our words. His love and power transcends them. I did not know the volume of our actions until last night.
We were sitting with a girl named Nan. She works at the bar almost every night. We offered to buy her a cup of hot tea because she was not feeling well. To buy one of the girls a non-alcoholic drink costs twice as much as anything else. When we told her that was okay she lit up and bowed her head saying “Khwap Khun Kha” or thank you over and over again. She sat and talked with us for over an hour and gave us giant hugs when we had to go and wanted to know when we were coming back. It was not a normal night for her. She knew there was something different.
If you would like to join us in prayer for these girls we go out on Monday and Wednesday nights from 8-10:30, which is 7-9:30 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we go out in the afternoon which is about 2 in the morning in the U.S.
We pray for freedom for these girls. For the men who go there. For the ladyboys who sit on the street corner. For the children as young as four selling flowers in the bars. The power of prayer is unmatched on this earth. Thank you all for coming along side me on this journey!
As I sit in the Beijing airport for 14 hours wondering what Chinese people do with their spare time since Facebook, Youtube, Hulu, and Twitter are all blocked (no wonder they get so much accomplished) I thought that I might tell all of you the end of our story with Moses.
Three weeks ago in Granada, Nicaragua five of us prayed over a man, Moses. He was living on the streets and addicted to cocaine and alcohol. He told us he wanted so badly to have a different life and to be free from his addictions. We prayed over him right there in the streets and at the end he was absolutely glowing and praising God. He then led us to a park and talked to us for hours about his life and about Jesus.
We thought we would never see him again. However, by chance we ended up in Granada again for a few days before we flew out to Asia. Every time I walked down the street I searched the faces of every man to see if it was Moses. I had given up hope of ever seeing him again as time drew near for us to leave. I walked into our hostel ready to get on the bus for Managua and there he was! He was overjoyed to see us. He had all new cloths on and looked like a completely different person. He had a job, a new place to live, has found a new church that he attends twice a week, and is three weeks clean and sober. We laughed together like old friends and prayed together.
It was so amazing to see what the power of God can do in a person’s life and how His strength is so much greater than our own. Moses will always have a place in our hearts and I will never stop praying for him.
I do hope this all makes sense, since I am so jetlagged that nothing makes sense and everything is hilarious but I hope to blog again soon…from THAILAND!!
Happy Easter! Praise Jesus for making us all new in Him, for being the Savior we can turn to when realize that we cannot save ourselves.
A tribute to the wonderful journey I have had these past few months. Thank you for all of those who support me and who have touched my life on The World Race!
A man died this morning in Bethel. His name was Juan Carlos. He was 23 years old. He died from Chronic Kidney Disease. He was a sugarcane worker.
Chinandega means ‘place surrounded by cane’. There is little opportunity for employment here so most men are forced to choose between going to work in the sugarcane fields and watching their family starve.
This massive sugar monopoly is called “Ingenio San Antonio” is owned by the Pellas group where the sugar is grown for their companies Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited and Compania Licorera de Nicaragua which produces the famous rum Flor de Cana. Carlos Pellas is the third richest man in Central America and there are 125,000 Nicaraguans under his employment.
In the last decade or so, an epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) has been sweeping through the sugarcane field workers. It is caused by the pesticides that are used in the fields. The sugarcane is burned before it is harvested and the workers inhaled the dust and smoke all day long as they work.
These workers earn about $80 Cordoba a day which is equivalent to about $3.50 USD. Many times they have trouble getting even that as sometimes their paychecks are cut for no reason. Many of the men start in their teens and work long hours in the 100 degree heat, given only one 15 minute break for water and food. The men are regularly tested for CKD and if they test positive they are fired and sent home to die.
There is one hospital in Chinandega, and one dialysis machine. Once a man is diagnosed with CKD there is little or no hope for him and his job is usually passed down to his oldest son, if he is not already working in the fields. Around 3,000 men have died from CKD in the last 10 years and the statistics are growing worse. This has been the case in Bethel, the village we have been working with this past month. In this small community of 300 people, 60 have been diagnosed with CKD. Women and children are affected in the villages near the fields as the pesticides seep into the soil and water. This place has become known as the province of the widows.
What makes all of this even worse is that the pesticide is manufactured and exported form the U.S. This pesticide was once used in agraculture for a few seasons in the U.S. but was soon outlawed, however production still continued.
The name of the pesticide is kept under lock and key while the Pellas group adamantly denies that any of this is happening. Their influence is such in the Nicaraguan government that they can virtually make all of this disappear. However, the people dying here are real. The widows and fatherless children are real. They people are her are in a sort of slavery. Human life here is so easily replaced. It is cheaper to replace a dying worker than to switch to a safer pesticide and improve working conditions.
22% of our sugar in the U.S. comes from Nicaragua and used in all kinds of products. We eat it almost every day. Our team is working on a video where we interviewed men and women affected by the disease. I will post it as soon as we are done. In the mean time we have been in earnest prayer for this country and this broken community and our hearts have hurt for all of those we have met and the lives that have been turned upside down.
If you would like more information a good website I found is The Isla Foundation
http://laislafoundation.org/La_Isla/Home.html
Greetings from Nicaragua! Team Tharros is stationed in Chichigulpa this month, which is in northwest Nicaragua about 15 minute from the ocean. We are working with Vision Nicaragua, a non-profit started after Hurricane Mitch destroyed many of the houses of the people who live here. Most of the houses have since been rebuilt and we now carry on the ministry by building relationships with the people in the villages. We do this on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we all pile in the back of a truck and drive to an orphanage that also functions as an organic farm. They grow all their own food and livestock and feed us a delicious lunch every day. Here we paint buildings, dig ditches, work in the fields or whatever they need us to do.
Nicaragua is the second most undeveloped country in Central America after Haiti. Most people live in one or two room houses or huts and most men work in the sugar cane fields making about $3.50 a day. The people here are very friendly and eager to invite you in and share their story.
The country here is beautiful full of fields, palm trees, beaches, and volcanos. Our compound is located under an active volcano that smokes in the daytime and you can see the lava at night. It is in the height of the dry season and most days get up to about 100 degrees. There are fruit trees everywhere and after a hard day’s work many of us like to walk across the street and pick mangos right off the tree and eat them along with some other fruit that has a name I can never remember.
We are working with one other team from E squad this month as well as an Adventures in Missions Passport team that has been located in Chichigulpa for nearly three months now. Passport is for students right out of high school or in college. It is the length of one semester and gives them a chance to experience missions and another culture for four months at a time. Many of them want to go on the World Race when they turn 21 and it has been an amazing opportunity for us to pour into each other and build one another up.
One unexpected companion this month has been my 800 lice that decided to come with me from Honduras. Upon arrival at Vision Nicaragua we discovered that 7 out of 9 of us E squad girls had a pretty healthy population of lice. We immediately scheduled a de-lousing party where we medicated our heads, washed all our clothes, slathered ourselves in lice-killing mayonnaise, and combing through each other’s hair for hours. We every made a lice playlist. I am slightly ashamed to admit that my case was by far the worst. However, it has been a week and I can happily declare that we are now lice free!
I thank you all for your prayers and support. My finances are currently at $12,140 surpassing my April 1st deadline of $11,000! Besides the lice epidemic I have been completely healthy. I know it is because I have so many people praying for me, and I am so grateful to all of you. I would appreciate continued prayers for my team and our health, especially for the week of April 5th when we leave for Thailand. This upcoming travel segment will consist of four connecting flights and a 20 hour bus ride. Blessings!
I didn't fully understand the power of prayer until a few days ago.
I mean I understood that prayer was powerful but i didn't understand the POWER it can have.
How it can be the very voice of God. How you can feel God's presence pulsing through you. How it can knock people to the ground.
It can. I have seen it.
Granada, Nicaragua is a beautiful old colonial town that looks like it might be invaded by pirates at any moment. E squad was there for four days of much needed rest and debrief before we embark on the next few months of ministry. However, ministry is never really over. Not for any of us. There are opportunities around every corner where God is waiting to change someone's life.
Through YOU! You just need to listen.
On our last night in Granada, a small group of us were heading back to our hostel after eating as much chocolate as we could hold. we stopped and talked to some of the street venders as the music and the night life began to come alive around us.
Suddenly a man came up to us, speaking nearly perfect English. He was as high as a kite and had been drinking but he seemed determined to talk to us. He told us his name was Moses. After a while the conversation turned to why we were in Nicaragua. When we told him we were missionaries he became vary quite. Someone asked him is he ever went to church. He slowly nodded.
"I went three weeks ago," He said, "But I have a big problem."
"What's your problem?"
"Drugs...I am addicted to crack."
I saw such pain and longing in his eyes. He explained that he had been to rehab many times but he could never stay clean for more than a few weeks. He said he wanted to break free so badly, but he couldn't.
"Do you want to ask Jesus for help?"
He nodded. Six pairs of hands went to his shoulders begging Jesus to set this man free of his addictions and to be filled with life and hope. Then God's power came in the middle of our prayer. I could feel it. Moses was knocked to the ground. In the main street of Granada. People began to gather around, everyone was looking at us. It was a little weird, I have to admit. I was a bit freaked out. Until Moses opened his eyes, completely sober. He got up, eyes shining. All he could say was "Wow!" for the next five minutes. He pointed at my squad mate, Denise, who was praying in Spanish and said,
"When this girl speaks, I know it is not her. It is Jesus talking to me. I Can hear him"
He said he needed to tell us something. He lead us to a bench in the middle of the town square and began to tell us about his life and how he was abandoned by his family and had lived on the streets for many years, and had slept many times on the very bench we sat on. He said he had never told anyone this story before and he had no idea what had happened in the street just now,but he knew that Jesus loved him and he knew that Jesus could heal him.
We talked late into the night. The street venders had gone home, the bars had closed and even the street kids had come and kissed us good night.
Moses' life was changes that night because of the power of prayer. Because of the power of Jesus.
It is there. It is real.
It is real when you want to break free so badly but you can't, or when your life is so broken only Jesus can pull you out.
There is something real when we speak to Jesus.
He hears us, He speaks though us, He heals us, He loves us.
