hope is winning

A friend named Molly has been on staff with Youth With a Mission over the past four years in Battambang, Cambodia. Last week, Molly's mom and sister, Sue and Erin, along with three other good friends from church, traveled to go spend a couple of weeks with Molly. Here's a report from our friend Maribeth emailed today:

Dear Friends,

We hope this finds everyone well in Iowa and beyond. We arrived in Battambang yesterday afternoon after a 3 hour bus ride from Siem Reap. It was a great way to see the Cambodian countryside. Miles of rice fields as far as the eye could see, traffic going multiple directions and a bus driver who honked enthusiastically every mile or so. He liked his horn, for sure. We enjoyed Cambodian music videos on a TV at the front of the bus, too. Once in Battambang, a city that is much more spread out than Siem Reap, less touristy, and yet with a population of 250,000, we moved into our new headquarters, hopped in a tuk-tuk and rode to the YWAM base.

This is where we met all the people so near and dear to Molly's heart these last four years. How much they love her, too! Young Cambodians (ages 18-25?) flowed out of the base, so eager and excited to finally meet Sue and Erin! We ate a communal dinner with them, and enjoyed great conversation with Molly's friends and fellow YWAM staffers. Marla and I sat at a table with one young man who talked in beginner's English about his own growing faith. At first animated, he then began talking about his family-- particularly his parents, and how his decision to become a Christian had alienated him from his family. He was the "only one" he said, meaning the only Christian, and there had been a price to pay in terms of his loved ones. That night, as we chatted outside with these faith-filled Cambodians, chanting from the Buddhist monks could be heard in the distance.

Today, we hit the ground running after a breakfast buffet at the hotel that included hotdogs, vegetables, rice, fish, and many things we had never seen, much less eaten before. Sue was looking for her bran flakes, but alas.: ) We attended a worship service on the YWAM base, with songs sung in alternating Khmer and English. How cool to hear familiar worship songs sung in Khmer! After that, we went to an orientation for life in Battambang and on the base and visited a small orphanage started by the YWAM staff. There, a baby, a toddler and his brother are cared for so lovingly by YWAM staff. To get there, we walked through a slum area that was heartbreaking. If you've ever seen the "Save the Children" commercials, you already have a sense for what a slum looks like and how people are forced to lived. Wrenching and wrong.

We also visited a government run orphanage that cares for 270 children. It was more of a campus, with individual houses for children of varying ages. It had impeccably groomed landscaping with flowers everywhere and a clean environment for the children. Talking about Jesus, however is not allowed, so while YWAM can volunteer or run a big event at the orphanage, their faith cannot be shared.

A young YWAM staffer named Anna has an over-the-top ambitious dream that we toured today as well. She's starting a restaurant/bistro called Cafe Eden. I wish you could all see the scope of the vision she has. Nestled in downtown Battambang, YWAM bought a run-down four story building that leaked like crazy (during rainy season, Anna, slept under a tarp), had structural impossibilities, needed re-wiring and incredible sweat equity. Once finished, the restaurant will provide many valuable jobs for local Cambodians and will create revenue for other ministries, including one that reaches out to the street children just down the street.

Tomorrow is another health clinic, this time in a slum area. We're prepared to be broken again. How can you not be?

And yet, we agree with the t-shirt message we saw in the YWAM "shop"

today... "HOPE IS WINNING". When you see first-hand what a team of

young people who are sold out for Christ can do-- you feel it and you

see it. Hope is winning. It always has, it always will.

All the best,

Maribeth, Jane, Erin, Marla and Sue