Cambodia trip - part Moi

For anyone wanting to know part of how our trip went, here is a copy of what I sent to our church e-mail groups - we arrived home at about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.

We're finally home - well, we got home last night at about 11:45 after dropping Jonathan off at his apartment.
We stayed up until almost 1:00 getting a shower, eating something, telling about our trip, etc.
Then I was pretty much falling asleep as Jeff prayed over me before we went to sleep.
As I was in the shower last night, I really got a sense in the Spirit that the enemy was very angry with our team and with the Khmer Christians still in Cambodia, and that he was going to try to interrupt our sleep with nightmares. So I prayed and asked Jeff to also pray.
This morning, I told Katherine about it, and she told me that she had had the same thoughts and had also prayed before going to sleep.
That tells me that contrary to the negativity I was hearing from the enemy in my heart at times on the trip, we were having great effect in Cambodia!
In particular, as we prayed at the high school that three of the Heritage House children will attend (Coy, Marie, and Srey) there was great spiritual darkness that met us. I was hearing in my heart a cry that said our prayers would have no effect there - that we were wasting our time and if anything would only barely scratch the surface of what was needed for that area. As we wrestled on in prayer, Lewis told us that it was very likely that the campus had previously been a concentration/torture camp during the reign of the Khmer Rouge - a place of horrible atrocities in the past. It was evident that the spiritual climate over the school grounds was very dark. So we prayed, prophesied, sang, and spoke prophetically over that area in great measure and I believe we had GREAT effect - contrary to the voice of the enemy.
With that said, please remember to pray for the three who will attend classes there - they will need the Lord's protection and boldness. They may well be the only Christians in the school and they will certainly face difficulty as the whole school is required to make prayers to Buddha as part of their training. Please pray for the wisdom of the Lord for them also.
I feel that our greatest effect was in prayer, though I know that Vutha (pronounced Woota) also told Lewis that our team unity and the way we worked together was a great example for the Khmer children and dorm moms. Vutha said that he has been trying to train the children and moms to work together to accomplish their work, but that they are used to doing only their own work and not helping one another. He said that our working together made an excellent example of what he's been trying to teach.
Our team consisted of those who are used to leading within their own churches. What we found was that each person was willing to submit to one another to accomplish the different tasks. No one fought for leadership; everyone "fought" to simply serve.
The city of Kampot (pronounced as it sounds - Cam-pot) is a great city. It's small - at least in comparison to the very busy and very loud city of Phnom Penh (pronounced P-nom Pen). We walked everywhere we went - except when it was raining and the Heritage House truck was available. It rained a little every day, but was by no means a wash-out. The people are friendly, kind, and gentle. Oh, but their driving! :) They are quite daring in their driving - horns honking - moving in all areas of the road. One sees bicycles, motos, cars, and people walking everywhere. We did see a few wrecks, but no one was seriously injured - thankfully.
We ate most meals at the Coco House - a sweet little restaurant in the city. Three ladies were there to serve us each day - they lived above the restaurant as is common for business owners in the area. They greeted us each morning with beautiful smiles. Srey Moi (meaning Girl One - no kidding!) was our main server and she spoke great English. We were very sad when we had to tell them we would be leaving the next day to begin our trip home. But we were able to buy a Bible for each of the ladies and give them an additional $20 tip each to thank them for their hospitality while we were there. Also Lewis asked Vutha to let them know that if they had any questions about the book or about Christianity, they could talk with Pheakedey (I'm not sure I spelled that correctly, but it is pronounced Peck-a-dye, who is Vutha's wife). Already there is an opportunity for friendship evangelism!
I know I have much more to tell, but honestly, I'm so tired ;)
I slept 12 hours last night and could already head to bed again and it's only 9:00.
So, I will leave you all for now.
I promise to send out more information over the next few days and would love to answer any questions anyone may have.
Thank you to everyone who prayed over our trip - we were effective because your prayers were effective!
With love in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Maria

p.s. please continue to pray for our team as we adjust to being back in an eastern time zone. It's very hard to adjust back! And Katherine is sick with a stuffy nose, cough, stomach upset, 104 fever. Our doctor friend from church will come by to check on her after work today.